Focus
Ethnic and cultural cleansing in Ukraine
by Andrew Korybko
While the president of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, has just inked an agreement with the leaders of the Donbas People’s Republic, Andrew Korybko dwells on the reasons for the uprising: it is not simply a question of refusing to recognize the coup government in Kiev, but an attempt to ward off an official project entailing the ethnic cleansing of the Russian-speaking populations. On the centennial anniversary of “Russophilic” individuals (Rusyns) from modern-day Ukraine being sent to concentration camps, history appears set to once again repeat itself. The Ukrainian Defense Minister has publicly voiced his plan to corral the citizens of Donbass into special “filtration” camps prior to forcibly resettling them in different parts of Ukraine.
A few days later, Ukrainian Prime Minister Yatsenyuk declared the pro-federalists in the East to be “subhuman”.
This choice of words not only wasn’t condemned by Kiev’s American patrons, but was actually defended by State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki, who strangely said that Yatsenyuk “has consistently been in support of a peaceful resolution” [1]. Raising concerns even higher that a full-fledged cleansing is being planned, Ukraine’s land agency said that it will be giving “free land” from the east to the military, Interior Ministry, and Special Services troops battling the federalists [2]. With Ukraine on the verge of large-scale ethnic and cultural cleansing, it is little wonder at whose expense this Lebenstraum-like “free land” will be given.
This flagrant violation of fundamental human rights is being absolutely ignored by Western governments, which are usually the first actors to prematurely blow the whistle on any suspected human rights violations and threaten military intervention.
Ethnic and cultural cleansing in Ukraine
by Andrew Korybko
While the president of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, has just inked an agreement with the leaders of the Donbas People’s Republic, Andrew Korybko dwells on the reasons for the uprising: it is not simply a question of refusing to recognize the coup government in Kiev, but an attempt to ward off an official project entailing the ethnic cleansing of the Russian-speaking populations. On the centennial anniversary of “Russophilic” individuals (Rusyns) from modern-day Ukraine being sent to concentration camps, history appears set to once again repeat itself. The Ukrainian Defense Minister has publicly voiced his plan to corral the citizens of Donbass into special “filtration” camps prior to forcibly resettling them in different parts of Ukraine.
This choice of words not only wasn’t condemned by Kiev’s American patrons, but was actually defended by State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki, who strangely said that Yatsenyuk “has consistently been in support of a peaceful resolution” [1]. Raising concerns even higher that a full-fledged cleansing is being planned, Ukraine’s land agency said that it will be giving “free land” from the east to the military, Interior Ministry, and Special Services troops battling the federalists [2]. With Ukraine on the verge of large-scale ethnic and cultural cleansing, it is little wonder at whose expense this Lebenstraum-like “free land” will be given.
This flagrant violation of fundamental human rights is being absolutely ignored by Western governments, which are usually the first actors to prematurely blow the whistle on any suspected human rights violations and threaten military intervention.
