Ukraine's "Democracy"

Ukraine doesn’t deserve to be invaded by Russia, but at the same time, its government doesn’t deserve to have our tax dollars funding its corruption.

Photo by Daniele Franchi on Unsplash

As of nearly two weeks ago, Russia's invasion of Ukraine has gone on for six months. During that time the United States government and other western nations have continuously sent financial and military aid to Ukraine. Some people have argued that the West should do even more, practically calling for an all-out war between NATO and Russia. Needless to say (at least it should be) such a conflict would have catastrophic results and we should do everything we can to avoid it if at all possible.

A talking point that has been used consistently during the last six months, and even in the months preceding the invasion, is that this situation is about democracy. If we don't do all we can to ensure Russia loses this war then the fate of democracy itself is at stake, or so the argument goes.

The problem with this talking point (aside from the fact that the U.S. is a democratic republic and not a pure democracy; a distinction that is often overlooked and makes the shrieking about “democracy" from within the U.S. seem all the more misinformed) is that the Ukrainian government has never been as “liberal” or “democratic” as those arguing in favor of World War Three would have us believe.

Does that mean Ukraine deserves to be invaded by Russia? Of course not. Any decent and sensible human being should oppose Russia's invasion. However, it does make the argument that this war is about “democracy vs. autocracy” a moot point.

Before we go any further, let me be as clear as possible: I am adamantly opposed to this war and I condemn the Russian government for invading Ukraine. However, that does not mean I support the U.S or any other western government getting more involved as it will only prolong this conflict. The only people I “stand with” are the innocent civilians within Ukraine as they are the clear victims of this situation. That being said, the Ukrainian government deserves far more criticism than it has received from the corporate press.

According to Freedom House, a nonprofit that is “Tracking Democracy and Freedom Around the World” (or so their website says) Ukraine is considered “Partly Free” with a score of 61/100 on various political rights and civil liberties. While that score could certainly be much worse, it would just barely be considered a passing grade. Meanwhile, according to the 2022 Index of Economic Freedom put out by the Heritage Foundation, a right-leaning think tank, Ukraine is considered “Mostly Unfree” and ranks 130th in the world, and 44th in Europe.

(Typically I’m skeptical of foundations and think tanks, as many of them tend to serve the interests of the U.S. empire, but considering that the U.S. government is one of the largest proponents of portraying Ukraine as a shining democracy I feel it makes sense to point out these rankings.)

Citing Corrupt Think Tanks For News Reports Is Blatant Propaganda

Before the Invasion

Many of the policies Ukraine has enacted since Russia’s invasion have not helped the situation, but the corruption within the country did not begin six months ago. The Ukrainian government has always had its fair share of problems. That should not be a controversial statement, and in fact, it wasn’t considered to be one until just recently.

I don’t pretend to be an expert on Ukraine’s history of political corruption, but much of it is blatant enough that one doesn’t need to be an expert in order to see it. That corruption has manifested itself in many ways. From ultranationalist and neo-nazi militia groups being incorporated into Ukraine’s military to U.S.-funded biolabs potentially creating biological weapons; all the way up to Joe Biden having his son Hunter Biden (who is in no way an expert on energy) serve on the board of Burisma, one of Ukraine’s largest energy companies, while he was the sitting Vice President. What are the odds?

Glenn Greenwald @ggreenwald

Ukraine has "biological research facilities," says Undersecretary of State Victoria Nuland, when asked by Sen Rubio if Ukraine has biological or chemical weapons, and says she's worried Russia may get them. But she says she's 100% sure if there's a biological attack, it's Russia.

During his tenure as Vice President, and while his son was serving on Burisma’s board, Joe Biden withheld a billion dollars in aid to Ukraine in order to get a prosecutor fired. It’s been alleged that at that time the prosecutor was investigating Hunter Biden and Burisma, which has prompted many to speculate on the real reason behind Joe Biden’s involvement in his firing.

Many of the aforementioned examples happened shortly after the 2014 Maidan Revolution, where the U.S. government supported a coup to overthrow the democratically elected pro-Russian government while using neo-nazi militia groups to achieve that end. There’s even a leaked phone call where Victoria Nuland, then the Assistant Secretary of State in the Obama administration and the current Under Secretary of State for the Biden administration, discusses who should replace the Ukrainian president after the coup.

The overthrow of Ukraine’s government led to a civil war within Ukraine between pro-Russian separatists in the Donbas region and the pro-Western Ukrainian government. That war went on for eight years with very little attention before now, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has consistently violated the Minsk agreements during his term by refusing to let the breakaway provinces remain autonomous.

In fact, Zelenskyy’s government increased the shelling of the Donbas region in the months leading up to Russia’s invasion, which was then used as an excuse by Russian President Vladimir Putin to launch the current “special military operation” inside of Ukraine.

Zelenskyy also locked up Viktor Medvedchuk, a pro-Russian politician and the leader of an opposition party in Ukraine, and forcefully removed three TV channels from the air in 2021. Typically, attempts at restricting the flow of information are not considered to be a tenet of democracy. Whether or not Medvedchuk deserved to be prosecuted can be left up to debate, but shutting down TV stations because they are friendly to your political rivals should be seen as authoritarian as it really is.

After the Invasion

Very shortly after Russia invaded, Ukraine was put under martial law, and fighting-age males between 18-60 years of age were barred from leaving the country. One could argue that those actions may be appropriate during times of war, but it’s difficult to view measures such as conscription as “democratic”.

Zelenskyy, having had a practice run with Medvedchuk a year earlier, then went on to consolidate all of the TV stations in the country in order to prevent misinformation about the war and banned 11 opposition political parties that were deemed “pro-Russian”. Nothing says “democracy” like restricting the flow of information and limiting the rights of your political opponents, right?

The Ukrainian government has also seemingly been unwilling to seriously try to negotiate an end to this war (thanks in part to the U.S. and U.K. governments sabotaging those negotiations early on) with Zelenskyy even going as far as suggesting that this war won’t end until Ukraine reclaims all of its lost territories.

Some of those territories, including Crimea which was annexed by Russia in 2014, as well as Luhansk and Donetsk, have held referendums in the past where a large majority of the population voted to either be independent of Ukraine or become a part of Russia. If this war is really about defending democracy, shouldn’t the voices of the people within those regions be taken into account?

Part of the U.S. government’s effort to aid Ukraine in its fight against Russia has been to flood the country with billions of dollars in military and financial aid. However, it appears that a lot of that aid fails to get to its intended destination. This has been evident for quite some time now, so much so that even CNN ran a report about it a few months back, and at the beginning of last month, CBS News released a documentary that discussed the issue of military aid failing to reach the front lines. However, that documentary was quickly retracted due to pressure from the Ukrainian government.

A more recent report from The Grayzone, in which several Ukrainian veterans are interviewed, elaborates on the situation and shines a light on just how much money, weaponry, and medicine fails to reach the front lines. What especially highlights the potential corruption is that while this aid seems to consistently disappear, Ukraine’s Parliament recently voted to raise their salaries by 70 percent.

$40 Billion to Ukraine

As reported by UnHerd back in July, the Ukrainian government has also issued a blacklist of so-called “Russian propagandists” due to those individuals questioning U.S./NATO policy in this war. According to UnHerd:

The “Center for Countering Disinformation,” established in 2021 under Volodymyr Zelensky and headed by former lawyer Polina Lysenko, sits within the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine. Its stated aim is to detect and counter “propaganda” and “destructive disinformation” and to prevent the “manipulation of public opinion.”

On July 14th it published on its website a list of politicians, academics, activists that are “promoting Russian propaganda” — including several high-profile Western intellectuals and politicians. Republican Senator Rand Paul, former Democrat Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, military and geopolitical analyst Edward N. Luttwak, realist political scientist John Mearsheimer and heterodox journalist Glenn Greenwald were all included on the list. The list does not explain what the consequences are for anyone mentioned.

Clearly, the Ukrainian government has a strong incentive to control the narrative around this war, but bullying U.S. media outlets to retract their reporting and calling U.S. journalists, academics, and politicians “Russian propagandists” seems like a bridge too far. They may be receiving billions of our tax dollars, but the government of Ukraine should have no ability to deter U.S. citizens’ right to ask questions about this war or criticize the parties involved.

It’s not just media outlets, either. Even human rights groups have come under fire from Ukrainian officials. Last month, Amnesty International issued a report about how the Ukrainian military has been putting civilians in danger — in violation of international law — by using residential areas, such as schools and hospitals, to set up bases and launch attacks. The Ukrainian government, as well as a large swath of western media, were angry with Amnesty International for daring to criticize Ukraine’s role in this war.

The Russian government is completely and absolutely responsible for any civilians killed by their attacks, but the Ukrainian military intentionally putting civilians in harm’s way makes them at least somewhat culpable for any deaths or injuries that may occur. This situation highlights why negotiating a peace deal as quickly as possible is of the utmost importance.

While this war is surely due to the Russian government, the Russian people should not carry the blame, as they have no real ability to bring an end to this war even if many of them would like to. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy seems to disagree, however. When he's not too busy meeting with celebrities or posing for Vogue, Zelenskyy is instead blaming the entire Russian population for the war and wants the West to ban Russian travelers from entering their countries. As Dave Decamp recently reported for Antiwar.com:

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday said the “whole population” of Russia is responsible for the war in Ukraine and called on Western nations to ban all Russian travelers as a punishment.

“Whichever kind of Russian … make them go to Russia,” Zelensky told The Washington Post. “They’ll understand then. They’ll say, ‘This [war] has nothing to do with us. The whole population can’t be held responsible, can it?’ It can. The population picked this government and they’re not fighting it, not arguing with it, not shouting at it.”

Zelensky claimed that the West banning Russian travelers was the only way to prevent Russia from annexing Ukrainian territory.

The Unfortunate Reality

War is a horrible, awful part of human civilization, and it tends to bring out the worst in people as well as governments, but that doesn’t mean we have to give in to those impulses. Zelenskyy and the Ukrainian government have called for and implemented many illiberal and undemocratic policies since this war began, and the corruption within the Ukrainian government that already existed has only been exacerbated over the last six months.

Again, none of this means that Ukraine deserves to be invaded by Russia. The Russian government is wholly responsible for its part in this war. The death and destruction from its invasion are the fault of the Russian government, but the loss of liberty within Ukraine and the authoritarian policies that have been enacted since the onset of the invasion are the fault of the Ukrainian government.

The U.S. and other NATO allies getting more involved and prolonging this war by hindering negotiations, flooding Ukraine with weapons, and continuing to send billions of dollars in aid will not help this situation. What is needed at this moment is diplomacy and compromise, but as it stands, that seems unlikely, at least in the near term. Ukraine doesn’t deserve to be invaded by Russia, but at the same time, its government doesn’t deserve to have our tax dollars funding its corruption.

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