Helsinki, Finland. 10 February 2010…
Pushing down snow to be trucked away. Helsinki, Finland. 10 February 2010.
What’s next in Sevastopol…
Sevastopol, Ukraine. January 2010.
HELSINKI-Despite observers declaring the election to be ‘free and fair’ Ukrainian Prime Minister Julia Tymoshenko is set to contest her loss in last Sunday’s presidential elections.
More instability is exactly what Ukraine does not need, but Tymoshenko must feel that continuing her hard fighting life is worth what it may do to the country’s already non-existent faith in politicians.
Now that the election is over I am eager to continue my work on the ethnic Russian population in the ‘flashpoint’ city of Sevastopol and the Crimean Peninsula.
Read my recent article here and past work here and here.
This is a story that looks vastly different depending on the generation you are talking to. Along with profiling more of the older generation, many of whom arrived in Sevastopol to serve in the Russian Black Sea Fleet and the younger generation, who are far more pluralistic in their view of Russia and Europe, I want to know if the ethnic Russians in Crimea feel more secure and willing to integrate with Ukraine now that Viktor Yanukovych, who is more pro-Russia than Tymoshenko, has taken the presidency.
After Russia’s 2008 invasion of Georgia there was so much in the media about Sevastopol and Crimea becoming the next ‘flashpoint.’
During my first visit in October 2008 I wondered what all the fuss was about. Russia gains next to nothing by invading Crimea. The population is already largely loyal to the Kremlin. Yet the idea that Ukraine might somehow lose Crimea has persisted
Now, however, among theories that right wing parties are growing across Europe and Russia, Sevastopol persists in being a place that could only too easily be set off to serve the purposes of politicians in Moscow and/or Kyiv, if manipulated correctly.
Before left for Sevastopol I interviewed Andreas Umland, editor of the book series Soviet and Post-Soviet Politics and Society and author of several recent articles on Ukraine and Sevastopol.
Though there wasn’t the space to include Umland in my current article on Sevastopol, he brought up some extremely interesting points that I wanted to share, which coincide with my belief that Crimea is a peaceful place and it would take outside forces for the peninsula to become the ‘flashpoint’ it has been dubbed.
According to Umland, clashes between the different ethnic groups were expected in Crimea in the early nineties after the fall of the Soviet Union. There has been some confrontations, but no one has been killed so far.
Why not?
The answer is that Ukrainians and Russians are so similar, almost the same people with the same religion and common believes. The domestic situation is completely different from the one that led to the 2008 war in Georgia.
Yet, there is a growing number of right-wing nationalist parties in both Ukraine and Russia that could benefit from the tension in Sevastopol.
While these groups are not active currently, Umland said. “You can see these people in the clashes in Sevastopol for instance. It hasn’t yet come to violent clashes. It is quite easy to see how if it comes to a violent clash how ultra-nationalists in Kyiv and Moscow would benefit from it. Because it would stir up public opinion. There would be a bidding war between patriots who would then argue who is the greatest patriot of Ukraine or of Russia.”
While in Sevastopol I was also told that more hardcore Russian nationalists are becoming more active, though they are lacking leadership and organization.
As it stands at the moment Viktor Yanukovych will most likely extent the Black Sea Fleet’s lease on Sevastopol harbor. If this is enough for the former Soviet naval families to feel connected to Russia is something I will have to return to Crimea to find out.
Sevastopol article out now…
HELSINKI-Check out my article on Sevastopol online at the New Statesman.
Ukrainian presidential election today…
HELSINKI-Ukraine is holding the second round of its presidential election today.
This is the first presidential elections since the 2004 Orange Revolution.
Read this article by Andreas Umland on Ukraine joining the EU.
I interviewed Umland recently on Sevastopol. My article on this “flashpoint” city will be out in the next few days.
Back in Helsinki…Sevastopol…
Sevastopol, Ukraine. January 2010.
HELSINKI-I’m back in Finland after a successful six days in Ukraine.
More to come about that later this week…
Sevastopol and the Ukrainian Presidential Election…
HELSINKI-The Ukrainian presidential election this last Sunday went exactly as expected.
Opposition leader Viktor Yanukovych won the vote, but without the necessary majority over his primary rival, Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko.
A second round of voting will be held on 7 February to decide the victor. Yanukovych has a ten percent lead of Tymoshenko, who is hoping the candidates who did not receive enough of the vote to continue will publicly endorse her. The next few weeks will be see intense backroom negotiations in Ukraine for who will get what in these long awaited elections.
In between this, I’ll be in the “flashpoint” city of Sevastopol, the home to Russia’s Black Sea Fleet. Already making public their expectations for improved ties with Ukraine, Russia has sent a new ambassador and will fight hard for their lease on the Sevastopol harbor to be renewed passed 2017, when it is currently set to expire.
The ethnic Russian residents in Sevastopol are most likely happy that the westward leaning Viktor Yushchenko has not been re-elected to the presidency.
I am eager to ask the residents of Sevastopol what they expected from the predicted improved relationship between Ukraine and Russia. When I was last there in October 2008, many of the older residents expressed an incredibly distrustful view of anything from Europe or the United States. The younger residents in their twenties and thirties were not so distrustful. They saw what could be learned from countries in the West and wanted to create the same level of development, business, and life in Sevastopol. They insisted that their homeland was Russia, not Ukraine however. That remains the core issue in Sevastopol and indeed much of Crimea. The clear majority of the region are loyal to a country in which they are not living in. They believe that Crimea is Russia. That it is legally part of Ukraine is only a historic misstep.
People in Sevastopol will almost certainly want the most pro-Russia candidate as president. How little the candidates differ may not be clear amidst whatever propaganda and past memories are currently floating around in Ukraine. The Kremlin will certainly continue to exert its force in Crimea, something that is welcome from the population, no matter the victor. Crimea will continue to become more Russian and closer to Moscow. How the new Ukrainian president will respond to that and what the result will be is not clear. Yanukovych will most likely extend the Russian lease, though how he will react if the Kremlin’s presence in Crimea becomes too overt is uncertain. South Ossetia and Abkhazia declared themselves independent from Georgia, though the efforts at “Russificiation” were stronger and situations significantly different. People in Sevastopol and Crimea for the most part already consider themselves to be living in Russia. Some say they have to declare themselves independent (with Russia’s help) and really become part of Russia, but for the most part people already believe that they are.
Crimea was recently called a “wildcard” by FP. With both Tymoshenko and Yanukovych promising a balanced position towards Russia and Europe, it is somewhat hard to believe that the situation would escalate substantially. A military intervention of any kind is highly unlikely. However there has been an increasing number of clashes between residents of Sevastopol and Ukrainian nationalists. In October 2008, I was walking down the street in Sevastopol when I noticed Russian soldiers angrily pacing in front of the statue of Catherine the Great, a present from Russia to Sevastopol. The statue had been hit during the night with blue and yellow paint, the colors of the Ukrainian flag. A probable provocation from Ukrainian nationalists who feel that Crimea is slipping away form Ukraine.
An increase in these sort of provocations could spark an intensification in an already tense Crimea. Some delicate diplomacy will be needed to resolve anything that might occur. Read the rest of this entry »
Finnish ostriches…
Helsinki, Finland. Winter 2008.
HELSINKI- Ostriches are big birds.
It goes without saying that one needs to be careful around them. Especially in the winter, say in a country such as Finland, where the freezing weather makes them rather more aware of the fact that they are not in their natural environment and could quite possibly be cranky about it.
Luckily, I’ll have backup. A Finn acting as both my co-pilot, lawyer, and bodyguard will translate my good intentions to these birds, who, I believe, for the most part have been born in Finland and perhaps not quite in touch with their ancestral roots in some African savanna.
The extent of their Finnization is what I will be investigating, along with finding out how exactly an ostrich farm has come to exist in the flats of southern Finland. An ostrich farm is exactly as it sounds. A place where ostriches are raised for their meat, feathers, eggs, and even skin. These parts of the bird are turned into various products. Ostrich feather boas to make-up to meat in speciality shops. The extent of the products that can be made from ostriches makes one wonder why they are not in greater demand. Why do ostriches not rank among chickens, cows, lamb, and pigs as a source of previously living consumption? Is it because they are so fast, wiley even, known for pressing themselves against the ground when they sense danger. It can hardly be that the are dangerous, though they are. Being kicked by an ostrich can be lethal. Yet the birds can only kick forwards. Ostriches are smart creatures, certain smarter than the above mentioned animals, but that can hardly be the explanation for why they have not taken off more as a source of sustenance.
A small number of farms in Finland have attempted to make ostriches more in demand. I will be visiting one of these farms tomorrow and seeing what the ostriches, and the farm’s owners, tell me about this business in Finland.
Back to Sevastopol…Russia the real winner…
A Russian flag flies in the Ukrainian port city of Sevastopol in October 2008.
HELSINKI-Today Ukraine is voting in their first presidential election since the 2004 Orange Revolution.
Read The Guardian’s piece on the election here.
The election is expected to go into a runoff scheduled for 7 February. I am currently preparing to return to the Crimean “flashpoint” city of Sevastopol at the end of the week. You can see my past work on Sevastopol here and here.
After the drama of the Orange Revolution brought the westward-looking Viktor Yushchenko to the presidency, Ukraine is trying hard to return to Russia. Yushchenko has proven himself unable to come through with his promises to create stability and fight corruption and is running for re-election polling in the single digits.
Having been poisoned during the Orange Revolution, many believe by the Kremlin, Yushchenko tried hard not to need Russia. Yet Ukraine is tied to Russian by more than energy pipelines. In Imperium, the Polish journalist Ryszard Kapuscinski writes, “The future of Ukraine will develop in two direction; in terms of its relations with Russia, and in terms of its relations with Europe and the rest of the world. If these relationships unfold propitiously, Ukraine’s chances are excellent. For it is a country of fertile soil and precious natural resources, blessed with a warm, hospitable climate. And it is a large nation of more than fifty million-strong, resilient, and ambitious.”
In Ukrainian, the country’s name means “homeland.” But in Russian the name means “borderland.” The entity that has evolved into Russia began as Kievan Rus in the territory that is now Ukraine in the 900s. The capital eventually moved north to Moscow, but despite long attempts by Ukrainian nationalists to create a separate state, Ukraine only really became independent from Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has made statements that he does not consider Ukraine to be a real country. I heard similar sentiments from ethnic Russians living in Sevastopol when I was there in October 2008. The Russians living in Sevastopol in fact do not even consider themselves to be living in Ukraine. When they talk about “their country” they are talking about Russia.
All the candidates in today’s election can be considered ‘pro-Russia’ candidates. They all believe that a closer relationship with Russia is necessary for Ukraine to stabilize. After Yushchenko, this means that Russia will be the true winner of the Ukrainian elections. The contest now is more about the individual personalities of the candidates than ideological beliefs. Politics in Ukraine are brutal. The in-fighting may continue past the runoff this 7 February.
In Sevastopol I will find out who the ethnic Russians living there prefer to lead Ukraine and if they believe that the coming years will see Crimea move closer to Russia.
See more of my images from Sevastopol and Ukraine here.
How Pat Robertson thought he could make reference to the “devil” and further became a racist idiot…
HELSINKI-By blaming yesterday’s earthquake in Haiti on a pact the Haitians made with the devil, Pat Robertson has once again confirmed to the world he that he is an idiot who also cannot read.
Haitians overthrew French rule in the 1700’s through a series of revolts.
One traditional Haitian story tells how “the God of the white asks for crime…”
This is hardly surprising given that Haitian’s past experience was as slaves.
Robertson most have decided that this story constituted a pact with the devil.
And further proven the racism that is so present in the United States.
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