The people of Ukraine are just a pawn in Putin's game
The English version of a letter sent almost ten years ago.
Spoiler: This post is the English version of an letter I sent to a Swedish newspaper, Sydsvenskan (paywall). I think it was my first letter I sent to newspapers about Ukraine, and NATO. It was written as a reply to a letter by a member of the Left Party’s youth organisation. His letter was a pathetic replication of desinformaion from the kremlin. My reply was published in November 2014. I came across it today when I searched for a new letter that I sent to newspapers a few days ago. The letter does not contain any new arguments which you will discover if you’ve seen any of my previous posts. Anyway, here it is.
One of many summaries of atrocities committed by soldiers from the Fascist Horde against Ukrainians.
Source: OHCHR
According to disinformation spread by the kremlin, the russian-speaking minority in Ukraine is persecuted by a fascist regime in Kiev. There are reasons to, unlike Simon Frohlund (Opinions 19/11), critically examine that version.
The majority of the people in Kharkiv and Odesa, for example, are russian-speaking and want to continue to belong to Ukraine. In the russian-occupied areas, on the other hand, the population has been deprived of its democratic freedoms and rights and only pro-russia candidates have been allowed to run in the farcical elections that have been organized. The population there is subjected to systematic abuse by the russian occupation troops, as documented by United Nations Human Rights Council, OHCHR.
In the free parts of Ukraine, democratic elections for the presidency and parliament have been held. In the presidential election, far-right candidates received fewer votes than a prominent Jewish candidate, and in the parliamentary election, neither Svoboda nor the Right Sector received enough votes. Nor did another extremist party, the Ukrainian Communist Party.
In these parts of Ukraine, no minorities are persecuted. Nor is there any class struggle going on. On the other hand, there is a struggle between a democratically elected regime and an imperialist state ruled by a president who is obsessed with restoring russia's greatness and the borders that existed before the insane plan economy of the Soviet Union collapsed. putin's need to restore russia's greatness explains the increased russian aggression that manifests itself in violations of other countries' airspace, territorial waters and kidnappings of security personnel.
The Swedish government has been impressed by the recent development. The Prime Minister's statements regarding the violation of our territorial waters and the Foreign Minister's criticism of the russian aggression in the Baltic Sea and in Ukraine have become clearer. The next step in Swedish security and foreign policy should be an application for membership in NATO.