Comments on: A house divided

By: Global Voices Online » Ukraine: “No Go from NATO”

Global Voices Online » Ukraine: “No Go from NATO” — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 23:19:17 +0000

[...] roundup on Ukraine and NATO: A Fistful of Euros reads Yushchenko's address and isn't surprised “other NATO countries are balking”; Mark MacKinnon writes that [...]

By: Hektor Bim

Hektor Bim — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 12:00:08 +0000

But this isn’t about a national identity. It’s about a national versus a supranational identity. It’s about whether a Ukrainian nation and language exists or whether it is a fallacy and Ukranians should join with Russia as a (junior) partner and speak Russian in public, confining their funny dialect to the home.

The choice has always been about whether Ukraine joins the Western club as an equal (more or less) or whether it is reabsorbed into a Russian state/empire in a subservient position. Those are the choices. People I talk to on both sides are pretty clear on this point.

By: P O Neill

P O Neill — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 12:24:08 +0000

I see that I should have noted that his comments were translated.

But maybe the translator was Bushified.

By: Philippe Magnabosco

Philippe Magnabosco — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 11:05:03 +0000

I wonder if Yushchenko’s delicately bushified syntax is meant to show compliance with NATO standards. Or was it just the US President’s personal aura permeating the atmosphere? Or was Yushchenko desperately trying not to offend his famously articulate guest?