Paul
Goble
Staunton, May 15 – Just as
Transdniestria has sometimes been described as the Soviet Union frozen in time,
so too, the writers of the Rufabula.com portal say, “the so-called ‘Donetsk Republic’
concentrates in itself all the abominations which remain from the post-Soviet
and post-imperial heritage” and which many had thought had passed from the
scene forever.
Indeed, this region is so
unattractive that its features may well have led Vladimir Putin to conclude
that Russia would be better off without it while at the same time have
convinced Ukrainians that Donetsk at least in its current form is a kind of “ballast”
they would be better off without (rufabula.com/articles/2014/05/14/republic-of-vagrants).
And thus the Rufabula.com writers
conclude, “the Donetsk republic doesn’t have a future. It is a second
Transdniestria, poor, archaic and unrecognized.” And with its departure, “a national
and democratic Ukraine with the support of the West has a chance to make a
historic breakthrough.”
In support of that argument, the
authors draw on the comments of local people, the analysis of Russian experts,
and pictures worth more than a thousand words showing just what life is now
like in this new self-proclaimed republic.
Anyone in Donetsk can see at a
glance the aggressive militarist spirit which animates its leaders, the
restoration of Soviet symbols, the role-playing Cossacks with their nagaikas,
Kadyrov’s Chechens strutting about, and the speeches of self-proclaimed
representatives who can’t seem to put two words together without cursing or
grammatical mistakes.
Behind this public scene, the
article continues, there are “tortures and
murders of Ukrainian activists, the seizure of hostages, wild obscurantist ‘legal projects,’ searches
forforeign spies, threats to journalists and persecution of those who think
differently, and calls for the nationalization of capital and ‘the
expropriation of the expropriators.’”
Those who view Donets “from afar” may
see it as a manifestation of “the Russian spring,” but those who are caught up
in it find themselves in a world like the one that would happen if “in one of the
cities of the Russian Federation suddenly seized power the paritcipants of an
ordinary ‘Russian March’ – bearded Orthodox fanatics ... Stalinists, Limontsy
... and skinheads from all kinds of ‘Slavic unions.’”
The new Donets powers confiscate alcohol
in order to “struggle with the ‘Dulles Plan,’” they take away computers on suspicion
of espionage. And the criminal world is a state of delght because there doesn’t
seem to be anyone enforcing the laws.
Given how bad things are, it isn’t
surprising that Putin has distanced himself from the Donetsk Republic, the
authors say. But then they suggest that Kyiv and the rest of Ukraine might well
benefit from doing the same thing. Let such people go because they are only a
burden and a blight on the rest of the country.
In support of that notion,
Rufabula.com cites the conclusions of economist Vladislav Inozemtsev who notes
that the departure of Donetsk along with Crimea will reduce the share of ethni
Russians in Ukraine from 17.4 percent at the start of 2014 to less than 11.5
percent, cut the expenditures of Kyiv on the region, and make Ukraine a more
pro-European country (rbcdaily.ru/politics/562949991416228).
Finally, before posting some truly
disturbing photographs, Rufabula.com cites the conclusions of Finland’s Marshal
Mannerheim about what he saw as the major reason for the defeat of the
anti-Bolshevik White Movement in 1918-1920: the unwillingness of White leaders
to recognize Finnish independence and their insistence on a single Russia one
and indivisible.
At the same time, of course, the
Rufabula.com authors say, people from the Donbass will be looked down upon by
Muscovites as “second class” citizens if that region did join the Russian
Federation given all the problems they would bring with them and especially the
lifestyles many of their so-called leaders seem committed to.
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