Lingering Empires

By Walter Kish

In the midst of another week of disturbing reports from Ukraine reflecting the continuing political turmoil and instability in the wake of the contested dissolution of the country’s parliament, one bit of good news emerged to take people’s minds off of politics.  Ukraine and Poland have been jointly awarded the hosting rights to the 2012 European soccer championships.

Although this may not seem to be earth shattering news to those of us that are not sports fans, it is symbolic of a very significant development in the context of Ukrainian History.  It is indicative of a new rapport between countries that had been in conflict for the better part of some seven centuries.  Over the past decade, Poland has evolved from being a historical enemy of Ukraine to being a staunch friend, ally and supporter.  As it made the transition from a communist vassal state to being a free, democratic, European country, it also undertook a remarkable reassessment and revision of its historical relationship with Ukraine.

Despite long ingrained prejudices and antipathy, it found the wisdom to accept Ukraine as an equal and build new bonds based on mutual respect, friendship and cooperation.

Western Ukraine was first subjugated by the Poles in the middle of the Thirteenth Century in the wake of the destruction of the Kyivan Rus’ Empire by the Mongol hordes.  From then on until the Second World War, that part of Ukraine was in effect a colonial territory, and its exploitation and oppression was characteristic of the imperialistic practices of many of the large European states of that time.  Although modest by comparison to the vast imperial holdings of say the British, French, Spanish or Dutch, nonetheless, Poland’s “colonial” territories in what are now Ukraine, Lithuania and Belarus were vital to its economic as well as geo-political stature and it was ruthless in its governance of its vassal holdings.  Ukrainians did not take kindly to Polish rule and Ukrainian-Polish history is full of uprisings, rebellions, wars and violence. 

It was only in the aftermath of the two world wars in the Twentieth Century that Poland finally, and at first reluctantly, gave up its Ukrainian territories and undertook to establish a new relationship with its eastern neighbour.  Part of this was undoubtedly due to international political and historical evolutionary trends that saw virtually all the major imperialistic powers give up their colonies as democracy and political self-determination became the norm in international affairs.  No doubt another important factor was the realization that with a reactionary and dangerous neighbour like Russia, Poland desperately needed allies to shore up its own security and long term political viability.  Whatever the case, Ukraine has benefited from Poland’s pragmatism, particularly in the face of a continuing threat from Russia, one of the last states on this planet that continues its reactionary imperialistic policies.

Although Britain, France and all the other former European imperial states have long since given up their colonial holdings, Russia continues to forcibly retain most of the vast territories it conquered in centuries past, particularly in the Caucasus and the Siberian hinterlands.  The supposedly monolithic Russian Federation of today hides the fact that it is composed of many restive minorities and ethnic territories that have little love or respect for their Russian rulers.  Chechnya is but the most visible example of these.  Despite centuries of imposed Russification and settlement, there are still many areas where the majority population, language or culture is non-Russian and where, if it were not for Russian military might, the natives would have long ago parted company with their Russian “big brothers”.  As well as Chechnya, this would include Bashkortostan, Chuvashia, Dagestan, Ingushetia, Kabardino-Balkaria, Kalmykia, Karachai-Cherkessia, North Ossetia, Tatarstan, Tyva and Yakutia. 

In addition, it is becoming increasingly obvious that Russia has not yet given up on its ambitions to bring Belarus, Georgia and Ukraine back under its imperial thumb, either directly or through economic domination.  Russia is one of the few remaining major world powers (China being perhaps another) that refuses to learn from history and continues to actively pursue an imperialistic foreign policy based on intimidation and domination.  It is regrettable that Russia has not followed Poland’s example.  It seems Russia prefers to be a bully rather than a friend.

Perhaps, because Russia has always been to a greater or lesser degree a totalitarian state, and its rulers have always rewritten or distorted history to suit their needs, it has lost the capacity to learn from history.  As a result it continues to wallow in reactionary imperialistic ambitions that have been long since discredited as neither moral nor practical in today’s world.  Until that mindset changes, Russia will never be accepted by the rest of the world as a legitimate modern and democratic nation state.