Vitali Klitschko is attempting to make history?again.
The former WBC heavyweight champion has thrown his considerable weight behind a movement to oust Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych. Although democratically elected in what was presumably a free and fair election, Yanukovych has lost the support of two-thirds of electorate. One-third of the electorate agrees with the current president that Ukraine should align with Russia. Another the third of the electorate, represented by Klitschko, who lives and pays taxes in Germany, wants closer ties to Western Europe. The third faction, torching buildings and killing police, are fascist thugs.
The genie is out of the bottle. Over 50 people have died in street battles on the streets of Kiev in the last three days. The moderates led by Klitschko have lost control of the situation. The flashpoint is Independence Square. A civil war is brewing. The seeds of a new Cold War are being sown. Kiev is burning.
Stephen Cohen, professor emeritus of Russian studies and politics at New York University and Princeton University, spoke yesterday about the Ukrainian situation on Democracy Now!
?The Western authorities, who bear some responsibility for what?s happened, and who therefore also have blood on their hands, are taking no responsibility. They?re uttering utterly banal statements, which, because of their vacuous nature, are encouraging and rationalizing the people in Ukraine who are throwing Molotov cocktails, now have weapons, are shooting at police. We wouldn?t permit that in any Western capital, no matter how righteous the cause, but it?s being condoned by the European Union and Washington as events unfold.
?Let?s ask ourselves this: Who precipitated this crisis? The American media says it was Putin and the very bad, though democratically elected, president of Ukraine, Yanukovych. But it was the European Union, backed by Washington, that said in November to the democratically elected president of a profoundly divided country, Ukraine, ?You must choose between Europe and Russia.? [And] what did the much-despised Putin say? He said, ?Why? Why does Ukraine have to choose? We are prepared to help Ukraine avoid economic collapse, along with you, the West. Let?s make it a tripartite package to Ukraine.? And it was rejected in Washington and in Brussels. That precipitated the protests in the streets.
?And since then?extremists have taken control of the movement from the so-called moderate Ukrainian leaders?one sign of a revolution is the first victims of revolution are the moderates. And then it becomes a struggle between the extreme forces on either side. And that?s what we?re witnessing.?
President Obama read a statement yesterday in Mexico, assigning responsibility for the chaos to the Ukrainian leadership.
?President Yanukovych and the Ukrainian government?have the primary responsibility to prevent the kind of terrible violence that we?ve seen, to withdraw riot police, to work with the opposition to restore security and human dignity, and move the country forward.?
Stephen Cohen responded, ?Let me ask you, if in Washington people throwing Molotov cocktails are marching on Congress?and these people are headed for the Ukrainian Congress?if these people have barricaded entrance to the White House and are throwing rocks at the White House security guard, would President Obama withdraw his security forces? This incites, these kinds of statement that Obama made. It rationalizes what the killers in the streets are doing. It gives them Western license, because he?s not saying to the people in the streets, ?Stop this, stop shooting policemen, stop attacking government buildings, sit down and talk.?
?What Obama needs to say is, ?We deplore what the people in the streets are doing when they attack the police, the law enforcement official. And we also don?t like the people who are writing on buildings, ?Jews live here.?
?I voted for him twice, as historical justice. [But] that?s not leadership. That?s a falsification of what?s happening in Ukraine, and it?s making the situation worse. [He?s] not talking about democracy now; [he?s] talking about a coup now.?
It?s a thrill seeing Klitschko on the evening news. Whether he?s in the streets, in parliament, or sitting next to Yanukovych, Klitschko is in the thick of it. But in recent appearances the tone of his voice, no less than his body language, suggests that the situation is now out of control.
?He?s a project of Merkel,? said Professor Cohen. ?He represents German interests. I?m sure he?s also faithful to Ukraine, but he?s got a problem? We don?t quite trust Klitschko. Now, if you want to get esoteric, that?s the tug between Washington and Berlin. They?re not happy with Merkel, the chancellor of Germany. They don?t like the role Merkel is playing, generally. They think Germany has gotten too big for its britches. They want to cut Merkel down? Klitschko, the boxer, is Merkel?s proxy, or at least she?s backing him. You notice that they say, ?He?s not ready for prime time. Let him do his homework.??
There?s something to be said for oversimplification, but I?m not the one to say it.
