Kyiv, Ukraine and Dostoevsky November 9, 2008
Kyiv-I’m out of the east of Ukraine. In the past week I’ve been in the industrial city of Donetsk, where I interviewed a steel worker who has been put on “vacation” until officially being fired from the factory where she works following mass closures of factories across Ukraine due to global financial crisis.
The crisis is especially hard on developing countries such as Ukraine the government has just accepted a $16.4 million aid package from the IMF that they are hoping will stabilize the economy. Kyiv Post article here.
I rode platcars (3rd class) on the overnight train from Donetsk. Platscar is akin to a massive dorm room, with four bunks facing each other and another two along the wall. There is a lot of vodka drinking until the conductresses turn off the lights. Then there is only music from people’s cell phones, people talking loudly on their cell phones, more vodka drinking, and the sounds of the tracks and snores.
It’s a nice communal experience if you don’t mind the body heat and odd smells. I don’t and also was reading Dostoevsky’s Karamazov Brothers until the lights went out.
In my travels in the Slavic world the notion of freedom is something that comes up again and again. Most people that I speak to talk about freedom in a more negative light than not. Of freedom as it is tied to God and freedom of choice Dostoevsky writes:
“And again, all in the same of freedom! I tell You, man has no more pressing need than to find someone to whom he can give up that gift of freedom with which he,unhappy being that he is, was endowed at birth. But only he who appeases men’s consciences can relieve them of their freedom.”
The statement comes as both a critique of the church, humans, and perhaps also God and ties into other themes that come up in both the Karamazov Brothers and what people talk to me about when they are discussing their lives as Slavs or Slavic culture in general. That is the need to be beaten and subjected in some way, by a higher force. Dostoevsky’s character is arguing that God does not in fact subjugate humanity enough that the freedom of choice God has give humanity is in fact a greater burden than being told what to do.
This may seem like a strange concept for people from the West where the idea of freedom is placed higher than nearly all else, but Dostoevsky brings his argument back to humanity needing a clear reason to live for.
“For the secret of human existence is not only in living, but in knowing what to live for.”
So in this way the East vs. West divide may not be as large and shocking as some people in the West may feel it is, but when looking East, when looking towards Russia and these regions, the preliminary understanding, the concept accepted before you set off, is that this area is different and nothing about it can be seen or judged in the same way as the West is seen and judged.
I will be in Kyiv for a few days.
In Kharkiv November 2, 2008
Kharkiv-I have left Sevastopol and am currently in the university city of Kharkiv in northern Ukraine looking for professors to interview.
Kharkiv is the second largest city in Ukraine and is only forty kilometers from the Russian border, but I’ve learned the city is acually the most international city in Ukraine and home to nationalities from all over the world.
The day before I left Sevastopol I was walking to a meeting when I saw that the recently installed Catherine II statue had been hit by blue and yellow paint the night before.
City workers were trying to clean the paint off, but it was smearing and an engraving on the statue was being tarnished as the city workers tried to scrub off the paint. They eventually decided to paint over it.
Blue and yellow are the colors of the Ukrainian flag and members of the Russian Unity Organization blamed the attack on Ukrainian nationalists who are upset over the present of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol’s harbor.
Political vandalism of this sort are not common in Sevastopol and the members of the Russian Unity Organization I spoke with felt the tension between Ukrainians and Russians over Crimea had risen.
A Nuke Base and a German Point of View October 16, 2008
Sevastopol-Crimea has many hidden bays and inlets. It has been used for centuries as a strategic point for ships. It was a point along the Silk Road from China and the Russians built a Cold War era nuclear submarine base on it.
Crimea has a lot going on.
I visited the submarine base a day before yesterday. It was claustrophobic and massive and I marveled at the complexity of thought man put into destroying man.
A German I met, Adre, told me that he viewed the US and Russia as practically the same.
Both were big powers with people that were very nationalist and had a lot of pride in the military.
Looking at the US and Russia from one of the smaller countries in Europe it was actually shocking how similar they were, he said.
Both were such big countries that the people did not feel a need to learn another language. Try that in Germany, he said and the first thing people would do is tell you to get real and go out and learn English if you wanted to work at all.
We were walking around the ruins of a 15th century Geonoese tower, one of three near Sevastopol.
It would actually be good if Russia became closer to Europe, the German was saying. The Russians do not dislike Germans. He had just been in Russia and said that people were calling him over to talk when they heard he was German.
The difference in how Russia and Europe saw Human Rights was that Russia was a young democracy. He said Russian currently had a policy that going against the state could get you killed. They needed that stability, he said.
“You know what?” he added.
“This may be shocking to you, but many of us in Europe consider the US to be just as bad as Russia with Human Rights. You have Guantanamo.
“Russia as time passes will look very different. Already Putin is becoming better with Human Rights. He first had to stabilize the country.”
Contesting the Election Before it Even Happens October 13, 2008
Sevastopol-Ukraine is a country with a history high in independence declarations and revolutions.
They are proud, democratically inclined, and wiley.
Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko is in fact so wiley that she is contesting President Viktor Yushchenko’s call for new elections, saying that the country will not benefit from them.
Both Yushchenko and Tymoshenko, former allies who led the popular Orange Revolution in 2004, are struggling for their political futures.
Yushchenko wants to unseat Tymoschnko before 2010’s presidential election, in which she would be a strong rival.
Yushchenko wants to consolidate power before the election despite the fact that he has failed to come through with promises made during the Orange Revolution and is incredibly unpopular.
Both are gambling high.
Sevastopol Initial Impressions
Sevastopol-An old woman in a yellow headscarf danced a macaraina like dance to the pumping music by the large fountain on the main drag. Then she went up to a couple on a bench and demanded money from them.
About an hour later she came up with a group of friends, old wrinkled ladies in headscarves and long skirts and talked at me in Russian while sharing my bench and the bench next to mine. What they were saying seemed to me along the lines of “enjoy Sevastopol.” I didn’t understand and made that clear. They said some other things, from the tone of them equally pleasant, as I was leaving, but I spoke more Russian than than they spoke English so all I could guess at was their point, which seemed kind.
I want to call Sevastopol fake. I want to call it plastic in the way I have called other tourist traps fake and plastic. I want to compare it to Miami and Tallinn, but I can’t. That comparison would be inaccurate.
Sevastopol is white washed and there are tourists and sunglasses being sold all over the streets between currency exchange shops. It’s not fake though. The tourist industry here is in fact not as developed as might be expected and people come here for different reasons. For instance while Riga there was high in bars and strip clubs, people seem to come to Sevastopol to sail around in ferries and look at the WWII monuments and Russia’s Black Sea Fleet. I saw some tourists looking at these ships through binoculars earlier and talking about what type of vessel each one was. They seemed very excited by them.
Crimea, Ukraine in general, is known for a seedy underbelly that in my less than 24 hours here I have not yet noticed in Sevastopol. There are a lot of shops advertising fancy lingere, but usually in tourist centers the sleaze is very quickly prominent and here, so far, it has not been, which is surprising given Ukraine’s reputation.
Sevastopol has only been open to visitors sine 1996 however. Before that you had to carry a special permit to travel here due to the presence of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet. The Lonely Planet talked of Russia’s Black Sea fleet as getting ready to leave, but that now does not seem to be the case.
Placed in a predominant position, a Ukrainian boats in the harbor was painted orange, which I believed to be a nod to the Orange Revolution that led to a victory by the Western backed Viktor Yushchenko against Russia backed Viktor Yanukovych.
I have not yet been to Russia, but Sevastopol seems Russian in everyway. Everything is in Cyrillic. English does not seem to be used at all. Western tourists, usually so loud, so obnoxious, are virtually non-existant.
In Sevastopol October 12, 2008
Sevastopol-This afternoon I arrived in Crimea.
I am staying in Sevastopol, the town that harbors Russia’s Black Sea Fleet.
Pictures and words to follow.
I will be here for at least the next two weeks before traveling in the rest of Ukraine during the run up to the probable 7 December parliamentary election.
Sevastopol and Crimea in general are talked about as the next “flashpoint” between the West and Russia. There majority Russian population here are very pro Moscow and there are rumors that Russian passports are being handed out, something that happened in South Ossetia and Abkhazia as well.
Russia invading Crimea at any point is extremely unlikely however. Abkhazia and South Ossetia has been largely autonomous from Georgia declaring independence and Ukraine is much strongly politically and militarily then Georgia.
Like in Latvia however Russia will continue to exert its influence here through NGOs, schools, and of course Kremlin controlled Russian television, possibly causing Ukraine to tilt away from the West back towards Moscow.
Billboards…Riga…Re-Evaluate October 9, 2008
Riga-I sailed Eckero Lines this time.
In Helsinki I had walked down the wrong side of the harbor and almost missed the boat, but was saved by a traffic officer where it was she told me to get in her van and drove me to the dock and said, “Have a good day.”
This is was after a city worker standing outside the metro station insisted on giving me four soy macchiato drinks. Vitamin B2 and B12 and Calcium were advertised on the bottle.
The city work was an immigrant, maybe from Romania or Bulgaria and several times said, “Finland is a good country.”
Indeed it is.
It is insanity to leave such a place. This trip must be done though. I’ve called game back in and yesterday in Riga interviewed a professor, a journalist, and a Russian member of parliament on the situation with the Russian population here. I’m writing a 1500-2000 word article on the re-evaluation of relations that is going between the ethnic Latvians and the ethnic Russians here in Latvia.
There is no violent tensions and Russia is not going to invade Latvia, but in kitchens across the country people are asking themselves who they are and how they relate to their neighbors.
Throughout Riga there are billboards showing Bush and Putin standing together and looking out into the distance at something. The billboard says, “How much for Georgia?”
Riga’s citizens have altered the billboards in various ways.
Some of the billboards have gashes in them. Hitler mustaches have been drawn on Bush and Putin in others. On one billboard someone has scrawled, “How much for South Ossetia?”
The presence of the billboards show that Russia’s August invasion of Georgia and its increasingly assertive stance in the world is resounding deeply in Latvia and other former Soviet countries that border Russia. Ukraine, for example, where I am going next.
Helsinki, Finland…Functionalism… September 22, 2008
Helsinki-I was shirtless wearing a bulletproof vest and flannel pants at a party a few weeks ago here in Helsinki and was asked by a Finn what it was that I liked so much about Finland.
“The functionalism,” I replied.
Things work here in Finland. You can get around and find what you are looking for and not have to worry about the water or food. Everything is clean. The air is breathable.
Interesting, said the Finn. He told me he was so used to such things he didn’t notice them. He wanted to point out that things weren’t perfect though. Alcoholism was huge problem.
True, but whenever I’ve seen a drunk person stumbling around in public they seemed well cared for and safe. They could wander around all they wanted and nobody was going to rob them or do anything more than help them be safe. At least once a week friends here say they see a drunk person on a metro or bus. The driver calls the police, who come to the next stop and asks the drunk if they need assistance. If the drunk is unresponsive the police first carry to the sidewalk the drunk’s possessions and then the drunk themselves. The police watch the drunk for a moment as they try to figure out where they are. If the police decide the drunk needs further help, they take the drunk with them. If not, the drunk is allowed to wander home.
That’s the more harmless side of the alcoholism in Finland. That’s what is visible. What goes on behind closed doors is another thing. A trip to one of the local “dive” bars is to see a scattering of people sitting alone or with perhaps one other person sipping beers and not talking for hours, usually staring straight ahead. Nobody gets violent and most probably have jobs, but they are trying to dull themselves to something, be it the weather, an inactive life, or whatever else.
The alcoholism and a high suicide rate (the weather) aside, Finns are lucky. They are largely a homogeneous society. This cuts out many of the race problems that plague other nations. They are out of the way geopolitically and are not cursed with oil or gas.
Nokia and a range of technology, electronics, and manufacturing businesses have made the country wealthy, and largely all in the past forty years.
And the people. The Finns are a funny, funny group of people. They are into details. They like to talk about a single subject down through intricate details and then, because there is not a whole lot else to do, either take their dog for a walk or drink beer.
An American friend of mine who has lived in Helsinki for several years told me, “In Finnish society people take responsibility for their work and then get drunk. Its just kind of what they do so things keep going well.”
“Isolation and Irrelevance.” Rice Rhetoric to Russia. September 19, 2008
Helsinki-U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warned Russia that it is on “a path to isolation and irrelevance.”
This is strong rhetoric from an administration that is in its final days and will certainly enrage Russians who are proud of once again begin a Great Power.
While the US is using strong rhetoric in dealing with Russia there is little indication relations will dramaticly change due to the European need for natural gas from Russia. The fences may go a little higher and Russians may view the West with more anger and the West may view Russia with more paranoia, but a significant shift in trade or some type of embargo against Russia will not be happening.
Again a Great Power, with a popular government, and feeding Europe energy, Russia is anything, but irrelevant. While it is certainly viewed warily by other countries it will not be isolated either. Russia offers too much.
Rice’s words offered little except to stroke the flames of an already tense situation. The message sent through her by the Bush administration is exactly the opposite of the approach called for in The Atlantic this month of quick negociations and respect for spheres of influence.
This potential benefits of this approach seems to be lost on the Bush administration.
After Rice’s remarks however U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates did urge some restraint in this NYT article:
Putin Airs His Grievances September 12, 2008
Helsinki-Russian PM Vladimir Putin went on air yesterday to express his frustration over how the West viewed Russia’s invasion of Georgia last month.
BBC article here. NYT article here.
Putin was making the case that Russia’s peacekeepers in the South Ossetian capital Tskhinvali were shelled and therefore had the right to invade as a form of defense.
“What did you want us to do? Wave our penknives in the air and wipe the bloody snot off our noses?” he asked, adding: “When an aggressor comes into your territory, you need to punch him in the face - an aggressor needs to punished.”
Putin blamed Western media for distorting the Russian response, but otherwise appeared to be reaching out Western governments after a mass souring of relations with the US, EU, and even traditional Russian allies such as China and Serbia.
Russia’s invasion of Georgia was its single largest display of power since the high point of the Soviet Union. Many have begun to think of Russia in a new Cold War with the West for zones of control and influences in the Arctic, Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and the Caucuses.
Putin skeptics will probably view his plea as showmanship.
Putin, especially during his first few years in power, frequently went on TV to try to explain himself, usually having preselected the questions and having already prepared answers. The appearances were usually viewed by outside observers as Putin attempting to be perceived by the Russian people as doing everything he possibly could to reach out and explain himself as a statesman.
This recent appearance could be seen as more of the same. Its doubtful how much the Russian government truly cares about how the war Georgia is viewed by the rest of the world. Russia has never been stronger and knows that by being the main supplier of natural gas to Europe, it holds a powerful card that will allow it to avoid serious sanctions and isolation.
Russia is powerful again.
There may be something sincere to Putin’s words however.
After his initial election to the presidency in 1999, many observers viewed Putin as trying to reach out to the West. He was considerably less antagonistic than he is today and was willing to compromise on more issues. According to some he even overtured the Clinton administration with a request to join NATO. The request was diplomatically rebuffed.
After 9-11 he was also one of the first world leaders to call and express condolances to US President George W. Bush. He agreed to Bush’s request to allow temporary military bases in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan from which the invasion of Afghanistan could be launched. However a year and half later when Russian officials asked when the bases would be dismantled the American response was that Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan were in the American zone of strategic interest and the bases would be permanent.
Along with Eastern European countries joining NATO and the US placement of a missile defense shield in Poland and the Czech Republic, Russia feeling threatened by the West is understandable. Putin may even feel that his attempts to reach out to the West, no matter how calculated they may have been, were betrayed and now that Russia has displayed its military and political power with an easy defeat of Georgia and the West’s inability to muster a significant response, he has proved that his words need to be taken much more seriously.
older posts »