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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

The Issue is Not in Words

13 November, 2012 - 00:00

It seems that Ukraine has stopped loudly proclaiming itself an influential European force and a cornerstone of stability on the continent. It is clear that when the country is in crisis is not the right time for stentorian phrases, especially that foreign consumers may be sincerely surprised by President Leonid Kuchma’s recent utterances that Ukraine can get out of the crisis only together with Russia. Moreover, Kyiv is unlikely not to understand a simple truth: the world is interested in Ukraine only as an independent sovereign country. And Ukraine has already received numerous hints that it would be possible to talk about European integration only under two conditions. First, Kyiv has to conduct structural reforms in all spheres ranging from private property in land to legislation and the judicial system. Simultaneously, investors will have to be guaranteed openness and stability. Secondly, Kyiv will have to clearly decide its own foreign priorities and decide where it wants to go: Europe, the CIS, or Russia. Generally speaking, both the West and Moscow are interested in Ukraine only up to the moment when it becomes part of a greater Russia.

Potential well-wishers both East and West have already become fed up with our wishy-washy policy that before Tarasiuk used to be called a “multivectored” foreign policy. The fact that the Ukrainian leadership makes distinctions between main, primary, and other strategic partners already provokes open irony among foreign diplomats.

Perhaps, it was precisely such vestiges of the Soviet mentality that have created a situation when in fact no single Ukrainian initiative has succeed in the UN in the last several years: neither President Kuchma’s idea of establishing an economic security council which would deal with the problems of states with transition economies nor the attempt to get compensated for losses from our participation in the international sanctions against Yugoslavia (estimated at $4 billion). Despite Kyiv’s hopes Hennady Udovenko’s service as the UN General Assembly Chairman has not ended in any radical reform of the Security Council, a club where the fate of the world is determined.

Another task that challenges Ukraine now is to get access to the UN Security Council on the rotation principle which is impossible unless Ukraine is supported by a number of influential states whose interests may differ. And maneuvering according to old patterns along with enigmatic speeches by the top Ukrainian officials and quite possible deepening of the economic crisis could yet again lead nowhere.

 

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