Which Government Has the Right to Sovereign Power in Ukraine? 'The One in Moscow,' Says Putin; 'The One in Kiev,' Says a Univ. of So. Calif. Russian History Professor. BOTH ARE WRONG!
The only justifiable sovereign power in any local community inside Ukraine is the local assembly of egalitarians in that local community, PERIOD!
Business Insider cites some American professors of Russian history who say Ukraine is an independent sovereign nation that should be ruled by the government in Kiev, and who refute Russian President Putin’s claims that Ukraine is part of Russia and should be ruled by the government in Moscow. Both sides of this debate are wrong, as I explain following these excerpts from the Business Insider article.
The Business Insider article reports:
The two-hour interview revealed little new information about the war in Ukraine — beyond that it is likely to continue — but did manage to highlight Putin's increasing delusion, according to two Russia historians.
"Putin's performance was strange," said Robert English, a professor at the University of Southern California who studies Russia, the Soviet Union, and Eastern Europe.
For nearly 30 uninterrupted minutes, Putin rattled off his version of Russian history in an apparent attempt to prove that Ukraine is not a sovereign country. Countless historians and analysts have refuted Putin's sovereignty claims since the war began in February 2022.
The Russian president parroted in great, slogging detail many of the erroneous talking points he's used over the years to bolster his belief that Ukraine ought to be under Russian control.
"Putin seems like a delusional man who has lost touch with reality, yammering on about Rurik and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth," said Simon Miles, an assistant professor at Duke University's Sanford School of Public Policy and a historian of the Soviet Union and US-Soviet relations.
The debate about whether Kiev or Moscow has the sovereign (i.e., exclusive) right to rule the Texas-sized region known as Ukraine is a debate over who should have the right to undemocratically rule over and oppress people in Ukraine, a small number of people based in Moscow, or a small number of people based in Kiev. The morally right answer, of course, is NEITHER.
Both sides in this debate are opposed to genuine democracy. I discuss what genuine democracy is in some detail here. Please read that linked article to understand why the debate reported in Business Insider, like virtually all discussion of “national sovereignty” in the mainstream media, is a cover-up of the morally right egalitarian concept of genuine democracy. In a genuine democracy the sovereign (only!) governmental power in any local community is the local assembly of egalitarians composed only of the egalitarians in that local community.
The debate reported by Business Insider, like all debates about where national borders should be drawn and whether a nation is sovereign or not, is designed to pit good people against each other and make them accept being ruled by oppressors. This phony debate tells us that the only choice is between being ruled undemocratically by THIS group of oppressors in the name of THIS “national sovereignty,” or by THAT group of oppressors in the name of THAT “national sovereignty.” (I discuss how Putin in Moscow is part of the oppressor class and how Zelensky (et al) in Kiev is also part of the oppressor class in my article about the Ukraine war here.) Given this phony choice, some good people opt for being ruled by THIS group of oppressors and others by THAT group of oppressors. Each group of oppressors resorts to all sorts of specious nationalistic arguments and historical narratives to gain the emotional support of the people it wishes to rule over. Good people often end up in violent wars with each other because of this divide-and-rule phony choice being imposed on them from above.
Putin recited to Tucker Carlson for thirty minutes his specious argument for why a Moscow government should rule people in Ukraine, and the American professors of Russian history cited by Business Insider give their specious argument for why a Kiev government should rule people in Ukraine. Both are wrong!