Giới thiệu Ukraine
Theo Worldatlas
1 | 2 Description (Page 1)
As varied peoples migrated from Asia into Europe, Ukraine was first settled by the Neolithic people, followed by the Iranians and Goths, and other nomadic peoples who arrived throughout the first millennium BC.
Around 600 B.C., the ancient Greeks founded a series of colonies along the shore of the Black Sea, and Slavic tribes occupied large areas of central and eastern Ukraine.
Near the end of the 10th century, Vladimir Sviatoslavich (Vladimir the Great) converted most of the population to Christianity, and at that same time, Kiev (Kyiv) was growing into an important part of Kievan Rus.
Kievan Rus was an influential medieval polity (or city state) and the largest in Eastern Europe from the late 9th to the mid-13th century. It eventually disintegrated under the pressure of the Mongol invasion of 1237–1240.
In fact, the Mongol raiders (from China) all but destroyed Kiev in the 13th century. The Mongols were cruel and took few prisoners, so locals often fled to other countries and Ukrainian settlements soon appeared in Poland and Hungary.
Because Poland and Lithuania fought successful wars against the Mongols, most of the territory of what is now modern Ukraine was annexed by Poland and Lithuania in the 14th century. And following the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (or union) Armenians, Germans, Poles and Jews immigrated to the Ukraine.
After the formation of the Commonwealth, Ukraine became a part of the Kingdom of Poland. Colonization efforts by the Poles were aggressive, social tensions grew, and the era of the Cossacks (peasants in revolt) was about to surface.
The Ukrainian Cossack rebellion and war of independence began in 1648, and it sparked an era known in Polish history as The Deluge, an effort that surely undermined the foundations and stability of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
In the late 1700s Poland's three powerful neighbors, Austria, Prussia and Russia coveted Poland. None wanted war with each other so they just decided to divide the now-weakened Poland in a series of agreements called the Three Partitions of Poland, and much of modern-day Ukraine was integrated into the Russian Empire.
In the 19th century, the western region of Ukraine was under the control of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Russian Empire elsewhere, and the economy was totally dependent on its agricultural base.
Ukrainians were determined to restore their culture and native language. However, the Russian Government imposed strict limits on attempts to elevate Ukrainian culture, even banning the use and study of the Ukrainian language.
When World War I finally ended, many European powers (such as the Austro-Hungarian Empire) ceased to exist, and because the October Revolution broke apart Russia, the Ukrainians now saw an opportunity and they declared an independent statehood.
Unable to protect themselves militarily, the Ukraine landmass was soon fought over by many forces, including Russia's Red Army and the Polish Army. In the end (by treaty) Poland would control land in the far west, while the eastern two-thirds became part of the Soviet Union as the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.
In the 1920s, Ukrainian culture and pride began to flourish once again, but Joseph Stalin (the Soviet leader) was not pleased, and his government created an artificial famine; a deliberate act of genocide that by 1932 caused (an estimated) 3 to 7 million peasant deaths.
Living statues performance art, Ukraine
Description (Page 2)
World War II was about to rear its ugly head, as on September 1, 1939, Nazi Germany invaded western Poland. On September 17, the Soviet Union (in cooperation with Germany) invaded eastern Poland and those Ukraine lands then controlled by Poland.
In 1941 the Germans attacked the Soviet Union which proved in the end to be a bad decision, however, over the next three years Nazi Germany would control much of Ukraine and the worst for its long-suffering people was yet to come.
The Ukrainians and Soviet troops fought back where they could, but to little or no avail. The German Nazis systematically carried out genocidal policies against Jews, and deported others (mainly Ukrainians) to forced labor camps in Germany.
Total civilian losses during the German occupation in Ukraine are estimated at 7 million, including over a million Jews shot and killed by the Einsatzgruppen, a special SS mobile unit charged with carrying out mass murder.
Of the estimated 11 million Soviet troops who died in battle against the Nazis, about a fourth (2.7 million) were ethnic Ukrainians. Thus, the Ukrainian nation is distinguished as suffering the greatest bloodshed during the brutal War.
After World War II the Ukraine remained a part of the Soviet Union, and the Ukrainian SSR (in a deal orchestrated by the U.S.) became one of founding members of the United Nations (UN) together with the Soviet Union and the Byelorussian SSR.
Over the next two decades, Ukrainian's industries grew rapidly and became a symbol of Soviet economic and military power. In fact, Ukraine became a Soviet military outpost during the cold war, crowded by military bases.
Then, on April 26, 1986, the Chernobyl nuclear plant exploded in the town of Pripyat. The fallout contaminated large areas of northern Ukraine and even parts of Belarus. This sparked a (People's Movement) called the "Rukh," a movement that helped expedite the break-up of the Soviet Union during the late 1980s.
in the late 1980's, Soviet President Gorbachev introduced policies in Russia to help reduce the corruption at the top of the Communist Party. That move called 'Glasnost' sparked a passionate desire for freedom across The Soviet Union, and in the end freedom from Communism caused the total collapse of the country in 1991.
On August 24, 1991, following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Ukraine declared itself an independent state. On December 1, 1991, 90% of Ukrainian voters approved a referendum formalizing independence from the Soviet Union.
Following its independence, Ukraine made many positive moves, including becoming a non-nuclear nation in 1996, when it had all of its nearly 2,000 Soviet era nuclear warheads dismantled.
A peaceful mass protest called the "Orange Revolution" in the closing months of 2004 forced the authorities to overturn a rigged presidential election and to allow a new internationally monitored vote that swept into power a reformist slate under Viktor Yushcenko.
Subsequent internal squabbles in the Yushchenko camp allowed his rival Viktor Yanukovych to stage a comeback in parliamentary elections and become prime minister in August of 2006; he was elected President in a runoff election in 2010.
Today in Ukraine, the overall move is a forward push toward the west. The country is heavily involved in European events, including one as the co-host of the European Football Championships in 2012.
And then there's the exciting capital city of Kiev. We've been there twice and (in our opinion) it's one of the more beautiful and cleanest cities in all of Europe.
Description (Page 2)
World War II was about to rear its ugly head, as on September 1, 1939, Nazi Germany invaded western Poland. On September 17, the Soviet Union (in cooperation with Germany) invaded eastern Poland and those Ukraine lands then controlled by Poland.
In 1941 the Germans attacked the Soviet Union which proved in the end to be a bad decision, however, over the next three years Nazi Germany would control much of Ukraine and the worst for its long-suffering people was yet to come.
The Ukrainians and Soviet troops fought back where they could, but to little or no avail. The German Nazis systematically carried out genocidal policies against Jews, and deported others (mainly Ukrainians) to forced labor camps in Germany.
Total civilian losses during the German occupation in Ukraine are estimated at 7 million, including over a million Jews shot and killed by the Einsatzgruppen, a special SS mobile unit charged with carrying out mass murder.
Of the estimated 11 million Soviet troops who died in battle against the Nazis, about a fourth (2.7 million) were ethnic Ukrainians. Thus, the Ukrainian nation is distinguished as suffering the greatest bloodshed during the brutal War.
After World War II the Ukraine remained a part of the Soviet Union, and the Ukrainian SSR (in a deal orchestrated by the U.S.) became one of founding members of the United Nations (UN) together with the Soviet Union and the Byelorussian SSR.
Over the next two decades, Ukrainian's industries grew rapidly and became a symbol of Soviet economic and military power. In fact, Ukraine became a Soviet military outpost during the cold war, crowded by military bases.
Then, on April 26, 1986, the Chernobyl nuclear plant exploded in the town of Pripyat. The fallout contaminated large areas of northern Ukraine and even parts of Belarus. This sparked a (People's Movement) called the "Rukh," a movement that helped expedite the break-up of the Soviet Union during the late 1980s.
in the late 1980's, Soviet President Gorbachev introduced policies in Russia to help reduce the corruption at the top of the Communist Party. That move called 'Glasnost' sparked a passionate desire for freedom across The Soviet Union, and in the end freedom from Communism caused the total collapse of the country in 1991.
On August 24, 1991, following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Ukraine declared itself an independent state. On December 1, 1991, 90% of Ukrainian voters approved a referendum formalizing independence from the Soviet Union.
Following its independence, Ukraine made many positive moves, including becoming a non-nuclear nation in 1996, when it had all of its nearly 2,000 Soviet era nuclear warheads dismantled.
A peaceful mass protest called the "Orange Revolution" in the closing months of 2004 forced the authorities to overturn a rigged presidential election and to allow a new internationally monitored vote that swept into power a reformist slate under Viktor Yushcenko.
Subsequent internal squabbles in the Yushchenko camp allowed his rival Viktor Yanukovych to stage a comeback in parliamentary elections and become prime minister in August of 2006; he was elected President in a runoff election in 2010.
Today in Ukraine, the overall move is a forward push toward the west. The country is heavily involved in European events, including one as the co-host of the European Football Championships in 2012.
And then there's the exciting capital city of Kiev. We've been there twice and (in our opinion) it's one of the more beautiful and cleanest cities in all of Europe.
Ukraine has been wracked by protests for two-plus weeks over President Viktor Yanukovych's decision to reject a deal for closer integration with the European Union. Thousands of protesters in the capital city of Kiev are calling for Yanukovych to step down.
This is a potentially big moment for Ukraine, as well as for Europe: Russian President Vladimir Putin had been pressuring Yanukovych to quit the EU deal and join with a Moscow-led trade union of former Soviet states instead. Will Ukraine's future be with Russia or with Europe?
What's happening in Ukraine is complicated and driven by many factors: the country's history as an unhappy component of the Soviet Union, its deep economic woes, a sense of cultural fondness for the West, wide discontent with government corruption, two decades of divided politics and a sense that Yanukovych caved to Putin.
No single datapoint could capture or explain all of that. But the map below comes perhaps as close as anything could. It shows Ukraine, color-coded by the country's major ethnic and linguistic divisions. Below, I explain why this map is so important and why it helps to tell Ukraine's story. The short version: Ukraine's politics have long been divided into two major factions by the country's demographics. What's happening right now is in many ways a product of that division, which has never really been reconciled.
Roughly speaking, about four out of every six people in Ukraine are ethnic Ukrainian and speak the Ukrainian language. Another one in six is ethnic Russian and speaks Russian. The last one-in-six is ethnic Ukrainian but speaks Russian. This map shows where each of those three major groups tend to live. (I'm rounding a bit on the numbers; about five percent of Ukrainians are minorities who don't fit in any of those three categories.)
Here's why this matters for what's happening in Ukraine now: Since it declared independence in 1991, the country has been politically divided along these ethnic-linguistic lines. In national elections, people from districts dominated by that majority group (Ukrainian-speakers who are ethnically Ukrainian) tend to vote for one candidate. And people from districts with lots of ethnic Russians or Russian-speakers tend to vote for the other candidate.
To see what I mean, check out these two maps that show the results of Ukraine's 2004 and 2010 presidential elections, both of which were very close. Yanukovych lost the 2004 vote (on the second round of voting, that is; the first round was annulled after protests over fraud allegations) by 52 to 44. But he won in 2010 by 49 to 45 percent. In both cases, you can see a clear and consistent regional divide. Maps of other presidential and parliamentary elections look very similar.
Ukraine's ethno-lingistic political division is sort of like the United States' "red America" and "blue America" divide, but in many ways much deeper -- imagine if red and blue America literally spoke different languages. The current political conflict, which at its most basic level is over whether the country will lean toward Europe or toward Russia, is like the Ukrainian equivalent of gun control, abortion and same-sex marriage all rolled into one.
Based on the protests in Kiev, it can sure look like Ukrainians want their country to integrate with the European Union and turn away from Russia. But a November poll found slightly different attitudes: 45 percent said they wanted the EU deal, 14 percent said they wanted to join with the Russian-led trade union, and 41 percent said they were undecided or wanted neither. In other words, joining the EU is about as popular as not joining the EU, both of which are more popular than snuggling up to Moscow.
It's a safe bet that ethnic-linguistic Ukrainians would be more likely to want the EU deal. Europe is often seen there as the alternative to Russia, so supporting EU integration is a little like supporting "not Russia."
These maps also show why it could be easy to overstate the protests and the degree to which they represent all Ukrainians. The mass protests, and thus most foreign journalists, are in the capital city of Kiev. You can see it in the map up top, in a little pink circle inside a sea of ethno-linguistic Ukrainian red. But President Yanukovych is from the eastern, more Russian part of the country, where he served as a regional governor for several years. In 2010, 74.7 percent of Kievans voted for Yanukovych's opponent; it's not shocking that they would want him to leave office.
Things are different in the other end of the country. As the scholars Kataryna and Roman Wolczuk wrote at Monkey Cage, "in Russophone Eastern and Southern Ukraine, Lenin is still respected by many, despite Communism’s obsolescence even there." This weekend, when protesters in Kiev toppled an old statue of founding Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin, some Ukrainians in the Russian-speaking parts of the country expressed outrage.
Here in the United States, we hear the same refrain from the minority party every time there's a major election: "Let's take back the country." The implicit perception, that the other side of the American political divide doesn't really represent the nation, seems to have some parallels in Ukrainian politics. Protesters in Kiev see Yanukovych's decision to reject the EU deal and embrace Moscow as a betrayal. Similarly, former prime minister and opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko was imprisoned on (highly suspect) corruption charges over allegedly signing an oil trade deal that was too favorable to Russia.
The protesters out in the streets in Kiev are showing remarkably bravery and political will. They have some very real grievances that have nothing to do with ethnic or linguistic lines, particularly government corruption and the troubled economy. But what we're seeing is, in some very important ways, a function of a demographic divide that Ukrainian politics have never really bridged.
1 | 2 Description (Page 1)
As varied peoples migrated from Asia into Europe, Ukraine was first settled by the Neolithic people, followed by the Iranians and Goths, and other nomadic peoples who arrived throughout the first millennium BC.
Around 600 B.C., the ancient Greeks founded a series of colonies along the shore of the Black Sea, and Slavic tribes occupied large areas of central and eastern Ukraine.
Near the end of the 10th century, Vladimir Sviatoslavich (Vladimir the Great) converted most of the population to Christianity, and at that same time, Kiev (Kyiv) was growing into an important part of Kievan Rus. Kievan Rus was an influential medieval polity (or city state) and the largest in Eastern Europe from the late 9th to the mid-13th century. It eventually disintegrated under the pressure of the Mongol invasion of 1237–1240.
In fact, the Mongol raiders (from China) all but destroyed Kiev in the 13th century. The Mongols were cruel and took few prisoners, so locals often fled to other countries and Ukrainian settlements soon appeared in Poland and Hungary.
Because Poland and Lithuania fought successful wars against the Mongols, most of the territory of what is now modern Ukraine was annexed by Poland and Lithuania in the 14th century. And following the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (or union) Armenians, Germans, Poles and Jews immigrated to the Ukraine.
After the formation of the Commonwealth, Ukraine became a part of the Kingdom of Poland. Colonization efforts by the Poles were aggressive, social tensions grew, and the era of the Cossacks (peasants in revolt) was about to surface.
The Ukrainian Cossack rebellion and war of independence began in 1648, and it sparked an era known in Polish history as The Deluge, an effort that surely undermined the foundations and stability of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
In the late 1700s Poland's three powerful neighbors, Austria, Prussia and Russia coveted Poland. None wanted war with each other so they just decided to divide the now-weakened Poland in a series of agreements called the Three Partitions of Poland, and much of modern-day Ukraine was integrated into the Russian Empire. In the 19th century, the western region of Ukraine was under the control of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Russian Empire elsewhere, and the economy was totally dependent on its agricultural base.
Ukrainians were determined to restore their culture and native language. However, the Russian Government imposed strict limits on attempts to elevate Ukrainian culture, even banning the use and study of the Ukrainian language.
When World War I finally ended, many European powers (such as the Austro-Hungarian Empire) ceased to exist, and because the October Revolution broke apart Russia, the Ukrainians now saw an opportunity and they declared an independent statehood.
Unable to protect themselves militarily, the Ukraine landmass was soon fought over by many forces, including Russia's Red Army and the Polish Army. In the end (by treaty) Poland would control land in the far west, while the eastern two-thirds became part of the Soviet Union as the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.
In the 1920s, Ukrainian culture and pride began to flourish once again, but Joseph Stalin (the Soviet leader) was not pleased, and his government created an artificial famine; a deliberate act of genocide that by 1932 caused (an estimated) 3 to 7 million peasant deaths.
1 | 2
Description continued... Description (Page 2)
World War II was about to rear its ugly head, as on September 1, 1939, Nazi Germany invaded western Poland. On September 17, the Soviet Union (in cooperation with Germany) invaded eastern Poland and those Ukraine lands then controlled by Poland.
In 1941 the Germans attacked the Soviet Union which proved in the end to be a bad decision, however, over the next three years Nazi Germany would control much of Ukraine and the worst for its long-suffering people was yet to come. The Ukrainians and Soviet troops fought back where they could, but to little or no avail. The German Nazis systematically carried out genocidal policies against Jews, and deported others (mainly Ukrainians) to forced labor camps in Germany.
Total civilian losses during the German occupation in Ukraine are estimated at 7 million, including over a million Jews shot and killed by the Einsatzgruppen, a special SS mobile unit charged with carrying out mass murder.
Of the estimated 11 million Soviet troops who died in battle against the Nazis, about a fourth (2.7 million) were ethnic Ukrainians. Thus, the Ukrainian nation is distinguished as suffering the greatest bloodshed during the brutal War.
After World War II the Ukraine remained a part of the Soviet Union, and the Ukrainian SSR (in a deal orchestrated by the U.S.) became one of founding members of the United Nations (UN) together with the Soviet Union and the Byelorussian SSR.
Over the next two decades, Ukrainian's industries grew rapidly and became a symbol of Soviet economic and military power. In fact, Ukraine became a Soviet military outpost during the cold war, crowded by military bases.
Then, on April 26, 1986, the Chernobyl nuclear plant exploded in the town of Pripyat. The fallout contaminated large areas of northern Ukraine and even parts of Belarus. This sparked a (People's Movement) called the "Rukh," a movement that helped expedite the break-up of the Soviet Union during the late 1980s. in the late 1980's, Soviet President Gorbachev introduced policies in Russia to help reduce the corruption at the top of the Communist Party. That move called 'Glasnost' sparked a passionate desire for freedom across The Soviet Union, and in the end freedom from Communism caused the total collapse of the country in 1991.
On August 24, 1991, following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Ukraine declared itself an independent state. On December 1, 1991, 90% of Ukrainian voters approved a referendum formalizing independence from the Soviet Union.
Following its independence, Ukraine made many positive moves, including becoming a non-nuclear nation in 1996, when it had all of its nearly 2,000 Soviet era nuclear warheads dismantled.
A peaceful mass protest called the "Orange Revolution" in the closing months of 2004 forced the authorities to overturn a rigged presidential election and to allow a new internationally monitored vote that swept into power a reformist slate under Viktor Yushcenko.
Subsequent internal squabbles in the Yushchenko camp allowed his rival Viktor Yanukovych to stage a comeback in parliamentary elections and become prime minister in August of 2006; he was elected President in a runoff election in 2010.
Today in Ukraine, the overall move is a forward push toward the west. The country is heavily involved in European events, including one as the co-host of the European Football Championships in 2012.
And then there's the exciting capital city of Kiev. We've been there twice and (in our opinion) it's one of the more beautiful and cleanest cities in all of Europe.
Description (Page 2)
World War II was about to rear its ugly head, as on September 1, 1939, Nazi Germany invaded western Poland. On September 17, the Soviet Union (in cooperation with Germany) invaded eastern Poland and those Ukraine lands then controlled by Poland.
In 1941 the Germans attacked the Soviet Union which proved in the end to be a bad decision, however, over the next three years Nazi Germany would control much of Ukraine and the worst for its long-suffering people was yet to come. The Ukrainians and Soviet troops fought back where they could, but to little or no avail. The German Nazis systematically carried out genocidal policies against Jews, and deported others (mainly Ukrainians) to forced labor camps in Germany.
Total civilian losses during the German occupation in Ukraine are estimated at 7 million, including over a million Jews shot and killed by the Einsatzgruppen, a special SS mobile unit charged with carrying out mass murder.
Of the estimated 11 million Soviet troops who died in battle against the Nazis, about a fourth (2.7 million) were ethnic Ukrainians. Thus, the Ukrainian nation is distinguished as suffering the greatest bloodshed during the brutal War.
After World War II the Ukraine remained a part of the Soviet Union, and the Ukrainian SSR (in a deal orchestrated by the U.S.) became one of founding members of the United Nations (UN) together with the Soviet Union and the Byelorussian SSR.
Over the next two decades, Ukrainian's industries grew rapidly and became a symbol of Soviet economic and military power. In fact, Ukraine became a Soviet military outpost during the cold war, crowded by military bases.
Then, on April 26, 1986, the Chernobyl nuclear plant exploded in the town of Pripyat. The fallout contaminated large areas of northern Ukraine and even parts of Belarus. This sparked a (People's Movement) called the "Rukh," a movement that helped expedite the break-up of the Soviet Union during the late 1980s. in the late 1980's, Soviet President Gorbachev introduced policies in Russia to help reduce the corruption at the top of the Communist Party. That move called 'Glasnost' sparked a passionate desire for freedom across The Soviet Union, and in the end freedom from Communism caused the total collapse of the country in 1991.
On August 24, 1991, following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Ukraine declared itself an independent state. On December 1, 1991, 90% of Ukrainian voters approved a referendum formalizing independence from the Soviet Union.
Following its independence, Ukraine made many positive moves, including becoming a non-nuclear nation in 1996, when it had all of its nearly 2,000 Soviet era nuclear warheads dismantled.
A peaceful mass protest called the "Orange Revolution" in the closing months of 2004 forced the authorities to overturn a rigged presidential election and to allow a new internationally monitored vote that swept into power a reformist slate under Viktor Yushcenko.
Subsequent internal squabbles in the Yushchenko camp allowed his rival Viktor Yanukovych to stage a comeback in parliamentary elections and become prime minister in August of 2006; he was elected President in a runoff election in 2010.
Today in Ukraine, the overall move is a forward push toward the west. The country is heavily involved in European events, including one as the co-host of the European Football Championships in 2012.
And then there's the exciting capital city of Kiev. We've been there twice and (in our opinion) it's one of the more beautiful and cleanest cities in all of Europe.
This one map helps explain Ukraine’s protests
By Max Fisher December 9, 2013 at 4:44 pm
The Washington Post World View
(VIKTOR DRACHEV/AFP/Getty Images)
This is a potentially big moment for Ukraine, as well as for Europe: Russian President Vladimir Putin had been pressuring Yanukovych to quit the EU deal and join with a Moscow-led trade union of former Soviet states instead. Will Ukraine's future be with Russia or with Europe?
What's happening in Ukraine is complicated and driven by many factors: the country's history as an unhappy component of the Soviet Union, its deep economic woes, a sense of cultural fondness for the West, wide discontent with government corruption, two decades of divided politics and a sense that Yanukovych caved to Putin.
(Wikimedia Commons)
Here's why this matters for what's happening in Ukraine now: Since it declared independence in 1991, the country has been politically divided along these ethnic-linguistic lines. In national elections, people from districts dominated by that majority group (Ukrainian-speakers who are ethnically Ukrainian) tend to vote for one candidate. And people from districts with lots of ethnic Russians or Russian-speakers tend to vote for the other candidate.
To see what I mean, check out these two maps that show the results of Ukraine's 2004 and 2010 presidential elections, both of which were very close. Yanukovych lost the 2004 vote (on the second round of voting, that is; the first round was annulled after protests over fraud allegations) by 52 to 44. But he won in 2010 by 49 to 45 percent. In both cases, you can see a clear and consistent regional divide. Maps of other presidential and parliamentary elections look very similar.
Ukraine's ethno-lingistic political division is sort of like the United States' "red America" and "blue America" divide, but in many ways much deeper -- imagine if red and blue America literally spoke different languages. The current political conflict, which at its most basic level is over whether the country will lean toward Europe or toward Russia, is like the Ukrainian equivalent of gun control, abortion and same-sex marriage all rolled into one.
Based on the protests in Kiev, it can sure look like Ukrainians want their country to integrate with the European Union and turn away from Russia. But a November poll found slightly different attitudes: 45 percent said they wanted the EU deal, 14 percent said they wanted to join with the Russian-led trade union, and 41 percent said they were undecided or wanted neither. In other words, joining the EU is about as popular as not joining the EU, both of which are more popular than snuggling up to Moscow.
It's a safe bet that ethnic-linguistic Ukrainians would be more likely to want the EU deal. Europe is often seen there as the alternative to Russia, so supporting EU integration is a little like supporting "not Russia."
These maps also show why it could be easy to overstate the protests and the degree to which they represent all Ukrainians. The mass protests, and thus most foreign journalists, are in the capital city of Kiev. You can see it in the map up top, in a little pink circle inside a sea of ethno-linguistic Ukrainian red. But President Yanukovych is from the eastern, more Russian part of the country, where he served as a regional governor for several years. In 2010, 74.7 percent of Kievans voted for Yanukovych's opponent; it's not shocking that they would want him to leave office.
Things are different in the other end of the country. As the scholars Kataryna and Roman Wolczuk wrote at Monkey Cage, "in Russophone Eastern and Southern Ukraine, Lenin is still respected by many, despite Communism’s obsolescence even there." This weekend, when protesters in Kiev toppled an old statue of founding Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin, some Ukrainians in the Russian-speaking parts of the country expressed outrage.
Here in the United States, we hear the same refrain from the minority party every time there's a major election: "Let's take back the country." The implicit perception, that the other side of the American political divide doesn't really represent the nation, seems to have some parallels in Ukrainian politics. Protesters in Kiev see Yanukovych's decision to reject the EU deal and embrace Moscow as a betrayal. Similarly, former prime minister and opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko was imprisoned on (highly suspect) corruption charges over allegedly signing an oil trade deal that was too favorable to Russia.
The protesters out in the streets in Kiev are showing remarkably bravery and political will. They have some very real grievances that have nothing to do with ethnic or linguistic lines, particularly government corruption and the troubled economy. But what we're seeing is, in some very important ways, a function of a demographic divide that Ukrainian politics have never really bridged.
Nhận xét
Đăng nhận xét