Harkness – MacGillivray Stories

History sometimes repeats itself.⁸ The Russian dictator also used similar quasi-ethnic arguments. Some examples were when he defended the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014, and the Russian invasion of Eastern Ukraine in 2022. 

Crimea

In 2014, after the pro-Russian Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych was ousted, the new president of Russia began making plans to annex Crimea. The self-proclaimed “Republic of Crimea” was annexed by Russia in March 2014.

The US and European countries did little or nothing to prevent this illegal annexation, in the same way the European powers did little to oppose Hitler’s illegal invasion of Czechoslovakia some 75 years before. Europe, like Chamberlain and Britain in 1938-39, was naïve to believe that the predator was satisfied.

Ukraine

Ukraine is a former Soviet state with a population of 44 million. It became an independent nation with the dissolution of the USSR in August of 1991. It also has strategic importance due to its naval ports on the Black Sea, in the Crimean region.

Ukraine has been drifting ever closer to the West, gradually increasing integration with the European Union. There have also been discussions about possible Ukrainian membership in NATO. 

The Invasion

In response to Ukraine’s drifting to the West, Russia’s dictator ordered the illegal invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. This marked the largest military action in Europe since the end of WWII in 1945. His stated reasons? Alleged persecution of Russian-speaking citizens in Ukraine by Ukrainian authorities. The regime alleges that Ukraine is a false state, stating that it “never had stable traditions of real statehood.”

He has accused the Ukrainians of genocide against Russian-speaking citizens in Ukraine, comparing the current Ukrainian government to “Nazis,” and contends that Ukraine is a puppet state of the west.

This is especially ironic because the Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, is a Jew whose grandfather fought for the USSR during World War II. Zelensky, a former actor who was elected to office in 2019, speaks Russian fluently and lost many family members to the Holocaust.

The real reason, of course, is far simpler: The regime wishes to restore Ukraine to the yoke of Russian control.

Criticisms from World Leaders

The invasion of Ukraine, a sovereign nation, has prompted sharp criticism from numerous world leaders. Europe finally reacted in 2022, albeit half-heartedly. As previously stated, I’m no global political expert; however, but it seems the United States is playing a waiting game. 

Economic sanctions have been levelled against Russia by both the U.S. and the E.U. The condemnation has not been universal, however. China has been lukewarm in its response, blandly asking for a “diplomatic solution”, while Chinese President Xi recently appeared in photographs standing alongside the Russian President. The Chinese have denounced sanctions against Russia and have blamed the U.S. and its allies for “provoking” Moscow.

It is not unlikely that the Russia-Ukraine conflict will turn out to be a minor prelude to World War III. This might especially be the case when the United States and China become embroiled in a conflict in the Pacific region, first focusing on Taiwan. Already, the contours of a global conflict are taking shape.

On one side are Western powers, Japan, and South Korea; on the other are China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea. Of course, one can learn from history; however, the present and the future are never carbon copies of the past, as suggested by the president of Ukraine, Zelensky.

⁸ Edited from Mark Murphy’s article in the Savannah Morning News. https://eu.savannahnow.com