Today, I will talk about this Ukraine situation. I live in Canada, and so the predominant viewpoint of the situation is that it is a war. That Russia invaded Ukraine without any good reason and has been committing crimes against humanity. That it is up to us (the rest of the world) to step up and defend Ukraine and stop the evil Russian empire from continuing it’s reign of terror. Within this viewpoint it also is understood that the Russian people may not be directly responsible for what is going on; that it is their leader, Vladimir Putin, and his friends who should be held directly accountable for these heinous acts. This is why among the responses made thus far, sanctions have been placed upon Putin and the other oligarchs.
This is one viewpoint. It is extremely easy for me to learn and understand this viewpoint because it is held by those in my immediate vicinity. It is this viewpoint that is presented to me by almost all media sources I have access to. But this is simply one side of the story. It is the other side of the story, the side I have no access to, that I wish I could understand.
While I do not know the other side, I have a theory what it might look like. This viewpoint starts with the Soviet Union, and goes back to the end of World War I. After that worldwide war, the nations of the area were joined together through various contracts, agreements, and treaties to become a unified whole. As they say, many standing together are much stronger than individuals doing the same. The Soviet Union was something like the United States, in that it was a set of individual communities who agreed to work together and follow a singular leadership, particularly with regard to worldwide issues. Of course the Soviet Union did things a bit differently than the United States in this regard, and back in 1991, the Soviet Union collapsed under its own weight.
After that point, it seemed like those nations became their own independent entities, fighting for their own sovereignty and their own ideals. Unfortunately, no nation is an island. The affairs of each nation is influenced greatly by its neighbors. Simply take a look at the goings-ons in Afghanistan for the past 20 years.
There was not much press given to Ukraine over here in Canada until about 2014, when the government changed and the new president was someone whom Putin did not like so much. The new president was not so sympathetic to Russian ways. And so, around that time, the relationship between Russia and Ukraine deteriorated significantly and then steadily more until recent events. In other words, the conflict that is currently taking place in Ukraine is not some random, isolated incident. It is a conflict that has been brewing for at least the past 8 years, and likely much, much longer.
In truth, in Canada, there was not much attention paid to Ukraine since the events of 2014. For the most part, attention only was paid since the “war” began, about 3 weeks ago. This makes it very difficult for me to understand the other side.
I think the situation between Russia and Ukraine is much like the situation between a parent and their teenaged offspring. When a child is particularly young, parents have a great deal of influence and control over their actions and choices. If a young child behaves in a manner that the parent considers inappropriate, the parent takes actions to correct the behavior. Discipline and punishments of various types can occur; when I was a child, spanking was considered an appropriate punishment to correct behavior. However, as the child grows, the sorts of discipline and punishment that will successfully correct behavior changes. That which worked before no longer works. The teenager becomes better at resisting corrective action.
When the Soviet Union ceased to be, Russia acted much like a parent toward the other nations in the area. Russia set policy and guided how those other nations ought to behave. Unfortunately for Russia, over time those other nations grew and developed stronger self identities. Nations like Ukraine decided to follow a different path than the one Russia had set forth. Instead of a totalitarian style of government, ruled with an iron fist, Ukraine seemed to prefer a more democratic style of government. This is where the conflicts are rooted.
Russia wants Ukraine to behave more like Russia. Russia would like Ukraine to do things in ways that Russia considers appropriate. And when Ukraine does not agree, deciding to do things in different ways, Russia feels compelled to apply some sort of corrective action to get Ukraine back in line. As all the previous efforts in this regard continued to be met with limited success, Russia escalated their discipline and punishments.
It is believed, here in Canada, that Russia believed the invasion of Ukraine would have completed swiftly and with very little resistance. If this is true, then Russia must have believed that the government in Ukraine did not speak for the Ukrainian people. The Russians must have believed that the government in Ukraine was much like the government in Russia: totalitarian in nature. After all, the Russian government seems to make a great effort at controlling the people of Russia, instead of responding to and reflecting the will of those people.
In Russia, it seems like the nation is controlled by a select few atop a pyramid-like structure. The Russian government is run by a few people who make decisions based on their own interests. The remainder of the nation, all the rest of the people, are made to follow the desires of these few in the government. Propaganda and a strong police and military seem to be the tools utilized by the Russian government to maintain order.
In Ukraine, however, it seems like the nation was being controlled by the people. The Ukrainian government was elected by the people, and reflected the interests of the people as a whole. The government had no need of controlling the people, because the people were the one’s in charge. I admit this is speculative at best, but the severe resistance Russia has met when trying to quickly invade Ukraine would seem to support this conclusion. The people of Ukraine support the decisions of their government, and so were not willing to simply allow the Russian military to walk in and remove that government. Instead, the people fought hard to protect their government and their elected president.
I believe that Putin invaded Ukraine as an escalated effort to try and apply corrective action to the Ukrainian government. I believe Putin believed that the Ukrainian people were more like the Russian people, and that they would not fight to support their Ukrainian government. Clearly he was mistaken, if this is what he believed. But this further reveals a great problem for Russia as well. It suggests the Russian people do not support their Russian government. That if Putin ever released the heel of his boot from the neck of the Russian people, even just a little, the Russian people might rise up and remove him from power, much as the Russian people did to their Tsars back just before the creation of the Soviet Union.
Ultimately, it doesn’t matter who is correct regarding the story of what is happening. Whether it is a war, or whether it is a parent disciplining their child, the situation has captured the attention of the world community as a whole now. Now, the nations of the world have decided to throw their opinions into the ring and influence the outcome of the event. Russia has, thus far, decided to continue to escalate their actions in their attempt to discipline Ukraine into submission. Unfortunately, the rest of the world no longer agrees that this is appropriate. Like the parent who decides to take their child over their knee in the middle of a public street, all the people around are now deciding to call the police about child abuse.