Zuzak
GRC Report; Wed., May 02, 2007
(1)
Battle of Vimy Ridge: (e-Poshta,
08Apr2007; W.
Zuzak)
The Canadian news media has been
highlighting the Battle of Vimy Ridge of April 1917 for the past week.
Many
commentators claim that this was the defining moment of Canadian
identification. Perhaps so. For this is about the time when Filip
Konowal was
earning his Victoria Cross and 6000 or so Ukrainians were languishing
in 26
concentration camps scattered across Canada courtesy of "British Empire
loyalists" implementing the War Measures Act.
Please
remember that the inhabitants of
Canada at that time were "British subjects" and remained so until the
passage of the Citizenship Act of Canada on Feb. 16, 1947. Perhaps that
explains why Canadian politicians and elite are so reluctant to
apologize for
and provide restitution to the victims of the WWI internment operations
-- even
some 90 years after the fact.
Let
us hope that these commemorations do
not contribute to the "glorification of war" in Afghanistan, Iraq,
Iran and other areas of the world.
[The
above letter was also submitted to, but not published in, the Edmonton
Journal.]
(2)
Pre-term Elections in Ukraine: (AUR#833, Article 4, 24Apr2007; W.
Zuzak)
Since the 02Apr2007 decree by Viktor
Yushchenko dissolving the Verkhovna Rada, politics in Ukraine has been
in a
turmoil. In this article, I argue that the constitutional changes
concocted
during the Orange Revolution crisis of Nov-Dec, 2004 were illegitimate
and that
a new constitution must be formulated by the Ukrainian people and not
by
politicians. I point out that pre-term elections are a perfectly
legitimate and
useful exercise to solve intractable problems and to avoid violence and
social
upheaval.
To
me, the “kto, kovo?” [who will destroy
whom?] modus operandi of the Party of Regions is reminiscent of the
Stalinist
period. Instead of “dictatorship of the proletariat”, the Ukrainian
people will
now be subjected to the “dictatorship of the Oligarchs”.
(3)
NATO for Ukraine ? :
(to AUR and e-Poshta, 30Apr2007; W.
Zuzak)
Since the break-up of the Soviet Union in
1991, both Ukraine and the Russian Federation had developed positive
relations
with NATO. Unfortunately, NATO involvement in Yugoslavia, Afghanistan,
Iraq and
the very recent U.S. proposal to establish ten missile sites in Poland
and
radar installations in the Czech Republic has brought prospective
collaboration
to virtual collapse.
An
article in the March issue of Vanity
Fair indicates that President Eisenhower’s warning of a
military-industrial
complex dominating American policy has now morphed into a
“military-industrial-counterterrorism complex”.
http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2007/03/spyagency200703
In my
article, I make the facetious
suggestion that NATO be invited to place its ten missile sites on
Ukraine’s
northern border aimed at Moscow and that Russia be invited to place its
missiles on Ukraine’s southwestern border aimed at Europe -- at an
annual fee
of $1 billion per site. In reality, my personal view is that Ukraine
should
maintain relations with NATO as in the past, but to insist that the
legitimate
concerns of the Russian Federation be taken into account. Furthermore,
to avoid
fragmentation of the country, it is incumbent upon all patriotic
Ukrainians to
refrain from polemics on NATO.
These
three articles are archived in the
centre column under Will Zuzak Letters at
http://www.willzuzak.ca/tp/
Respectfully
submitted
Will Zuzak, 2007-05-02