The future, it seems, is not orange in the Ukraine
In 2004 the people of the Ukraine were treated to US imperialism’s non-invasion method of controlling a state that is not
doing what is required by the US.
At that time the government was pro-Russian and led
by Viktor Yanukovich, the President. The West backed Viktor Yushchenko against
him in an election and, after the count went the way of Yanukovich, had their
man take it to the Ukrainian Supreme Court to get the result overturned and the
election rerun while they threw millions of dollars around to buy protesters on
the street and plenty of rock concerts, tents and media to capture the scene as
they wanted it portrayed.
In the re-run Presidential election, Yushchenko
claimed victory in spite of the massive and many claims of violations including
the loss of vote for over 5 million people. The West was ecstatic; it had
pulled a state away from Russia and continued the encirclement of that country
(along with the access to profits formerly denied them). The Ukrainians who had
taken part in the ‘Orange Revolution’ (yellow putsch would be a more apt
description) waited for the virtual paradise that they had been promised to
become reality.
In 2007 we reported in this paper that things were
not going as planned for the ‘Orangists’ and their imperialist backers as the
Ukrainian people, especially many of those duped into playing a role on the
streets for the ‘orange’ puppets of the US, had seen through the lies and
deceptions. Older people looked back to the USSR longingly and even the post
Soviet Yanukovich days looked good. Now another three years on, and given the
chance of a presidential election in which to show their dissatisfaction, the
Ukrainian masses dumped the sitting president, Yushchenko, in the first round
with a derisory 5.45% of the vote, which has to be something of a record low
for an incumbent president seeking re-election.
Amazingly, the election has been won by Yanukovich,
with Yulia Tymoshenko coming a close second. It also would seem that all the
time, money and effort that US imperialism put into organising and sponsoring
the ‘orange revolution’ were totally wasted as once again its dreams and
schemes have turned to dust in its hands.
Tymoshenko initially refused to accept the result,
making accusations of ballot irregularities and attempted to launch various
legal procedures. She even threatened to take her supporters on to the
streets. Seeing little will among the people to go out and take part in
another ‘orange’ debacle, she has been forced to accept the legitimacy of her
opponent’s election. Even the imperialists could not be counted on to support
such an event as Tymoshenko, although an orange ally of Yushchenko, is known to
have quite close ties to Russian Prime Minister Putin and as such could not be
trusted not to side with Russia when it comes to questions of defence, gas
pipelines etc.
US imperialism is increasingly finding the world a
harsh place as the DPRK and Iran ignore its threats, the resistance in Iraq and
Afghanistan continue to fight back sucking in more and more US troops and
funds; Latin America is going its own way and building anti-imperialist
alliances in Uncle Sam’s ‘backyard’; China is bypassing it in all economic
counts; and even in tiny disaster-hit Haiti, where Cuban doctors are seen as
heroes, the US military are being seen more and more as an army of occupation.
The beast that is imperialism is not yet dead and it is still incredibly
dangerous but, just like its faithful puppet in the Middle East, Israel, if we all play our part, its days are numbered.