Ukraine (Borderland)
©2014 Dr. Zoltan Grossman, The Evergreen State College
Ivan’s border changes
Born in the Austro-Hungarian Empire (before WWI)
Grew up in Czechoslovakia (after WWI)
Fought in Hungary (during WWII)
Grew old in the Soviet Union (after WWII)
Died in Ukraine (after 1991)
All without leaving his
hometown of Mukachevo, in
Transcarpathia (Western Ukraine)
Ivan in
AustriaHungary
I
Ivan in
Czechoslovakia
I
Ivan in
Hungary
xxxxxxx
xxxx
I
Ivan in the
Soviet
Union
I
Poor
Ivan in
Ukraine
I
European empires, 1914
German, Austro-Hungarian empires, Poland in west
Russian, Ottoman empires in east
Poland
European religions
Catholic in
Southwest/Central
Protestant in
Northwest
Orthodox in
East/Southeast
Muslim in part
of Southeast
Different religions &
level of development
as legacies of empires
European
Union
“Push” of USSR, “Pull” of EU
Better-off first to revolt
Soviet empire extended too far into Catholic/Protestant West,
just as Napoleon & Hitler lost after crossing into Orthodox East
Poland, Hungary pull out of Warsaw Pact
Baltic States from USSR
Better off first to secede to guard status:
Slovenia, Croatia from Yugoslavia
Czech Rep. from Czechoslovakia
A “Blue Curtain”?
Eastern Europe as
a “Mexico” for West?
Less developed economy;
Reserve for labor?
Hungarian
border
towers
moved
from
Austria
to Romania
A “Blue Curtain”?
Catholic/Protestant West
Orthodox/Muslim East
Will Orthodox/Muslim
be welcome in EU “club”?
Greece in EU but foreign/
econ policies unwelcome;
Romania/Bulgaria not
fully welcomed
Religious minorities
Orthodox stuck in West:
Serbs in Croatia (expelled)
Russians in Kaliningrad
Russians in Baltic States
Religious minorities
Catholics stuck in East:
Croats in Bosnia
Hungarians in Romania
Poles in Ukraine/Belarus
“Uniates” in western Ukraine
Also Lutheran Karelian Finns in Russia
Remnant Boundaries:
Poland’s 2007 Parliamentary Election
Civic Platform (PO)
Free market economics/
Socially liberal
Law & Justice (PiS)
Economic populist/
Socially conservative
Left & Democrats (LiD)
Capitalist/Populist/
Socially liberal
German Empire
Russian Empire
Remnant Boundaries:
Ukraine’s 2004 Elections
Yushchenko
Yanukovych
Which Viktor?
First runoff,
November 21
First runoff,
November 21
49.4%
46.7%
Evidence of
electoral fraud
in first runoff,
November 21
Fears of ethnic division
Ukrainians in
west, north
Russians in
red in
east, south
Many Ukrainians
prefer Russian
President Yanukovych meets
Russian President Putin
November 21
runoff election
49.4%
46.7%
The “Orange Revolution”
http://orangeukraine.squarespace.com
Tent City
in Kiev
Thousands of
Yushchenko
supporters
camp out in
Independence
Square to back
new election
“Clean
Ukraine”
Yushchenko
backers against
corruption,
lean West to EU
Yushchenko
supporters
converge in Kiev
Donetsk region
(coal & Russians)
threatens self-rule
if Yushchenko
takes power
Democracy protests grow
Serbia & Georgia turned back electoral fraud (attempt in Belarus)
West criticizes Russian interference; Russia criticizes Western aid
Flags of Ukraine,
Georgia, Belarus etc.
Not all
protesters
were for
democracy
Ukrainian
nationalists in
UNA-UNSO
(fascist/antiSemitic party)
backed Revolution
as stand against
Russians.
Led to Svoboda
(fascist) party,
Pravy Sektor (Nazis)
Lampoons
of President
Kuchma &
Yanukovych
Kuchma began to
withdraw support for
his Prime Minister
SBU (ex-KGB)
warns Tent
City of Interior
Ministry assault
Supreme Court
orders new runoff
Yanukovych wins First Runoff, November 21
49.4%
46.7%
Yushchenko wins Second Runoff, December 26
44%
52%
Yushchenko Becomes President, Jan. 2005
Calls for EU membership,
Iraq pullout
Prime Minister Yulia
Tymoshenko later becomes rival
Independence
Square in Kiev
“Color Revolutions”
Home-grown or Western-inspired or both?
“Democratic” oppositions turn out to be nationalist,
provoke revolt among ethnic minorities
2006 Parliamentary Election
2010 Presidential Election
Viktor
Yanukovych
49.0%
Yulia
Tymoshenko
45.5%
Tymoshenko
Yanukovych
Both Yanukovych and Tymoshenko heavily involved in gas industry.
Yanukovych consolidates power,
takes Ukraine closer to Russia.
His corruption alienates even his
eastern industrial oligarch allies
and Moscow.
Limitations of civil liberties
fuels the growth of opposition,
and Ukrainian nationalism,
particularly in West.
Police brutality a bigger
motivator than pro-EU sentiment
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Ukrainian Insurgent Army
Collaborated with 1941 Nazi invasion; Massacred Jews, 50,000 Poles
Ukrainian Insurgent Army
Galician Division of Waffen SS
Svoboda protests against bilingualism, 2012
Kiev march for Stepan Bandera’s
birthday, January 2014
Maidan protests against Yanukovych, 2014
30% of protesters were fascist or Nazi (Anti-Fascist Action Ukraine)
which means 70% are NOT (incl. leftists, ecologists, Jews, minorities)
xxxxxx
Yanukovych and Ukrainian ultraright nationalists
fed off each other, and needed each other for legitimacy.
Russian propaganda falsely asserts all protesters were fascists.
But it is also false that the presence of fascists is Russian propaganda.
Svoboda (Freedom)
Wolfsangel
(SS)
White Power
Svoboda militia fighters in Maidan
Svoboda takeover of city halls
Svoboda leader Oleh Tyahnybok
Svoboda leader Oleh Tyahnybok
Alliance of European Nationalist Movements
(anti-EU parties in European Parliament)
Svoboda has
Observer status
Pravy Sektor (Right Sector)
Against the Regime and [EU] Integration
Pravy Sektor
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14 + 88
88 =
HH =
Heil Hitler
14 Words =
"We must secure the existence
of our people and a
future for white children.”
—U.S. terrorist David Lane,
The Order
Opposition leaders now running government
Vitaly Klitschko
(Boxer mistrusted
by U.S.)
Oleh Tyahnybok
(Svoboda)
Victoria Nuland
(State Dept official’s
bugged conversation
released)
Arseniy Yatsenyuk
(Premier backed
by Tymoshenko, U.S.)
Svoboda now has Vice Premier, two ministries,
more than any other far-right party in Europe
xxxxxx
Removal of Soviet soldier statues
New parliament reverses
bilingualism law
Ukrain
Ukrainian
Russian
RUSSIANS OUTSIDE RUSSIA
Fears that
Russian
ethnic
territoriality
would turn
irredentist
25 million
people
(17% of all
Russians)
Russians in Ukraine
• 22% of population
(up from 10% in 1926)
Russians in
lighter green
in east, south
• Concentrated in cities east of
Dnieper River
(Donbass industrial region)
• Also on Crimean Peninsula
in Black Sea
• Ukraine, Russia mutually dependent
Russians in Crimea (Ukraine)
• Crimea former homeland of Crimean Tatars
(300,000 removed by Stalin), returning since 1991
• Was part of RSFSR;
given to Ukrainian SSR
as Khrushchev’s
1954 birthday present
• Russians 58%, Ukrainians 24%, Tatars 12% (2001)
Kievan Rus’, 11th century
(Origin of Russia was in modern Ukraine)
Crimean Khanate & Russia, 1750-1800
Simferopol parliament
Crimea
Russians elected
separatist leader 1994;
Removed by Kiev
Resolved crisis over split
of Black Sea Fleet between
Russia and Ukraine
Reconciliation 1997-2000
Russian passport
distributed 2008-09
Night Wolves block highways
(Russian Pro-Putin biker gang)
Crimea
Extremists from both sides reinforce each other….
Stand-off in Crimea
Ukrainians
Russians
Syria
Syrian democratic opposition caught between Al Assad and Al Qaeda
Libya
Qaddafi forces
Libyan Islamic Fighting Group
Afghanistan
Taliban
Northern Alliance
mujahedin
Yugoslavia
Serbian militia
Croatian militia
Ukraine:
“Two wrongs don’t make a right” &
“The enemy of your enemy
is not always your friend”
Yanukovych’s Berkut riot police
Ukrainian militia