Poroshenko and Lincoln: Both Called to Preserve Union

With the Russian war against Ukraine raging in the eastern region, Crimea still occupied by the enemy and an illegitimate, unconstitutional secessionist vote threatening to tear apart the country, it is not difficult to draw comparisons between President Petro Poroshenko and President Abraham Lincoln.

Both presidents desperately sought to find a peaceful solution to preserving the national union. History shows that one was forced by the secessionists’ belligerence to resort to war to defend and restore the Union. Poroshenko may also be compelled to escalate Ukraine’s military campaign against Russia to preserve its territorial integrity and sovereign indivisibility.

In his first inaugural address to the American people, on March 4, 1861, Lincoln already faced the secession of seven states. He commiserated aloud the present and future of the United States of America.

“No State upon its own mere motion can lawfully get out of the Union.”

“Acts of violence within any State or States against the authority of the United States are insurrectionary or revolutionary, according to circumstances.”

“I therefore consider that in view of the Constitution and the laws the Union is unbroken, and to the extent of my ability, I shall take care, as the Constitution itself expressly enjoins upon me, that the laws of the Union be faithfully executed in all the States.”

“I trust this will not be regarded as a menace, but only as the declared purpose of the Union that it will constitutionally defend and maintain itself.”

“In doing this there needs to be no bloodshed or violence, and there shall be none unless it be forced upon the national authority. The power confided to me will be used to hold, occupy, and possess the property and places belonging to the Government and to collect the duties and imposts; but beyond what may be necessary for these objects, there will be no invasion, no using of force against or among the people anywhere.”

“In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow countrymen (Confederate Americans), and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. The government will not assail you. You can have no conflict, without being yourselves the aggressors. You have no oath registered in Heaven to destroy the government, while I shall have the most solemn one to ‘preserve, protect, and defend’ it.”

“Plainly, the central idea of secession, is the essence of anarchy." 

“We denounce the lawless invasion by armed force of the soil of any State or Territory, no matter what pretext, as among the gravest of crimes.”

The fateful attack on Fort Sumter took place the following month. Then some four years and 620,000 deaths later, General Lee surrendered to General Grant in Appomattox and the Union was preserved.

Poroshenko and Ukraine, caught by surprise by Russia’s invasion of Crimea and then eastern Ukraine, sought to preserve peace and stability in the region even by sitting across a negotiating table and concluding a ceasefire agreements with the enemy leader. Lincoln had never met Jefferson Davis during the war.

Ukraine was lauded by the international community for strictly abiding by the truce terms, each of which was violated by Russian mercenaries and troops. In September Ukraine and Russia, in the presence of EU leaders, signed the controversial so-called Minsk Accords, which needlessly recognized some autonomous rights and privileges for the people of the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts. Poroshenko defended his decision to sign the accords, saying he hoped to bring peace to Ukraine.

None of these efforts halted the war nor pushed back the Russian army. The Ukrainian regular army, National Guard and volunteer battalions have fought valiantly against the enemy and managed to stop their advances while incurring a great number of civilian and military deaths.

Russia’s relentless military campaign against Ukraine has proven that defending Russian speaking rights of Russian speakers in eastern Ukraine was never the reason for the invasion. Faced with the real possibility of losing Ukraine to the European Union, Putin probably felt he had no other choice than to invade, conquer and once again subjugate Ukraine. In time, the other former captive nations could also be returned to the Russian prison of nations.

World leaders and pundits have come around to realizing what Russia’s plan has been. As The Washington Post wrote this past weekend, Putin is continuing to chip away at Ukraine. Perhaps not chipping, but chopping.

After Russian terrorists held their illegitimate and unconstitutional elections in the Donbas region, a vote that was condemned by the United States, the United Nations and others, with which Russia hopes to formalize its seizure of Ukrainian land just as it did with Crimea, Poroshenko, who correctly emphasized that Kyiv is a firm supporter of the peace plan, had no other choice but to escalate Ukraine’s counteroffensive.

“These pseudo-elections are a gross violation of the September 5 Minsk protocol,” he said in an address to the nation earlier this week, pledging to “re-examine” Ukraine’s commitments to the truce deal.

“We should reexamine our action plan. I have discussed it with the defense minister,” he added.

Poroshenko said he is willing to abolish the law agreed under the truce deal that grants a certain level of autonomy for three years to the rebel strongholds in Donetsk and Luhansk regions. I criticized the Minsk Accords but support Poroshenko’s decision to abolish it now before it is too late.

At meeting with the National Security and Defense Council the next day, Poroshenko reaffirmed Ukraine’s hopes for a peaceful solution to the crisis that Russia instigated, but emphasized “We are capable of protecting our state.”

Poroshenko revealed that he had instructed the Chief of the General Staff and the Defense Minister to form several new units to repel possible attacks in directions of Mariupol-Berdyansk and Kharkiv area to the north of Luhansk and Dnipropetrovsk. Indeed there are been reports that the Russians are amassing some 20,000 fresh troops on the border with Ukraine.

US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki confirmed this fresh Russian mobilization: “In recent days, Russia-supported separatists have publicly stated their intention to expand the territory under their control. We strongly condemn ongoing separatist attacks in Mariupol and Dubalsiva and around the Donetsk Airport.”

Poroshenko said plans for the construction of the first, the second and the third line of fortifications is being carried out. “Provision of modern offensive and reconnaissance weapons, as well as fire control systems are pretty efficient,” he said.

Poroshenko announced he would propose to the Verkhovna Rada to abolish the law granting local governance in parts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

“This law wasn’t easy for us, but Ukraine demonstrated to the whole world its responsible attitude to the Minsk agreements, its decisiveness and willingness to have a peaceful dialogue. This law helped us stop the aggression and prevent anyone from accusing Ukraine of reversing the peace process and refusing the proposition on the political dialogue,” he explained.

Poroshenko pointed out that this move doesn’t mean the rejection of Minsk agreements. According to him, Kyiv would be willing to adopt the new law under the following conditions: sustainable ceasefire, withdrawal of troops from the front line, clear demarcation of the collision line laid down in the Minsk protocol of September 5, liberation of all hostages, including those illegally imprisoned in Russia, and annulment of illegal election farce of November 2.

Reinforcements and parliamentary invalidations notwithstanding, I fear that Poroshenko’s hopes and prayers for a peaceful solution to Russia’s aggression is, in the words of the late dean of the UN diplomatic corps, Ukrainian patriot and Rukh leader Hennadiy Udovenko, a combination of two great novels: “Great Expectations, Gone with the Wind.”

Ukraine cannot submit to Europe’s wish that it quietly cede to Russia the lands that it has already grabbed so it can continue to wheel and deal with a less abrasive eastern partner.

It is time for the US, EU, NATO and other sober world leaders to understand this and unyieldingly support Ukraine with all means as it defends its independence, territorial integrity and sovereign indivisibility.

As it has in the past, so too in the future, Russia, having tasted blood and the world’s limited involvement, will continue to mobilize thousands of troops and mercenaries on the border with Ukraine and send them westward wave by wave. Military analysts have already written about Russian armies ultimately approaching Kyiv, Lviv, the Baltic Republics and Poland.

For that not to happen, for the world to be saved from the peril of Russian domination and oppression, for Ukraine and the other former captive nations not to be returned to the prison behind the iron curtain, a global last stand must be taken in Donetsk and Luhansk.

As non-violent as Lincoln was, he ultimately realized that without a war, the union would not be preserved.

Remember Maidan!

Now it’s time to roll up the sleeves and get to work strengthening the Ukrainian nation and building an independent, sovereign, democratic country that has the potential to be the envy of the world.

With two historic national elections in five months, the Ukrainian nation has clearly severed its chains to the Russian empire and demonstrated its sovereign Ukrainian national, pro-Euro-Atlantic, democratic, and market-oriented commitment.

And it all began in December last year with Maidan rallies, demonstration and revolution, and the toppling of the central Lenin monument in Kyiv.

Maidan must remain in the national consciousness for generations because of what it stands for but its reverberations have different meanings for everyone who hears the word. Maidan’s lessons must become the backbone of a new comprehensive national renaissance.

For the men and women of all ages, walks of life and most importantly regions of Ukraine that built the barricades that became synonymous with Maidan and led to a new beginning for Ukraine, the word became a foundry that forged a nation that Russia had tried to destroy or sent into the underground. It became a place where men and women were martyred and where Ukraine’s internal and external enemies showed their historical hatred for Ukrainians.

Maidan also became a classroom and laboratory for a young generation of Ukrainian voters, who were born after independence and were nurtured on the lessons of OUN-UPA and the first Maidan of the Orange Revolution. This stalwart, dedicated group – Gen Free – is destined to lead Ukraine out its doldrums and into a new life.

Maidan also reaffirmed for the nation that it is still capable of defending and fighting for its rights and national identity. Just as the OUN-UPA war of liberation against Soviet Russia and Nazi Germany disproved that Ukrainians are collaborators, Maidan proved that Ukrainians do not want to wither in the oppressive shadow of Putin’s Moscow.

Maidan asserted that in Ukraine, the Ukrainian nation is the supreme ruler.

Maidan provides a lesson for the new government of Ukraine. President Poroshenko, Prime Minister Yatseniuk and the newly elected members of the Verkhovna Rada have been given a mandate to run the country, nation and people under Maidan’s flag. The people have voiced their ultimatum that both of them collaborate for the good of the nation. Indecisiveness or, God forbid, renunciation will certainly mobilize them to build new Maidan barricades.

Recently, due to signs of perceived government vacillation, an ominous warning began rippling across Ukraine: “This is not why we stood on Maidan.” It should not be belittled.

An AFP article pointed out that veterans of the current war with Russia are especially bitter, watchful and threatening. “We’re going to give them half a year to show the country has somehow changed, that even if it’s hard, there’s light ahead,” Yuriy Bereza, Dnipro-1’s popular commander, said. Asked by the AFP reporter what would happen should that deadline pass, another paramilitary member at headquarters, a tall man in civilian clothing with a pistol strapped to his side, didn’t hesitate with his response: “A coup.”

Certainly, after overthrowing a domestic tyrant and holding its own against a global superpower, will a nation tolerate tarrying from its elected leaders?

Poroshenko and Yatseniuk, skilled, pro-Ukrainian political leaders, were authorized by the people’s votes to fulfill the nation’s aspirations, which so far are mutually aligned. They have the parliamentary votes to ensure that Ukraine will stay on the beam of national awareness and development – the goals for which the Maidan heroes sacrificed their lives.

All spheres of Ukrainian life must be included in this rebirth: finance and banking, commerce and industry, energy, agriculture, education and scholarship, science and medicine, legislative and legal, and especially, last but not least, the military.

Short-term, partisan goals should not outweigh national objectives. The people have demanded that corrupt, immoral, and anti-national politicians must not be allowed to usurp any level of government. Gratefully, there are signs that Poroshenko and Yatesniuk will follow through with this as has been confirmed by the recently adopted lustration law.

All mature, civilized democracies tolerate a certain amount of political squabbling and haggling but they must not be paramount. The parties that won last week must muster the farsighted political willpower to coalesce into a national alliance that will ensure Ukraine’s comprehensive survival and development over the next few decades.

At a news conference soon after the elections, Yatseniuk said he was taking the initiative in forming the new majority, and noted that it would be a partnership with Poroshenko. The President, for his part, wisely urged his partisan followers to support Yatseniuk for prime minister.

Finally, Maidan has special meaning for the present and future likes of Yanukovych and Putin. At its height, Maidan brought together some 2 million Ukrainians to Kyiv – Ukrainian and Russian-speaking Ukrainians from the Caucasus to Carpathian mountains – to evict a criminal dictator and Russian lackey. Maidan also showed Russia that Ukrainians will not be bullied into submission.

With the Russian war versus Ukraine still raging in eastern Ukraine and Russian threats to world peace and stability abounding, Kyiv must be steadfast in combatting Moscow and earnest in creating an international coalition to defeat Russia. The logical place to start this campaign is with the former captive nations that are fearing Russian wars on its territories.

Ukraine today enjoys unprecedented global support. Its leaders must continue to solidify this backing. Kyiv should demand that the economic sanctions be maintained until Russia understands that it has no other solution but to withdraw from Ukraine and submit to new internationally monitored non-aggression pacts – just like Germany and Japan did.

My colleague, Natalka Zubar, chair of Maidan Monitoring Information Center in Kyiv, observed that realistically it will be difficult to defeat Russia.

“Even if the leadership of Russian Federation changes for whatever reason (which is highly unlikely), the international and domestic policy of Russian Federation will not change much. Citizens of Russian Federation have no skills to fight or stand against the government and will not learn how to do it in just 30 months. Ukrainians have been learning this art for 23 years, or perhaps more than 300 years, depending the historic perspective one adopts,” she wrote.

She’s right – the current generation of Russians has not been able to gather more than several tens of thousands of anti-Putin demonstrators for the latest protests.

Opining about Ukraine’s future after last Sunday’s elections, pundits took note of Ukraine’s political and national transformation from a colony to a sovereign country dedicated to seizing the moment and becoming a worthwhile member of the European and global community. They noted that fulfilling this mission will take a great deal of work on the part of the government and people. They also pointed out that Ukraine deserves and needs global support in this endeavor.

“We have the chance to build the new country, friendly for its inhabitants, interesting for the world, open for friends and safeguarded against enemies. I know Ukraine will make a great use of this chance; the open question is when exactly? The systemic transformations should be implemented quickly; otherwise, reforms could take decades. Ukraine is a part of information society and the changes in human minds, which had always been the most integral part of transformations, could be implemented quickly. What is needed for such changes is the will and skills of considerable numbers of citizens to work for such changes consciously and consistently,” observed Zubar.

“Civic and patriotic education and enlightenment of all people living in Ukraine, quick teaching of the critical thinking skills should become the priority of active citizens. The war is led not only in Donetsk airport or block posts, but in the minds of people is well. We should win this war too. The next 30 months for Ukraine will be extremely interesting and difficult. We currently have a chance we cannot miss to transform the country.”

And throughout, remember Maidan.