Russian Language vs. False Flag Terrorism?

By Walter Derzko

Many people in Ukraine and in the Diaspora are quite upset if not in a panic over the current Russian language debate in the Ukrainian Parliament. Some are even predicting the death of the Ukrainian language and the collapse of Ukraine's sovereignty, as we know it. Others are calling for mass protests and pickets in front of Ukrainian embassies and consulates around the world.  I disagree.

I believe the issue is a non-starter and a blatant smoke screen to obscure far more urgent issues and a justification for the $85 million per year spent by Russia on illicit 5th column activities in Ukraine. Pro-Russian activists in Ukraine needed to show the Kremlin and the Russian National Security and Defence Council that these millions of dollars are producing a desired effect, when in fact most of this money is being embezzled and instead has ended up in private bank accounts and not supporting Russian 5th column anti-Ukrainian efforts.

Well, here is at least one instance where corruption has benefited Ukraine. Pro-Russian agents of influence needed to stage a show. That’s why we witnessed the fight in Parliament recently, which was translated world-wide by the mass media and the recent demonstrations by both sides against/for the legislation to make Russian a second official regional language. But, as we saw in the last election, I would be very surprised if the issue is not dropped, with the bill dying before the end of parliament in July. Yanukovych may even take the opportunity to veto the bill, to try to win election points from the opposition camps. Even if the bill does pass parliament, Ukraine would have to change it’s constitution for it to come into effect, which requires a vote of two thirds of Parliament, which the Party of Regions does not control. The Russian language debate surfaces just before each parliamentary election, once every four years like clockwork, and these artificial conflicts are used by both sides, the opposition and regime alike, to rally their troops and awaken the passive politically-fatigued masses.

More disturbing should be the fierce backroom horse trading going on behind the scenes in the Ukrainian Parliament, such as the troubling potential political alliance between the “Orange” camp’s Petro Poroshenko, the current Minister of the Economy, Volodymyr Lytwyn, the Speaker of Parliament, and the independent MPs who are likely to get voted into Parliament, who support these two individuals (Ukrainska Pravda; June 8, 2012) http://www.pravda.com.ua/articles/2012/06/8/6966222/

False flag terrorism is a much bigger threat in Ukraine today than the Russian language bill, which I predicted in my OpEd in 2010.  http://www.infoukes.com/newpathway/34-2010-Page-7-2.html

In August, we might just see another example of a false flag terrorism event in Ukraine. It’s the perfect time, just before the elections, when most people are on vacations and ignoring politics or distracted by the London Olympics. (http://www.kyivpost.com/opinion/op-ed/yanukovychs-august-surprise.html) . With the rankings of the regime in the single digits, the Party of Regions has only two viable options to stay in power: cheat their way to victory with the margins for victory being much higher this time around, or create an excuse to delay or cancel the fall parliamentary elections and call a “State of Emergency’.

President Yanukovych recently issued a decree ordering the implementation of a decision made by the National Defence and Security Council to increase measures against terrorism in Ukraine due to a “heightened terrorist threat in Ukraine”, which is never explained or clarified.

What does the regime understand as terrorism?  “The main reasons for terrorism are: radicalism; extremism; politicization of issues concerning inter-ethnic, ethno-faith relations; the spread of public intolerance and confrontation, particularly with respect to socio-political relations; as well as the negative impact of international terrorist and religious-extremist organizations. Radically disposed forces are attempting to use difficulties linked with the accumulation of many unresolved social problems for their narrow corporate aims. Displays of a terrorist nature cause considerable harm to the life and health of citizens, and render ineffectual the efforts of the country’s leadership aimed at modernizing society.”

Halyna Coynash from the  Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, states her concerns about  the loose definitions of terrorism, which are open to abuse: “There are clear echoes here of similar moves in neighbouring Russia where the terms “terrorism” and “extremism” over recent have years been used in a dangerously imprecise and loose manner. The range of words or deeds which are, according to Ukraine’s Defence and Security Council, “terrorist” is also disturbingly broad. It is not difficult to imagine how “the spread of public intolerance and confrontation, particularly with respect to socio-political relations” could be used against the opposition during an election campaign. (Fighting terrorism or pluralism? June 6, 2012; http://www.khpg.org/en/index.php?id=1339708720)

The regimes in Russia and Ukraine now equate the words “terrorism” with “extremism”, “radicalism”, “patriotism” and “nationalism”,  which is a far greater threat to all Ukrainians worldwide than the Russian language debate.