Ukraine: An Opportunity To Be Squandered
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Will President Obama emulate President George H. W. Bush at this historic opportunity?
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Events in Ukraine were moving fast but as of Saturday night, Ukraine’s parliament voted to remove President Viktor Yanukovych who had abused his democratically acquired powers. It set new presidential elections for May 25. The action came hours after he left the capital and protesters took control of the city center.
While Mr. Yanukovych vowed to remain in power, his political allies abandoned him in droves and it is doubtful he will last as even a titular head, and perhaps may leave the country in the near future. Ukraine opposition leader and former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko was released from prison and made her way to Independence Square in Kiev where she addressed a large nighttime crowd. Speaking from a wheelchair after suffering back problems during her 2½ years in prison, Ms. Tymoshenko called for bringing Mr. Yanukovych to the square to face the people.
Her anger is understandable but one of the most critical times of forming a democratic republic is right when the revolutionaries have won; ask the French.
Will President Obama take the same flaccid approach to the Ukraine crisis that President Geirge H. W. Bush took to the fall of the Soviet Union?
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Incendiary language can only bring on incendiary actions. The Ukranians should follow the rule of civilized nations and not resort to the thuggish rule of Mr. Yanukovych.
Still, this is no time to go weak at the knees and perhaps more than any other time since President Obama has been in office, his leadership is needed.
Which makes the White House’s reaction to these events all the more depressing.
Today, the White House issued a cautiously worded statement. “We have consistently advocated a de-escalation of violence, constitutional change, a coalition government and early elections, and today’s developments could move us closer to that goal,” it said. The statement also said the U.S. “will work with our allies, with Russia and with appropriate European and international organizations to support a strong, prosperous, unified, and democratic Ukraine. Going forward, the Ukrainian people should know that the United States deeply values our long-standing ties with Ukraine and will support them as they pursue a path of democracy and economic development.”
That makes for good diplomatic-speak and certainly avoids an uncomfortable atmosphere in the U.N. dining facility when the Russian and American counter-parts are in each other’s vicinity, but it doesn’t address the fact that a belligerent Russia is trying to strong-arm Ukraine for its own objectives and has no qualms, as witnessed in recent days, to see the shedding of Ukranian blood. A sign that the U.S is not fully committed to the Ukraine’s replacement of Mr. Yanukovych with a democratic candidate and system would only give Russia the green light to meddle in Ukraine’s affairs and support another pro-Russian anti-democrat.
Recalled is the early 1990s when President George H.W. Bush was excessively cautious upon the fall of the Berlin Wall. So much so that Democrats, who criticized Ronald Reagan and his policies that helped bring the Soviet Union down, were able to outflank Bush and push for more rigorous support of anti-communist forces in East Europe and Russia. It has been argued in many quarters that Mr. Bush’s flaccid support of the democratic movement in Russia in the early 1990s led to the relatively weak government of Boris Yeltsin that yielded to the autocratic Vladimir Putin in charge today.
Mr. Obama has a proclivity to ignore foreign events and it would not be surprising if he took a stance of hoping this Ukraine crisis will also just play itself out without him expending political or other capital which he devotes solely to the socially re-engineering of this country and pummeling Republicans.
But the stakes are too high for a country the size of Ukraine that is both geographically and chronologically placed at a critical point in history. Hopefully Mr. Obama will realize that.
-I.M. Windee
