Month: July 31, 2020 2:32 am

Many assume Vladimir Putin’s obsessive attention to the defense of Russia’s borders is rooted in the loss of Moscow’s control over the former union republics and occupied Baltic countries in 1991, says political analyst Pavel Luzin. But while that matters, in fact, Mr. Putin has become especially nervous about it since his occupation and annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea.

In addition to everything else, the Anschluss not only meant that Russia is again like the USSR (as regards the Baltic countries it occupied), a state with only partially recognized borders, but also created new problems for domestic territorial arrangements within the country, the analyst from Perm notes (region.expert/forbidden-lands/).

Since April 2015, the Ukrainian authorities have renamed more than 51,000 place names, including 1,000 cities and towns, 26 districts, 75 academic institutions, 30 railway stations and several ports, replacing Soviet-imposed names with Ukrainian ones, Anton Drobovych, head of the Kyiv Institute of National Memory, says.

And as part of this same effort, officials have removed about 2,500 Soviet-era statues from public places. Just over half of these are statues of Vladimir Lenin; and at the present time, there are only three statues to the founder of the Bolshevik state remaining in Ukraine. All three are in Odesa Oblast, whose officials pledge to remove them and 19 other Soviet symbols soon.

The monument-vandalizing craze currently sweeping the United States has crossed the border into Canada. Two recent incidents have particular significance for the Ukrainian community.

The first to be brought to public attention (though the second in chronological order) was the defacing of the fence sign in front of construction site for the forthcoming Memorial to the Victims of Communism in Ottawa with the message “communism will win.” The vandals also included three hammer and sickle symbols. (See The Weekly’s front page of July 12).

We are told that today’s historic moment of racial reckoning necessitates a collective Ukrainian response. Though no other American ethnic group has put itself out to similar self-castigation, a “Call to Action for Racial Justice” with sharp criticisms of the Ukrainian community has been drawn up and published in Ukrainian newspapers.

Alongside fleeting expressions of solidarity, this manifesto of sorts pushes a historical narrative about Ukrainians in North America that is not only largely unhistoric but does a great injustice to the memory of past generations.

Writing in the June 22 issue of The Ukrainian Weekly, Andrij Semotiuk suggested Ukrainians support the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement. I respect your sincerity, Andriy, but I can’t support your idea. Color me “unwoke.”

I do not want our police to be defunded. I do want police unions to stop protecting bad cops.

I do not support the desecration of monuments of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and other great Americans.

The following story captures one specific reporting assignment in the history of the Voice of America. It is noteworthy that these diaspora voices from 1996 are being preserved by the Ukrainian Museum-Archives in Cleveland.  (https://www.umacleveland.org/research/voa/). Unfortunately, I am not aware of any recordings of the 1996 Republican convention. This article is a reminiscence of what Ukrainian Americans were telling this writer in Chicago in 1996 about politics, about independence and about the Fourth Wave of immigrants to the United States.

Last year the Ukrainian Museum-Archives (UMA) in Cleveland was successful in acquiring a collection of some 5,000 audio and video recordings of Voice of America (VOA) Ukrainian Service programming. The majority of the collection consists of television stories produced between 1993 and 2016. However, the collection also includes hundreds of audio recordings spanning several decades.

EDMONTON, Alberta – On July 18, the Western Canada Branch of the Shevchenko Scientific Society of Canada (NTSh) organized a special event – the launch of the latest volume of the Zakhidniokanadskyi Zbirnyk (Western Canadian Collection), which celebrates 125 years of Ukrainian settlement in Canada, and a lecture by Dr. Iuliia Kysla on the history of the Western Canada Branch of the NTSh.

Members and supporters of the NTSh from Edmonton, Toronto and Montreal attended the online event.

NEW YORK – The Ukrainian National Women’s League of America (UNWLA), in contin­uing its 95-year legacy of promoting, preser­ving and providing education on Ukrainian culture, history and the arts, has announced its sponsorship in the development of a Ukrainian American Artist Directory.

The creation of this directory comes from the need to make information about artists and their work accessible, as the Ukrainian American community witnesses the continued flourishing of Ukrainian arts. The goal is to create a searchable national directory of the many talented and varied Ukrainian artists who work in so many genres. The directory aims to become a resource for communities across the U.S. and, indeed, the world.

JENKINTOWN, Pa. – Manor College has recently signed a Dual Enrollment Agreement with Archbishop Wood High School. Through this partnership, junior and senior students enrolled at Archbishop Wood can earn college credits while still in high school. Earning college credits while in high school allows students to get ahead while also saving money – setting them up to graduate with less debt.

Gary V. Zimmaro Sr., president of Archbishop Wood High School, stated, “Archbishop Wood is looking forward to a long partnership with Manor College. We believe that the partnership will enhance the academic program at Archbishop Wood and open many new doors for our students. Many new ideas will be shared as our relationship evolves.”

KYIV – Each year on July 20, a community of journalists and friends of Pavlo Sheremet, the Belarusian-born Ukrainian journalist murdered in 2016, come to the place in the center of Ukraine’s capital where he was killed. This year a monument was unveiled near the site where an improved explosive device was planted under his car. Four years later, the murder case has yet to be solved.

The editor-in-chief of Ukrayinska Pravda, the news outlet where Sheremet worked his last years, Sevhil Musayeva, spoke at the opening ceremony. She thanked, in particular, sculptor Nazar Bilyk, who created the memorial, and Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko.

KYIV – The language issue has recently flared up again in Ukraine. What is behind it and how seriously should it be taken?

Certainly, scenes from the middle of July of hundreds of protesters, gathered outside the Verkhovna Rada to defend the Ukrainian language against alleged attempts to weaken its official position, suggested that another major battle over this perennially sensitive issue is under way.

On the other hand, reassuring statements from the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and other key figures in his administration have indicated that the fears are exaggerated and there is no need for patriotic forces to over-react.

LUTSK, Ukraine – A tense hostage situation on a bus in western Ukraine has ended without casualties after a standoff with police and after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke with the hostage-taker by phone and agreed to one of his demands.

Police arrested the suspected hostage taker, whom the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) identified as 44-year-old Maksym Kryvosh and said he had propagated “extremist views.”

Internal Affairs Minister Arsen Avakov said Mr. Kryvosh was armed with guns and a grenade, adding to the concerns of security forces during the 12-hour standoff.