DEMOCRATIC STATES CAN BE UNETHICAL POLITICALLY
There is an arrogance associated with democratic states, that the people and possibly even their leaders show a much higher ethical political behaviour than states that are authoritarian. It goes without saying that some states which call themselves democratic are only democratic superficially. The idea that the level of ethical behaviour in democracies is higher is completely misplaced, as human nature does not change with the political system involved. Power, self-interest and hypocrisy trumps all.
Nikita Khrushchev for reasons still not perfectly clear, when he was leader of the Soviet Union in 1954, gave Crimea to the Ukraine. Mikhail Gorbachev made a deal with the western nations, that he would allow both Germanys to unite, provided that NATO did not take any former satellites into the western military alliance. This deal was made in 1990 and made perfect sense as the Soviet Union and Western Europe suffered from a united Germany. The western powers from 2009 onwards brought Albania, Croatia, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland and others into NATO. This was a definite breach of the unwritten agreement, and while I do not have much sympathy for Vladimir Putin I can understand his irritation with the hypocrisy of the western powers. Considering that Russia at this point was not in any way a threat, why take this initiative? Putin and the Russian people would have felt betrayed.
On a pretext that the Russian-speaking people in the Crimea were facing discrimination, he sent in Russian soldiers without Russian uniforms and organized a vote which he knew he would win. Crimea was now again part of Russia. With the backing of the Russian people, who knows where Putin will stop in trying to reclaim power and land lost. Certainly in a military way, Barak Obama will not stand in his way.
The Prime Minister of Canada Stephen Harper, is a solid supporter of the Ukrainian government in its fight against the rebels in Eastern Ukraine. There is certainly, to some extent, a moral reason to take this action but I think domestic politics plays a much bigger part than our prime minister would own up to. A federal election is to be called in the near future in October of 2015 and it is common knowledge that the Ukrainian Canadians in our western provinces are Conservative, and not happy with recent events in the Ukraine. Support the Ukraine is good politics for Harper . I do not believe that Harper would be so forthright in his support if the Ukrainians were left -wing.
The situation in Libya, Iraq and Syria is deplorable. Millions of people have been ejected from a peaceful existence by this disorder and are looking for a place to live their lives in peace. The politicians in Europe and North America are more interested in making sure that the number of immigrants they allow does not alienate the voters in their lands. Re-election is more important than saving people at risk.
