While the participants of the NATO summit in Bucharest were casting about for words to explain why their decision to postpone the resolution on Ukraine and Georgia’s admission to the NATO Membership Action Plan (MAP), some politicians in Ukraine were rubbing their hands with undignified glee over “Ukraine’s failure.” Without the slightest doubts or feelings of embarrassment, some dignified and even respected pop performers joined the anti-NATO hysteria, the main symptom of which was the major traffic jam that was orchestrated by the Party of Regions in downtown Kyiv. The few transportation problems that were connected to the visit of US President Bush paled in comparison to this, despite all the groaning in the Ukrainian mass media.
There is no point in reiterating the anti-NATO rhetoric if only because it lacks a sound evidential basis. We have noted that the advocates of NATO membership have more varied and convincing arguments. Today we offer the opinions of two of our readers, neither of whom are politicians or public figures. They are average citizens whose well-being our politicians claim to be worried about so much.
Sevastian BOIKO, a farmer from the village of Kuzmyntsi in Teofipol raion, Khmelnytsky oblast:
“You are asking about NATO but I have a counter-question: who is going to defend us? We gave up our nuclear weapons. Now Romania has a claim to Serpent Island (Ostriv Zmiiny) and Russia, to Tuzla Island. That’s why I state clearly: Ukraine must come under the umbrella of this military alliance. We need to participate in a collective security system. There is no other way. We cannot, metaphorically speaking, sit in our own little village doing nothing.
“Do you wonder where we get all the equipment and other high-quality means of production, including those used on our small and effective farms? They all come from countries that have been NATO members for a long time. Farmers are doing better there and have a quieter life. Corruption and other negative phenomena affect them much less.
“If I remember correctly, I read in The Day that NATO means good roads, a high standard of living for everybody, culture, universal human values, and things like that. This is true. I have been there and seen this with my own eyes. I made comparisons and they were not in our favor, unfortunately. So I think it’s time to stop floundering in the mud. Don’t we deserve better?
“Of course, we do. Look at some of our politicians, who wear expensive clothes from the most famous European companies and drive cars made in Germany. They are forcing the public into an unnecessary discussion about NATO. They are speculating on old people’s attitudes. I believe they are doing this to divert our attention from acute socioeconomic problems, and they think only about themselves, not the people. If Ukraine is accepted by NATO, they will have to live and act according to new rules.
“Geographically, Ukraine is a European country. So with whom do we side? We side with those who live on this continent. But let me be frank: in our village, where I am conducting some impromptu propaganda work, there are various opinions on this issue. We lack the necessary propaganda measures. It was sad to watch the crowds of people in Kyiv when George Bush arrived. Someone led them to this shameful action. Why weren’t people who have different opinions about NATO organized as well?
“The Bucharest discussions on admitting Ukraine to the MAP provide food for thought: if someone is against this step, this means he puts his own interests first, i.e., anti-Ukrainian interests. This situation convinces me that sooner and later Ukraine will join NATO and the sooner the better. This is for our own good.”
Yurii IVAKHIV, a fitter at the Elektron-T plan in Lviv:
“In March 2008 the Sotsioinform Ukrainian Center for Public Opinion Research did a survey in Lviv region, which showed that two- thirds of the population (64.9 percent) would vote to join NATO if a referendum were held on this issue in the immediate future. Some 20 percent would vote against it, whereas 14.9 percent are uncertain.
“After joining NATO, Ukraine will certainly lose part of its sovereignty. We will no longer be able to decide on issues of war and peace. But we don’t seem to be planning any wars. So what are we losing? We don’t have an army that the country could be proud of. We can’t defend ourselves, so we have to come under someone’s wing. If you consider that our country has clearly expressed its desire to continue its accession to the EU, joining NATO seems to be a completely natural step to take.
“Another very important thing is this: do parents have to fear that joining the Alliance means sending their children to various hot spots? As a rule, only professional servicemen go there, and officers make up 70 percent of them. Privates serve in their home country and are not sent on NATO missions, except maybe a serious, global, and large-scale conflict. But that is something you can’t help anyway.
“If you take a closer look at our closest neighbors, i.e., Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Romania, you will see that all of them joined NATO without any perceptible negative changes-so why do we fear something like this? Yes, for many years we were part of the Soviet Union and today Russia is against Ukraine’s NATO membership. But that is only Russia’s position. Unfortunately, the U.S. failed to finish pressing their position at the summit in Romania. Russia’s opinion prevailed. The world has become bipolar. That’s it.
“Unfortunately, in these disputes Ukraine and Georgia are often used as petty change rather than trump cards. Something is being decided at a higher level. It’s the same thing as when Ukrainian politicians decide the future of the Ukrainian people without paying the slightest attention to the opinions of average people. Everyone lives in their own bubbles.”
