Destruction of Culture: The Little-known Murder of Mykola Leontovych

Today is a day of historical significance for Ukrainians and the music world, though few people know of the murder of Mykola Leontovych, composer of "Carol of the Bells".

This morning a saw a post by my friend Tina Peresunko, author and curator of a project called "Світовий тріумф "Щедрика" - 100 років культурної дипломатії України" - "The World Triumph of
"Shchedryk" - 100 Years of Cultural Diplomacy of Ukraine"

Shortly after I shared it with friends I received a hint from my friend Olesya Sokalska in Ukrainian, "This should be in English!" So that was my project for this morning. Below is Tina's original post with some additions for clarification for those with little background knowledge of Ukraine's geography or history.

Shchedryk became what we know in North America as "Carol of the Bells" with the lyrics written by Peter J. Wilhousky.

Myklola Leontovych in His Youth

Exactly 100 years ago today at seven in the morning on January 23, 1921 Ukrainians lost one of their bright stars. A shot from a rifle, and a Russian agent of the Cheka killed composer Mykola Leontovych. He bled out on the couch in his parent’s home in the village of Markivka which had historically been known as the Podilia region of South Western Ukraine, currently Vinnytsia oblast.

On the same day, January 23, 1921, in Paris at the famous Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Leontovych's works were met with the applause of the French aristocracy. In fact this happened just few hours after the tragedy in Markivka (that day the concert of the Ukrainian People Republic’s Capella was a Matinée).

"The perfection is indescribable ... I lack words," the Parisian newspaper “La Presse” wrote the same day.

"This is one of the most interesting events in Paris today," says the “Journal Des Debats”.

"This choir is one of the most interesting phenomena. I even dare to say - the best thing I've ever heard in my life, listening day to day to the plays I'm writing about," admitted the music critic of "L'Homme Libre".

"It's as if the people themselves are expressing themselves. It's as if he's speaking to our people," concluded “L'Humanité”.

However, none of the politicians in Paris listened to the delicate and unobtrusive, musical speech of Ukrainians. The Entente did not support Ukraine's independence. The Ukrainian People's Republic

The Sofa Upon Which Leontovych Died,
Leontovych Museum, Markivka

(hereafter UPR) was occupied by the Russian Bolsheviks, who immediately began purging culturally and politically conscious Ukrainians.

Among them was the genius of a composer, the author of “Shchedryk", who had been a former government official of the Ministry of Education and Arts of the UPR, a figure of the Ukrainian autocephalous church movement, and the author of the first Ukrainian-language Liturgy.

The period of triumphs for the UPR Cappella, which lasted from 1919 through 1921 in 10 countries of Western Europe, was an impoverished one in the life of Mykola Leontovych.

"There was not enough food for the family, there were no clothes," wrote Vinnytsia musicologist Anatoliy Zavalnyuk in a monograph on Leontovych.

The composer's daughter Olha also recalled that period: "My parents often sent me to visit my grandfather in Markivka on various religious holidays, hoping that when I returned I would bring some food."

After Koshetz’s choir left Kyiv to tour Europe, Leontovych returned from the capital to Vinnytsia. (He had worked with Koshetz in the music department of the Ministry of Culture of the UPR).

Yakiv Yastrubetsky recalled that in November 1919 he walked from Kyiv to Tulchyn (about 350 km): "In the autumn of November 1919, Mykola Dmytrovych [Leontovych’s patronymic], in a graceful summer jacket on his shoulders and a clumsy hat, completely exhausted and cold, came on foot from Kyiv to Tulchyn and settled here again."

However, it was at this time, in November 1919, when the first premiere of his "Shchedryk" took place in Paris.

“This is a tour of patriotic and musical propaganda, which the President of the young Ukrainian Republic has prepared for France.” Wrote Paris music critic Louis Schneider about Simon Petliura's music-diplomatic project in “The New-York Herald” on November 9, 1919. “In the Ukrainian’s repertoire we liked the gradation of motives, their characteristic Orientalism, as well as the explosions of sincere merriment, especially in "Shchedryk" - a song that begins with a sudden attack, and in which the effects of truly wonderful humour are formed by simple gradation of voices.”

The Ukrainian concerts, which were supposed to raise the prestige of Ukraine in the eyes of the Western world, became the №1 events in the musical life of Europe.

There is an uncountable amount of evidence regarding this. And even more evidence - on the genius of Leontovych. His "Shchedryk" received great acclamation in Vienna, Prague, London, Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Geneva and Warsaw. In all - 45 cities in 10 countries of Western Europe.

For example, the London newspaper “The Daily News and Leader” wrote on February 4, 1920: “Many songs were performed in the encore - almost all them. Among the most original and beautiful are "Shchedryk" and "Oh there, beyond the mountain" - both created by Leontovych.”

The Belgian newspaper “Le XX Siècle” reported on January 10, 1920, a day after its Ukrainian premiere at the La Monet Opera House: "It's worth mentioning, because this is a magically sung masterpiece of folk art -"Shchedryk"arranged by Leontovych. The audience greeted him with a standing ovation, enthusiastically calling for an encore."

The Barcelona edition of “Das Noticias” wrote after its Ukrainian premiere in Spain on January 29, 1921: "The audience said that they liked Leontovych's arrangements the most, which they often called for an encore."

"This Ukrainian hashish is the sweetest of poisons," said German professor Pavel Zaytsev, regarding Leontovych's "Shchedryk" tothe UPR's chief arts officer, during a concert in Berlin.

And so forth.

The choristers themselves testified to the triumph of Leontovych's works at the concerts of the UPR Cappella.

Levko Bezruchko recalls the premiere in Paris on November 6, 1919: "In the second part of the concert we sang "Shchedryk"(Leontovych) for the encore, and in the third part -"Oy, pryadu, pryadu" (Leontovych).

"Leontovych's"Shchedryk" and Leontovych's "Oy pryadu, pryadu" created a sensation,” wrote a travel magazine about the choir’s concert in Bordeaux.

Shchedryk received the most calls for encores in the Netherlands.

Sofiya Kolodiyivna recalled theconcerts in The Hague, Amsterdam and Rotterdam

- The audience welcomes us warmly, we sing "Shchedryk" as an encore(Rotterdam, Doelen Zaal, January 19, 1920);

- We sang “Shchedryk” and “Open’ky” as encores (The Hague, Koninklijke Schouwburg, January 22, 1920);

- The concert is attended by reviewers of all the Amsterdam periodicals. We sang "Shchedryk" for the encore"(Amsterdam, Hollandsche Schouwburg, January 24, 1920;

- We sang well, with spirit. As an encore we sang Leontovych’s “Shchedryk” (The Hague, Dierenfuju, January 25, 1920).

In January of 1921, the Ukrainian Republican Capella received their last quota of state funding. With their last hopes, the choristers traveled to Paris.

On January 20, 1921, their concert was attended by the famous French (formerly American, as her citizenship had been revoked for her politics) ballerina Isadora Duncan, who wrote in the Capella’s guest book: "BRAVO !!!". General Maurice Pele of the French army also signed the book.

"It seems that the great hall of the Théâtre Des Champs-Elysées has been turned into a temple," wrote the famous French critic Louis Laloy on January 23, 1921, in the newspaper “La Soireé”. - “It is strange that the organ does not play upstairs. The gathering of"the faithful" takes place during the intermission… Mr. Jean Perrier speaks with admiration about these passionate and so majestically set voices. Ms. Isadora Duncan and a group of young people are dressed today as an elegant Parisian woman who surprises "neophytes". The atmosphere is intimate and nice. Director Jacques Hébertot shakes hands with his friends. All those who did not go to "The Bat" [Die Fledermaus, Johann Strauss II] gathered here. "

While the Parisian press publishes these words, Leontovych is being killed in Markivka. In Paris, no one knows that the author of their favourite works - "Shchedryk", "Pryali", "Pochayiv Mother of God", "Oh there, beyond the mountain" is no longer.

And does anyone care?

The last meeting with Leontovych is mentioned by his colleague from the diocesan school and music teacher Yakim Hrekh:

"It was after Christmas 1921. I was very surprised to see Leontovych walking towards me in the

yard. He was dressed in an old coat, on his head he had an original hat, which was sewn for him by his wife from an old blanket. He was wearing mittens (also his wife's work) and grey-black trousers with large purple patches. And he carried a large handkerchief tied tied to a stick with a gift for me - cakes. Visually he appeared to be a homeless traveler, starving, but in no way Leontovych…”

Such was the composer shortly before his death.

Leontovych's Grave and Memorial,
Village of Markivka, Ukraine

At this time he was writing his opera "On the Mermaid's Easter." An opera that, after the presentation of Ukrainian folklore, which so impressed Europe, could raise the bar of Ukrainian musical culture even more.

And Ukraine as a state.

However, he never finished the opera.

Vasyl Pawlowsky 

Independent Consultant

Enemies Within Ukraine

“With friends like that, who needs enemies?” A common adage that many have heard more than once when someone earlier considered a friend betrayed a person. The theme of treason has to be brought to the fore in contemporary Ukrainian society that has far too many enemies within. When the USSR began to crumble in the late 1980s and finally collapsed in 1991, there was a great deal of work Ukraine needed to do in order to ensure the transition from a command to market economy. That took much longer than it should have for many reasons, though there was even a more damning factor which retarded Ukraine’s development in my opinion. With Ukraine’s independence referendum on December 1, 1991 things took time to change, particularly the rewriting of the old laws of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. 

Some of Ukraine’s first enemies within appeared in 1993 when the sitting Verkhovna Rada voted for Law Number 3623-12. In particular it was Paragraph 2, of Article 2, which reads: “A Deputy can be chosen by a citizen of Ukraine, who has the right to vote, and cannot be less that 25 years of age on the day of elections”. The stipulation to become a deputy under Soviet law was the age of majority, which in Ukraine is 18 years of age. 

I consider those deputies and Leonid Kravchuk, president of the day, as enemies of Ukraine. In passing that law, they shut out the youth of Ukraine who had sacrificed their health and well being during the Revolution on Granite, which marked it’s 30th anniversary this year from October 2nd through 17th. What was Zelensky thinking on July 30th of this year when he appointed octogenarian Leonid Kravchuk, modern Ukraine’s first elected president, to be the head of the delegation of the Minsk Trilateral Contact  Group on the peaceful settlement on the situation in Donbas. 

I believe Zelensky seems to be out of touch with the realities of Ukraine and seems to have little respect for Ukrainians and Ukraine’s history. That lack of respect stems back to 2010, when his comedy program mockingly used the Holodomor in one of their sketches. The lack of empathy for this historic fact has often been ignored and dismissed by Zelensky and his team of his groomers have taught him how to skirt his past and act presidential. Unfortunately, there is nothing presidential about his behaviour and actions, nor is much respect shown for the Ukrainian language by his string of candidates running in local elections on October 25, 2020 from his Servant of the People’s party. Since the day of his inauguration, I’ve wondered, “Which people he and his party members are serving?” 

Ignorance, Indifference and Disrespect

Billboard and election literature of many different the party’s candidates are fraught with Google Translate errors, and Russian-isms. Many of these errors are ones that Ukraine’s elementary school pupils could easily pick out and laugh at.  In preparing their election campaign materials, candidates are required to follow the party’s brand book. This book acts as a guide for many things, from the colors they can or can not use to standard templates for all their published materials. However I wonder where’s the gray matter between the ears of the candidates when it comes to using language. A number of these cock-ups started appearing on social media quite regularly within hours after billboards appeared, and within days of the official start of the campaign on September 5, 2020. 

The one that first caught my eye within the first two weeks of the election campaign was the campaign poster of a Servant of the People’s candidate running in the Obolon district of Kyiv, who took hyperbole to the level of absurdity. Yevheniy Vandin’s poster reads: “We will make Obolon the Capital of Kyiv.” So I wonder if Mr. Vandin even has a clue of the meaning of the word “capital”. The definition of the
word I know is as follows: “n. 1. The capital city of a country or town of a country, state, etc.; seat of government”. As journalist and popular Ukrainian blogger, Maria Madzigon said in a video on the same topic on October 15: “You should have attended your geography classes, Vandin Yevheniy!”

While the foolish mistakes by native Russian speakers is quite understandable, the error of their linguistic ways will clearly reveal to astute voters where their sympathies truly lie. However, when it comes to the former comedian Zelensky the language and form of address he used to the citizens of Ukraine is totally unacceptable. To readers who have studied languages other than English, I’m certain you are aware of the two different forms of the pronoun you. Ukrainian is one those languages that used the two different forms. The common form ty, which would be tu in French as an analogy, and the more formal form vy, or vous in French. Though this really wasn’t Zelensky’s fault – his fault in fact was that he was addressing more than one individual – the citizens of Ukraine and in doing so he should have used vy or in French this would be vous.

The address in question has to do with Zelensky’s way of obfuscating the real problems that Ukrainians should be asking their president right now and this is verbatim what he said, “Hello! Yes, yes, I am directly addressing you [in the singular form], on October 25th at the polls, I will be giving you five important questions. By the way what will be the questions, about this later.” By now citizens of Ukraine have heard these five questions that will be not part of the balloting process as Ukraine’s electoral law does not have a provision for carrying this out during elections. However, as explained by the Presidential Administration, the five questions will be posed to voters outside the polling stations by pollsters from a private polling firm. If so, to quote a post of a good friend mine, Oleksandr Chernenko’s [VRU member 2014-2019, political expert, journalist] Facebook page on October 13, 2020:  “Why is the president involved in this at all?  If the "poll" is a private initiative, then why does Zelensky announce it? If it is an initiative of the president, then which law or which article of the Constitution provides for such powers? After all, he, as an official, must act exclusively within his powers. Everything else is an abuse of power.” 

Health issues at this time are a problem throughout Ukraine, and the questions that Zelensky had no damn business in stepping beyond his prescribed duties as the questions he has posed are nothing but a smoke screen for his administration’s incompetence and corruption. Of the the 65 billion hryvnia earmarked to fight the pandemic, 35 million of this was transferred to the Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine, for pet projects such as road construction, while the people of Ukraine suffer. According to the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine’s Corona epidemic monitoring system Ukraine has had 303,648 confirmed cases of the illness; 5,673 deaths; 126,489 recoveries; 171,476 existing and a suspicion of 373,276 illnesses [https://covid19.rnbo.gov.ua/].

Questions to Zelensky

A day after Chernenko’s statements of October 14, Madzigon addressed Zelensky’s use of language as I did above and she also pointed out to Zelensky, that in a democracy it is not the president who should be asking questions of the country’s citizens, but it is they who should be asking him the questions. With that as a prelude she began with addressing some extremely poignant questions, while also addressing Zelensky’s election campaign promises, most of which he has not even come close to accomplishing. Before I continue with some of the questions she posed, let me add this about democracy and democracy building, something I’ve been involved in for more than three decades. Democracy isn’t just about going to polling stations to exercise one’s franchise. Democracy is about holding those the electorate has voted for accountable for their actions or inaction. This is just what Madzigon does and I will for you touch on just a few of her questions and statements below:

    • Why did it cost your administration 12 billion to construct 30 km of highway, while under Poroshenko that same money build 80 km. Thirty and eighty do you recognize the difference?;

    • Why did you spend the money from the anti-Corona virus fund, from the anti-Corona virus fund not for a battle against the pandemic but for roads? It’s brilliant! [she says while clapping];

    • Why under Zelensky, under you, has the clear cutting of forests increased seven-fold?

    • Why was the law on land passed without going through a referendum?;

    • Why did you? You promised us that you would do everything without nepotism, and more than thirty of your friends in some way received positions. How do you explain this?;

    • Why out of all of Ukraine’s previous presidents do you have the largest motorcade of 52 cars. Think about it? Fifty-two. I'm already silent about twenty guards around;

    • Why is Medvedchuk free? Why is Medvedchuk still free?;

    • Why didn’t you declare five million in income? In general, this is a violation of the law, you yourself said that you would resign once you violated the law. 

While we will never know what Zelensky’s response would be to these questions one thing is clear Madzigon’s video in English translation is called: “WHAT WAS THAT??? #fivequestions” and clearly she touched a nerve with at least 14K Facebook users sharing the video and 954 users making comments. 

I’m sure readers can well imagine that how users would have responded in their comments. One comment was as follows: “It makes no sense to ask Zelensky questions, because we saw his inappropriate behavior, false primitive answers and hysterical laughter when he was asked questions by British journalist Stephen Sackur.” This is in reference to Zelensky’s interview on HARDtalk, during his state visit to the UK. Watch and see if you agree with the comment made by one of Madzigon’s followers.

There was one question she asked which touches a nerve in me more than any other. “Why is Medvedchuk still free?” Ukraine watchers who understand the notoriety of Viktor Medvedchuk in the case of dissident Vasyl Stus, who was sent to the Gulag never to return, may have the same sentiments that I have to the “great traitor”! Medvedchuk, in my opinion, was always a crony of the Soviet system, and clearly raised in the spirit of the Komsomol and the Communist Party. I can not remember where I may have either read or heard that as the Soviet Union was collapsing, there were orders from the Kremlin, that Komsomol members must find a way to create a niche in the new reality that was upon them. In short, this meant that they must pillage what they can in order to become wealthy and Medvedchuk did so in Ukraine, just like many of those mentioned in Chrystia Freeland’s book The Sale of the Century did in Russia in the early 1990s. 

Then and Now: Medvedchuk vs Kipiani

While I’ve never met Viktor Medvedchuk, though his behavior in working close to Leonid Kuchma, never invoked any confidence that he was working for the good of Ukraine and its people. Both he and Kuchma ingratiated themselves through their official positions during Kuchma’s two consecutive terms in office. On the other hand, I met Vakhtang Kipiani in the summer of 2003 a number of months after he had become the host and editor-in-chief of a program called  Podviyniy dokaz [Double proof] on the 1+1 television channel. We met at the Writers House at 2 Bankova in Kyiv, with a group of other Ukrainian journalists. At the time I was working in local print media, and as a foreign radio broadcaster for Ukrainian Time, the oldest Ukrainian-Canadian broadcast based out of Montreal. Though what really tied us together the most was our different types of involvement in the Revolution on Granite, in short we are both part of the same brotherhood. Since then I’ve been a friend of Kipiani’s and have followed him in his historical research particularly on the Istorychna Pravda [Historical Truth] website and most recently the YouTube channel of the same name. 

In 2019, after a great deal of research Kipiani published a book on the entire legal procedures against Ukrainian dissident Vasyl Stus [1935-1985], in which Medvedchuk was supposed to be acting in Stus’ defense, though Stus refused his him as a lawyer, which was within his legal rights, though Medvedchuk continued to act as his public defender, against his client’s will. 

Kipiani based his publication on archival material and presented facts.  The complete title translated is as follows: Characteristics of the case of Vasyl Stus. Collection of documents from the archives of the former KGB of the USSR. Then the good old defender of Ukrainians Medvedchuk, got a little pissed and decide to take both Kipiani and his publisher, Vivat, to court in order to ban the books’ publication and distribution. In particular Medvedchuk took offense with one chapter of the book that he considered to degrade his honour and dignity. 

On October 19, 2020 the Darnytsia District Court in Kyiv handed down their decision against Kipiani and his publisher Vivat, and the must cease publication and distribution of this book. The entire legal process has possibly backfired on the “great traitor”.  The court decision had a definite impact on the sale of the book and it may just backfire on “enemy number one of Ukraine”. Kipiani wrote the following two significant comments on his Facebook page. During the afternoon he posted the following: “ I received 157 phone calls today. I didn't have time to react to the majority of them, I'm sorry. Four radio broadcasts plus three television interviews, plus a dozen comments for media. (It's hard to be a superstar, yeah) P.S. In the evening, Facebook also forbade me writing comments and replying in Messenger, because it thinks that I produce spam 😉. Thank you to everyone for their support. Hugs to you all.  I love Ukraine.” About three hours later he posted the following: “More than a thousand people wrote to me in  Messenger about the book. I managed to answer somewhere in the hundreds. After that, the system began to issue an explanation that in order to protect against spam, my ability to respond is suspended. Though they did not say for how long. It may be some type of beacon. But please be patient - I will answer everyone.” 

While much of Medvedchuk’s position in “defending” Stus is in the past and when he was but 26 years old working in Soviet system, dealing with dissidents, few know that his father was considered a Nazi collaborator and maybe his motivation to collaborate with the KGB in order to pay back a debt to the Soviet. That aside. Let’s look at his current behavior and who he is. 

At the current moment Medvedchuk leads a political party that calls itself the Opposition Platform – For Life. The history of this “platform” has been nothing but a manner of disrupting Ukraine’s democratic and economic development. I have no other word than “douche bag” for the members of this party that is in the pocket of the Kremlin. Let’s not forget that Putin is the “godfather” of Medvedchuk’s daughter, and this is the greatest form of nepotism. 

A Possible Key Response

The following is what was reported by RFE/RL regarding the Presidential Administration’s response to the court decision: 

"Most of the content of the book is an exact reprint of the criminal case. That is, the purely documentary basis of the book does not cause the slightest doubt. Thus, it is by this logic of the book that VV Medvedchuk is a participant in a real process that took place in history, and not just a "character of the work." The participant's behavior is analyzed solely on the basis of documented facts, which are not a product of the authors' literary work and literary fiction.”

At the moment it seems like an appropriate response from Zelensky’s administration, that still has many questions to answer. Maybe they are listening on such a politically charged historical issues to the point that they understand that these things matter to many culturally aware Ukrainians, be they in Ukraine or beyond its borders.

I hope readers take the time to read the hyperlinks. As a professional librarian I love to provide value added information to the things I write. Particularly to what is close to my heart and soul. The questions posed by Maria Madzigon are all valid! My one wish now is that all Ukrainians who read English and have learnt something new will share all this information with their colleagues, family and friends. 

 
Vasyl Pawlowsky 

Independent Consultant

Student Revolution on Granite Started 30 years Ago: October 2, 1990

Today marks a very important day in Ukrainian history. It was 30 years ago that students began a hunger strike on what was then Square of the October Revolution, as many now know it has long been Independence Square (Maidan Nezalezhnosti. It was known as The Revolution on Granite, which would change not only the course of Ukraine's history but that of the entire USSR. which would change not only the course of Ukraine's history but that of the entire USSR.

 This event is very close to my heart for a number of different reasons which I will share with you all today. In the summer of 1990 throughout the month of July myself and five other students: Nadia Homonko, Kateryna Kharuk, Roman Ivanus, Greg (Hryts) Kindiak and  Yuriy Tatukh travelled to 

Fax machine in foreground sold to finance the Hunger Strike.

Ukraine on the invitation of Studentske bratsvo (Student brotherhood, though we have are very special sisters as well) of the city of Lviv. During that trip I made many good friends, many who unfortunately no longer with us. In mid-August that very same year at the Ukrainian Canadian Students' Union (SUSK) Congress on the Erindale Campus at the University of Toronto, for a number of different reasons, I was elected president of the orgnaization. 

A planned family trip took me back to Ukraine a second time that summer flying back to Kyiv with my mother and brother. When in Lviv I met with some of my friends from Studentske bratsvo. We visited with Andriy Vynnychuk (26.06.1968-05.07.1996) ) and his parents family who lived across from the Electron Television Plant. I had billeted with Andriy's family during my month long visit in July.  I met with  Markian Ivashchyshyn (06.09.1966-21.05.2019) who was head of Studentske bratstvo  then and who informed me of a very important action that was going to take place at the beginning of October. 

As president of SUSK he was telling me this in confidence, and told me that less than a handful of people in all of Ukraine knew of this plan. His instructions to me were very simple and specific. I was to call his mother on the evening of October 1, 1990 - to learn more information of what was supposed to transpired that morning. He also informed me that it would be wise for me to compile a list of media contacts in Canada when I returned home. I was returning to Canada and to my first career position as a Reference Librarian at McGill University's McLennan Library, and in that position I had the tools to do just that. 

So in the two weeks leading up to October I used parts of my lunch hours compiling my contact list. Students in Ukraine were also making their plans for an event was to start on October 1, though the start of their activity was postponed for a day, as explained Oleksandr Doniy in his chronlogy of the event entitled Studentska Revoliutsia na Hraniti ( The Student Revolution on the Granite) published in 1995. While I was making my list, my friends in  Ukraine were making their plans as well. 

"On the eve of the action, at a joint meeting of the USS (Ukrainska studentska spilka, Ukrainian Students' Association)  and SB (Studentske bratstvo), the organizational structure of its leadership was determined.  The representative body was to be the Council of Hunger Striking Students, consisting of representatives of different cities, headed by three co-chairs, who would represent the West, East and Kyiv.

"The co-chairs were unanimously elected :  Markiyan Ivashchyshy, head of the Student Brotherhood of Lviv, part-time student of Lviv Polytechnic Institute; Oles Doniy - head of the Kyiv the USS, fifth-year student of the historical faculty at KSU (Kyiv State University), Oleh Barkov - head of the USS of the city of Dnipropetrovsk. In order to carry out executive functions of the camp Taras Korpal, a student, of the  Faculty of Philosophy at KSU. Various services for the future camp were also approved. Medical services was headed by Taras Semushchak, a student of the  Lviv Medical Institute. Oleh Kuzan and Serhiy Bashchuk from Lviv headed the press service, and and security was headed by - Andriy Klishch. The date of the action, scheduled for October 1, had to be postponed, because on this day the opposition forces held another "all-Ukrainian" strike, which was able to realize in the form of demonstrations through the streets of Kyiv. With a general skepticism it was decided to postpone the start of the hunger strike to October 2 before this "all-Ukrainian" event". 

Many things have changes regarding communications between Canada and that part of the world. Many forget that at that time to make a phone call to Lviv, one had to go through an operator in Moscow, The seven hour time difference provided a certain degree of security that information would be useless to eavesdroppers in Moscow. It took me about four hours to finally get through to Markian's mother in Lviv at about 02:00 hours Montreal time. It only took her a couple of minutes to read me the demands of the students, which numbered five:

1. Preventing the signing of a new union agreement;
2. Re-election of the Verkhovna Rada of the Ukrainian SSR on a multiparty basis not later than the spring of 1991;
3. The return of Ukrainian soldiers to the territory of the Ukrainian SSR, as well as the provision of military service by young Ukrainians exclusively on the territory of the republic;
4. Nationalization of the property of the Communist Party of Ukraine and the LKSMU (Leninist Communist League Youth of Ukraine);
5. And the resignation of the chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Ukrainian SSR Vitaly Masol.

October 2, 1990. Sign reads: I'm on a hunger-strike against the Masol Government

 Photo Courtesy of Dmytro Kloczko. 

I took the time to record our conversation and then later transcribed and translated for the series of about two dozen faxes that I would be sending to Canadian media outlets via my fax modem. 

The day the hunger-strike started my good friend Andriy Vynnychuk to Moloda Halychyna (Young Galicia) the following: ""Despite the fact that this is an extreme measure, for us it is the only opportunity to protest." 

Needless to say, I got practically no sleep at all that night... which kind of reminds me of a song by the 5th Dimension. When I arrived at work that Tuesday morning I went in and told my supervisor Mary Mason about what was going on and that I was exhausted. Mary understood my involvement in things Ukrainian and even let me have a nap, before my stint on the reference desk, and also had no problem that I had used my work phone number extension for media contact. On October 2, 1990 I did four different telephone interviews. 

Having witnessed the events of Tianamen in 1989 via CNN, the days that followed were not easy for me, knowing that Moscow could be as cruel as Bejing. So that's my little back story. 

Vasyl Pawlowsky Independent Consultant

West Will Not Arm Ukraine With Lethal Weapons

So the West will not arm Ukraine with lethal weapons, and I personally think this is a bad investment for security in the region. Don't worry, contemporary Ukraine and its friends will find a way to arm itself. The West has been anally hesitant on helping Ukraine to defend itself against a clearly aggressive neighbour called the Russian Federation, which I would much rather label as Moscovia, a failed state. The current behaviour of Putin and his entourage of the Kremlin is based on pseudologia fantastica or simply a bunch of lies which has been the basis of Russia for the last three centuries.

While many Western nations sit on the sidelines and wonder what is going on in the Donbas region of Ukraine, and get their information form Moscow sources, fed through Moscow's proxies, there are a number of nations that are standing up to Moscovia in different manners.

While the West continues to state it will not arm Ukraine with lethal weapons, the East, namely Japan, has stated in short "that we should be silent about arming Ukraine". In short it is no one's business but Ukraine and its supports to know.

https://twitter.com/OWawryshyn/status/585115548457009152

This is the first and only intelligent comment I have heard from any foreign nation that has openly stated that is supporting Ukraine in its efforts to ward off an aggressive Russia hell-bent on truly destroying the Ukrainian state, as it has been for the last three two four centuries.

A Sick Approach to Self Annihilation

I have plenty of times stated that Vladimir Putin and his philosophical scum-lord Alexander Dugin are individuals with "genocidal tendencies", and that being said let's not forget either Dugin's statement below and who Putin holds as his heroes. In case you haven't seen some of the statements of Dugin, take a look at this:

https://twitter.com/2111015/status/579064383952826369

Dugin's is not made up, and he has stated this on more than one occasion. He is simply an animal and I will quote a well known animal behaviourist at this time, because, just having re-read one of his seminal works forty years later, I understood one very clear statement in the concluding chapters of Konrad Lorenz's book King Solomon's Ring where he stated the following:

Wordsworth is right: there is only one being in possession of weapons which do not grow on his body and of whose working plan, therefore, the instincts of his species know nothing and in the usage of which he has no correspondingly adequate inhibition. That being is man. With unarrested growth his weapons increase in monstrousness, multiplying horribly within a few decades. But innate impulses and inhibitions, like bodily structures, need time for their development, time on a scale in which geologists and astronomers are accustomed to calculate, and not historians. We did not receive our weapons from nature. We made them ourselves, of our own free will. Which is going to be easier for us in the future, the production of the weapons or the engendering of the feeling of responsibility that should go along with them, the inhibitions without which our race must perish by virtue of its own creations?

This being the case it does not surprise me that that former adviser to Vladimir Putin would state:

https://twitter.com/UmlandAndreas/status/585343259280539648

While the barbarians of Muscovia have no innate desire to be compassionate to their so called "little brothers" in Ukraine, I think this will lead to their own downfall. The Grand Duchy of Muscovia has had grumblings from Siberia and has been successful any form of a national uprising in those geographic territories; though with the price of crude at what it is and with sanctions on Iran potentially being lifted this could cause crude to tumble even lower. In turn, this would give Putin and his criminal regime another good kick in the testicles, for an economy based on $110 plus crude price.

I've been aware of the frailty of the Russian Federation for over ten years now, much of this is now being echoed by simple union leader, Polish President and Nobel Prize winner Lech Walesa - that democracy will not come to Russia under it's current borders, In hearing his statements I understand that the discussions I had with fellow journalist/analysts in Kyiv many years ago was not for nought! It became clear to us , in speaking with a journalist friend's cousin, who works for Russia's border services, somewhere near Blagoveschensk or Chita, nowhere close to the Grand Duchy of Moscovia. Here, my friend's cousin stated, that there where many near-border settlements comprised of nearly completely of Chinese nationals involved mainly in questionable trans-border trade. That was back in 2005 and he claimed that the number of Chinese entering those regions far surpassed the number that were going back to China.

The Baltics, Diasporacentric and Expats

While many EU countries have been sitting pretty and being flip-floppers regarding there support of Ukraine for a number of different Eco-political reasons; the Baltic countries, well aware of the psychosis of Muscovy have stepped up to the bat with out a question. The presidents of Lithuanian and Estonia respectively, Dalia Grybauskaitė and Toomas Hendrik Ilves have been extremely vocal in their support of Ukraine in their Twiterplomacy, but they are not the only ones in the region.

Carl Bildt, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sweden (2006-2014), member of the Supervisory Board of the Institute of World Policy, has long been a vocal supporter of Ukraine. Though I know of at least one other of his compatriots living in Ukraine who at time can be extremely vitriolic towards Muscovia and I have a great deal of respect for him for his comments:

https://twitter.com/andersostlund/status/581771614775324672

While Anders lives and works in Kyiv, there are plenty of others who are of the diaspora ilk who have been contributing to Ukraine's cause. Some are personally know to me and I even provided Mark MacKinnon of the Globe and Mail whom I met years ago, with many of these contacts for this great piece on how Canada's diaspora has been contributing to the cause in Ukraine.


https://twitter.com/erlhel/status/574954384553025537

The Ukrainian community in Canada is one thing, but that same community must understand that Prime Minister Harper is on the cusp of an election and most of what he has been pandering are but red flags for the bulls during the upcoming general elections in Canada. The Ukrainian diaspora community should be taking the current government's actions with a grain of salt.

It is all very nice to send all kinds of non-lethal aid to Ukraine, but sorry, I think they can help themselves in that field at an extremely lesser cost in fact! This has been proven by the countless crowd-sourcing campaigns that are ongoing both in many Ukrainian diaspora communities and in conjunction with the crowd-sourcing community in Ukraine that has provided a great deal of support for Ukraine of a non-lethal type; however, it is time to change our train of thought.

Criminal Dismemberment of the Military Industrial Complex

Much of the bullshit that is going on right now in the eastern most regions of Ukraine and in other parts is due to the breakdown of international law. The Budapest Memorandum failed! Not a single nation that supported and signed that agreement on December 5, 1994 seemed to give a shit when "little green men" found their way into Crimea for its annexation! Most normal nations and people were saying: "What The Fuck!". However, not the signatory countries!

While the Budapest Memorandum stripped Ukraine of its nuclear arsenal, we saw a rapid decline in military spending in Ukraine. It is no secret that when Viktor Yanukovych came to power, he not only usurped constitutional power, he very quickly destroyed Ukraine's military and in fact may have formed Ukroboronprom, the Ukraine Defense Industry, on December 9, 2010 with a goal of centralization of the military industrial complex. In short, this centralization, may have been used for gaining great profits by Yanukovych and his cronies, while disassembling military personnel - there may have been an increase of exports with him and his criminal elite skimming as much off the top as possible.

However, it is not secret that Ukraine Defense Industry has a number of technologies that some have been requesting the West to provide to Ukraine. Nevertheless, has anyone ever considered the Skif ? This seems to be a comparison of the USA produced Javelin! Armaments are not my speciality; however, it may be time for innovative investors to start arming Ukraine in a silent manner as suggested by Ambassador Shigeki Sumi. Maybe this is just one of Ukraine's technology that needs a push forward in order that Ukraine can defend itself.

While, these heavy weapons may exist, there could be a possibility in light arms!

Kalashnikov has become a brand name of terrorists there is no reason why products of the company Fort in Ukraine, which supplies light arms could not be invested in. As a state owned company it may not be possible, but if the state changes its direction this may be possible, only time will tell. It seems that the company already produces its Fort 401 under licence from Israel.

Yes, while Ukraine has been kind of fallen to playing second fiddle as an arms exporter, maybe it is time that those interested in this terrible business, start, like Ukraine's diaspora in arming Ukraine so it can defend itself from the scum which I call Moscovia!



Vasyl Pawlowsky
Independent Consultant

The commentary of this was first published on the WPawlowsky.com site.

Social media and information warfare: A Thunderclap Case Study

There should be no doubt in any sane individual's mind that Russia is waging a very hybrid war against Ukraine, which includes social media and information warfare, with all its trolls and scum that try to distract those working in Ukraine's interest from being positive. As pointed out by Paul Goble, Vladimir Putin is clever but not very creative. Just as he uses the Goebbels play book of propaganda, he has used Joseph Stalin's hybrid warfare playbook.

From what I experienced last week on social media the trolls have really gotten under the skin of some individuals who are concerned about the well being of kidnapped Ukrainian pilot Nadiya Savchenko and one in particular who started the Million Tweets campaign for her release with the hash-tag #FreeSavchenko. Clearly, when the trolls discovered that this campaign existed they began subversive moves in creating hash-tags which looked very similar to the campaign's hash-tag. If one was not careful and aware, they would inadvertently re-tweet these "troll-injected" hash-tags and thus in principle stealing from potential number of tweets that the #FreeSavchenko Twitter Storm campaign. The lead on the Twitter Storm campaign clearly was annoyed with this theft, which he claimed was a hack of Twitter by Moscow. In focusing his energy on dealing with this he was distracted from his main goal, to raise the awareness of Nadiya Savchenko's plight in a Moscow remand prison who had started a hunger strike on December 13, 2014.

I personally had been involved in this Twitter Storm campaign, but had made a conscientious decision to also drive the Thunderclap campaign started by a fellow Canadian living in Kyiv. This second campaign which I backed and drove became extremely successful and even got coverage on UAToday, a recent media project of Ihor Kolomoiskyi. The reaction of some involved in the #FreeSavchenko Twitter storm was extremely surprising to this airtime, was nothing short of childish. I vented about their reaction on Twitter but here I hope to lay the facts to bare, both as why a Thunderclap campaign can be an example of working smarter not harder, and some lessons learned from the two different campaigns I have run.

Why to @ThunderClapIt and my Ukrainian cases


The day after Yanuckovych's storm-troopers descended on students who voicing their interest in the move towards standards of the European Union, on Ukraine's Independence Square, I was contacted by a friend living in Kyiv in order to start, what was called a Thunderclap campaign to reach as many with one simple message. "Ukraine's government has gone too far. Bloodshed is not a a democratic value! Ukraine's people want to be in Europe."

For those of you who don't understand how Thunderclap works, here is a very simple explanation.

Thunderclap allows for those involved in social media, right now on Facebook, Tumblr and Twitter to amplify their social reach through asking their contacts, followers and friends to lend their social contact to the particular Thunderclap. This is very personal when in doing so because most have a hard time in sharing their social reach. I can understand most people for not doing so, however, I still feel that those who are overly anal on this issue is totally out of touch with reality. If you are a person of interest of any security agency globally they have already hacked all your social media accounts. So don't worry about joining Thunderclap! You really are not a person of interest, unless you are ready to commit terrorist acts, or someone who is trying to battle Moscovy's trolls.

One of the biggest problems with Thunderclap is that when you invite others to lend their social reach, that is pretty intrusive for most. However, like I mention above, most are a little too paranoid about sharing such social reach. Such paranoia leads to health problems, so stop it.

Before, I will launch into the case of this Thunderclap I would like to share some the reasons for using a Thunderclap in the realm of social media. This is totally for the free version of Thunderclap, as I am certain if I had a sponsor to conduct my project I may have been able to determine many more interesting insights to this technology and social interaction on social media.

Reasons for using Thunderclap

1. You have a dead line to announce an event. You want many thousands if not millions of people to know about your message at the same time. The deadline helps get your solitary message out at one particular time and it is shared at that time by all those that support the message;
2. You need people go to a particular URL- you have a live event and you want to get people there regardless where they are on this big blue marble, you have to create a message that will be shared to visit that online event. By sharing your social reach you can reach out to thousands of more individuals than you could yourself or through your friends and organizations;
3. Short and Tweet compliant message. This means you are with in the 140 character limit set by Twitter, you must be short and sweet in you final message. It will resonate to all those who lend their social reach to you.
4. While the Thunderclap message may not be something that could be edited effectively for disseminating a message, it could be effectively be used to guide those in the cause to help distribute other pre-prepared messages from a particular website.

Amongst these mentioned reasons, it is very important to work smarter and not harder. While I know there are people out there that don't like my stance on this, that is their problem not mine.

Measuring Success With Thunderclap

Unfortunately measuring of success with many social media initiatives is truly impossible, the social reach one obtains with Thunderclap is very clear.

• When you set your initial goal of social reach with Thunderclap, you will know throughout your campaign what percentage of your goal has been reached;
• There is no second guessing and the entire social reach will receive on your dashboard;
• Your reach, or access to a particular site will be measurable in an ongoing and final methodology.

As mentioned earlier, I was personally involved in driving two Thunderclap campaigns. Measuring success is very different because of both their causes and their goals.

The first campaign was very ambitious, and lets provide some reason why this was the case.

For any Thunderclap campaign there are a possibility of three different goal levels of supporters for your cause and who you believe will end their social reach to your campaign.

• 100 supporters;
• 250 supporters;
• 500 supporters.

These are key components when structuring your Thunderclap campaign, and many people, particularly venturing into this very new domain where there is a trust matter have to consider. Just how many supporters can you bring into your particular Thunderclap cause?

Understanding this number as a goal in starting a Thunderclap campaign is probably one of the most important factors which will determine success or not! Simple!

During our first Thunderclap we attempted to reach 500 supporters, the two of us running the campaign really thought this was possible though we were mistaken. Looking back over the last year I can understand there were many different reasons why this didn't happen, they included, but not limited to:

1. Not clearly understanding how suspicious users are of sharing their social media in any way, shape or form;
2. Along with this was the problem of just how naive users are about how technologies actually work, information technology education is in fact lacking in society as a whole;
3. A clear marketing campaign had not also been developed to market the Thunderclap campaign itself to explain the technology and how it works.

The first campaign reached a social reach of 188,975 individuals with 53% for of our goal of the number of supporters. As a result of not meeting or goal for the number of supporters not being met by 100% our message that was to go out to every individual within the social reach of 188,975 individuals was never Thunderclapped, and thus could be considered an unsuccessful campaign; however, the lessons learned during that campaign were invaluable in running the second campaign which became an information warfare tool in ensuring more people heard a very simple and plain message.

Doing it right for your cause

When I came on board to lead the second Thunderclap campaign, the cause to me was just. It was to make as many people globally aware of Nadiya Savchenko by sending out a single message to as large of a social reach as possible using the three social media platforms supported by Thunderclap: Facebook, Tumblr and Twitter.

Unlike the first Thunderclap I had driven, the goal was much more reasonable and attainable based on our previous experience a year earlier where we had attained 53% of 500 supporters, or 265 individuals and their entire social reach of 188,975. This time we had set our goal for 100 supporters who would be willing to lend their social reach to our very simple message: "Unite with Ukraine to #FreeSavchenko from Russian imprisonment Разом визволимо Надію Савченко із російського полону." I thought how could anyone not want to join very clearly defined cause that had been clearly trending and that I personally had contributed to.

Unlike the first campaign which I had driven, this time I avoided one specific thing! The hard sell! If I was to gain the social reach I desired from the start which was quarter of a million social reach as discussed by my partner on this project, there was no reason I should waste time on trying to hard sell someone. My focus had to be finding my social contacts with great social reach and those which I new believed in the cause. They would help and they did!

In particular there was one fellow, who contributed over 77K of his social reach to our cause, and there was one moment during this informational war where I went one step further than most would. Maybe some people remember a journalist by the name of Irma Krat. She was held from some time by the terrorists of the DNR in Slovyansk. Irma and I have been social contacts for some time and as I was inviting my contacts to join this Thunderclap I discovered that Irma had become a victim of Moscow's trolls on Facebook and had been banned. This pissed me off a great deal, because it had limited the voice of journalist.

I spent some time to get Irma out of Facebook purgatory, not because I needed her on my Thunderclap campaign, but because I have lost a number of journalist and activist friends in Ukraine over the years. By be-all-and-end-all was not the Thunderclap campaign but to be involved in justice. I think anyone who has taken the time to dig deeper into my pages will know I'm not new to Ukrainian matters. Those of you who think you are new heroes, particularly Alex Smith aka @GlastostGone - think again. Your ego like that of so many Ukrainians harms Ukraine and doesn't help it!

Results of a not so perfect campaign

Just as a reminder! A Thunderclap campaign is either ALL or NOTHING. I'd gone through a nothing campaign and now I was going through an all campaign. A Thunderclap in which I knew the social reach would be whatever it was knowing that the goal of supporters was attainable.

I am one of the first to admit that I am not perfect, though that in itself is a strength and not a weakness. I have learnt a great deal over my nearly twenty-eight years working with Ukrainian and other non-governmental and volunteer organizations. For the most part, I find most organizations in Ukraine much more professional than their counterparts in the west; however, newly formed organizations during civil upheaval are staffed by totally non-professionals who make inappropriate judgement calls. While I have evidence of this I do not to expose individual, but their non-professionalism really pisses me off. I had been approached by this organization to consult on both social media and potential Thunderclap campaigns. In all honesty the hypocrisy of these individuals is criminal to say the least!

While this piece was to look at how to use Thunderclap, it has and will become a way of exposing the hypocrisy of those trying to take advantage of a political situation. But no, I will not do that. The culprits know who they are. They are not better or worse than I am, they are just very misinformed and misguided in what they are trying to do.

If you are trying to increase a social reach or global understanding of what allies are trying to do, you to become an enemy of the state you are part of by putting down others. The Thunderclap campaign which I directed was covered on UAToday - not because we tried to push on TV but because journalist from that station contacted my friend and partner on this project - Luc Chenier. Yes, I know there are some of you who hate professionals, well it's time to soak it up. Take some time to listen to this interview to better understand what we accomplished:

http://uatoday.tv/society/social-media-activism-and-the-online-information-war-over-ukraine-406963.html

Continuing the conversation

"Changing the subject in order to change the conversation," this is the way that trolls work for globally. The Thunderclap that I was driving was very much aimed in that direction. This is a key element for any Thunderclap campaign. How to continue a conversation and ensure that it gets into the public eye!

In any Thunderclap campaign it is important to ensure that you get to the final goal. Though this is also the campaign that should exist when dealing with any type of media. I happen to understand old and new media, thought not as a professional but as a user. No, I am wrong, I understand all media better than most having been on the media divide.

So, I put forth the following posit! Why were individuals so anal about the success of our Thunderclap campaign? I hope that they are not afraid in entering into a discussion a little longer down the path. Some of the comments I know about regarding not even seeing the above mentioned TV segment is a enough to show the hypocrisy of NGO's in Ukraine. I have no need to do that, but what I do need to do is share my positive experience.

We were two individuals, with a desire to let the world know that Nadiya Savchenko was on a hunger strike and illegally detained in a Russian reprimand prison. Clearly there were some individuals who felt we were doing the wrong thing! Using a technology to disseminate information in a sensible manner! Sorry to the people we may have pissed off, but we reached our goal. You on the other hand, are still struggling and totally misguided in terms of social media.

While those who are misguided, there are those who do appreciate the work of professionals. In particular, my partner on this project, Luc Chenier, received a message from Ukraine's Minister of Finance, Natalie Jaresko on February 15, 2015. The daunting task that Ukraine's government now has after years of kleptocracy is a daunting one, the this is the shout out which a government official took the time to send.

 

Message From Ukraine's Minister of Finance, to Luc Chenier
on LinkedIn Regarding Our ThunderClap Campaign For those who want to continue to deny that we are all a drop in the bucket towards positive activities contribute to public awareness about Ukraine, continue doing so, we know who you are; and clearly government officials also know that there are people who look at things professionally and who will continue to do so!

Meanwhile

For anyone, who wants to learn how to work smarter and not harder, take some time to follow the following very primitive flow chart.

The Thunderclap process!I together with one partner, gained a social reach of over 350K, and it was not because we worked hard, but we leveraged the technologies that were available to us. You can see that particular extremely successful Thunderclap campaign here. I am completely ready to share more of the lesson's I have learned on how to complete a successful Thunderclap campaign, though for this we have to discuss these matters on a personal and commercial level.

I've don't have to be a hero for Ukraine, I've done my time on the ground. I will do things for Ukraine and others who can understand my knowledge and experience. I'm not a whore, and will never be. I know my value, and right now I can say that my value and if you try to put me down, it simply shows you are idiots and falling into the hands of Moscovy.

Yes, there was a political bent to this piece, but at the same time I hope someone out there learns a bit about Thunderclap as a tool in information warfare. Clearly, there are many who seem to not understand what side we are fighting. I hope they grow up and stop being children soon! The sooner the better!


Vasyl Pawlowsky Independent Consultant

The commentary of this was first published on the WPawlowsky.com site.

The V4 Must Help Ukraine Win its Struggle for a Democratic Future

In the near future I will be having guest posts from contacts I have globally. The first of these guest posts is below.

By Volodomyr Valkov

In November 2013 Ukraine was peacefully preparing to sign the Association Agreement with the European Union at the Vilnius summit. Back then it would have probably been considered an absolute hallucinating nonsense to say that in just several months Ukraine would be swallowed by the murder of civilians, outright annexation, terrorism, military conflict, missile fire, and crashing planes.

In a matter of a few months Russia has stolen a huge part of Ukraine’s territory, forever introduced the reality of terrorism into the hearts of many Ukrainians, orchestrated a separatist movement in eastern Ukraine, and started the process of creating two grotesque breakaway republics known as the Donetsk People’s Republic and the Lugansk People’s Republic. The most recent and most somber consequence of this political whirlwind is the tragic loss of lives in the downing of flight MH17.

There are important conclusions that we need to draw from the crisis in Ukraine. First, Russia (as in Vladimir Putin and his circle) has zero tolerance for the democratization of the post-Soviet space, especially in neighboring Ukraine. After all, Ukraine transports 80% of Russian gas to Europe, is the second largest buyer of Russian gas after Germany, has over 1,800 defense enterprises – some of which have unique capabilities in the indigenous production of ships, submarines, missiles, and other armaments – and possesses valuable human capital and large reserves of fertile land, important minerals, and natural resources.

All of Ukraine’s assets would be easy to control if Viktor Yanukovych had stayed in power. Yanukovych and his pro-Russian successors were supposed to oversee Ukraine’s accession to the Eurasian Union. Yanukovych almost completely eroded Ukraine’s defense potential, maintained Ukraine’s astronomic energy inefficiency, increased the presence of Russia’s military base in Crimea, amended the Constitution to usurp power, limited civil liberties, and was about to sell Russia control over the Ukrainian gas transport system.

The second lesson is that international security is a fragile concept. A difficult conflict can develop very quickly, affecting many more states that the warring parties themselves. The shocking way in which the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 has rapidly affected many different countries is a demonstration of the unpredictable, gruesome nature of conflict in a globalized, interconnected world. In a matter of days, the supposedly limited conflict has instantaneously spilled over to the Netherlands, Malaysia, Australia, Great Britain, South Africa, the United States, Canada, and Germany.

Most likely, even the Russian side did not anticipate that the MH17 disaster could have ever been produced by terrorists under its control. Nevertheless, Russia’s unprovoked aggression against Ukraine, and the ideological and material sponsorship of the military fighting in eastern parts of Ukraine, including the supply of sophisticated weaponry to these terrorists, has irresponsibly claimed the lives of too many innocent people.

Russia’s war against Ukraine has been given different names, including hybrid war and proxy war. The main point is that it is, in fact, a war. Currently, the war is limited, but the fate of MH17 demonstrates the susceptibility of this war to expansion.

The countries of the V4 must take important lessons from this tragedy. Their own experience of Soviet rule and thus a deeper understanding of Putin’s actions, must serve as a constant reminder that only a democratic, united, and independent Ukraine can be a reliable, secure, and beneficial neighbor and partner. The V4 need to pass this knowledge along with foreign and security policy recommendations over to the rest of Europe and their allies in order to help Ukraine win its struggle for a democratic future.


Volodymyr Valkov is a human rights activist, researcher, and political analyst, as well as a project manager at the American Jewish Ukrainian Bureau for Human Rights “UCSJ” in Lviv, Ukraine. He holds an MA in International Affairs from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva.


This piece originally appeared at: Visegrad/Insight


I hope you enjoyed reading this guest's post and look forward to having more of his material in the future.

Vasyl Pawlowsky Independent Consultant

Moscovy's labels of obfuscation

One of Putin's heroes is the king of the labels of obfuscation Joseph Goebbels. Putin began taking plays from the Goebbels' playbook of propaganda very early in the information war with Ukraine. In order to not only gain favour in Moscovy and all the other territories which he reins over in typical dictatorial form, but also to find the best way to totally confuse and obfuscate the situation in that part of the world for journalist and media outlets with very little knowledge of the politics of the region nor of the history of the regions well enough to understand they would become unwilling prostitutes of Pimp Putin because of his labels obfuscation.

Pimp Putin made the right call and unfortunately journalists at very good networks have been suckers for his labelling and have continued to use completely inaccurate labels of obfuscation in their reporting and headlines. Clearly their editors are just as guilty and not very savvy, nor seem to care about reporting the truth but rather simply sell copy. It is time that all you journalists, editors and networks stop being suckers for the propaganda of Putin.

I've been an active observer of this region since the early 1980s. I've read its mainstream and dissident literature, I've met with dissidents. I've been actively involved in the democratization process in the region, and I understand many of the nuances that most media junkies, and journos don't. There are some journos who do understand but are dictated by politically correct editorial policy. It may be time for the editorial boards to reconsider their policies when it comes to reporting on particularly Russia, which I would prefer they call Moscovy.

The More Lies the Better

While Goebbels had a certain principle of how to make up lies, Putin's prostitutes have taken this to a whole different level. However, before I get into the lies of Putin's prostitutes let's uncover some of the simple labels that Putin has used to obfuscate not only the facts within Moscovy, but also in the West.

Some of Putin's favourite labels have been, though many of these were born during the time of Stalin: “anti-Semites”,“Banderite Fascists”, “fascists”, “Kiev Nazi Junta” and “pro-Russian separatists”.


This banner reads:
The rules of Russian Propaganda
1) The better the lie, then it will be easier for those to believe it. (Goebbels)
2) There must be many lies, in order that a person chooses beween
a lie and a lie and not between a lie and the truth. (FSB of Russia)

These are just a few of the labels that Putin and Moscovy has used to support his cause in destabilizing Ukraine as he is trying to rebuild USSR 2.0.

Unfortunately, many of these labels have stuck with global media outlets, and they are so far from the truth that the media that use such labels should be ashamed of doing so.

During the early periods of the unrest in Kyiv because of criminal Yanukovych's flip flopping on the Association Agreement with the European Union. It was clear that the label “anti-Semites” was a just one way for Putin and his prostitutes of drumming up international feelings against Ukraine. This became very clear when a friend of mine Maylakh Shelekh had asked trough another journalist that I disseminate the following letter entitled: Open Statement to the International Democratic Community from Ukraine. This international statement in itself shut out Putin's label of “anti-Semite”.

The label of Banderite fascists and fascists has long been a label of Moscovy to try to discredit Ukrainians who were trying to fight for their independence as a nation. From my contacts in Ukraine I had learnt that the volumes that exonerated Ukraine's freedom fighters from the Nuremberg trials were never published in the Soviet Union. Enabling Stalin and his scum hoard to continue it's anti-Ukrainian rhetoric, during the late 1940s and until his death. Even as recently as yesterday Professor Andrey Zubov who had been dismissed of his position at Moscow State University earlier this year for opposing Putin stated the following in a recent interview: “In the Soviet Union, to condemn something, especially after World War II, all you had to do was call it fascism. So "Banderites" were called fascists, although, of course, it was not true.” So by assocication none of the first three Putinite labels hold water.

The label of “Kiev Nazi Junta” was a carry over from Soviet times to try to garner support of the older generation. In adition Moscow had gone as far to try to use the Banderite lie, on May 25th during the extraordinary Presidential elections after criminal Yanukovych fled to Moscovy.

Prior to that day Moscovy's hackers had tried to plant a malicious virus in the Election system computer which would have announced their own predetermined election results. Luckly, this hack was discovered and the continuation of Moscovy's 400 years of lies could not be continued. Their primary National TV station announced that Dmytro Yarosh had received 37% of the popular vote, as per their cypber attack, though the reality was much different. A full analysis of this escapade is available at the Christian Science Monitor website. Just one more sample of different type of label of obfuscation, and one of electoral tampering.

Clearly the “Kiev Nazi Junta” had not come to power but the labels addopted by the Goebbells school of propaganda supported by Vladimir Putin, continued to use this label. However, all of these labels had somehow not stuck with the savvy Western media, there was one that did and it is completely shameful that Western media took this label hook, line and sinker.

The label that really is totally inappropriate is “pro-Russian separatist”. This term is completely absurd for a couple of reasons. A friend of mine who lives in Ontario outlined it as follows:

“If I run 100km south to the Ontario-New York border with a bunch of guns, cross over, arm some local thugs and gangsters, start shooting and torturing people and then declare a tract of land to be an “independent” republic, what does that make me? At a minimum I'm a FOREIGN invader (even though the land I have invaded speaks the same language as me: English, or American, or Canadian, if you prefer). More than likely, Americans will label me a terrorist. No one will call me a “separatist” or a “pro-Canadian rebel”. That would be nonsense.”

As my friend explained to many on Facebook above, it is nonsense that those individuals who are in the East of Ukraine are even being called pro-Russian separatists, when one of their leaders like Igor Strelkov and others are Russian citizens, are armed and financed by Russia but are in Ukraine. For the most part those being captured by the Ukrainian military are people who are being paid my Moscovy to kill Ukrainian soldiers. Starting from $1000 a head.

Ukraine has for centuries fought for its independence, the West has been a little indifferent, for the most part believing Moscovy. Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me! The West should be ashamed of its understanding of the liars in Moscovy. They have had plenty of apologists and individuals and Universities which received nice presents for programs of Russian Studies, Russian Literature etc. All that was and still is bullshit. The Russian language was contrived, it is not a slavic language therefore can not be the older brother of Slavic nations, though as I often do I have digressed; however, it is time for the West to not only punish Moscovy for its current transgressions, but also for its 400 years of lies.

I have never had so much hatred for anyone from Moscovy and those who are Putin's prostitutes. These include neighbours, and the zombies of Putin's prostitutional media campaign. This is the first time in my life I have ever been so filled with such anger, though I am happy that Putin has done one thing – united Ukrainians globally.

Moscovy's Changing of Labels

As of the July 22, Russia Today, or as I would rather call it Rarely Truthful, and the right hand of propaganda of the Kremlin started using a totally new set of labels: “Russia Today changes its vocabulary for war in Ukraine. Now pro-Russians who used to be "rebels" are "Ukrainian militia". With many Chechens.” This was a journalist friend of mine's post on Twitter.

Sorry but Twitter is a news source of media we have to acknowledge. It is information, and unfortunately not always verified, but information that is topical.

I'm surprised that Moscovy has still not turned to the world to promote one of Rarely Truthful television's greatest heroes.


His name is Graham W. Phillips a Ukraine hater and British citizen. Yesterday I heard that he stepped on a land mine that ended his life. If he did good riddance, he was a sex-pat in Ukraine and Ukrainophobe, no doubt on Putin's payroll. Oh, maybe I sound a little callous? Not really I'm being a realist in regard to my paternal homeland. This character has no roots in that part of the world and he decides to travel to Ukraine continuously bad mouth the nation and its history, a nation that has been under attack for the last 400 years. What ever happens to him in unsafe territory is of his own doing. If he in did in fact did hit an anti-personnel mine, then he had it coming. It was his employer Putin who never signed the Ottawa Treaty banning the use of Anti-personnel mines.

As it turns out it was only wishful thinking on the part of many who hate this Phillips character. It turns out that he is in protective custody of the Ukrainian army this time. This is the second time that he is in custody, and in fact it is time that Ukrainians look into who this guy really is well they have him in custody. Find out what makes him tick, find out about all his pent up hatred for Ukraine and Ukrainians, and find out if he like other scum from the Party of Regions and the Communist Party of Ukraine deny that the Holodomor ever took place and that it was an act of genocide against the Ukrainian people by one very evil man, Joseph Stalin.

Social Media Reveals the Lies of Putin

I, like many others, have grown tired of the oh so many lies of Putin's propaganda machine. I lived in that part of the world for over nine years. In fact I love that part of the world and most of its people. I probably understand both its positive and negative nuances better than the academics here who study the country from afar. And certainly I know that part of the world a lot better than ninety-nine percent of all journalists who report on it. So it is very clear why most are still falling for Putin's propaganda, and using his labels. I can't really blame my fellow Canadians for not have a clue as two what is going on in that part of the world. Though it's not their fault, because Ukrainians have never had the financial wherewithal to dictate what you babble about. Though it is time to think about a more global issues, and the security in Europe had to deal with what the scum Putin will do next.

It has unfortunately taken the lives of two-hundred and ninety-eight individuals for the world to wake up. The terror which is caused by one man alone by the name of Vladimir Putin has finally come to your back yard. Canadians lost one of their fellow citizens on July 17, 2014, and today, July 23, 2014, was a day of mourning in the Royal Kingdom of the Netherlands as the remains of the first forty of its one hundred and ninety-two losses, one of whom held dual Netherlands/USA citizenship, were returned home.

The inappropriately labelled orange boxes have apparently been delivered to the UK and so far according to reports there is no evidence that they have been tampered with, though had they been it would have come as no surprise to anyone with as much as a gram or two of sense in their heads.

Though today it is very clear there that those who are in Ukraine and who had access to the crash site not only interfered with the OSCE team that was on site, but decided that it would be a great idea to benefit from the ravages of war. Yes, this is now considered a war zone by the International Red Cross.

Today the Donbas People's Republic – read Terrorists, was clearly identified through their own admissions that they had pillaged the belongings of the victims of flight MH17 and these items would be used to finance their struggle. This looting has been confirmed by the fact that when families of the victims would call their phones, they would be answered by complete strangers.

Meanwhile, back on the Russian side of the Ukraine-Russia border an over zealous Russian soldier decide he wanted his five seconds of stardom for their followers on the Russian Social Media platform Vkotonkte, which literally means to be in touch. Vadym Grygoriev wrote, “We've been shelling Ukraine all night long!” However, he was either technologically inept, drunk, or both and forgot to turn off the geo-tagging feature of the device he used to reach out to his loving followers. This location was clearly recognized as being on the Russian side of the Ukraine-Russia border. Though he is not the only one, Ukrainian actvists have been finding more and more of these Russian soldiers who are revealing their positions. Clearly such a provocation by Russia is yet another attempt to roll out the war horses for a full incursion into Ukraine. I hope that somehow this evidence can be used against Mad Vlad and all his prostitutes and Putin's Pricks.


Vadym Grygoryev a fellow with a few chomosones
or brain cells missing reveals how Russia shelled accross Ukaine's border.
Today, the Netherlands has filed a claim of International War Crimes against Russia, Ukraine has to add its weight to this suit. It has plenty of evidence of kidnapping, torture and the indiscriminate killing of individuals because they spoke Ukrainian. Putin's Moscovy continues in its war against Ukraine in trying to eliminate a people and a nation. Putin and all those who have been his prostitutes in this venture must be punished. That included all journalists of Rarely Truthful propaganda media regardless of their nationality. They have spread lies and hatred conjured up by very evil people in the Kremlin.








Vasyl Pawlowsky Independent Consultant

The commentary of this was first published on the WPawlowsky.com site.