Ukraine’s Post-Maidan “Democratic Deficit”
Restriction of Press Freedom, the Blight of Nationalism, and the War in Donbass 5 years after Maidan
Notice to our readers: This week’s interview guest Eva Bartlett will be speaking in Edmonton on Saturday May 4th at 7:30pm at the Ukrainian Centre at 11018 97 Street.
She will also speak in Vancouver on Sunday May 5th at 7pm at Mount Pleasant Neighbourhood House at 800 E Broadway.
Both talks will centre around her March-April visit to Venezuela.
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For those participants in the 2014 EuroMaidan protests with hopes of overthrowing a corrupt kleptocratic regime and ushering in a new era of freedom and prosperity for Ukrainians, the past five years would seem to have been a jarring reality check.
Following the February 2014 ouster of sitting President Viktor Yanukovych, the autonomous Republic of Crimea would separate and rejoin the Russian Federation. A separatist movement in the Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts in eastern Ukraine would escalate into a bloody war with thousands of civilian and militant deaths and millions of displaced persons. Neo-Nazi elements would gain a foothold in the Ukrainian parliament and in Ukrainian military units. And notwithstanding the signing of an association agreement with the EU, prosperity still remains as distant a hope as ever for the vast majority of Ukrainians, 60 percent of whom live below the poverty line in what statistics reveal to be Europe’s poorest country.
Disturbingly, as reported on this radio program, journalists in Ukraine face threats of imprisonment or even extra-judicial killing if they dare deviate from government-approved narratives about the Ukrainian revolution and oppressive crimes by the post-revolutionary order.
The story of Kirill Vyshinsky is a case in point. Having published essays from other writers back in 2014 which Ukrainian authorities deemed a “threat to national information security” the Chief Editor of RIA Novosti Ukraine was arrested on May 15th of last year and almost a year later is still sitting in pre-trial detention!
Meanwhile, a supposed ‘outsider’, Volodymyr Zelensky, has emerged victorious over incumbent President Poroshenko. Known for his work as a TV comedian, Zelensky has pledged to bring an end to the conflict in Donbass by continuing the Minsk process and by waging a ‘powerful information war.’
Preliminary sparring between Zelinsky and Russian President Vladimir Putin over the latter’s offer of simplifying the Russian citizenship process for residents in war-torn eastern Ukraine suggests that improved relations between the two countries may not be on the menu.
This week’s Global Research News Hour resumes its coverage of the ongoing Ukraine crisis with two provocative and relevant stories.
In the first half hour, Eva Bartlett returns for the second week in a row, this time to provide more background on Kirill Vyshinsky, and her thoughts about the legal and political rationale for his arrest. In the second half hour, George Eliason presents a comprehensive analysis of the dynamics playing out in Post-Maidan Ukraine, including the roots of Ukrainian ultra-nationalism, the forces influencing President Zelensky, and the prospects for peace in the Donbass.
Find more analysis on Ukraine, check out Global Research’s comprehensive archive.
Eva Bartlett is a Canadian independent journalist and activist. She has spent years on the ground covering conflict zones in the Middle East, especially in Syria and Palestine. She is a recipient of the International Journalism Award for International Reporting. Her articles on Kirill Vyshinsky’s detention can be found here and here.
George Eliason is an American journalist based in Donbass. He has been interviewed by and provided analysis for RT, the BBC, and Press-TV. His articles have been published in the Security Assistance Monitor, Washingtons Blog, OpedNews, the Saker, RT,and Global Research among others. His article: Ukraine’s Voters Didn’t Just Reject Nationalism, They Rejected Maidan, Bandera and the Revolution appears at mintpressnews.com.
(Global Research News Hour Episode 258)
LISTEN TO THE SHOW
Click to download the audio (MP3 format)
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