Ukraine

I was born in Ukraine, Kiev to be precise. It is still Kiev to me, not Kyiv. I left when I was five, in 1979, turning six in Italy, en route to the United States. We, ten of us, arrived in San Francisco on November 30, 1979. I celebrate that day, usually in my mind, each year. It will be 43 years this November.

I have not been back.  Obviously, I had no choice in leaving. The former Soviet Union was not a good place and even less so for Jews.  I have no regrets. 

I have learned that my maternal grandmother, now deceased, was the driver for leaving the U.S.S.R. and coming to America. I had discussed many things with her, but not the thought process and decisions behind the immigration. I have written about her on this blog: https://johnpavolotsky.com/2021/03/14/international-womens-day/. She was headstrong and independent, and looking back, gave up the most in coming to the United States. 

I became a U.S. citizen in 1986 and have not looked back.  Suffice it to say that given the Chernobyl disaster, the disintegration of the U.S.S.R., the wild 1990s, the invasion and occupation of Crimea and Donbas, Maidan, and what could most benignly be described as choppiness in the past 20+ years, I am glad that I am here, in California, and not there.  I am not one for counterfactuals, but my life there would have been vastly different.  At the same time, I would have missed an election in 2019, where the people of Ukraine clearly and overwhelmingly expressed what kind of country they would like to have.  The people of Ukraine elected another member of the tribe, a former actor, Zelensky, who has shown more courage, backbone, and leadership than any Western leader. 

When asked about my last name or where I am from, originally, I would say the former Soviet Union. That is the technically correct answer. Never Russia, because, again, that is technically incorrect.  If you ask me today, it is Ukraine. 

For the past month or so, until Wednesday night, the situation in Ukraine was a slow burn, a low-grade distraction, among all other issues and projects. Wednesday night changed that. It is not because I have family and a friend or two in Ukraine, although to be sure that does weigh on me. People are hunkered in their apartments or underground, in metro stations. Electricity seems to be on, at least for now. Streets are empty, but the connection to the outside world, and solidarity from various corners of the globe, remains. Store shelves, I am sure, are empty.

My concern is much broader.  As mentioned, I have never been back. I had planned to finally visit this summer, but this seems unlikely now.  Regardless, when and if I visit, it will not be the same Kiev or the same Ukraine. That said, I am even more determined now to visit, to see where I grew up, to better understand my roots.  Since immigrated to the United States, the furthest east I have traveled is Prague; even there, I felt closer to home. 

I am troubled by the impudence of Putin, by the lack of will to stand up to the new (and old) Evil Empire (perhaps Reagan, another actor, would have shown more backbone), by the potential and substantial redrawing of the map, by the loss of life (on all sides), by the unjustified and unjustifiable violation of the sovereignty and integrity of a country and people yearning to contribute, improve, and join the West and the free world. I do not mean any of this in a patronizing manner. The will and choices of the Ukrainian people, perhaps with the exception of those in Donbas, is clear. It was clear in Maidan. It is crystal clear now. We need to support this. Unfortunately, words are not enough. 

I had hoped (naively) that securing Donbas was Putin’s primarily goal. The current invasion makes it clear this is not the case. The goals are regime change and empire building. With Belarus in Putin’s back pocket (mostly likely soon to be a province of Russia), Moldova and Georgia possibly next, and the Baltics possibly to follow, Putin is trying to reconstitute the former Soviet Union. To him, it is a matter of destiny. We have not seen this since September 1939. 

What to do?  I can watch only so much CNN, FOX News, etc.  In hindsight, the Budapest Memorandum of 1994 was pivotal.  Pursuant to that, Ukraine agreed to give up nukes in its possession (the codes were always with the U.S.S.R./C.I.S.) in exchange for security guarantees from the U.S., Great Britain, and most ironically, Russia.  When Russia invaded Crimea, a breach of that memorandum was (rightly) claimed. To that, Putin, apparently, responded: “”a new state arises, but with this state and in respect to this state, we have not signed any obligatory documents.” The Budapest Memorandum is defensive; it does not require the U.S. or U.K. to protect Ukraine, just to respect its sovereignty. No one assumed that twenty years after the memorandum was signed, one of the signatories would renege on its promises. 

In the past few days, I have heard countless pundits suggesting anything from additional sanctions (still a mystery to me why Biden did not agree to sanction Putin personally until the Europeans had proposed and approved such sanctions), to removing Russia from SWIFT, to imposing a no-fly zone over Ukraine, to accelerating funding packages for defensive military equipment to Ukraine (although the logistics of transporting that equipment into Ukraine are mind-boggling). Russia heads the U.N. Security Council. China, I am sure, is paying close attention, hoping that Russia returns the favor, at least in abstaining from any resolutions, when and if it decides to take decisive action against Taiwan, and India, somewhat to my surprise (as a significant buyer of Russian wheat), abstained as well from the same resolution. At bottom, Putin and Zelensky need to meet at the negotiating table, the sooner the better, but what will Ukraine need to give up, and when will Putin be satiated? NATO collectively and the United States individually need to show resolve, as do countries which respect self-determination. The last global crisis of, to my mind, potentially equal magnitude was the Cuban Missile Crisis (October, 1962), before my time. Arguably, Krushchev did not have the stranglehold on the U.S.S.R. that Putin has on Russia. Perhaps he was more sane. Both had nuclear states. Ultimately, as some might remember, the U.S. removed missiles from Turkey, and the U.S.S.R. removed missiles from Cuba. The difference, of course, is clear; Ukraine is not Putin’s last move. Even if it is resolved with some sort of trade (on which, I am sure, there are some back-channel discussions), it does not resolve, or put an end to, his broader objectives.

In the meantime, I will be writing my local Congressional representatives. I will also be investigating local charities. The immediate task is to put an end to the current conflict, without setting an unfortunate precedent.  

Comments welcomed.