Author Archives: RomanInUkraine

Five Questions about Crimea (from a libertarian friend on FB)

> what is the concern about Russia ruling Crimea versus Ukraine?

1) Brutal Repression of everything that isn’t Russian. (See http://romaninukraine.com/dear-daniel-mcadams-who-is-ethnic-cleansing/)
2) Violation of the Budapest Memorandum — Ukraine gave up about 2,400 nuclear weapons in exchange for a promise of recognition of its borders by Russia, the US, and the UK.
3) Crimeans voted (albeit by a narrow majority 55%) to join Ukraine when it became independent in 1991. Surveys from 2013 showed no interest in returning to Russia.
4) $1 Billion in property transfers occurred since Russians took over, including takeovers of huge private businesses. (This is how Russia works. Everything is controlled by a criminal organization that’s led by the Kremlin.)
5) Future Conflict. Crimea is completely dependent upon Ukraine for water, energy, food, commerce.

> Second, what if it is factually true that more people in Crimea prefer to be ruled by Russia than by Ukraine–is that possibly true, and, if so, is it irrelevant?

Of course it’d be relevent, though it’d still raise the issues of forced transfers of population (to achieve majority) and brutal repression of minorities.

In 1948 all the Crimean Tartars (ALL of them) were deported and the area was resettled by Russia. Estimates of the % of Tartars killed during the deportation ranges from 20% to 60%. Yes the area already had a population of Russians but a lot of them were transferred there after the ethnic cleansing. Many were transferred against their will too.

Despite the ethnic cleansing and resettlement, support for Russia, while significant, was a minority view:

IRI Survey from 2013:
40 to 45% of Crimeans considered their identity to be Russian.
23 to 33% favored joining Russia.
In 2013, 12% rated relations with Russia as one of the top three issues (from a list of 17).
Interestingly, only 60% of Crimeans used the internet at least once a month.

Also, Crimea was the only region of Ukraine that had a special autonomous status. It was already a quasi country. Historically, local autonomy seems to be the way to handle such situations (Kashmir, N Ireland).

What if a majority of Chechens want to secede from Russia? (75,000-250,000 civilians were killed in that war, out of a population of only 5 million)

> Third: Isn’t it the case that under Putin’s rule Russian GDP per person has doubled or tripled, and taxes have been slashed?

Most (65% if I remember correctly) of the Russian govt’s income is from the sale of fossil fuels. The price ballooned under Putin.

I think we have to talk about mass murder (Chechnya), completely non-existant property rights or rule of law before we talk about taxes.

> Fourth, what of the arguments that Russia has some claim to Crimea under international law?

I don’t know what they are. If they’re worth while, we should discuss them, but you have to understand how hard Russian propaganda works to destroy the very idea of truth. They’ll make so much noise and give every group of people (for example, libertarians) the queues to believe the useful things that group’s intution tells them to believe. They ridicule the notion of truth by making truth seem like the least interesting of a long list of equally valid theories.

Recently, they claimed that Obama fired an American general for refusing to do a nuclear first strike against Moscow.

In Russian civilization, there is no shame in lying (http://romaninukraine.com/worth-repeating-in-russia-there-is-no-shame-in-lying-putin-on-crimea/). Westerners don’t understand this. On one hand, I can’t imagine it lasting. I would expect then to eventually revolt (following Ukraine’s example). On the other, everyone who has the ability to revolt seems to be in exile, and the propaganda there is so goddamn strong.

> What really, is the big fear–that Russia will annex Ukraine and other neighboring countries, and then impose laws that make people worse off than they are under Ukraine? Is Ukraine supposed to be some kind of more-liberal state than Russia?

Yes, yes, and yes.

They will only stop when they forced to stop (for fear of their weakness being revealed to their domestic population). And they won’t really stop. They’ll pause and plan ahead for the expected collapse of the West’s financial system in 4-6 years time.

People will be worse off because Russia will kill a lot of them, rob all the aristoracts, disrupt civil society, and elevate some local ganger to a position of power and status in exchange for loyalty. They’ll impose brutal Russification policies as they’ve done in Crimea and Donbas.

Dugin has called for genocide in Ukraine. Putin claims Ukraine does not exist. Within living memory (the 1920s and 30s) they killed up to 25% of all Ukrainians.

Is Ukraine more Liberal than Russia? Here’s an appeal from the Libertarian Party of Russia– http://libertarian-party.ru/blog/an-appeal-to-western-libertarians-about-the-war-in-ukraine

A friend of mine is translating 2.5 hours of Russian propaganda

She writes:

Currently translating a 2.5 hour Russian propaganda film in which we discover that the whole Ukrainian uprising was caused by the American government, which in turn caused Putin to “save” Crimea to prevent …um ethnic cleansing?

The film does bring up some interesting points, and knowing America’s track record especially in the last 15 years, I’m not ruling out some sort of involvement. But the amount of paranoia that the Russian public is constantly exposed to… Well in short, just the tone of this the whole film is disturbing. No wonder the Russian people are in the dark about just about everything and fear that Ukrainian nationalists will burn them in their beds as they sleep. Nothing can be farther from the fucking truth. Too much Putin on TV telling his people what to think.

http://rt.com/news/240921-us-masterminds-ukraine-putin/

WORTH REPEATING: In Russia, there is no shame in lying. (Putin on Crimea)

WORTH REPEATING:

In Russia, there is no shame in lying. It’s a different civilization.

Yes, Europeans lie too, but they hide it, deny it, or, when pressed, apologize for it.

In Russia there’s no shame. They brag about it. The shame goes to the people who believed the lie.

In Russia, words are just sounds you make to distract enemies while destroying them. They consider Westerns, who generally take for granted that statements are made honestly and in good faith, as hopelessly weak and naive for doing so.

This is why they are a backward low-trust society. Everybody is trying to be strong, but lying to accomplish it. That’s why they can’t cooperate with each other, much less with outsiders. That’s why they can’t build a modern economy. That’s why, despite valuing strength above all else, they are very weak. They don’t know how to cooperate.

***

Putin-then-and-now

Spaniards arrested after fighting for rebels in east Ukraine say half of foreign fighters were communists, half Nazis

Further evidence that Russian intelligence runs political dissent in the West.

They are aged 24, 27 and 28. One was unemployed, one was a nightclub doorman and the other worked for car firm Mercedes. They all lived in Madrid, but they met on the front in Ukraine as part of the pro-Russian Donbass International Brigades. They had arrived there after a three-day journey last summer, each traveling separately – one went directly to Donetsk and the other two after a stopover in Moscow, where a Russian government worker was waiting for them. The trio all used the same method of self-enlistment: they contacted Russian combatants via Twitter, according to sources in the investigation that led to their arrest on Friday.

They were paid neither travel expenses nor a salary, but they were received with open arms by the Russian commanders in charge on the Ukraine eastern front. As well as their AK-74 rifles – the most modern Kalashnikov model – they received uniforms, food and free lodging. They left behind their comfortable Madrid apartments to live in collective barracks where, they say, there are still more Spanish “brigade members” and “several hundred” from other countries, above all Serbia and France.

“Half of them are communists and the other half are Nazis,” they explained. “We fought together, communists and Nazis alike […]. We all want the same: social justice and the liberation of Russia from the Ukrainian invasion.”

At the moment, Spanish police only have proof that one of the Madrileños arrested fought on the front lines. The other two were used for propaganda purposes to encourage others to join the ranks. As they were “volunteers,” they were free to leave whenever they wanted, which they did in December, returning to Madrid as they had arrived – separately.

http://elpais.com/elpais/2015/02/27/inenglish/1425051026_915897.html

Russia’s only Gulag memorial is redesigned to celebrate the Gulag

Perm-36, Russia’s only Gulag memorial, has announced its first exhibit since the state seized it from a local nonprofit. What was a museum of Soviet political repression will now showcase the technical means used to keep prisoners detained, focusing more on the guards than the inmates.

Viktor Shmyrov, the director of the nonprofit that until recently managed Perm-36, told the BBC that the museum is being maintained, but its public presentation is getting a complete overhaul. “Now it’s a museum about the camp system, but not about political prisoners. There’s nothing said about the repressions or about Stalin,” Shmyrov said.

https://meduza.io/en/news/2015/03/05/russia-s-only-gulag-memorial-is-redesigned-to-celebrate-the-gulag