Today,
the starkest collaborators are those enabling Russia President
Vladimir Putin’s aggression against Ukraine.
The
move by Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Francoise Hollande to
hold a tri-partite talk preceding the Minsk 2 negotiation last week
was wrong. The secretive meeting, without the agreement of other EU
members, or knowledge of what was discussed and decided, was a plot
among the three amigos to corner Ukraine’s President Poroshenko to
agree to the Minsk 2 peace plan which followed.
The
result was a repeat of the previous ceasefires. Another convoy of
some 140 “humanitarian” trucks carrying arms and men rolled in
from Russia and its terrorists advanced. More lies were lost, more
people became homeless and the wailing and grief of innocent victims
filled the airwaves. Putin was emboldened enough to brag on his
friendship visit to Hungary that Ukraine had lost to a bunch of
coalminers forgetting to mention his skin in the game. But, then,
this is well known to all who wish to see.
Merkel
and Hollande are responsible for the latest debacle. They either fix
it or stand accused of collaborating with Russia.
To
fix it, Merkel and Hollande must lead Europe in de-clawing Putin from
further acts of terror. They need to convince the EU to declare him
a terrorist, charge him for illegal attacks on a sovereign country,
let him stand before a war crimes tribunal and, immediately, increase
sanctions which exclude Russia from the international SWIFT banking
system. This is a requirement for the world order not just for
Ukraine. It is also a lesson that Russians need: to recognize that
their leader is as dangerous to them as he is to others.
Merkel
and Hollande must assist Ukraine with arms and help NATO find a way
to check Putin. To date both leaders have leaned on Ukraine to
appease Russia rather than the other way around. Enough of this.
The
pressure on the victim must stop. Ukraine is not the aggressor.
Putin is. Yet he presides and dictates terms while declaring that he
is not responsible for the chaos his fighters are creating. Worse,
the criminal is invited to solve the crime. And even more shameful:
the so-called fellow democrats of Ukraine let him do it. And, having
broken the ceasefire, Russia sponsors a UN Security Council
resolution to support Minsk II on Feb. 12. It is making a travesty of the United Nations;
with international law; and with agreements it undertakes.
The
democratic leaders should have watched their faces burn as Russia’s
Foreign Affairs Minister Sergei Lavrov scolded Ukraine in the UN to
have a higher regard for commitments. To Russia’s politicians,
political perversion is their daily bread.
Putin
plays games and Merkel and Hollande joined in. No good can come out
of this disregard for democratic principles and law. Or, like
Gerhard Schreoder, Germany’s former chancellor who went on Russia’s
payroll, do they have a personal stake in the game?
Such
thinking is not far-fetched. Potential and real Russian enablers
abound. Federica
Mogherini,
the High
Representative
for European Union Foreign Affairs and Security,
was a member of the Communist Party, a close relation to that of
Russia’s. The OSCE, the monitoring agency overseeing the
cease-fire compliance conveniently cannot get to the war zone when
its most needed. The deputy director is an appointee from Serbia, a
Russia-aligned country. Merkel’s father settled in the Russia-controlled east, by choice, because of his political
preferences.
As
the Ukrainians were shelled continually during the cease fire and the
dead bodies and those of the wounded were being collected, the
foreign minister of France opined that peace was holding. This is
uncivilized.
Although
the French and German leaders had admitted that there was little
chance for the peace to hold, their intent is suspect. Russia
regrouped and attacked. There seems to have been a determination not
to let Putin lose just as there was momentum that the United States
might finally send lethal defence arms to Ukraine to even out the
disadvantage it was facing from the Russia side.
As
a result, the German and French efforts gave Ukraine more grief,
Russia a moral victory, and turned into terrorist collaborators.
But
this is not the end. Russia can be defeated by the West. It is
neither as strong militarily nor diplomatically; at least not yet.
It has, however, just advanced another notch thanks to the enemy
within.
Oksana
Bashuk Hepburn, former director with the Canadian Human Rights
Commission, writes on issues dealing with Ukraine.
