Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko addressing a joint meeting of Congress in the US Capitol in Washington. © REUTERS/ Kevin Lamarque
As Poroshenko Gets Standing Ovations in Western Capitals, Ukraine Disintegrates -- Dmitry Babich, RIA Novosti
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko is touring the United States and Canada, addressing legislatures and getting standing ovations. The problem is, however, that such an enthusiastic reception in North America and the West in general is usually seen as sort of a bad omen for political leaders from the former Soviet Union.
Nearly ten years ago, the anti-Russian former president of Ukraine, Viktor Yushchenko, was met with the same ovations and flowers on both sides of the Atlantic. Within four years, however, Yushchenko’s presidency had led to a chain of conflicts inside Ukrainian society and he lost the next election, getting a humiliating 4 percent of the vote. The last Soviet president, Mikhail Gorbachev, lost power in 1991 when his popularity in the West was at its peak: “Gorby-mania” culminated in his getting the Nobel Peace prize in late 1990, just as wars were being fought in Nagorno–Karabakh and Moldova.
So much for the kind of leaders who get praise in the modern West and for the “objectivity” of all sorts of committees and endowments (Nobel and otherwise) which lavish praise and prizes on these persons.
Read more ....
My Comment: I rarely post a commentary post (by itself) from RIA Novosti on this blog .... especially on the Ukraine crisis where it is overly pro-Russian and over the top critical of the Ukraine government. But there is a lot of truth in this commentary .... especially on the main point that Ukraine as a united country is now finished. Everyone that I know in Ukraine .... family and friends .... told me that they voted for Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in May in the belief that he would pursue the compromises and accommodations necessary to bring peace .... that his election would be a new start to a new Ukraine. Unfortunately .... he pursued a different course .... a war policy against the east in the misguided belief that victory would be quick and that Russia would not intervene. He was wrong on all accounts, and what makes the entire situation even more tragic is that this civil war and the death and destruction that it caused should never have occurred.
Ukraine today is a country in free-fall. Deeply divided along linguistic and regional lines. The stories that I hear from my family who are still living in Ukraine is truly heartbreaking. Unemployment is rising. Inflation is rising. Opportunity for the young disappearing. Small and medium businesses closing. No money or not enough .... and definitely not enough natural gas to heat ones home in winter. Rampant corruption. Tensions and worries rising.
So .... Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko gets his standing ovations in the U.S. Congress and a brief visit to the Oval Office .... but back home .... in the real world .... everything is imploding.
3 comments:
"So much for the kind of leaders who get praise in the modern West and for the “objectivity” of all sorts of committees and endowments (Nobel and otherwise) which lavish praise and prizes on these persons."
Poroshenko isn't the only one this comment is meant for.
WNU: I agree with your comments with this addition, this article is a pretty blunt message to the West of what the Russian government deems the situation in Ukraine to be and what they will do about it and like situations in the future.
The more I read this article, the more ominous the feel of it becomes.
Having 535 lawmakers of a powerful nation applaud you, might give you a shot in the arm.
Until you realized they are trained/conditioned to clap by society.
The picture says it all. Biden and Boehner are clapping in support of Poroshenko or Ukraine?
They have your back? You want someone with the temperament of Putin to back you not Biden or Boehner.
There are many vicious, vicious politicians in the U.S. They will sic the IRS on you. They will steal votes. They will have their mob threaten or assault your supporters. They might even murder a troublesome person. But this... this is out of their league.
And these politicians are timid. They would not want to be seen as the person not clapping by and large. ... So they are clapping. Does that mean approval?
You're right Aizino, they can only do what they know, which isn't much now these days.
Boehner, Biden, etal or the second tier targets of this message. It's Poroshenko, other European leaders, and especially on a personal basis Obama who are the real intended audience of this message.
I did not include Kerry, because who cares, he has become a non entity.
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