Last night, I had dinner at a restaurant where the waitresses who waited on me spoke with an eastern European accent. I asked her where she was originally from and she told me Ukraine. She appeared to be somewhere between 21 and 23 years of age.
I asked her if she was from eastern or western Ukraine. She told me western Ukraine.
I said to her, "I bet you are glad you are in the United States, it's is pretty crazy over there."
She replied, "Yes, it is. It should all be one Ukraine."
I did not advance my pro-secessionist's views. I wanted to learn more about her views.
I said to her, "I have seen reports that in western Ukraine there are protests against the draft."
She said, "There are no protests in western Ukraine. The protests are in Russia, the people don't want Russia to get involved in the affairs of the Ukraine."
I found this view fascinating, since I have seen reports of protesters in Russia (Telegraph) but I have also seen reports of anti-war protests in western Ukraine(Youtube). And Putin's moves with regard to Ukraine seem to be viewed very positively in Russia by most of the population (Newsweek). I wondered where she was getting her news from and how many in western Ukraine held views similar to hers.
She told me that the hostilities in Ukraine were all the result of Russian provocateurs, which, of course, seemed to me to ignore the fact that many in eastern Ukraine are ethnic Russian (Radio Free Europe) and fear the current government in Kiev.
She then told me that her father had been called up to serve in the Ukraine military. She said, "I talked to my parents recently and then a couple of days later I got a call at 5:00 AM that my father was, just like that, called to the military."
"I worry every night," she said and then went to wait on another table.
-RW
Last December I was in your city for the AGU Meeting. Since I'm a cheapskate I was staying at an inexpensive hotel at the corner of Bush and Grant. A noisy demonstration of about a hundred Ukrainians was going on outside, through the general indifference of the population. I wondered if they had been sponsored by the National Endowment for Democracy or directly by the CIA.
ReplyDeleteNever underestimate the supply of genuine fools who are easily sold on the nationalist nostrum even when their people will be objectively MUCH better off by joining the enemy de jour instead of protecting the gang ruling over them. (In case of Ukraine it started in 1992 at the same level as Russia, with essentially the same quality of population and capital/industrial base. Last year's per capita PPP GDP in Russia was about 2.5 times that of Ukraine.)
DeleteMy young Ukrainian neighbors do not believe that the Ukr military is doing any shelling in the east. All of the civilians lives lost are at the hands of rebels and Russia. The news tells them so. They have no problem giving up the Donetsk region if thats what the region wants. They are upset about the draft. They would never talk about it if not for my inquiries, life goes on for them now that they are here
ReplyDeleteI have several patients from Eastern Ukraine. They say the opposite. They say it is war, their families are being exterminated, and they wished Russia would help them. I guess it depends which side of the revolution (proxy war) they are on.
ReplyDelete