The Maidan Demonstrations in Ukraine Began One Year Ago Today
The demonstrations in the Maidan began a year ago today. Too many Americans continue to dismiss the demonstrations that began on November 21, 2013 as the product of political operations of the U.S. government. They fail to understand that "the people" rose up against a totally corrupt system, the real motivation for the remarkable events that began a year ago, events that will be celebrated by millions of Ukrainians today. Those who only see the U.S. government as the real cause of the Maidan fall back on the fact that the actions of the demonstrators led to the overthrow of the "legitimately elected" government of Viktor Yanukovych. In other words, they see this overthrow as the result more of the nefarious activities of the U.S. government and its NATO allies rather than the result of the brave efforts of people fed up with a corrupt government.
Did the U.S. government take advantage of the Maidan to further some geopolitical agenda against the Russian government of Vladimir Putin? It's not unreasonable to suspect this. But to conclude that the entire phenomenon of the popular rising leading to the overthrow of the previous government consisted of U.S. politicians manipulating a naive populace smacks of elitism, viewing the Ukrainians as simpletons, mere puppets at the end of strings pulled by clever masters manipulating them for their own gain. Again, one shouldn't be shocked to find characters like Obama, Kerry, et al pulling whatever strings they could lay their sticky fingers on to insert themselves into the struggle against Russian Imperialism in order to further their aims. In the same way one ought not be surprised that Putin doesn't want Ukraine to drift into the cluster of nations loosely banded together under the NATO banner. That's what governments with competing "interests" do: they manipulate others to accomplish their aims without regard for the good of those people they attempt to manipulate, in this case the Ukrainians.
So perhaps you could think about this dynamic of two superpowers pushing and pulling at the Ukrainian people as if they were pawns in some geopolitical chess game. And perhaps you could use your reason and common sense here and see the stark fact that lies before you, that the people of Ukraine - or at least a considerable percentage of them, most likely a majority of them - may possibly have their own thoughts and aspirations about what sort of government they would like to establish and hold accountable.
But what about the argument that Yanukovych's gang was legitimately elected, and somehow was "illegally" overthrown? Well, as Americans, we know a thing or two about overthrowing a seemingly legitimate government, don't we? We called it the American Revolution, or perhaps more accurately, the War for American Independence.
Of course, just because we had our own revolution which worked out pretty well, doesn't mean we just go about and willy-nilly support each and every other revolution we find out there. In fact, simple reasoning tells us we don't - and ought not - espouse revolution as a solution for every grievance. And we do - or should - understand that a touch or two (perhaps more), of corruption in government ought not shock us and cause us to pick up our pitchforks. But with that said, the pronouncements of those who criticized the people in the Maidan and continue to criticize the current Ukrainian government need a reality check. Such people need to remember and think carefully about those who stood in the freezing winter air and were subjected to physical attack and ultimately murder by agents of their own government. They need to remember that it was the violent reaction of government forces to peaceful demonstrations that precipitated the calls for Yanudovych to resign. The evidence supports such an interpretation of the Maidan, not the fabricated and preposterous story of some or "anti-semite," or "anti-Russian" conspiracy by "fascist" elements, manipulated by U.S government agents.
More than this, they need to wake up and face the fact that much of what they have written and spoken was and is based on information put forth by a Russian press that had devolved into a government propaganda machine, based on misinformation and lies, as is frequently the case with government propaganda machines. The most egregious example of this may be the view writers like Pat Buchanan (and others) who have gone so far as to present Vladimir Putin as some sort of champion of Christian values held in opposition to degenerate Western liberal values. (See our last post.)
Finally, and here we bring out the big guns, critics of the great Maidan Movement need to remind themselves that the Nazi government of Adolph Hitler was "legitimately" elected to office. Following the twisted reasoning they've used against the Ukrainian people who a year ago put their lives on the line standing in the freezing cold, as well as the soldiers now fighting for their homeland against Russian Imperialism, all attempts to overthrow Hitler's gang were illegitimate and should have been opposed by right thinking, moral people. And we know they would never, and could never, hold that view.
So maybe you won't be displaying the Ukrainian flag in remembrance of this anniversary of the Maidan as we are today. But please do consider the plight of the Ukrainian people who faced suffering and ultimately death at the hands of their government and the largely volunteer Ukrainian soldiers who now face suffering and death at the hands of Russian soldiers and their stooges in Eastern Ukraine. We don't know the outcome of their efforts. We may even fear that they will ultimately wind up with yet another corrupt government that sucks the blood and treasure from its people in the name of consolidating and exploiting the power that comes from the sorts of governments that know nothing of liberty and justice based on natural law. But right now we can pray for them in their struggle for freedom from oppression and Russian domination.
Isn't that simply the reasonable response to the Maidan?
Did the U.S. government take advantage of the Maidan to further some geopolitical agenda against the Russian government of Vladimir Putin? It's not unreasonable to suspect this. But to conclude that the entire phenomenon of the popular rising leading to the overthrow of the previous government consisted of U.S. politicians manipulating a naive populace smacks of elitism, viewing the Ukrainians as simpletons, mere puppets at the end of strings pulled by clever masters manipulating them for their own gain. Again, one shouldn't be shocked to find characters like Obama, Kerry, et al pulling whatever strings they could lay their sticky fingers on to insert themselves into the struggle against Russian Imperialism in order to further their aims. In the same way one ought not be surprised that Putin doesn't want Ukraine to drift into the cluster of nations loosely banded together under the NATO banner. That's what governments with competing "interests" do: they manipulate others to accomplish their aims without regard for the good of those people they attempt to manipulate, in this case the Ukrainians.
So perhaps you could think about this dynamic of two superpowers pushing and pulling at the Ukrainian people as if they were pawns in some geopolitical chess game. And perhaps you could use your reason and common sense here and see the stark fact that lies before you, that the people of Ukraine - or at least a considerable percentage of them, most likely a majority of them - may possibly have their own thoughts and aspirations about what sort of government they would like to establish and hold accountable.
But what about the argument that Yanukovych's gang was legitimately elected, and somehow was "illegally" overthrown? Well, as Americans, we know a thing or two about overthrowing a seemingly legitimate government, don't we? We called it the American Revolution, or perhaps more accurately, the War for American Independence.
Of course, just because we had our own revolution which worked out pretty well, doesn't mean we just go about and willy-nilly support each and every other revolution we find out there. In fact, simple reasoning tells us we don't - and ought not - espouse revolution as a solution for every grievance. And we do - or should - understand that a touch or two (perhaps more), of corruption in government ought not shock us and cause us to pick up our pitchforks. But with that said, the pronouncements of those who criticized the people in the Maidan and continue to criticize the current Ukrainian government need a reality check. Such people need to remember and think carefully about those who stood in the freezing winter air and were subjected to physical attack and ultimately murder by agents of their own government. They need to remember that it was the violent reaction of government forces to peaceful demonstrations that precipitated the calls for Yanudovych to resign. The evidence supports such an interpretation of the Maidan, not the fabricated and preposterous story of some or "anti-semite," or "anti-Russian" conspiracy by "fascist" elements, manipulated by U.S government agents.
More than this, they need to wake up and face the fact that much of what they have written and spoken was and is based on information put forth by a Russian press that had devolved into a government propaganda machine, based on misinformation and lies, as is frequently the case with government propaganda machines. The most egregious example of this may be the view writers like Pat Buchanan (and others) who have gone so far as to present Vladimir Putin as some sort of champion of Christian values held in opposition to degenerate Western liberal values. (See our last post.)
Finally, and here we bring out the big guns, critics of the great Maidan Movement need to remind themselves that the Nazi government of Adolph Hitler was "legitimately" elected to office. Following the twisted reasoning they've used against the Ukrainian people who a year ago put their lives on the line standing in the freezing cold, as well as the soldiers now fighting for their homeland against Russian Imperialism, all attempts to overthrow Hitler's gang were illegitimate and should have been opposed by right thinking, moral people. And we know they would never, and could never, hold that view.
So maybe you won't be displaying the Ukrainian flag in remembrance of this anniversary of the Maidan as we are today. But please do consider the plight of the Ukrainian people who faced suffering and ultimately death at the hands of their government and the largely volunteer Ukrainian soldiers who now face suffering and death at the hands of Russian soldiers and their stooges in Eastern Ukraine. We don't know the outcome of their efforts. We may even fear that they will ultimately wind up with yet another corrupt government that sucks the blood and treasure from its people in the name of consolidating and exploiting the power that comes from the sorts of governments that know nothing of liberty and justice based on natural law. But right now we can pray for them in their struggle for freedom from oppression and Russian domination.
Isn't that simply the reasonable response to the Maidan?
Comments