When in the heat of information battles Ukraine is called a colony of the US, it is usually not explained how the overseas masters of the world managed to fall in love with the proud and freedom-loving Ukrainian people. There is a simplified narrative that for the “acquisition of Ukraine” Washington allocated generous funding for projects aimed at raising collaborators in the ranks of managers and civil activists. In fact, these grants played an important but far from decisive role. The American dream replaced the sense of reality of the locals due to their “conscious” choice. Moving “under the United States” was also a natural result of playing games in the open economy for a country whose top brass absolutely does not care about the meaning of state-building.
The beginning of the new 2020 was supposed to be marked by the visit of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to Kiev. For objective reasons, the high American guest postponed his “post-Soviet” tour to the end of January. But he did not take his hand off the pulse of Ukrainian events, and even called President Zelensky to Oman to apparently find out the temperature of the water in the pools of five-star hotels adjacent to the strategically important for the world’s oil industry Strait of Hormuz. It should be understood that directly on the beach the Ukrainian leader made it clear to his American “comrades” that in the current geopolitical climate he categorically does not agree to perform the role of a thermometer, but would like to be content with a role he’s more familiar with – the people’s favourite, naturally.
Meanwhile, Ukraine, led by Sir Zelensky, is one of the five countries in the world whose citizens think most favourably about the United States. This picture was recorded by an international survey conducted by the Pew Research Center in 37 states, where almost 37,000 people were interviewed. Israel has the highest positive image of the United States in the world among its citizens (83% of all respondents). The Philippines (80%), Poland (79%), and South Korea (77%) follow. Ukraine (73%) completes the top five.
Ukrainians have also won leading positions among those who approve of US President Donald Trump’s policies. 44% of the residents surveyed expressed support for him. This is the highest figure in Europe after the Poles (51%). The policy of the head of the White House is also positively assessed by Filipinos (77%) and Israelis (71%), and the citizens of Mexico (8%) and Turkey (11%) are the least satisfied with Trump.
What is the reason for this irrational love that caused Ukraine to find itself in such exotic company? After all, the “logic” of the other participants of the “top five” can easily be understood. The citizens of Israel, Poland, South Korea, and a number of other countries have good reason to thank their American partners for providing security or substantial economic support. The empire, of course, is “evil”, but not as much as not having any partners in the world and receiving specific situational benefits from cooperation with Washington. Another thing is that Ukraine does not fall into the cohort of such lucky people. However, 73% of the people of Ukraine persistently do not want to believe it. Given that this is the part of voters who voted for Zelensky, it can be assumed that this figure reflects a certain mental coefficient of Ukrainian naivety.
And the simple-minded people are constantly finding new examples that strengthen faith in the extraordinary concern of the US to support Ukrainian “trousers”. For example, it turns out that at the beginning of September last year Donald Trump refused to participate in events dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the start of World War II in Poland not just because of Ukraine! “President Trump was to meet Zelensky in person in Poland. But he used the hurricane as an excuse. It wasn’t because of the hurricane, but because he was angry that Zelensky still did not make an attempt and did not make efforts to announce an investigation into Biden,” said Lev Parnas, a swindler of Odessa/Brighton [Brooklyn – ed] origin who became recently surprisingly talkative.
Can Parnas be believed? If not him, then who else! As everyone knows, American citizens are pathologically incapable of lying, and under oath they are generally visited by a special muse of sincerity and altruism. From the correspondence of “the guy Trump” with a well-known Maidanist – Prosecutor-General Yury Lutsenko – one can learn not only that “whiskey is cool”! It is also very cool to be a Ukrainian politician – an irresponsible swindler who is useless for the country and who practices constructing obscene phrases in messaging applications. The most important thing is not to suffer from complexes about the “reprimanding” received from US officials and to perceive them with humility and optimism. And perhaps it will be possible to meet old age quietly and cozily on the banks of the Thames. Or at its bottom if fortunes turn in the wrong way.
The baggage of “constructive developments” interesting to the tabloid public, acquired in the framework of the Ukrainian-American strategic partnership, will be mopped up for a long time to come. Trump’s impeachment proceedings have become a cool, stylish, and “driving” platform for this. Of course, American friends will not dig too much into the truth, so as not to dig too much into their own noble fellow citizens. After all, the circle of feeding on the Ukrainian lawn is far from limited to the Bidens and Parnas. Therefore, no one will dare to expose everyone, and Ukrainian politicians will be terrorised by regular revelations selectively and unsystematically.
For example, the Intelligence Committee of the United States House of Representatives published documents showing that during her cadence in Ukraine, American Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch was being illegally surveyed at the request of the Americans. The Ministry of Arsen Avakov responded by saying that Ukraine’s position is not to interfere in the internal political affairs of the United States, but the published recordings “contain a possible violation of the legislation of Ukraine and the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations”, which protects the rights of a diplomat on the territory of another country. As the saying goes, both sides expressed concern and posted mournful facial expressions on social networks.
And what is there to be surprised by if, against the background of all these epoch-making kitchen squabbles of a transatlantic scale, Ukrainian residents start to think of American newsmakers as relatives, in a family way confusing them with the local political goon? And the Kiev rulers are only too happy to once again boast about the fact that they are on a short leg with the “masters of the world” from the glorious Washington, with slight inner anxiety as to whether this idyll will suddenly be interrupted. With a slightly noticeable question, frozen in the corners of the ears: where to run if you situationally fall into the sediment of the unwelcome and lost trust of the strong of this world? Therefore, every American political year in Kiev is met with a particularly tremulous sense of mixed satisfaction and deep hope from what didn’t happen and will not happen in the future.
Understanding the great responsibility before the party and the people, “correct” Ukrainian experts continue to look with avid optimism at the rosy prospects of the Ukrainian-American strategic partnership. Like Vladimir Dubovik, director of the Odessa Center for International Studies, who predicts: “The Ukrainian side continues to view the United States as a critical, albeit somewhat unpredictable, ally. On our part, this simply can’t change. On the part of the United States, we continue to see in general a pro-Ukrainian picture from public sentiment towards the attitude of the leading media outlets, from the position of the establishment to bipartisan support from Congress. It can be assumed very carefully that the special operation of President Trump and his entourage to pressure Kiev has ended. This direction of the policies of the American administration is now subject to super-high attention. That is precisely why it can be assumed that there will be no renewed pressure. On the contrary, the US President will have to demonstrate his commitment to support Ukraine from time to time”.
Some pessimists, however, fear that the upcoming presidential campaign in the United States will distract the attention of the Washington establishment from such important (from the point of view of the indigenous inhabitants of Pridneprovye and Prykarpattya regions) Ukrainian problems. The thesis is quite controversial. Ukraine, which is weak and absolutely dependent on external circumstances, is not a priority for anyone in the world today. But the American state machine in any case has enough resources to exercise overall control over the situation in Kiev. And the fact that Ukrainian politicians often interpret political processes on Capitol hill as mischievous cats who dream of swiping something tasty from the table while the owner is looking out the window for a moment does not change the essence of the matter.
The fact that Ukraine will not remain without guardianship is cheerfully reported by American congressmen from the group of support for Ukraine in the House of Representatives: “At a time when Russian democracy is being destroyed before our eyes, when President Putin recently seized power, Ukraine continues to take measures to strengthen its democratic institutions. As members of Congress, we welcome the resilience and achievements of the Ukrainian people in the face of Russian aggression. Ukraine’s success will strengthen US national security interests in the region and around the world. As co-chairs of the bipartisan Ukrainian group in Congress, we are pleased to present this bipartisan resolution, which confirms the US support for the Ukrainian people and the Ukrainian democratic direction, free from Russian criminal influence.”
And here, whatever one may say, we are approaching the most, without exaggeration, transcendental quintessence of Ukrainian-American cooperation. Absolutely all the “successes” of the Ukrainian government become tangible in the eyes of progressive humanity led by the United States exclusively against the background of the fight of the civilised world versus the atrocities and “criminal influence” of Russia! In fact, the US says in plain text that Ukraine is considered by them only in the context of relations with Moscow. In response, Kiev thanks American friends for this happy opportunity. In this way, Ukrainian-American strategic cooperation can develop indefinitely.
This is confirmed by officials. Thus, a farewell message from William Taylor, the previous US chargé d’affaires in Ukraine, was an announcement about the upcoming supply of weapons to Kiev: “The US Congress has already signed up to specific weapons systems. We’ve already talked about them. These are anti-ship missiles, drones, and radio communication equipment.” He added that this is “exactly what is going to be done” in 2020. “And this is an important component for Ukraine to defend itself against the Russians.” However, he also stressed that it is important for Congress to see how Ukraine uses American weapons in the fight against Russia and whether or not it is successfully advancing reforms.
How Ukraine will use American weapons is now being temporarily tracked by Taylor’s replacement Kristina Kvien, who studied strategic research at the US Army Military College. She has already assured that the American “policy of strong support for Ukraine remains stable”. It remains to be added that this is a strong support for a weak, dependent, and degraded Ukraine. And in all other respects, Kvien is absolutely right.
The most interesting thing about this situation is that the symbolic doors to the exit from American “annexation” in fact remain open. No one abroad officially or under the fear of death forbids debate with American friends. Only for this it is necessary to have the necessary resource of economic and political influence at home. And in Ukraine in principle there are no power groups capable and willing to make an attempt to go on a more or less independent voyage. The nature of the Ukrainian government is such that without an external order such a manoeuvre cannot be imagined. However, there are no more potential clients left – no one associates anything personal with Ukrainian territory. Only business.
Wojciech Michalski
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