The Ukraine has become the front-line between the uprising against neoliberalism (mostly internal) and the neo-national forces of reaction (some internal, some external) trying to crush this uprising.
First things first: the Ukrainian revolution is not a Fascist putsch. It was -- and is -- a genuine popular uprising against the rule of a horribly corrupt President and his coterie of thieves. As a popular rebellion, it included all sorts of factions -- Leftists, Rightists, centrists, you name it (for the details., see Timothy Snyder's excellent summary of the Ukrainian revolution). But smearing the revolution because a few Far Right folks took part is like smearing the Occupy protests because of the presence of a few homeless squatters.
Ukraine has an acting President, legitimately appointed in accordance with Ukraine's constitution by a functioning and legal Parliament, and a vigorous free press.
Now the Putinariat -- the confederation of nationalist siloviki and raw materials billionaires who run Russia these days -- is striking back, by authorizing the deployment of Russian troops inside Ukraine's national borders and by unleashing a full-scale Murdoch-style campaign of neo-national hysteria and hate-mongering against the Ukraine. In fact, Russia Today's coverage of Ukraine has borrowed heavily from the neocon playbook of lies, spin and distortion used to justify the US invasion and occupation of Iraq.
The Putinariat is not guided by any lingering neo-Sovietism. Rather, we're dealing with plain old nationalism, as short-sighted and narrow as any other nationalism in any other country in the world.
All Leftists and progressives should understand that the comparative decline of the US Empire does not automatically erase the violence of smaller, non-US empires and imperialisms on our planet (India vis-a-vis its adivasis, China vis-a-vis Tibet, Syria's Alawites vis-a-vis Syria's Sunnis). That's why we need to struggle against the smaller imperialisms as well as against the bigger ones.
Right now, the Putinariat is whipping up a nasty and regressive neo-nationalism against its smaller, weaker neighbor, most likely because the Putinariat is afraid the uprising will spread further. It is an extremely foolish and short-sighted strategy, because the tinder is there for a regional conflagration which will benefit absolutely noone.
Ukraine has seen enough of war and has had enough of political violence.
What needs to happen is dialogue. Ethnic Russians need to talk to their ethnic Ukrainian and Tatar neighbors. Everyone must agree to respect the dignity and rights of all. Russia must move beyond the legacy of its imperial history, remove its troops from Ukrainian soil, and talk to the Ukrainian people and its new government as equals. Ukrainians need to be better than the oligarchic elites who wrecked their economy, and to refrain from petty revenge on Yanukovych's thugs or engaging in any kind of ethnic hatred.
Put the guns away, negotiate in good faith, and work out a plan to allow Ukraine's economy to recover.
If this doesn't happen, the result will be a disaster for the people of Ukraine. But the biggest losers of all, ironic as it sounds, will be the Putinariat. Overt conflict will trigger the very destabilization of their hegemony they most fear. It wouldn't be the first time a neo-imperial elite committed geopolitical suicide, but let's hope it doesn't come to this.
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