Moscow Endorses Genocide by Voting No on UN Resolution

The 193 delegations to the United Nations on May 18 participated in a discussion about Item 135 – A/75/L.82 – Responsibility to Protect and for the Prevention of Genocide, War Crimes, Ethnic Cleansing and Crimes against Humanity.

Given the state of affairs around the world today and yesteryear, this certainly is a vital topic that requires never-ending discussion, monitoring, endorsement and compliance. And in the event of noncompliance and transgressions – repentance, penance, punishment, retribution and reconciliation.

The universal significance and morality of this resolution was enunciated by Oleksiy Ilnytskyi, counsellor of the Permanent Mission of Ukraine to the United Nations, who said in his presentation: “We fully agree with the report provisions that prevention of genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity is ‘an ongoing process that requires sustained efforts to build the resilience of societies by promoting respect for the rule of law and human rights without discrimination; establishing legitimate and accountable national institutions; eliminating corruption; managing diversity constructively; and supporting a strong and diverse civil society and a pluralist media.’”

Who can dispute such high moral principles?

The member-states overwhelmingly voted in favor of this resolution but 15 UN member-states said, “No.” Heading the list of countries that voted against the adoption of this resolution was Russia and its vassal Belarus.

Genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity read like a laundry list of crimes and transgressions committed by Moscow for hundreds of years against its population as well as foreign nations. Just consider the Holodomor – Moscow’s murder by starvation of 7 million Ukrainian men, women and children in 1932-33. Or the murder of 200,000 innocent Ukrainians at the start of World War II and their burial in a mass grave in Bykivnia. And the unprovoked invasion of Ukraine by Russia in 2014 and the war that has lasted since then. And this is only a partial list of possible transgressions raised in Item 135 – A/75/L.82.

An obvious explanation why Moscow did not vote in favor of this resolution is that a lawbreaker does not voluntarily admit to committing any crime. Why leave the door perpetually open to international scrutiny of questionable activity? Even if you know you committed the crime in question and everyone knows you did it, it’s best not to admit anything and deny your guilt.

By refusing to support this humanitarian-based resolution, was Moscow overcome with as much guilt and remorse for its heinous crimes as perpetrators of matricide feel about their evil actions – the Norman Bates of “Psycho” syndrome?

Ironically, with this vote, Moscow surely attracted the attention and ignominy of the international community by shamelessly saying that it opposes preventing genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity.

For an answer, we’ll have to wait for Russia’s admission.

On the other hand, Ukraine’s Oleksiy Ilnytskyi told his fellow delegates that Ukraine was proud to be major sponsor of this resolution and “is a party to the core instruments of international law relating to prevention of atrocity crimes, protection of populations, upholding human rights and elimination of all forms of discrimination.”

Sadly, he continued, not all countries support this message as is demonstrated by Russia’s current and past illegal actions.

Building up to detailing Russia’s ongoing aggression against Ukraine, Ilnytskyi pointed out that “Ukraine has already expressed on many occasions its strong belief that R2P (the shorthand nomenclature for the resolution) concept fully excludes any possibility of covert usage of military force by one state against another state under pretext of population protection leading to occupation of the territory.”

Devious countries still exploit the R2P for strategic and security purposes even after being denounced by numerous United Nations resolutions, he said. Russia was singled out several times for condemnation by the UN for invading and then temporarily occupying the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea which showed Moscow’s “total intolerance to manipulations of R2P principles.” Russian occupation authorities continue to block access to Crimea for international human rights groups to assess the situation on the ground and make respective recommendations for early warning, Ilnytskyi charged. In the meanwhile, Moscow has transported troops and equipment and installed nuclear weapons on the Crimean peninsula.

“That country also neglects the life and safety of people of Ukraine in certain temporary occupied areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions and conducts actions in contradiction of spirit and letter of R2P, that have to be immediately ceased,” the Ukrainian diplomat said. “At the same time, the ongoing occupation of parts of its territory limits Ukraine’s ability to implement Pillar I of R2P. In Crimea, the Russian occupation regime continues to deny access for international human rights observers, including the United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine.”

Ilnytskyi warned that inaction as well as impunity will result in a perpetuation of these singularly monstrous crimes that result in pain and suffering, and threaten regional and global security and peace.

“I would like to underline that the impunity for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, unwillingness to investigate and prosecute those responsible for these crimes including massive, serious or systematic violations of human rights and international humanitarian law will lead to their recurrence and undermine our multilateral efforts with regards to R2P,” he said.

For criminal states like Russia, the existence of global tolerance and blindness for their transgressions is a carte blanche for continuing crimes against humanity without regard for the blood that they’ve already spilled.

After Resounding Support for Ukraine, President Biden Caves

I first felt the stinging venom from my wife. So you had decided to vote for Joe Biden because Donald Trump didn’t give you a strong enough impression that he’d support Ukraine, did you?

Mea culpa.

Her caustic condemnation of President Biden on many counts complemented the chorus of conservative pundits around the country that are castigating the commander in chief for screwing up a wide range of policies and programs in just slightly over 100 days.

Our kitchen debate that resounded around the world specifically pertains to President Biden’s shocking decision yesterday to waive sanctions against an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin who heads the company that is building the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia to Germany – Moscow’s veiled imperialistic gambit, according to a handful of media sources.

Did the President suffer from a sudden bout of weak knees or cold feet? Or was he out rightly lying all along and then in the penultimate moment sold Ukraine – America’s proclaimed strategic partner and best ally in defending of the free world – down the river?

President Biden, since his inauguration, gave Ukraine, Ukrainian Americans and surely the former captive nations a welcome sense of understanding and support for Ukraine and indignant opposition to the occupants of the Kremlin – in marked contrast to President Trump’s policies.

The White House’s move is likely to draw criticism from lawmakers and a host of others who have argued that several pipe-laying vessels and entities, including Nord Stream-2 AG and its CEO, could be subject to sanctions under the Protecting Europe’s Energy Security Act of 2019, known as PEESA. The recently adopted Ukraine Security Partnership Act as amended states it “Requires the President to report to Congress within 15 days whether Nord Stream-2 AG, the company building the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, and 19 other entities are eligible for sanctions under the Protecting Europe’s Energy Security Act.”

Furthermore, Congressional Ukraine Caucus, in a statement reaffirming support for Ukraine in face of increased Russian aggression, noted: “We were proud to spearhead Congressional efforts to increase Ukraine’s defense security assistance from $250 to $275 million for FY21, as well as to place mandatory sanctions on Nord Stream-2 through legislation. We agree with the Administration that the Kremlin should face serious consequences if it escalates its aggression against Ukraine. We must continue to raise the cost on Russia’s ongoing aggression through increased sanctions and putting an end to Nord Stream-2. Defenders of liberty from around the entire world stand with our Ukrainian allies.”

Republican lawmakers, with the help of their colleagues from the other side of the aisle, had pushed the Biden Administration to use financial punishments to stop the pipeline.

“If the Putin regime is allowed to finish this pipeline, it will be because the Biden Administration chose to let it happen,” Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) said via a statement from his office. “I want to be clear: this pipeline is not a simple commercial project that could frustrate our relationship with Berlin. It is a Russian malign influence project that threatens to deepen Europe’s energy dependence on Moscow, render Ukraine more vulnerable to Russian aggression and provide billions of dollars to Putin’s coffers.”

The Oval Office will also catch the ire of Ukrainian American voters. It will be hard pressed to defend or explain its new position, which is detrimental to Ukraine’s independence and sovereignty. The German-backed Nord Stream 2 pipeline is “a Russian geopolitical project intended to divide Europe and weaken European energy security”, the Secretary of State Antony Blinken, warned on the eve of his triumphant visit to Kyiv.

With the pipeline so close to completion there was an expectation that the US would feel the issue was a lost cause, but Blinken insisted in a statement that firms involved in the project should immediately abandon work or face sanctions. He said the Biden Administration was intent on complying with existing bipartisan Congress legislation that calls for sanctions against those working on the project. He said the US was tracking those entities believed to be involved in the project.

The Baltic Sea pipeline that bypasses Ukraine – so depriving the country of significant revenues – is 90% complete and could even be operational by June.

Ironically, Blinken’s warning came the day after President Biden surprisingly acknowledged on national television that Putin was a killer, a description that pleased adversaries of the Kremlin and prompted Moscow to withdraw his ambassador to Washington.

Secretary of State Blinken’s trip to Ukraine was undeniably an effort to show Ukrainians, Russia and the world that “we stand with them, including against any aggression from Russia,” as Blinken put it in a recent interview with MSNBC. Few in Washington objected to this language, which echoes other Biden administration statements and actions as well as the popular idea the United States should protect Ukraine from Russia. Expectations ran high that Washington would not stand down from supporting Kyiv in any way possible against Moscow.

Furthermore, Blinken had promised to oppose it during his confirmation hearing: “I am determined to do whatever we can to prevent that completion (of Nord Stream 2).”

During Blinken’s visit to Ukraine, in a press huddle, a senior State Department official confirmed that Nord Stream 2 was a topic of discussion in Kyiv.

“It was mentioned, their position on Nord Stream 2 – Ukraine’s – and their concerns about that, and the Secretary reflected the concerns that we have about it too, and what we’ve continued to make clear to the Germans, of course the Russians as well, that we think it’s a bad idea, a damaging project, but there’s also U.S. law involved in terms of reacting to that.”

Despite this hopeful build up, Washington flip-flopped.

“The Biden Administration has been clear that the Nord Stream-2 pipeline is a Russian geopolitical project that threatens European energy security and that of Ukraine and eastern flank NATO Allies and partners,” a spokesperson was quoted as saying yesterday. “We continue to examine entities involved in potentially sanctionable activity and have made it clear that companies risk sanctions if they are involved in Nord Stream 2.”

Waiving sanctions against this Russian project is also opposed by the former captive nations of Russian subjugation that see its inherent danger.

During a major meeting of Eastern European leaders in Warsaw at the start of this month, the Polish foreign ministry said Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau and his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba discussed the “threats to peace in Europe resulting from the escalation of tensions along the northern and eastern border of Ukraine and in occupied Crimea, and from the construction of Nord Stream 2.”

In conversations with Kuleba, Rau noted that both officials agreed that the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline threatens Europe.

“We see clearly that this project allows synchronization of pressure—political, economic, and military. This pipeline, if completed, will create a state of clear and present danger to peace in Europe,” Rau said.

Nord Stream 2 plainly isn’t a singular issue of importance to Ukraine. Its construction has serious security and geopolitical ramifications for the region, which should not be demeaned by Washington.

Is President Biden kowtowing to German Chancellor Angela Merkel? Or is he atoning before Putin for his pro-Ukraine position? Answers are not yet forthcoming. But if truth be told, this is not how you build a strong, proactive American foreign policy that has to defend global peace and security for some four years. Putin undoubtedly is smirking at Biden’s weakness.

The President should not allow Russia to use Western business interests, if that’s a reason, to undermine policy principles. The debacle over the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline is a classic example of how a “business first” approach to international relations conflicts with political objectives and weakens solidarity among strategic partners on this side of a re-emerging iron curtain.

This scandalous about face seen round the world certainly calls into question President Biden’s leadership of the free world and leaves egg on his face.

And payback will be costly.

Putin’s Latest ‘Mein Kampf’

Amid an impressive but predictable display of military firepower and manpower, Moscow’s fuhrer Vladimir Putin articulated his latest version of Hitler's “Mein Kampf” during Russia’s commemoration of what it claims is its victory over Nazi Germany, warning all countries not to push Russia.

In case it is pushed up against a wall, Putin put all opponents on notice that Russia will not hesitate to defend itself.

“The war brought upon us so many unbearable ordeals, grief and tears that it is impossible to forget. Those who are plotting new aggressions cannot be forgiven or justified,” Putin declared menacingly on Sunday, May 9. He said his country will “firmly” defend Russia’s national interests, denouncing the return of “Russophobia.”

The Russian leader couched his threats against adversaries in an ironic series of fake allusions that reveal steps he’s taken to preserve Holy Mother Russia, more commonly known as the evil empire.

Putin castigated those who persist in promoting Nazi ideology and the “delusional theory of their own supremacy” while he seeks to preserve Russia’s global dominance by invading and occupying Ukraine, keeping troops in Syria, killing and imprisoning his enemies, and creating civic calamity in the United States. He noted apparently with a straight face that he doesn’t only mean “radicals and international terrorist groups” who are a threat, but “surviving members of those killing squads” who are trying to “rewrite history” – the latter activity being high on Putin’s list of daily to-dos.

For example, speaking of rewriting history, according to the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, Russia will soon make it illegal to mention the Molotov-Ribbentrop agreement that made Moscow and Berlin allies at the start of World War 2 because that would make it difficult to exonerate Stalin of Hitler’s crimes. The draft bill registered on May 5 would also prohibit “the denial of the decisive role of the Soviet people in the defeat of Nazi Germany and the humanitarian mission of the USSR in liberating the countries of Europe.” Its authors are the head of the State Duma committee on culture Yelena Yampolskaya; the First Deputy Speaker of the Duma Alexander Zhukov and senator Alexei Pushkov.  All are from the ruling ‘United Russia’ party, and the bill has, apparently, been drawn up in compliance with instructions from Putin as the result of a meeting of the President’s Committee on Culture and Art on October 27, 2020.

Putin also commended the Soviet army for being a “generation of victors” and demonstrating the “ultimate heroism” during crucial battles and the “harshest times of war.” Noting the valor of the Soviet army to today, Putin called the “descendants of the victorious troops” that serve in the Russian Armed Forces a “guarantee” in its commitment to protecting national interests.

Just to keep the record straight, the Soviet army before, during and after the Second World War committed a proven range of crimes against the innocent population of Ukraine and other countries. And today, the “valiant” Russian cutthroat soldiers and their bloodthirsty mercenary comrades invaded in violation of the UN Charter and other international accords Ukraine and continue Russia’s tradition of perpetuating crimes against humanity.

Indeed, they deserve the Adolf Hitler Medal of Honor.

Putin’s ludicrous lies continue as he falsely boasted: “The Soviet people kept their sacred oath, defended the homeland, and freed the countries of Europe from the black plague. Russia consistently defends international law. At the same time, we will firmly defend our national interests to ensure the safety of our people.”

Soviet Russia freed countries from Nazi oppression and then installed its subjugation on Ukraine, the Baltic States and Eastern Europe until 1991.

Gratefully, more and more Ukrainians, especially the post-subjugation generation, as I wrote in my previous blogpost, do not believe Moscow’s propaganda and condemn Stalin, his junta and army for the murderous imperialists that they have been.

More Evidence Ukraine Moves Away from Moscow

Step by step, for the past three decades, Ukrainians from East to West and along the Black Sea, senior citizens and students, have been moving away from Moscow.

And this is apparent in all segments of life, including social, civic, spiritual, intellectual and national.

Russia, in its blind age-old desire to keep Ukrainians and consequently Ukraine confined in its prison of nations, not only wants the territory and people but also their hearts and souls. If the people didn’t submit voluntarily, Moscow would certainly apply physical and mental pressure on Ukrainians to succumb to its dogmas.

One of Russia’s most telling markers of the people’s compliance to its rule is the their opinion of the Ukrainian liberation movement of all ages and specifically the recent one waged by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, known by its legendary Ukrainian acronym – UPA. Ukrainian men and women in the ranks of this immortal army fought against Russia and Nazi Germany throughout World War II and later. Historical records confirm that they fought until the 1960s.

So long as Ukrainians refuted the existence and mission of the UPA, Moscow was content and safe in its misplaced belief of an assured future as the oppressor. If the people swayed from the Kremlin’s barbed wire of national imprisonment by honoring the legacy of the UPA, its hold over Ukrainians and its empire of evil would crumble.

After 30 years of independence and today’s seven-year war against Russia, Ukrainians have declared that they favor the Ukrainian Insurgent Army and Stepan Bandera and despise the USSR and Stalin. Ukrainians’ national pride emboldened by Moscow’s war and crimes against humanity have pushed them irreversibly farther from the Kremlin.

The Democratic Initiatives Foundation in Kyiv, in cooperation with the Razumkov Center, published on its website on May 7 the results of its national survey about Ukrainians’ views of history that paint a very non-Russian point of view.

According to the results, 46% of the respondents replied that they support the Kyiv government’s decision to recognize the soldiers of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army as legitimate fighters for Ukraine’s independence. Only 29% said they opposed the outcome, 9% said it didn’t matter and 16% didn’t reply. Significantly, half of the young respondents 18-29 said they support this decision. The largest number of advocates of this position came from Western and Central Ukraine.

This is a significant conclusion when taken in the context of the ongoing massive Russian propaganda against Ukrainian liberation fighters.

Asked about commemorating May 8 as Memorial Day and Peace and May 9 as victory over Nazism, 41% of the respondents said they favored observing both World War II events simultaneously – another infraction against Russian thinking.

In a move that certainly stung the Kremlin, Ukrainians cast doubt on the military prowess of the Soviet Union during the war with 46% of them saying they didn’t believe the USSR could have defeated Nazi Germany without the assistance of the United States and its allies.

Forty-eight percent of the survey participants said they are convinced that the war began as a result of the Molotov-Ribbentrop agreement which sought to divide the world between the two allies Berlin and Moscow.

One-quarter of the respondents said Victory Day May 9 is first of all a victory of the anti-Hitler coalition of World War Two.

Another slap in the face against Moscow is Ukrainians’ scorn of Stalin, who is revered by Putin and many Russians. Sixty-two percent said the perpetrator of the famine murder of Ukrainians was a negative figure in Ukraine’s history.

As for their opinion of Stepan Bandera, leader of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and Ukraine’s armed resistance against Russian subjugation, 32% of the respondents said he was a positive influence on Ukraine’s history and the same total felt he was a negative impact. Interestingly, 36% of the President’s Servant of the People party said Bandera was a positive figure in Ukraine’s history.

Certainly, the road back to Russian subjugation is overgrown with weeds, thorns and fallen trees.

Reaching the Terminus a Quo, again

The free world certainly seems to be an assembly of very patient, likeminded countries, governments and leaders that favor freedom and democracy but prefer to talk, negotiate and pronounce even with international criminals.

While Russia continues waging its seven-year war against Ukraine and conducts a wide range of dirty tricks around the world, the free world stands should-to-shoulder in condemning Moscow and threatening greater recriminations against its governing junta.

However, Vladimir Putin and his cronies remain unfazed, displaying a “What me?” attitude. Where would the world be if Adolf Hitler couldn’t care less about Winston Churchill’s verbal reprisals?

Regional organizations continue to support Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity as well as a return of Crimea to Ukraine.

On April 27 the European Parliament adopted a resolution, which condemned Russia’s military escalation on Ukraine’s border and warned “Should military build-up lead to an invasion of Ukraine by Russia, the EU must make clear the consequences for such a violation of international law and norms would be severe. Such a scenario must result in an immediate halt to EU imports of oil and gas from Russia, the exclusion of Russia from the SWIFT payment system and the freezing of assets and cancellation of visas for Europe of all oligarchs tied to the Russian authorities.”

The resolution was approved by 569 votes in favor, 67 against with 46 abstentions.

The European legislature, consisting of 705 legislators from 27 member-states, declared that Russia “poses not only an external threat to European security, but is also waging an internal war on its own people in the form of the systematic oppression of the opposition and arrests on the streets.”
It said that if the Russian army would be used to invade Ukraine, “imports of oil and gas from Russia to the EU [should] be immediately stopped’ and Russia should be “excluded from the SWIFT payment system” of international bank transfers.
It also said “assets in the EU of oligarchs close to the Russian authorities and their families” need to be frozen and their EU visas canceled if those Russian forces invade Ukraine.

The European Parliament expressed that it “Supports Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders; reiterates its strong support for the EU’s policy of non-recognition of the illegal annexation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the City of Sevastopol; welcomes all of the restrictive measures taken by the EU as a consequence of the illegal annexation; calls for the immediate release of all illegally detained and imprisoned Ukrainian citizens in the Crimean peninsula and in Russia, and deplores the continued human rights violations perpetrated in Crimea and the occupied territories in eastern Ukraine, as well as the large-scale conferral of Russian nationality (passportization) among citizens in those areas; underlines that Russian officials whose actions or inaction have enabled or resulted in war crimes in Ukraine will have to face international criminal justice.”

It seems as if Moscow is in violation of all of the parliament’s strictures and warnings.

On a closer scale, Ukraine and four former captive nations of Russian subjugation met in Warsaw on May 3 to commemorate the 230th anniversary of the adoption of the May Third Constitution and dedicated themselves to reinforcing their democratic mutually beneficial relations.

The event was attended by President of Poland Andrzej Duda, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President of Estonia Kersti Kaljulaid, President of Latvia Egils Levits and President of Lithuania Gitanas Nausėda. It is particularly significant that Moscow was not included in this forward-looking remembrance.

The presidents said: “We express the conviction that the prosperity of our common heritage and common home, rooted in the European civilization, demands that, just like home, also Europe be built on the basis of fundamental values and principles. These are with no doubt: freedom, sovereignty, territorial integrity, democracy, the rule of law, equality and solidarity…We believe that to all of us the solidarity of nations, especially under current threats to our common security, is one of the cornerstones of peace, stability, development, prosperity and resilience.”

Separately, in bilateral talks, President Duda said Poland is ready to fully support Ukraine’s European and Euro-Atlantic aspirations. For Ukraine, Poland and the region, this is a declaration of singular importance. It means uniting the futures of the former captive nations into a united bloc for their mutual benefit and security, which is a goal that I have advocated on numerous occasions.

“Our bilateral meeting ended today with the signing of a joint declaration on the European prospect for Ukraine, i.e. belonging to the EU. In this issue, Poland has always supported Ukraine,” Andrzej Duda said at a joint briefing on the results of bilateral talks.

“It is also very important for us because this will be the first important summit with the participation of our friends and partners related to the deoccupation of the Ukrainian Crimea,” said Ukraine’s Zelenskyy. Furthermore, Zelenskyy said, Duda once again emphasized his support for the European and European integration aspirations of the Ukrainian state.

“This is a very important signal. I am grateful that Poland, led by President Duda, always protects our sovereignty and territorial integrity, and does not recognize the occupation of the Ukrainian peninsula,” Zelenskyy said. “Because we really understand one another very well.”

Indeed, Kyiv, Warsaw, Vilnius, Riga and Tallinn understand each other very well having individually and collectively experienced Russian subjugation and the joy of liberation.

As the free world looks on the region in the wake of Moscow’s withdrawal from Ukraine’s border, political and military observers, including an honest Russian one, believe the threat has not dissipated. Russia can return to Ukraine’s frontier at any time.

The threat of a major Russian military operation against Ukraine and the West more broadly has not disappeared, Pavel Felgengauer, a Russian military analyst known for his publications about Russia’s political and military leadership, opined, according to EuroMaidan Press.

Lt. Gen. Scott Berrier, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, said during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing about worldwide threats, on Thursday, April 29, the Russian military is an “existential threat” not only to the region and world but also to the United States. The ocean is not a defense perimeter.

Berrier said Russia’s military is being used to maintain influence over states “along its periphery, compete with US global primacy and compel adversaries who challenge Russia’s vital national interests.” He also said “Moscow continues to invest in its strategic nuclear forces, in new capabilities to enhance its strategic deterrent, and that places the US homeland at risk.”

Again we’re at the terminus a quo. Russia continues to do what it has been doing for centuries. Ukraine and the former captive nations along with European countries closest to Russia’s border are hoping for the best while preparing for the worst. While the free world is watching, talking and threatening.

Fighting for Ukraine’s Sovereignty in the Kitchen

A few days ago, when British-French fashion magazine Marie Claire announced it was transitioning from the Russian to the Ukrainian language, I tweeted “Victory is achieved one letter, one word at a time.”

Now that concept of moving as far away from Russia as possible, as President Viktor Poroshenko had said, can be expanded to include recipes, ingredients and dishes.

The battle for Ukraine’s national identity and sovereignty has moved into the kitchen. And there’s something hopeful in the adage that the best way to a man’s (or women’s) heart is through the stomach. Consider this not only decommunization but also derussification.

Euromaidan Press asked culinary experts and chefs about this and they opined favorably about promoting Ukrainian dishes and downplaying traditional Russian or Soviet ones that have made their way onto Ukrainians’ stoves and dining rooms.

Their observations about why it is important to decommunize are heartwarming. I’ve included a URL to the article, but I wanted to highlight some of their salient comments.

Smachnoho!

• This is the most distinctive feature of Ukrainian cuisine. Ukrainian dishes are known for their variety, aroma, and specific taste.

• Some dishes are centuries old, such as Ukrainian borshch.

• But, unless we remove the Soviet Union from our tables, we’ll never be able to re-discover our authentic Ukrainian cuisine.

• What decommunization means is that authentic Ukrainian cuisine, which was erased from our collective memory 100 years ago, can now develop in a favorable environment.

• At this stage, if we don’t decommunize Ukrainian cuisine at the national level, we’ll never break the vicious circle of Soviet heritage that surrounds us.

• This is the main significance of decommunization. Let’s develop and promote real Ukrainian cuisine in a favorable environment.

• Decommunization is an important process, but we shouldn’t place Ukrainian Heroes and the dismantling of Soviet monuments on the same level as overall rejection of olivier or shuba salads.

• Ukraine is a post-colonial state, and Ukrainian cuisine is in the process of being re-discovered. Ukrainian cuisine doesn’t need to be ‘decommunized’, but it does need to be carefully studied and developed.

• I think it’s time to get rid of such names, because it encloses Ukrainian consumers in a common informational and aesthetic space with Russia.

• As the Soviet Union was taken over by the Russian Federation, everything now is Russian cuisine, including Georgian kebabs, Uzbek pilaf and Ukrainian borshch.

• I’d rather talk about Ukraine’s gastronomy in the past, find forgotten treasures and rethink how our gastronomic culture developed through the ages.

• I see the ​​decommunization of Ukrainian cuisine as a return to genuine techniques and recipes.

• Decommunizing Ukrainian cuisine is a good idea!

• I’d rather talk about Ukraine’s gastronomy in the past, find forgotten treasures and rethink how our gastronomic culture developed through the ages.

• My goal for the future is to show Ukraine to the world through our food and tastes.

For the complete article, visit:

http://euromaidanpress.com/2021/04/28/reviving-ukrainian-cuisine-its-all-about-decommunization-identity-rethinking-ukraines-past-say-culinary-experts/

The Torn Curtain 1991 Update

I invite you to read my latest post:
There are two major developments regarding the Russo-Ukraine War of 2014-21.

1. The European Parliament has adopted a resolution condemning Russia, which provides for the strengthening of sanctions against Moscow in form of an embargo on oil and gas exports, and disconnection from the SWIFT system in case of an invasion of Russian troops in Ukraine. The text of the resolution on Russia, the case of Alexei Navalny, the military build-up on Ukraine’s border, and Russian attacks in the Czech Republic (2021/2642 (RSP)) is published on the website of the European Parliament. The nonbinding resolution, supported by the five mainstream political groups in the European Parliament, was adopted by 569 votes in favor, 67 against, and 46 abstentions.

https://112.international/ukraine-and-eu/european-parliament-adopts-resolution-on-russia-embargo-on-oil-gas-exports-disconnection-from-swift-in-case-of-it-invades-ukraine-61010.html?fbclid=IwAR22v5Yqal6GJe8kf5jhP1CZGqoWyk74H14Rtdj2tM2DaNApZ9VbWTgC_Rg

2. It’s Easter in Ukraine but the war goes on. Fighting Escalates on Ukraine’s Eastern Front.

https://coffeeordie.com/fighting-escalates-ukraine-front-line/?fbclid=IwAR3QZ_N-GFHIxGdo9UvtYNuMRz7XY9ioWkkAmj_OSH017ZsnQokeTgw9tA8

Scroll for more stories about Ukraine and Russian imperialism and aggression. Be aware. You can keep the Russian iron curtain from being repaired and the prison of nations from returning.

http://thetorncurtain1991.blogspot.com/