ON TARGET: Harper’s visit to Ukraine ‘pointless gesture’
Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s recent visit to Ukraine was yet another counterproductive and pointless gesture of unwavering Canadian support for the current government in Kyiv. No doubt Harper’s anti-Russian rhetoric would be welcome words to the ears of President Petro Poroshenko, as he tries to drown out the shouts of protest from his own disenfranchised citizenry.
That’s right, folks. Once again, mass demonstrations in the streets of Kyiv are calling for an end to government corruption. Despite the ousting of pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych in February 2014 and the subsequent instalment of pro-Western oligarch Poroshenko last June, Ukraine remains gripped by its crippling debt and widespread unemployment.
While the ceasefire in the breakaway eastern provinces has been violated on several occasions in recent days, the fear-mongering claim by Poroshenko that “the Russians are coming” has grown a little stale. It has been more than a year since Russia annexed Crimea following a referendum. Even a poll conducted by the Canadian government revealed that an overwhelming majority of Crimean residents are still happy with their chosen change of nationality.
Despite similar referendums in the eastern Ukraine breakaway republics of Donetsk and Luhansk, which also sought to become part of Russia, President Vladimir Putin declined the request. As a result, the two Ukrainian entities are in limbo and now refer to their joint territory as “New Russia.”
READ MORE: http://thechronicleherald.ca/opinion/1291774-on-target-harper%E2%80%99s-visit-to-ukraine-%E2%80%98pointless-gesture%E2%80%99
No comments:
Post a Comment