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Written by Uriel Araujo, PhD, anthropology researcher with a focus on international and ethnic conflicts
Radosław Sikorski, the Polish foreign minister has suggested placing Crimea under a UN mandate. Large parts of the Ukrainian establishment itself have at times been reconsidering the whole idea of “reconquering Crimea”, but this development nonetheless prompted Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry to state that such proposals were “unacceptable.”
This is not the only ongoing source of tension for these two Eastern European countries. Sikorski has also called on Ukraine to allow the exhumation of victims of the so-called Volhynia massacres (during WWII, Ukrainian nationalists killed about 100,000 ethnic Poles). According to him, Kyiv should do it “out of gratitude for what Poland is doing for Ukraine today.” He insisted on these victims having a “Christian burial”. This remains a hot topic in Poland. The problem is that their tormentors are now officially honored as national heroes in Ukraine.
Since 2022, Ukrainian-Polish relations at times have resembled a roller-coaster of ups and downs. The two nations have taken some steps towards a confederation with developments such as the Polish Act on Assistance to Citizens of Ukraine. Their bilateral military agreement announced in early July has been described as unprecedented, and it also includes intelligence-training, as well as forming and training a new Ukrainian Legion on Polish territory. Besides being a logistic hub for its neighbor (making it easier for Western weapons to arrive), Warsaw has thus far provided Kyiv with no less than 44 military aid packages worth about €4 billion – and there is more to come. No wonder it is considered one of Ukraine’s closest allies. And yet not everything is rose-colored.
Back in September 2023 I wrote about how Polish-Ukraine relations seemed to be deteriorating to the point of Warsaw having at the time stopped sending weaponry. Polish President Andrzej Duda then described his Ukrainian ally as “a drowning person clinging to anything available”, adding, quite dramatically, that “a drowning person is extremely dangerous, capable of pulling you down to the depths … simply drowning the rescuer.” The context of it was a Polish-Ukrainian trade battle over agricultural bans. In Poland, support for Ukrainian refugees has also been consistently falling – the issue also fuels xenophobic feelings. Despite Warsaw and Kyiv’s great plans for “coming together”, there is a domestic political climate in both countries that does not help.
Time and time again the issue of WWII and Ukraine comes to the forefront of a public discussion in Poland. This intensified during the years of the Polish nationalist party Law and Justice (PiS), which was in power from 2015 to 2023.
Kyiv and Warsaw politicize the history of the 20th century quite differently. I’ve written about the issue elsewhere. In short, post-Maidan Ukraine officially celebrates organizations and figures such as the Ukrainian Insurgent Army and Stepan Bandera as national heroes in the struggle against communism. The only problem is that they were Nazi collaborators who also committed war crimes against Poles – there are often considered genocide even by prominent Ukrainian historians such as Yaroslav Hrytsak, for instance.
The importance of the politics of memory should never be underestimated. In a different but somewhat similar context, the issue of history was indeed one of the factors behind the tensions that culminated in the Donbass War in 2014. A large part of the trouble with Maidan was all about that. During my research in Southern Russia and the Russo-Ukrainian border conflict zone (in 2019) that was the topic I came across with – over and over again. One of my interlocutors, for instance, would go on to say: “Maidan brought this new ideology to Ukraine.
And our people were against this ideology, completely – we do not accept it. That is why a major referendum was held – both the Lugansk and Donetsk oblast took part and over 90% of the population said no to the new ideology because we respect our fathers and forefathers who fought in the Great Patriotic War against Nazism and we honor our ancestors – and would never betray them.” Similar utterances were common.
The hard fact is that post-Maidan Ukraine is increasingly becoming a kind of ethnocratic state, that is, a “far-right regime” as the West’s intelligentsia would normally describe it – and has often done so at least until 2022. And, yes, neo-Nazi elements play a role in it as well. This is an undeniable fact although one can try to minimize or whitewash it for the sake of political propaganda or for sentimental reasons.
Nicolai N. Petro, a professor of political science at the University of Rhode Island, writing for Foreign Policy, describes today’s Ukraine as having a “civil rights problem”, and as a country with policies that “effectively relegate Russian speakers to permanent second-class status”, to the point that many Ukrainians “across the political spectrum”, including “former officials” and “intellectuals” worry that such policies, after peace is achieved, will “alienate, criminalize, or deport a significant portion of the country’s population.”
Meanwhile, neighboring Poland in turn is also experiencing its own kind of nationalist revival. This is thus fertile soil for historical grievances and Polish-Ukrainian interethnic friction to take hold – and eventually it could get ugly.
To sum it up, Poland in all likelihood will remain Ukraine’s strategic partner for quite a long time – but there is always a factor of unpredictability looming in the horizon (pertaining to nationalistic ideology and the politics of memory) to the point that such a relationship should never be taken for granted.
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i want some polish nazi sausage in my colon! yaaas, slay queen!
as a scientific experiment: i would like to stuff you with sausages until your organs rupture or you suffocate. which one comes first?
this could very well ruin zelensky’s plan to operate a chain of kosher kielbasa kiosks across eastern europe. he’s already trademarked the name …kkk, much to the approval of the azov high command.
during the period of the kinetic us assault on yugoslavia, i heard the phenomenon summed up very simply: “nationalism, the passion of the idiots”. ukretardism is the stupidest of nationalisms. they were the poorest people in europe under the austro-hungarians, but their ethnonationalist kooky terrorists went after the poles and the jews. now their fake story is predicated on the evil nature of the russian untermensch who has oppressed them for millennia. superstitious imbeciles.
divide et impera. or “divide and rule.” all halfwits in europe fall victim to the ultimate far-right ultranationalist psyop perpetrated by the jew media. not just mainstream media but “alt right” as well. and of course, halfwitted ukrainians are especially retarded. they were groomed by the ultranationalist psyop since obama took office in 2008 and ukraine was targeted by the neocons for maximum exploitation.
and now the poles arent even sure who the enemy really is. they are one of the european countries with the biggest case of stockholm syndrome when it comes to the globalists. they are one of the dumbest governments ever. i mean, poles are already doing the globalist’s bidding, even sending troops and aid to ukraine. and now they are doing what? didn’t they also ask gwrmany for ww2 reparations amidst the ukraine war?
there’s a reason why the poles have the reputation that they have.
radish coleslaw sikorski once said ‘we give washimgton b-jobs and what do we get in return?’ well now he knows. a million banderite refugees on polish soil. lol
this is an escalation after ukraine has been amidst a trade spat w poland, slovakia and hungary. they restricted ukrainian grain imports. (measures imposed after eu). ukraine sued the three eu member states at the wto. ukraine is very dumb too. poland was (is) actually one of its biggest benefactors in its war efforts.
the author wrote “ back in september 2023 i wrote about how polish-ukraine relations seemed to be deteriorating to the point of warsaw having at the time stopped sending weaponry.” but that came after, as a result of the (farmer) trade spat.
you’re sociologicaly and intelectually challenged and stupid to boot.
you forgot to add that his mother wears army boots, man-child.
and you’re missing a few l’s in your gobbledegook.
something to do with galicia dna. the russian dna sector of ukraine is certainly not full of people with low intelligence levels.
not just the present government. remember, poland got her independence back in 1919 and only held onto it for 20 years. it is the neediest nation in the eu, as shown by the amount the eu has supplemented it over the years. when that money ran out, and they were expected to pay into the eu, they then turned to the us. remember the ‘t*rture chambers’ the poles set up, to keep the cia sweet? what wouldn’t they do for a free $us?
the poles got their independence in 2019 and within 20 years were carving off pieces of czechoslovakia. i think a statue of bandera in warsaw would be a fine sort of karma for the polish hegemon wannabe.
you meant 1919 i believe. then they lost their independence to the eu and nato a century later.
totally fake names and votes from the fakest “alternative” site on the internet. well actually exactly the same as all of the other neo nazi sites
anglo media. you don’t ever see the term “divide and rule” in hebrew do you?
the anglos have the majority of two continents. what do the jews have?
city of london, washington dc and the vatican supporting the zionists, who are not actually jewish. ironically the zionists are the ones who have taken out the true members of the community.
israel’s already divided and can’t rule what it has, let alone add to it.
germany followed the path of the national socialists, back in the 30s, same as ukraine today and also starmer’s labour party. why are nationalists classed as far right, and not far left? patriotics, are central with a leaning to the right and there is a major difference between patriotism and nationalism.
ukrainian nazis are a tricky species, like chameleons. one of their nazi factions inverted national socialist into the social nationalist party and then to svoboda, to keep western ngo money flowing.
i strongly suspect john mccain was a closet nazi and knew all along about svoboda’s history when he stood on the maidan podium with its co-founder, ghoulish nazi tyahnybok whispering in his ear.
i always found tyahnybok and dmitry dimash seriously creepy looking. wasn’t john mccain’s father a good mate of allen dulles? allen dulles, the first director of the cia, whose first exercise was ‘operation paperclip’ and not forgetting how the dulles brothers worked with the nazis, prior to 1947.
this is how wiki’s cia editors describe yarosh, the unabashed nazi:
“dmytro anatoliiovych yarosh is a ukrainian activist, politician, nationalist and military commander”
isn’t he sweet?
you’re a complete straight out lying idiot who’s full of it as ars the fake up votes.
have you ever considered a warm bath of arsenic salts to calm your nerves?
just trying to help.
they follow the ideology of the national socialists who ran germany in the 30s. the same national socialists who are running the uk, at the moment, courtesy starmer. not sure why the media believe the national socialists are far right. there again, where does the far left start and the far right end?
poles can’t decide on who they hate more: russians or germans. poland: the second dumbest country in europe after ukraine.
get over your fake conversations with yourself.
now you’re getting to the crux of the matter. the actual truth is that they hate themselves most of all.
the psychological literature amply covers the subject.
i’d hate myself too if i was supporting the same ukrainian fascist pigs that murdered my grandparents with pitchforks.
poles are also scum…. most of the personal en the concentration camps innpoland were polish collaborators…
baltics are as muchbstupid as poland, at least
they’re whores in latvia and thieves. they have no scruples imo they’re corrupted totally by western influences who couldn’t stand to see russia incorporate them and have the western coastline.
and i know that for a fact. my grandmother had bank accounts there , my grandparents had flats houses farms there an ocean going launch cars etcetera they kept all the paperwork and after ww2 was over and then when the ussr ended the latvian government refused to return anything at all and only paid face value on the bank accounts refusing to add interest or adjust for inflation even. straight out thieves of millions and millions
yeah, so cry me a river. as if you’re the only victim of soviet policies.
so, why don’t they return the property now, like the czechs did?
ps: you can blame the latvian riflemen for lenin’s success.
they’re a traditional catholic nation who upset the vatican by getting wealthy and being tolerant its hidden history.
ukraine has to answer before international courts of justice for the ethnic cleansing of its own citizens in the donbass from 2014 onwards. slava donbassy
the icc s a, load of crap imo
icj and icc are captive organizations, doing western bidding. ukraine is paying in more appropriate ways.
they create the climate they advise the puppets.
zelensky said if poland apologizes, he’ll let it slide.
february 22 2014, sikorski was one of the witnesses, together with the french and german foreign secretaries, when yanukovic stood down. with 2 simple requests. a peaceful transition, and to bring the elections, due at the end of the year forward. what happened next, besides russia rescuing him and his family from an assassination attempt.
what happpened next was the kagans’ tonton macoute neonazis started shooting people on maidan square and then took over the government.
2) the same year, didn’t sikorski loos his job, owing to loose lips and saying the wrong thing at the wrong time, and it being recorded? now he is having a hissy fit with his good friend zelinsky. the same zelinsky that honours bandera, who led the volhynia m*ssacre that sikorski all of a sudden remembers. funny how both zelinski and sikorski, both work for the bolsheviks and the nazis, that were creations of the city of london.