By Walter Kish

I recently returned from a business trip to the Far East, covering Tokyo, Singapore and Hong Kong. You may well ask what possible interest could that be to readers of a column on Ukrainian affairs. I too am somewhat surprised that such a trip would prove fodder for this column. Nonetheless, such is the case.

When I set off, I anticipated a vacation from things Ukrainian, yet it seems that Ukraine is no longer the largest unknown nation state that it has been for most of the past few centuries. While in Japan, I had occasion to read one of the English language papers published in Tokyo, and came across a prominent article on Ukraine destroying the last of the missile silos left over from the Cold War. In Singapore, the largest English language daily carried a story with several paragraphs devoted to Ukraine’s support and co-operation in the American war on terrorism. While watching an all-news channel in a transit lounge at Hong Kong airport, I was pleasantly surprised to see a feature story on Ukraine’s soccer team as it prepared to meet Germany in a qualifying match for the World Cup. I couldn’t help but smile as I heard the Ukrainian language spoken as some of the team were interviewed about their chances in the upcoming game. I guess Ukraine has finally crossed the threshold of recognition in the world’s media. President Kuchma, regardless of what one’s opinions may be of him, is now regularly seen on CNN and pages of world’s major papers

It has been a long road. Until recently, being Ukrainian was not something that most of the world officially recognized. We were “Little Russians”, Poles, Rusyns, Ruthenians, Austrians, anything but Ukrainians. Being part of Poland or Russia or the Austro-Hungarian Empire meant that your ethnic identity was forcibly and often brutally suppressed. Even though under the Soviet Union there was such a thing as the Ukrainian SSR with its own seat in the UN, everybody knew that this was just an artificial and cynical creation of the Russian power center in Moscow. In Canada and in the U.S., the respective governments gave lip service to recognizing Ukrainians as an ethnic group, but never seriously paid us any attention as the products of a true nation state. Even when it was obvious that the Soviet Union was falling apart, President George Bush Sr. had the gall and naivete to tell Ukrainians in a visit to Kyiv that their future lay in unity with their Russian “brothers”.

It is amazing how things have changed in just ten years. Few would now question that Ukraine is and deserves to be a nation in its own right. We have taken our rightful place amongst the community of nations. The Ukrainian flag has been raised and its anthem played at the Olympics. Ukrainian athletes are correctly identified as such as they earn recognition and fame in the NHL, the NBA and the world soccer and boxing scenes. Ukrainian leaders and politicians are seen on CNN and the BBC. In a backhanded way, it is even re-assuring that the Canadian and American governments are voicing their concern over the Ukrainian government’s failure to tackle economic reform and curb the significant problem of graft and corruption. It shows that they are paying attention and that these things matter in the global scheme of things.

While it is true that there are no shortage of things wrong right now with Ukraine as an independent country, it is, at least to me, remarkable that it does exist and has done so for the better part of a decade, and that it is being taken seriously by the rest of the world. We have reached that elusive goal that so many have struggled for so long, and at a frightful cost to achieve. No doubt, we have a long and difficult road ahead before Ukraine is in the same league economically and politically as much of Western Europe or Canada or the US. Nonetheless for at least a few moments, there in that lounge in Hong Kong, I felt awfully damn pleased to be a Ukrainian.