Ukraine is not part of Saharan Africa, nor is it a country of illiterate or ill-educated people. How is it possible for Ukrainians to tolerate such a stumble, how is it possible that their tycoon and corrupt political elite so enchanted them and diverted them to the wrong side through manipulations? Instead of confronting their political scum, the Ukrainians, again with a lot of help from Western friends, estimated that the snake was not in the bowels, but on the other side of the eastern border – in Russia, so they needed NATO’s protection. And the focal illusion is that when Ukraine becomes a member of NATO, the country will prosper just as, for example, North Macedonia prospered in the same organization.
Ukraine has thus decided that those who are further away from it are closer to it – not only geographically, but also spiritually and culturally, those who despise Ukrainians just as much as Russians, if not more. That contempt is hidden for only a moment in the name of strategic reasons, and it will last for a few more days after the end of the war, regardless of its outcome. And then everything will return to normal. Solidarity with Ukrainians who remain in the West will be replaced by intolerance towards foreigners who burden the social system, take jobs, raise the crime rate, and lower the salaries of domestic workers. Ukrainians will again be the others – those who are not “us”. Even if Ukraine one day joins the European Union or/and NATO, that contempt will not disappear nor will the status of Ukrainians as second-class citizens change.
And then when you renounce yourself and try to become something that you are not and that you have been convinced is more civilized and better, you will not become that other – you are more likely to become nothing. This is true not only for Ukrainians but also for “enlightened” Russians, Serbs, and others, for all those who would like to be what they are not, in the hope that they will be acceptable to those who will never accept them. Bulgarians, Romanians, and even Poles, and to exchange experiences with them related to acceptance, respect, integration, and “Europeanization”. And they can pour oil into the water quite scientifically and see how it mixes.
The questions arose:
1) Why do the citizens of Western Europe support the insane policy of NATO’s expansion to the East, which is already hitting them on the head, due to the large increase in the cost of living?
2) What kind of rush into a war as it can become atomic? If geostrategy is left aside, the Ukrainian war is just an excuse for hidden Russophobia to explode uncontrollably.
3) What kind of hatred is it that obscures the view and suppresses even the instinct of self-preservation?
That hatred gave itself the appearance of humanism and hid behind a mask of compassion for Ukrainians … except those from East Ukraine. Western humanity (which is honest in some parts of society) has clear boundaries and is guided by the media. Remember, no Ukrainian refugees in the UK! At the same time, ordinary Russians and Russian culture are persecuted across Western countries! Those who sincerely and wholeheartedly cared about the suffering of Iraqis, Libyans, and Syrians are shedding tears over the fate of Ukraine, just as they cared about the hell of Yemen or now care of Gaza. Those who today, in the name of humanism, sincerely participate in the tragedy of Ukrainian refugees and their children, will harass Russians and Russian children tomorrow when they recognize them in their environment. Perhaps Russophobia is strongest in the most educated parts of Western societies, which are not bothered by pathological outbursts of Russophobia related to Russian culture or the humiliation of its employees. Are we on the way to erasing Russian culture from European culture and maybe banning it?
No one is saying that Russia is totally innocent in this tragic story about Ukraine. No, but Russian guilt is on the other side – on the side of incompetence, on the side of delay, and indecision. Russia is guilty as it has not been able to control the Russophobic processes in Ukraine since 2014 by soft power, nor to use the advantage of the Russian language, historical, family, or economic ties. Unfortunately, the corrupted top authorities of Russia (like in the West), Russia full of oligarchs and tycoons (as in the West), Russia of huge property inequalities (lesser than in the USA), could not even offer itself as an attractive alternative social model for others (but the Western models as well cannot do that). Therefore, there is no Russophile person who can or should ignore these sad facts (but all Russophobes are ignoring these facts in the West).
However, an even bigger, and fatal mistake is that Russia, with its sluggish and indecisive foreign policy, persistently sent the wrong, defeatist signals to the Western policymakers. It has done almost nothing to make the world aware of the decades-long humiliation of the Russian minorities in some ex-Soviet republics since 1991 and Ukraine since 2014, nor has it done anything more serious to protect them except using the formal language of diplomacy. Russia also reacted lukewarmly to the constant strengthening of Nazi movements in its neighborhood, even though the Russians and Russia were the main targets of that madness. Russia allowed the processes of Nazification of Ukraine since 2014 to go too far, without setting clear red lines much, much earlier but not in 2022. That is why no one took Russia seriously until February 24th, 2022.
Consequently, there is a great, global shock about the current Russian military action in East Ukraine. Only now, with a huge delay of 30 years and for the first time after the Cold War 1.0, the West started to take Russia seriously. The price of the delay is high, much higher than it had to be, the risks are huge and the outcomes for the global security and economy are uncertain. The only certain thing is the suffering of Ukrainian citizens and the death of soldiers on both sides.
Dr. Vladislav B. Sotirović
Ex-University Professor
Vilnius, Lithuania
Research Fellow at the Center for Geostrategic Studies
Belgrade, Serbia
www.geostrategy.rs
© Vladislav B. Sotirović 2024
Personal disclaimer: The author writes for this publication in a private capacity which is unrepresentative of anyone or any organization except for his own personal views. Nothing written by the author should ever be conflated with the editorial views or official positions of any other media outlet or institution.
