Captive Nations Week 2021 – At Least White House Recognized It

Vintage Anti-Bolshevik Bloc of Nations poster designating captive nations.

A World War II-era Ukrainian poster depicting the Soviet prison of nations and the motto: Freedom for Nations! Freedom for the Person.

In the midst of a changing world with new sources of regional and global threats, uneven condemnations of aggressors like Russia as it pursues its seven-year war against Ukraine, and rumors that the White House was considering revising the six-decade-old Captive Nations Week Proclamation, President Biden fortunately today issued the declaration that included references to Ukraine, Crimea and Belarus.

Despite the lack of serious attention to so-called remnants of the Cold War, the annual Captive Nations Week Proclamations based on Public Law 86-90 are important reminders of the ongoing danger posed by old and new totalitarian communist regimes and notably their creator Moscow in all of its political colorations. Russian leaders opposed this proclamation and overtly or quietly had asked successive Administrations to abandon them. None did, though President Richard Nixon, in the midst of his peaceful coexistence policy, delayed issuing the 1971 proclamation that ultimately was devoid of the words Communist, Soviet and Russia.

The third week of July was traditionally filled with similar proclamations issued by governors and mayors as well as civic commemorations in large and small communities.

President Biden did issue the statement but it was unwise of him to even consider downplaying its historic title with “Free and Open Societies Week.” The original version was meant to highlight the subjugation of countries behind the iron curtain by Moscow, such as Ukraine, the Baltic States, Poland, etc. In time the term iron curtain was expanded with the bamboo curtain, pertaining to Chinese oppression in Asia, and the sugar curtain relating to Cuban tyranny in the Southern Hemisphere, respectively.

Even though many captive nations, like those in Eastern Europe, have liberated themselves, they still face daily perils from Moscow. Russia’s war against Ukraine is seven years old as it simultaneously bullies and intimidates other near and distant countries – even the United States.

President Biden observed in the 2021 iteration: “Though much has changed in the world since President Eisenhower issued the first Captive Nations Proclamation in 1959, its call for liberty and opportunity still ring true.  During Captive Nations Week, we recommit ourselves to those principles which form the foundation of our Nation, and to amplify the voices of courageous individuals around the world who are striving to advance the principles of human rights, justice, and the rule of law.”

Biden took notice of existing oppression in Belarus, China, Burma, Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela, where “voices are crying out for liberty.” He also noted “the Crimean Tatars, ethnic Ukrainians, and other ethnic and religious minorities who suffer repression for opposing Russia’s illegal occupation of Crimea.”

“We are committed to ensuring that all those who are oppressed across the globe — including people with disabilities, women and girls, members of the LGBTQI+ community, indigenous populations, and racial and ethnic minorities — are heard, respected, and protected.

“During Captive Nations Week, we recommit ourselves to the timeless, vital work of advancing freedom and justice for all,” the President wrote.

“Together with our allies and partners, we must continue to strengthen democratic institutions, defend independent civil society and media freedom, promote free and fair elections, protect human rights online, insist on accountability for those who commit abuses and foster cultures of corruption, and push back against authoritarianism around the world.”

For a historical perspective about the Captive Nations Week Proclamation, I’d like to quote from an article by Lee Edwards, chairman and co-founder of the Victims of Communism Foundation, that appeared in the Summer 2020 edition of The Ukrainian Quarterly:

“One man more than any other was responsible for the proclamation and the week – Prof. Lev E. Dobriansky of Georgetown University, longtime president of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America. Born in November 1918 in New York City of Ukrainian immigrant parents, Dr. Dobriansky attended New York University where he earned a Ph.D. in economics. He taught at Georgetown from 1948 until 1987 during which he founded and directed the Institute on Comparative Economic and Political Systems. He also served as U.S. ambassador to the Bahamas from 1982-86 when the islands were in the front lines in the battle against illegal drug traffic.

“Professor Dobriansky came into political prominence in 1959 when he persuaded Congress and the Eisenhower administration to adopt the Captive Nations Proclamation, which he personally drafted. The Proclamation was a litany of anti-Soviet pro-freedom paragraphs:

“ ‘Whereas since 1918 the imperialistic and aggressive policies of Russian communism have resulted in the creation of a vast empire which poses a dire threat to the security of the United States and of all the free peoples of the world;

“ ‘Whereas the imperialistic policies of Communist Russia have led, through direct and indirect aggression, to the subjugation of the national independence of Poland, Hungary, Lithuania, Ukraine, Czechoslovakia, Latvia, Estonia, White Ruthenia, Rumania, East Germany, Bulgaria, mainland China, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, North Korea, Albania, Idel-Ural, Tibet, Cossackia, Turkestan, North Viet-Nam, and others…

“ ‘Whereas these submerged nations look to the United States as the citadel of human freedom, for leadership in bringing about their liberation and freedom and in restoring to them the enjoyment of their Christian, Jewish, Moslem, Buddhist or other religious freedoms and of their individual liberties…

Whereas the desire for liberty and independence by the overwhelming majority of the people of these submerged nations is a powerful deterrent to war and one of the best hopes for a just and lasting peace;

Whereas it is fitting that we clearly manifest to such peoples through an appropriate and official means the historic fact that the people of the United States share with them their aspirations for the recovery of their freedom and independence…’ ”

Ambassador Dobriansky wrote about the proclamation’s significance in his article, “The Captive Nations Week Resolution Then and Now”:

“Originated as S.J. Resolution 111, passed on July 17, 1959, and signed into Public Law 86-90, the law has remained in force to the present day precisely because of its realistic, conceptual framework and outlook. With ease and real conformation, its dominant concepts relate to these upsurging events. They are: ‘national independence,’ ‘the democratic process,’ ‘inter-dependency of peoples and nations,’ ‘imperialistic and aggressive policies of Russian communism,’ ‘a vast empire,’ ‘threat to the security of the United States and of all the free peoples of the world,’ ‘religious freedoms,’ ‘individual liberties,’ ‘powerful deterrent to war and one of the best hopes for a just and lasting peace.’ Then and now – even more so now and in the future – these concepts have been fully applicable, notwithstanding current hopes and notions about the end of the Cold War, the fading of military threat from the Soviet Russian empire, and secure, sovereign national freedom in Central Europe.”

Undeniably, the Captive Nations Week Proclamation belongs to the category of American documents that should be observed throughout the ages.

The 2021 proclamation can be found on the White House website:

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/07/16/a-proclamation-on-captive-nations-week-2021/

Last Time Putin Spoke of Unity a War Broke Out

When Vladimir Putin speaks of unity between the Ukrainian and Russian peoples, Kyiv, Washington and the free world should listen carefully because his words should be understood as a warning, threat or prophecy.

The last time the Russian dictator addressed this topic, Moscow launched a war against Ukraine seven months later, a war that it is still waging today. The Russo-Ukraine War of 2014-21 has claimed more than 11,000 civilian and military lives. A war that he denies.

I wrote in the July 2013 edition of The Torn Curtain 1991 that Putin took advantage of that year’s observance of the 1025th anniversary of the Christianity of Kyivan-Rus by visiting Ukraine and driving his point about the need for its re-unification with Russia.

Amid a host of religious, predominantly Orthodox spiritual leaders, gathered in Kyiv, Putin on Saturday, July 27, 2013, urged Ukraine to join forces with its former colonial overlord, saying Russians and Ukrainians were “one people.” Putin said the two Orthodox neighbors should further integrate economically.

“Intense competition is going on now in global markets, for global markets,” Putin said. “Only by joining forces can we be competitive and win in this rather tough competitive fight. We have every reason to believe that we can and must do it.”

“All of us are spiritual successors of what happened here 1025 years ago. And in this sense we are certainly one people,” he added.

Putin hasn’t changed his and Moscow’s aspiration for reunification – nay, re-subjugation of Ukraine, returning it to its multinational prison of nations.

Now in a rambling 7,000-word Ukrainian and Russian-language essay, published on the Kremlin’s website on Monday, July 12, Putin repeated his outlandish, baseless claim that Ukrainians and Russians are one people while warning the readers that the Kyiv government would “destroy their country” by moving it closer to the West. And in the word “destroy” lies the crux of his missive to Ukrainians and the world through which Moscow hopes to scare the country and its advocates into submission. Since February 2014, immediately after the conclusion of the Winter Olympics that year, Russia has once more been destroying Ukraine and its people.

With Kyiv’s sovereign fortunes dramatically changing for the better, after all it is closer to gaining accession to NATO and European structures and it enjoys political and military support in free world capitals, Putin certainly feels threatened by the possibility of losing Ukraine forever. For him, as well as the Soviet Russian commissars and tsars, Ukraine is the valued lynchpin that holds the empire together. As others have said, the loss of all of the former captive nations does not have the same impact on the evil empire as does the loss of Ukraine.

Putin and all Moscow leaders will go to war, as they have, to retain Ukraine within its barbed-wire fence. They have threatened, cajoled, fabricated and lied to do so and this mendacious article is no different.

Whether he has knowledge of Russian or Ukrainian histories is immaterial because Putin makes up the facts along the way. This behavior is very strange considering that anybody could just Google names and places to discover the truth and see his lies.

“To better understand the present and look to the future, we must turn to history,” he wrote cynically. History according to Putin bears no resemblance to what actually transpired in the previous 1,000 years. For instance, Kyiv-Rus, with its capital in Kyiv, predates Moscow by a couple of hundred years. Kniaz Volodymyr the Great accepted Christianity in 988 from Constantinople and established the Trident as his state symbol, which exists today as Ukraine’s national emblem. Kyiv-Rus and its rulers formed the last bastion of hope against invasions by Asiatic hordes just like Ukraine today defends Europe from onslaughts by Moscow. Kyiv’s native son, Andriy Boholubsky, did abandon his realm only to return to sack, pillage and burn Kyiv-Rus.

“Mazepa, who betrayed everyone in a row, Petliura, who paid for Polish patronage with Ukrainian lands, and Bandera, who collaborated with the Nazis, are included in the rank of national heroes. They do everything to erase from the memory of the younger generations the names of true patriots and winners, of whom Ukraine has always been proud,” Putin wrote about three significant Ukrainian heroes, all of whom sought to defend Ukraine against Russian subjugation in different ages. Indeed, their image and mission continue to exist in the hearts and souls of all Ukrainians and inspire their dreams.

As for collaborating with the Nazis, let’s not overlook the fact that Vyacheslav Molotov, first deputy premier of the USSR, concluded a non-aggression pact with Joachim von Ribbentrop, minister of foreign affairs of Nazi Germany, creating allies. This paved the way for the slaughter of Ukrainian civilians by both enemies of humanity throughout World War II.

“For Ukrainians who fought in the Red Army, in guerrilla units, the great patriotic war was exactly the Patriotic War, because they defended their home, their great common homeland,” Putin continued.

Indeed, some confused Ukrainians did fight in the ranks of the enemy but their mission was to enslave Ukraine for Moscow. The Red Army murdered tens of thousands of Ukrainians as it retreated ahead of the invading Nazi Army. In the outskirts Kyiv, the Red Army killed and buried in a common grave some 200,000 Ukrainians. Putin also failed to mention Moscow’s murder by starvation of 7 million Ukrainian men, women and children as well as the execution of thousands of Ukraine intellectuals, writers and artists in Solovky.

Ukrainians’ quest to free themselves of Moscow’s deadly clutches – or as President Poroshenko succinctly proclaimed “Away from Moscow” – included the dissident movement of the sixties, seventies and eighties that also resulted in Siberian exile for many of the participants. Opposition to Russia existed throughout the centuries, right up to the Revolution of Dignity in 2014 that included 2 million Ukrainians of all regions of the country, religions, professions and age groups.

Putin tried to assure Ukrainians of his best intentions by writing “Russia is open to dialogue with Ukraine and is ready to discuss the most difficult issues.” Actually, Russia’s dialogue with Ukraine always comes at the end of a bayonet and as for discussing the most difficult issues, well, truthfully he denies their existence.

“I am convinced that Ukraine’s true sovereignty is possible only in partnership with Russia. Our spiritual, human, civilizational ties have been formed over the centuries, go back to the same origins, hardened by common trials, achievements and victories. Our kinship is passed down from generation to generation. It is in the hearts, in the memory of the people who live in modern Russia and Ukraine, in the blood ties that unite millions of our families. Together we have always been and will be countless stronger and more successful. After all, we are one nation,” he concluded.

Obviously, to all Ukrainians, those in the war-torn Eastern region, those in Kyiv, in temporarily occupied Crimea, the Western oblasts as well as their supporters in the free world, Putin’s blasphemous plea sounds like the spider summoning the fly. History and blood have shown that Ukraine’s association with Russia is detrimental to the health of the nation as well as the lives of the people.

There are no bonds and same origins between Ukraine and Russia. Putin is doing peacefully and militarily what he can to conquer, subjugate and colonize Ukraine. And speaking of a wall between countries, the border between Ukraine and Russia deserves one with a sign that reads “Keep Out!”