The Russia as "Imperialist" Thesis Is Wrong and a Barrier to (Ukrainian) Solidarity [View all]

[newthinking]

The Russia as "Imperialist" Thesis Is Wrong and a Barrier to Solidarity
With the Ukrainian and Russian People
Wednesday, 18 June 2014 10:46
By Roger Annis, Truthout | Op-Ed



People’s Friendship Arch: This steel rainbow was erected in 1983 to commemorate the unification
of Ukraine and Russia in 1653 and is meant to symbolize friendship and mutual respect between
the two nations. (Photo: Jennifer Boyer / Flickr)

The violent coming to power of a rightist regime in Kyiv, Ukraine in late February 2014 has opened an exceptionally dangerous political period in Europe. For the first time since World War II, a European government has representatives of fascist parties as ministers. These are the ministers of the armed forces, prosecution service and agriculture, and deputy ministers of national security (police), education and anti-corruption.

Mainstream parties alongside the fascists in government, including the elected president, are committed to an austerity project of economic association with Europe that will see much of the manufacturing base of the country further degraded or dismantled. The consequences for agricultural production are also likely to be dire.

The Kyiv regime has launched a civil war in the southeast of the country to quash popular movements demanding political and economic autonomy for their regions. Elsewhere in the country, the government or the fascist parties and militias allied to it are seriously repressing the rights of political association and expression.

Hundreds have died from the regime's violence in the east and south. Tens of thousands have been driven from their homes in the southeast regions of Donetsk and Luhansk. Petro Poroshenko is a billionaire who was elected president on May 25 in an election that saw a 25 percent decline in voter participation compared to the last election in 2010. Touted as a "man of peace" by a deluded and deeply compromised Western media, he is taking the regime's civil war and repression to new heights of violence.

Continued: http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/24428-the-russia-as-imperialist-thesis-is-wrong-and-a-barrier-to-solidarity-with-the-ukrainian-and-russian-people