Habit to invite foreign officials to testify before a joint session of Congress is one of the oldest and dubious tradition of American politics. Since 1874, according to the Department of the History of the House of Representatives before a joint meeting of Congress were 110 foreign officials and heads of state, and more recently in the number entered Ukrainian President Poroshenko, who appeared on the podium of the House of Representatives on Thursday, September 18th.

In his speech, Mr. Poroshenko warned that "if the Russian does not stop now, they cross borders in Europe and spread throughout the world" and that the conflict in Ukraine - it is a clash of "civilization and barbarism." He added: "The only thing that now separates the reality of peaceful coexistence from a nightmare full return to the previous century, a new Cold War, it is the soldiers of the Ukrainian army." Given their dubious achievements of the last weeks, we hope that this is not so.

Following the time-honored tradition of American politics, Mr. Poroshenko tried to express his admiration for the sacred principles of democracy. Addressing the Congress, he said that Ukraine was on the "forefront of the global struggle for democracy" and that "democracy should support each other ... otherwise they will destroy one after another." It seemed to him said his inner William Wallace (William Wallace), he stressed that Ukrainians "constantly striving to be free."

Undoubtedly, Mr. Poroshenko was well known that this kind of rhetoric can do wonders when it comes to the need to enlist the support of Congress. According to Senator Carl Levin of Michigan (Carl Levin), this speech was "truly inspiring call to ensure that we support their dream," and Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee (Bob Corker) call made by Mr. Poroshenko "great speech, "adding that he is" extremely unfortunate ... how our administration reacted to the events in Ukraine. "

President Obama, who met with Mr. Poroshenko in the Oval Office just after the latter had assured him that "you will not only have a reliable friend in my face, but as I think you have seen today in Congress, you can count on strong support from both parties United States. "After this, the administration has promised to provide Mr. Poroshenko additional assistance in the amount of $ 60 million, which will include non-lethal military equipment. And to keep up with the rest of the Commission of the Senate Foreign Relations unanimously adopted the Freedom Support Act in Ukraine (Ukrainian Freedom Support Act), under which Ukraine (as well as Georgia and Moldova) becomes the "chief NATO ally, not members of the alliance "against Russia will be additional sanctions, and the Ukraine for three years will be given $ 10 million to fight the Russian propaganda.

Such a chain of events and decisions is an integral part of the performance of foreign leaders in Congress, in which they express their commitment to democratic ideals and after they return home and begin to wait, when America finally will provide them with free assistance.

And Mr. Poroshenko can hardly something to blame, as Ukraine and earlier to do so. In 2005, a joint session of Congress made by the then President of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko, said: "Orange Revolution proved that Ukraine - it is a developed European country, shares the values of the Euro-Atlantic civilization." After his speech, Senator John Thune Dakota (John Thune) said that Yushchenko speech at the White House "is a testament to the dissemination of ideas of freedom." After meeting with Mr. Yushchenko in the White House, President George W. Bush said that Ukraine was "a model of democracy for people around the world." Then Bush asked Congress to allocate an additional 60 million dollars to assist in carrying out reforms in Ukraine. Thus, history repeats itself.

Nevertheless, despite the many enthusiastic statements about the shared democratic values of America and Ukraine, a statement by Mr. Poroshenko that the conflict in the Ukraine is a clash between "civilization and barbarism" deserves more careful consideration.

Almost simultaneously with the visit of Mr. Poroshenko in Washington organization Amnesty International issued a report that lists the atrocities that were committed by both militias and soldiers of the Ukrainian army. According to the report, the nationalist battalion "Aydar", which is part of the government troops, is responsible for "kidnapping, illegal detention, abuse, theft, extortion, and possibly execution." There are also reports that members of the right-wing groups, following the example of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant began to behead captured militia. Recently edition Newsweek reported citing Ukrainian sources, that the mother of one of these accidents had his head in the mail.

In a sense, these battalions followed the instructions of the Kiev political class, whose members regularly use dehumanizing expressions to describe the actions of pro-Russian separatists. For example, one of the senior advisers to Mr. Poroshenko Yuriy Lutsenko called the people of Donetsk "citizens poisoned by the Kremlin," and former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko has expressed a desire to destroy the Russian living on the territory of Ukraine, with the help of nuclear weapons.

Meanwhile, from Europe comes the mass messages that expose Ukrainian freedom fighters is not in a heroic light. British publication Telegraph, Guardian, Independent and Agency BBC has repeatedly talked about the neo-fascist nature of many volunteer corps, which - although they are all subordinate to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine - receive funding from private sources. According to the Telegraph, Andrew Biletsky, the leader of the battalion "Azov" and the ultra-right organization "Patriots of Ukraine" (the latter became part of the newly formed Prime Minister Yatsenyuk coalition "Popular Front"), wrote that "the historical mission of our nation at this critical moment - lead the world in the White Race last crusade for its survival. In the crusade against Semites headed subhumans. "

Even if these messages have caused some concern among fans of Mr. Poroshenko on Capitol Hill, we never even know. Likewise, experts and scholars representing various parts of the political spectrum, a lot of effort to ensure that portray Vladimir Putin's rightful heir to Hitler. Recently, George Will (George F. Will) published in the Washington Post article, in which he noted that most bothers Putin as his "fascist thinking", including the "ethnic and racist components" that unites him to Hitler. The hostile attitude of Mr. Putin to the West makes it "even more dangerous than an Islamic state." Former Deputy Secretary of State and now head of Brookings Incorporated Strobe Talbott (Strobe Talbott) wrote in Politico, a new feature that putinism was "ultra-the idea that the Russian state should be based on ethnicity." In his article, Talbott concludes that Russia under Putin "has become a potential threat to world peace." And in his widely discussed essay published in the New Republic, Timothy Snyder (Timothy Snyder) suggested that in Russia today there is a "rise of fascist ideals" and that "people can say what they like, in Russian in Ukraine, but in Russia itself, they can not do it. "

All these statements should be evaluated in light of the changes that have occurred in Russia in recent years. In early September, the Council under the President of Russia on Human Rights proposed changes to the law in 2012 requiring that NGOs were registered as "foreign agents." September 8, the Moscow City Court ruled that the "Voice" has monitored the elections in Russia, is not required to register as a "foreign agent" in accordance with this law. This weekend about 20 000 people took to the streets of Moscow to protest against Russia's involvement in the crisis in Ukraine. Some protesters waved Ukrainian tricolors (as in the article - Ed. Eds.), And some even held placards deriding Mr. Putin and the Kremlin. In addition, peace marches, although much less mass, held in Yekaterinburg and St. Petersburg. On the day of the "March of Peace" the former tycoon, now a dissident Mikhail Khodorkovsky announced his return to Russian politics. In an interview with Le Monde, he announced his decision to revive the political font "Open Russia", as well as the desire to return to his homeland to take part in the presidential elections, "if you need to overcome the crisis and constitutional reforms." Experienced observer, specializing in Russian affairs, wrote in his blog: "Mikhail Khodorkovsky can not be called modern Alexander Herzen. His openrussia.org - it's not "Bell". And Russian society today does not sleep in anticipation of the White Prince. On the contrary, Russia - is a hive of activity and free debate. "

All this is not to say that Russia - a modern liberal democracy, that it has no place nationalist politics or that the actions of the Russian authorities throughout the Ukrainian crisis deserve praise. However, all of the above arguments indicate to us that the pattern of events is actually much more complex and ambiguous than the White House, Congress and the majority of experts inspire us. Much more correct to say that there is a conflict in the Ukrainian side, which is close to that to slide into fascism. And, as it turned out, this is the side that we support.

Author: James Carden (James W. Carden), «The National Interest», USA

Теги: USA, The National Interest

События независимой России

«The National Interest»