If I did not know so many Ukrainians personally, learnt
about your values, struggles and extraordinary difficulties, I would probably
have the same attitude as most of the world seems to show for you as a Nation:
indifference or flat-out disdain. Admit it: which group of nations
(I. e. EC, the Western World at large, etc.) wants to assimilate, incorporate
or even closely relate to a country known by such deep corruption at all
levels, unsafe because of tainted police and judiciary, and a population that
learned work-ethics under the Russians under one form of oppression or another.
Add to it the way Ukraine purportedly dealt with the ‘Jewish problem’, to
complete a very unattractive (to put it mildly) definition of what Ukraine is,
today, to the rest of the world.
But I know, befriend and work with many young Ukrainians, I
learned (some) of this Country’s history and plight so I am not ready to
discard Ukraine into the corner of the unredeemable, disposable and discarded
group of nations that are hopeless.
If I understand it correctly, briefly put, this is a Nation
that is not quite yet. It is Ukraine, has a beautiful flag and some of
the most aesthetically pleasant and elegant youth, found anywhere in the
world. At the same time, half your Country considers themselves something
else before/besides Ukrainian, namely Russian. In a sinister
schizophrenic message, your are taught your own language at schools, you fly
your own flag, but the underlying message is that your own literature, art,
history and achievements are dim, as comparing with the larger, richer,
assertive and brutal neighbor that dominated every aspect of your life during
the past 500 years or so.
In the mind of many Ukrainians, a close relationship with
Russia is a necessary evil. Ukraine is a serf to Russia, it always has been and
will forever be, according to that misguided belief. This is probably the
most blatant example of Stockholm Syndrome, ever. Until that ‘issue’ is
resolved, I can’t imagine any semblance of true Freedom to take place in your
magnificent land.
Ukraine is married to Russia. Not on even ground, not a
Western Style marriage, but one of an overpowering and brutal husband and a
complacent, abused wife (or mistress) that deep inside, believes she deserves
to be abused and punished, and asks for more. Ukraine needs to find a
marriage counselor to guide it to a divorce, friendly or otherwise.
The problem with abusive husbands is that the abuse increases with time, is not
stable. As the police reports from any city will attest, in many cases the
abused wife gets murdered. Looking back in your common history, how many
Ukrainians died from such abuse? Holodomor (Stalin’s written orders to
shot anyone in Ukraine found hiding food is public record), Chernovil, the
invasion of Afghanistan with so many Ukrainian troops, the gulags…)
One could see that they were all victims of a ruthless, abusive, controlling
‘husband’.
To the credit of many in Ukraine, you recently attempted to
divorce Russia and join the rest of the civilized world as an independent
nation. Utilizing Europe’s need for gas, Russia managed to frustrate your
attempt of ascension to the EC. Coward European governments turned their
back on you, and ‘delivered’ you back to Russia. Obama did not help
you either, as in their ‘Reset’ strategy with Russia, Obama sold you out to
your former kingpin. Yes, you got screwed big time. From the
distance, reading about Ukraine based on statistics as for productivity,
work-ethics, high incidence of HIV, you are a ‘playable pawn’, not worth of
sharing tears about. What does the rest of the world has to lose, while
it could cool things down with the KGB Coronel now in charge of Russia?
But you are not just a pawn to be played, sacrificed and
discarded. From my personal experience (one that most people in the West
DO NOT have), Ukraine is a hidden treasure with amazing people, suffering from
centuries of oppression. What the rest of the world does not know,
is that Ukrainians at large have tremendous potential and riches. If what does
not kill you makes you stronger, if Australia, USA, Japan, Brazil, and so many
other nations are the result of tremendous pain and injustice, of bloody
battles to fight injustice and claim independence, of embattled immigrants
working against all odds (and powerful armies), to become some of the brightest
success stories of all time; Ukraine has accumulated so much of that ‘adversity
potential’, that once unleashed, could surprise the whole world, and themselves
with unparallel success.
Nations do not prosper under ‘prosperity’, but as a reaction
to, and with the tools learned though, adversity. All that adversity, all
that suffering, deposits ‘credits’ in the ‘adversity box’. Eventually,
you draw from that box to build your prosperity. We don’t learn from
success, we learn from failure. We don’t get energized by happiness as much as
we get on fire, motivated, decided by anger born out of frustration,
pain, injustice. Ukraine has its coffers full of it… Soon will be
the time you can start drawing from it to build your own success.
That is if you have not been beaten up to submission, lost
hope, develop your ‘national character’ around embracing serfdom, complacency
and the inner conviction that all resistance is futile. Some of you
did. The Russians tried very hard to teach you ‘a lesson’ on submission
(Stalin said it took 2 famines to teach you a lesson). Did they
succeed? The recent unveiling of a statue in tribute to Stalin,
would indicate that you gave up. The ridiculous defense of a monument to
another mass murdered that hurt you so much, Lenin, is still standing by
Khreshiatik. Those are not just reminders of people that hurt you, the
message is: come on, do it again, not only we deserve it, but we like it!
After divorcing Russia, you will need some serious
therapy. The larger issue is Victimhood. You are in a
catch-22 situation: if you believe you are not a victim, you are under the
mistaken idea that you deserved all the pain, suffering and genocide you endured.
If you believe you are victims, you are still attached to your victimizer, you
perpetuate the idea that you are not responsible for your situation (caused by
others) and that you will probably (and maybe justifiably) remain a
victim. Hard situation to be on, but you need to break out from it, if
you have any aspiration at freedom.
As long as you are a victim, you will not be assertive and
you will not be able to deal with the rest of the world in an harmonious,
friendly and even basis. Truth is that nobody wants to deal with victims,
as sooner or later, your partners will be recognized as victimizers (per your
invitation). That is not a good relationship to have.
One piece of good news is that the world, at large, have no
idea who you are. Contrary to the overwhelming opinion and sentiment of
most Ukrainians, the world does not think little about you, does not consider
you to be any inferior, your women are not thought of as prostitutes, your men
are not known as drunks. The truth is that the world has no idea of who
or what you are. There are a lot of very serious and important events
going on in the world, several wars, potential for Iran to develop nuclear
weapons, Muslim extremist planting bombs, world economic crisis, the raise of
China that many see as a threat, etc. etc. etc. Nobody is paying attention to
Ukraine. The perception of Ukraine is virgin in the minds of most
of the world. In the aspect of international recognition or even
cognition, you don’t start from minus zero, but from zero. This is much
better to what so many of you fear, as you appear to be overly concerned of
what other people think about you. They don’t think bad, or good.
They don’t think about you. This should be good news.
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