Mike Marta

Response to the Andre Illarionov Seminar

10/27/14

Mr. Illarionov hit on a variety of topics the other night, however what I found most prominent was the constant underlying theme that Vladimir is both deceptive and manipulative in his recent endeavors involving Ukraine.  Mr. Illarionov started off by talking about how Putin’s propaganda has portrayed the image that the current situation between Russia and Ukraine is a “crisis” when in reality the majority of the world knows that Russia and Ukraine are at war.  Putin has effectively backed himself into a corner where, as Mr. Illarionov put it, “It is impossible for Putin to compromise with the Anglo-Saxon world”.

Even though Ukraine was the second largest providence in the USSR behind Russia itself Ukraine has since removed itself from Russian ties, especially in light of recent events.  Mr. Illarionov also quoted Ukrainian President Kuchma in a conversation between Putin and Kuchma stating (to Putin) “You don’t understand, Ukraine has become a different country”.  It is clear that Putin is becoming not only frustrated with Ukraine but also desperate as he threatened to invade more Ukrainian providences if Ukraine signed any agreements with the EU.

However what I found most interesting about this seminar was Mr. Illarionov’s parallels between Vladimir Putin and Adolf Hitler.  While Adolf Hitler believed the goal of the Third Reich was to “unite German people”, Vladimir Putin has been quoted saying that he is trying to unite Russian people, both ethnic and Russian speaking which would include providences in Ukraine and other near by ex-soviet nations.  In addition Hitler also started off annexing nations such as Hungary and Austria claiming that the people there were “ethnic Germans” just as Vladimir Putin annexed Crimea and claimed that the large majority of people there were “ethnic Russians”

In addition Putin has committed several deceptive acts, which not only include breaking the Budapest agreement but also the shooting down of a Ukrainian passenger jet.  Putin denied these acts however the only people who could have given permission to the Russian soldiers to fire upon the Ukrainian jet would be a high ranking Russian military Officer such as a general or Putin himself.

I found Mr. Illarionov’s seminar to be not only thought provoking but also eye opening.  He brought up several points that we as citizens of the US might not take into account or even realize when discussing the war going on in Ukraine.

Recently a Russian news station has used old photos from Russia’s war against Chechnya in order to tell a ficticious story of the fighting going on in Ukraine.  The news station reported that days before these images were shown online hackers hacked into a billboard in downtown Kyiv and displayed other images from prior wars in order to demonstrate what they called  “ukranian suffering”.  The images in both cases were actually dated from 1995 and had photoshopped out russian soldiers inspecting mass graves.  As we learned in class a few days ago many Russian news sources and leaders have been notorious for manipulating images in order to twist the truth.  This report just goes to show just how important the use of space and time is in art.  Had the Russian soldier not been photoshopped out of the image then it would have conveyed a completely different message to its viewers.  If in fact the soldier had been shown in the image than people would have no only been able to identify the era from which the photo was taken but that it was from a war which took place two decades earlier.  However Russian News Channel 1 was able to manipulate viewers in order to blame Ukrainian insurgents for attrosities occurring in the Dontesk region of Ukraine.

http://uatoday.tv/society/russian-tv-uses-chechen-mass-grave-photo-to-depict-donetsk-atrocities-388554.html

displayed is the original, unedited, photo displayed by Russian News 1

“Ukranian Banksy” Sergei Zakharov won fame in the past months for his depictions of cruel behavior by russian insurgants and has since been hunted down and captured.  The artist won fame in Ukraine with his sketches of war torn eastern Ukraine.  His recently released works show the world the horrors of his time in captivity.  I personally believe that Zakharov is not only a very brave individual but a man who is standing up for his own nation.  Despite the horrible things that the Kremlin insurgants have done to Ukranian citizens Zakharov remained vigilant in his work and despite threats of torture continued to produce artwork against the Kremlin regime.

http://uatoday.tv/society/ukrainian-banksy-sergei-zakharov-reveals-sketches-of-his-torture-by-donetsk-militants-375464.html

Recently Russian President Vladimir Putin has been waging an “Information War” on Ukraine.  Putin’s main goal was to win over Ukranians who were largely split between what the article calls “Soviet nastalgia” and Ukranian nationalism.  These attempts have largely backfired on Putin with most Ukranian citizens finding a new sense of nationalism and doing away with there once profound ties to Russia.  Main human rights and humanitarian groups have urged Putin to stop his “information war” while he continues to spend money pro-russian propoganda.  I found that this article related to what we have been learning in class as far as Ukraine and Russia’s once close ties as displayed by the pro-russian propaganda we looked at earlier in the semester.  However, I believe that this new found sense of Ukranian nationalism is good for Ukraine because it is helping Ukranian citizens to find their own identity.

http://uatoday.tv/politics/putin-acknowledges-russia-ukraine-divide-as-patriotic-ukrainians-unite-in-opposition-to-kremlin-lea-374015.html

Recently in response to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s birthday several sites including “The Devil’s Gas Station” have held cartoon contest honoring the President’s birthday on October seventh.  The competition is aimed at both the President’s birthday and his support of terrorist actions in Ukraine.  Personally I find most of the cartoons pretty comical making fun of the President and the Soviet Union.  One image shows Joseph Stalin holding a young Vladimir Putin up in the air while Putin holds a flag displaying the infamous hammer and sickle.  Another shows Stalin looking down at a young and upbeat looking Putin.  These images while funny address the ongoing issue of Putin’s support of terrorist attacks in Ukraine.

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1483702655227859&id=1451146768483448

More images available at http://art-krug.com/

The cease fire, which started on September 5th, between Russia and Ukraine was broken when several Ukranian soldiers were killed by Kremlin backed insurgents earlier this week.  Even though Russia and Ukraine have technically been at a cease-fire since September 5th Ukranian soldiers have been attacked on several occasions by insurgents in the past month.  In the past day the Kremlin backed insurgents have again tried to take the Dunisk Airport, however the Ukranian military has been able to withhold their attacks.  The airport, which continues to be used as a strategic position by the Ukranian military, was taken from the insurgents in late may and has been constantly shelled since then.

Recently engagments between Ukranian soldiers and insurgants has continued at the Dontesk Airport.  On May 26th insurgants took control of the airport however it was quickly reclaimed by the Ukranian military.  The airport holds a great strategic importance to both sides and several armored units of the “Dontesk Peoples Republic” has been seen making its way towards the airport.  Fighting has been nearly continuous since the insurgants lost control and seven Ukranian soldiers were killed a few days ago when insurgants attacked their transport vehicle.  Even though the airport has not been in use since the beginning of the fighting the airport allows the Ukranian military to maintain a strong foothold in Dontesk and its surrounding area.  In addition to this it prevents Russian troops and other insurgants from using the airport as a base of operations.  I personally believe that this article alone shows how despite the lack of coverage by western media that there is still a great deal of fighting that is going on in Ukraine.

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