UKRAINE - Part Four: What Should be Done to End This Crisis, Once and For All (April 15, 2014)

“Ukraine or rather Eastern Ukraine will come back in five, ten, or fifteen years.  Western Ukraine can go to Hell.”

                                                                     -A Russian General  (circa 1995)

And so, Ukraine now has its civil war.  It doesn’t matter what is happening right now, that’s just what it is.  In Eastern Ukraine, Russian-Ukrainian are occupying government buildings, building barricades, begging for Russian troops, now amassed across the border, to come in and invade.  One rumor has it that Russian agents are already in Ukraine instigating these disturbances, where, should the Ukrainian government crack down, Russia will have the perfect excuse to come in and invade to protect the Russian people living there.  Putin will find any excuse to do whatever he wants anyway, and he knows he can get away with it because the rest of the world isn’t doing much to protect Ukraine, save imposing sanctions.  

As of the present moment, the Ukrainian government is cracking down on its dissenters.  Who knows what may happen next.

I have stated, from Samuel Huntington’s book, “A Clash of Civilizations,” that Ukraine is a cleft country.  Western Ukraine is composed mostly of ethnic Ukrainians, who desire to join the European Union and the West in general.  Eastern Ukraine is composed of a mixture of Russians and Ukrainians, with the two easternmost provinces, Luhansk and Donetsk, with a majority Russian population, and a few other cities outside these two provinces, such as Kharkiv, having enough of its Russian populace to stir up some kind of trouble.  However, it is in Luhansk and Donetsk where the major crisis looms.

So there we have it.  Western Ukraine has found its freedom, the two provinces in Eastern Ukraine, Luhansk and Donetsk, are making life difficult for everyone else.

One thing that has to be noted is that many of these Russian Ukrainians do not want to be annexed to Russia.  They want to remain a part of Ukraine, with Ukraine maintain close Russian ties.  In other words, they want all of Ukraine to be Russia’s junior partner, under their full protection;  but it’s not going to be that way.  The Ukrainians want to break out of Russia’s orbit completely, and be free to do as they please;  i.e.  join the European Union, and as long as Putin is in power, NATO as well.

Here is what I propose.

Have Luhansk and Donetsk, and any other Eastern Ukrainian province, hold a referendum.  This referendum is to be completely fair, by secret ballot from each Ukrainian citizen, and to be supervised by international observers, including those from the United States and Europe.

This ballot is to give two choices, and no more.  These choices would be:

1. Have that province secede from Ukraine and join the Russian Federation, living under Russia’s laws and protection henceforth.
2. Remain a part of Ukraine, to live under Ukraine’s laws, and abide by any foreign policy decision Ukraine may make.                                                                

There will be NO federalizing Ukraine or any of its provinces, as Putin proposed, for that would only be to Russia’s advantage.

As a result, should the two renegade provinces, and any other connected to the Russian border vote to join Russia, they will be free to do so.

BUT, there will be a price.  

1. Russia is to cancel all debts owed by Ukraine to the Russian Federation, no exceptions.
2. To help Ukraine, Russia should supply Ukraine natural gas, free of charge, for the next five to seven years to help Ukraine get back on its feet.
3. Russia should compensate Ukraine for the land they sell to Russia (I said sell, not give or forfeit) with natural gas, as stated, and money to help move Ukraine’s economy in the right direction.
4. Ukraine shall be free and independent to take whatever course it chooses to do so, whether Russia approves of it or not.
5. Russia is to remove all its troops from the Ukrainian border.
6. Ukraine shall be free to join the European Union and fully integrate into European society.
7. Ukraine shall be fully free to join NATO, and establish NATO bases in their country.  This applies to the rest of Eastern Europe, including the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.
8. Should Russia not approve the #7, then the alternative shall be that Russia will have no military bases within 1600 kilometers of any borders of any European country, including Ukraine.

This is not giving in to appease the Russians, like Neville Chamberlain tried to do with Hitler in 1938.  This will be Russia paying for new territory, reuniting Russians from other countries with their own, but at a price.  If Russia wants these lands, they have to pay for them.  They cannot have them from free, pure and simple.

Here, everybody wins.  Russians will be with Russians under Russian law.  Ukraine will be rid of a peoples who are at present a thorn on their side.  They may lose two provinces, but that isn’t much.  In fact, they are not worth keeping.  Crimea is gone, but Crimea has always been a part of Russia, and was given away by Khrushchev, drunk, back in 1954, against the will of the Crimean people.  They are glad to be back in Russia, and Ukraine will just have to accept that.  Again, it really isn’t worth it.

There you have it.  This is a proposed, permanent solution to Ukraine’s present troubles, and a pathway for their long for freedoms.  It isn’t easy to swallow, but nothing ever is