Paul
Goble
Staunton, October 17 – Given that
Vladimir Putin can barely acknowledge Ukraine as a country and has twisted
language about Russia’s role there beyond recognition, some Ukrainians think
that it would be well for Ukrainians and others as well to use a different name
for the Russian Federation than the one Putin does.
That name, one candidate in
President Petro Poroshenko’s electoral list, says is “Muscovy,” a change which
people abroad have every right to make because it is often the case that
foreigners call a country one thing while its residents call it another. For
example, Germans call their country Deutschland, while foreigners call it
Germany (dal.by/news/19/16-10-14-25/).
Not surprisingly, this suggestion
has outraged some in “Novorossiya,” as Moscow continues to refer to
southeastern Ukraine, and in the future, it will undoubtedly outrage many
others in Russia itself who are certain to describe this as an affront to their
dignity and the latest action by Ukrainians demonstrating why they should not
get the respect of others.
But behind this anger lies a real
fear: many of the peoples within the boundaries of what is now the Russian
Federation, ethnic Russian and non-Russian alike, view their country as one
that has been occupied by Moscow and is being run for its benefit rather than
for theirs, and this Ukrainian proposal might lead others to reach the same
conclusion.
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