• Українська
  • Русский
  • English
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

For Whom Was the Afghanistan War a Lesson?

23 February, 1999 - 00:00

February 15 marked precisely ten years since Soviet troops were withdrawn
from Afghanistan (see The Day #6 of February 16). Some 160,000 young
Ukrainians fought in that barbarous war and over 3,000 never returned.
This date marks yet another tragic page in Ukrainian history, a lasting
grief, bitter reproach, and sinister warning.

The Afghan War Memorial was unveiled in Kyiv Monday before last. "We
must not allow anything like that ever to happen again," President Kuchma
said at the ceremony. We who? The executive? Regrettably, the Chief Executive
has on more than one occasion demonstrated that he does not consider himself
bound by the law, not even by the Constitution. The legislative? Speaker
Tkachenko believes that Ziuganov and Lukashenka are the best friends of
the Ukrainian people. He calls today for joining the Interparliamentary
Assembly. Tomorrow he will urge Ukraine to accede to the Union of Slavic
States. Today he declares that Chechnya is Russia's internal affair. Tomorrow
he will say that Ukraine must not stay aside. And the people, as always,
remain silent.

 

Issue: 
Rubric: