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Where there is no law, but every man does what is right in his own eyes, there is the least of real liberty
Henry M. Robert

A Decade for Ending Illusions

15 June, 1999 - 00:00

By Viktor ZAMYATIN, The Day
Ten years ago, Central Europe saw the beginning of what is now called democratic
revolutions: the first ever democratic elections were held in Poland after
the round table of political forces and won by Solidarity. Also ten years
ago, two systems began to disintegrate: one headed by Moscow and one inherited
after the death of Marshal Tito.

Ten years ago, many people - not only in Ukraine - believed that independent
Ukraine would very soon become a prosperous, democratic, and influential
country in the world, not to speak of Europe.

The past ten years have, no doubt, changed the world, and now the Czech
Republic, Hungary, and Poland are less and less often referred to as postsocialist.
They have been granted full rights to become an organic component of Europe
which still seems to end at the eastern border of Poland. Conversely, Ukraine
has not yet done anything to made the West look at it at least not through
the prism of Russia. We have learned the magic word, CIS; we try to convince
ourselves that only in the CIS can we find markets for what even a Third
World pauper would not buy; and we horrify the world with our system based
on total corruption...

Over the ten years, the West, together with our nearest neighbors, has
learned to tell us that Ukraine is a key state for European stability and
security. The extent to which this is true may be judged by the fact that
none of our strategic or "special" partners were interested in Ukraine's
position on Yugoslavia, the moment of truth for the whole system of international
relations in Europe. Another fact is that Ukraine's nearest neighbors,
Poland and Hungary, now quite openly keep Ukraine clear of the list of
their top priorities. Add to this the fact virtually the only country that
will require no visas from Ukrainians in the next few years is Russia.

All this shows that over the ten years, which our neighbors managed
to turn to best use for themselves, we have not constructed anything that
would justify our rulers' claims to Ukraine's participation in overall
European integration. The average Ukrainian is not aware of the processes
or what causes them in the countries next door and do not understand why
even fraternal Bulgaria is striving for NATO membership. It is difficult
for an impoverished Ukrainian to understand why neighboring countries have
higher personal incomes and lower prices without even a nod to the disorienting
Russian crisis. These ten years have changed nothing in the mentality of
those who wield power in Ukraine: they may only have become even more cynical.
But their counterparts in neighboring countries are confidently assuming
the features of a normal human face. It is probably for this reason that
today's Ukraine has not become a pivotal regional state (that it is pivotal
is only empty verbiage for official meetings). And we do not wish at all
that in the next decade all hopes for Ukraine's involvement in normal European
life would only become lost illusions, that Ukraine would remain hopelessly
cut off the normal world by the new Great Wall of Schengen, and that we
would further be regarded as something in between the Belarusian dictatorship,
Asian semi-feudalism, Russian disorder, and Albanian helplessness.

 

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