Ukraine Betrayed: Why Won't The West Resist Putin?

In late 2013, a giant Christmas tree in Kiev’s Independence Square became a symbol of the protests against the Russian-backed regime of Viktor Yanukovych. According to the UK Guardian: “The Christmas tree was hung with Ukrainian flags and protesters waved yellow and blue Ukrainian and EU flags, with which many adorned their cars, honking horns in support of the protest rally. Chants went up of ‘Glory to the nation, death to its enemies’ and ‘Out with the criminal’, referring to Yanukovych’s Soviet past as a petty criminal, as well as allegations of corruption in his inner circle.” 

Perhaps it was fate that chose the symbolism. Two decades ago the Soviet dissident and Gulag survivor Vladimir Bukovsky, living in exile in Great Britain, planted a tree in his garden to commemorate the collapse of the Soviet Union. A friend of mine from a very different walk of life, the German model Jordan Carver, once told me that when she was a young girl she and her classmates planted a tree in their small village to mark the reunification of Germany and the end of Communist East Germany. There must have been hundreds of symbolic acts like these–probably thousands–showing the hope people had for the future.

Now the Russian jackboot is marching on Ukraine once again. The Ukrainian resistance to Russian aggression stands alone, because the West refuses to help them. 

What happened?

Cliff Kincaid of Accuracy In Media (AIM) and America’s Survival, Inc. (ASI) has published Back from the Dead, a booklet detailing “The Return of the Evil Empire.” Kincaid is a force to be reckoned with. A lifelong anti-Communist crusader, his America’s Survival, Inc. is one of the few institutions dedicated to fighting anti-American disinformation. 

Admittedly, the booklet, a collection of essays from four writers of different backgrounds, does have its weaknesses (no disrespect to one of the authors in particular, but his essay contains a premise that not even his fellow contributors agree with). But they are more than overshadowed by the analysis of why the West is abandoning the Ukrainians to the mercy of their mortal enemies, who have no mercy.

Energy: Putin has hooked Europe on Gazprom, and they are now dependent. NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on June 19, 2014, that “I have met allies who can report that Russia, as part of their sophisticated information and disinformation operations, engaged actively with so-called non-governmental organizations, environmental organizations working against shale gas, obviously to maintain European dependence on imported Russian gas.”

Media: Russia, as always, has its choice stooges in the press–who get smacked down by the ever diligent Ukrainian diaspora and their daily “Walter Duranty Integrity Award.” But their main outlet for propaganda is RT, or Russia Today. If there is any doubt as to what RT really is, consider the fact that an accomplishment-less Putin groupie was plucked from out of nowhere and placed as the network’s chief executive, with her own FSB/KGB apartment (yes, in Russia the secret police get their own housing complexes. They do not have to wait in line like the rest of the “masses” for their “free,” socialized slum-apartment). Despite the barely hidden KGB hand, RT has major influence in opinion making.

Infiltration, Dupes and Agents of Influence: What happened to all those Communists and Soviet bureaucrats in Eastern Europe? Did they go away? Fat chance. Many old non-Soviet Soviet patriots have been able to hang on to government posts or have weaseled their way back into the government. Combine this with the new wave of Putin-as-savior apostles (think Mike Savage and Pat Buchanan), hate-America freaks (think lunatic Truther-king Alex Jones) and paid off political mouthpieces, it is easy to estimate that Putin has a small army of stooges within the West.

Raphael Lemkin, who coined the term “genocide” and dedicated his life to bringing the crime to an end, spoke in 1953 of “the classic example of Soviet genocide, its longest and broadest experiment in Russification – the destruction of the Ukrainian nation.” When Ukrainians speak of their very existence being at stake, they are not exaggerating. And with the publication of Back from the Dead, we cannot say we weren’t warned this time.