Ten Inconvenient Truths About Ukraine Largely Ignored by the Media (5)

Read the fourth part of the article

Human Rights abuses committed in Ukraine

What is controvertible about the broader sanctions imposed on Russia by the United States, Canada, and other “allies and partners” is that none of these partners seem to have reprimanded the Ukraine or its officials for its own illegal actions and human rights abuses.

A report produced by the U.S. State Department titled UKRAINE 2021 HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT has outlined numerous such illegal activities in the form of human rights abuses committed by members of the Ukrainian government, including many towards its own people in the Donbas region of the country which is predominantly of Russian ethnicity.

As per the report these include, but are not limited to the following:

• unlawful or arbitrary killings, including extrajudicial killings by the government or its agents
• torture and cases of cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment of detainees by law enforcement personnel
• harsh and life-threatening prison conditions
• arbitrary arrest or detention
• serious restrictions on free expression and media, including violence or threats of violence against journalists, unjustified arrests or prosecutions of journalists, and censorship
• refoulement of refugees to a country where they would face a threat to their life or freedom
• serious acts of government corruption
• lack of investigation of and accountability for gender-based violence
• crimes, violence, or threats of violence motivated by anti-Semitism
• crimes involving violence or threats of violence targeting persons with disabilities, members of ethnic minority groups
• the existence of the worst forms of child labor.

Unlike with Russia, Global Affairs Canada has not created a sanction list against members of the Ukrainian government, nor its entities, despite such apparent illegal and unjustifiable human rights abuses. The same can be said for the other allies who support Ukraine.

Alternative media has requested comment from the Media Relations Office of Global Affairs Canada about these human rights abuses committed by the Ukraine but has yet to receive their input.

Zelensky changing laws to suppress Free Speech

As per a January 2, 2023 article titled Zelensky Expands Crackdown on Ukrainian Media from the Libertarian Institute, President Volodymyr Zelensky has signed on December 29, 2022 a new bill into law which strengthens government control over public access to news in Ukraine.

The move was highly criticised and viewed as “authoritarian” by journalist groups, as observed by The Kyiv Independent.

The Libertarian Institute’s article also states that Zelensky signed a presidential decree which nationalized the country’s media under martial law powers invoked shortly after Russia’s invasion.

And though justification for the new law is said to be to fulfill a requirement to eventually gain membership in the European Union, the European Federation of Journalists urged the Ukrainian authorities to withdraw it, stating:

“The coercive regulation envisaged by the bill and in the hands of a regulator totally controlled by the government is worthy of the worst authoritarian regimes.”

Such legislation reminds of China’s rigid, nearly exclusive, control over media whereby no dissenting voices are allowed.

The National Union of Journalists of Ukraine added that the law “threatens to restrict press freedom in the country and would move it away from European Union standards.”

Furthermore, according to Ukraine’s Institute of Mass Information, under the law, the media regulator is likely to be controlled by the incumbent authorities because its members are appointed by Zelensky and the Ukrainian parliament, where his party has an absolute majority.

As Zelensky’s political party holds an absolute majority coupled with the fact that his close friend, Ivan Bakanov, is the Head of Security Service of Ukraine, it would come as no surprise how easy it would be for them to crush any dissenting voices. This was the case with the investigative unit Slidstvo.Info which saw their corruption exposé film Offshore 95 about Zelensky’s offshore holdings banned and ultimately censored.

Suppression of the Church

As per a December 21, 2022 Christianity Today article, Ukraine, a supposedly bastion of religious freedom, is moving to possibly outlaw a church:

“President Volodymyr Zelensky began the month by endorsing a draft law to ‘make it impossible’ for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), canonically linked to Moscow, to operate. His December 1 decree followed raids on several monasteries under the UOC’s jurisdiction.”

Sounding either at least partially insane or utterly paranoid, Zelensky stated the following on the matter:

“We will ensure complete independence for our state. In particular, spiritual independence. We will never allow anyone to build an empire inside the Ukrainian soul.”

Such paranoia has been epitomized and is substantiated by no less than 350 buildings and 850 people being raided or investigated by Zelensky’s government.

In a video address, Zelensky said “We are doing everything to ensure that no strings are available to be pulled by the aggressor state that could make Ukrainian society suffer.”

Furthermore, under an order issued by Ukraine’s Security Council, Zelensky seized assets from Church clergy.

The attacks seem focused on Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) churches. And this, despite Reverend Mykolay Danylevich, who has often served as a spokesperson for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, asserting that the UOC is not Russian.

Though some confusion may exist regarding which specific churches belong to the Russian or Ukrainian branches, these denominations were united at the unification council in Kyiv on December 15, 2018. In other words, they are equally recognised and classified as Eastern Orthodox Churches in the Ukraine and, in general.

It is worth noting that around two-thirds of Ukrainians identify as Eastern Orthodox Christians.

Religious freedoms are engrained in the Constitution of Ukraine. Specifically, we find the following rights:

“Article 24: Citizens have equal constitutional rights and freedoms and are equal before the law. There shall be no privileges or restrictions based on race, colour of skin, political, religious and other beliefs, sex, ethnic and social origin, property status, place of residence, linguistic or other characteristics.

Article 35: Everyone has the right to freedom of personal philosophy and religion. This right includes the freedom to profess or not to profess any religion, to perform alone or collectively and without constraint religious rites and ceremonial rituals, and to conduct religious activity. The Church and religious organisations in Ukraine are separated from the State.”

Accordingly, and with the attacks on numerous UOC churches, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is clearly infringing upon these religious institutions as well as upon rights of roughly two-thirds of his country’s citizens.

Apart from independent and religious news outlets, very few mainstream media outlets have reported on this matter. Equally, apart from the Russian government, very few countries and its leaders have condemned this religious persecution.

Ukraine’s Systemic Corruption Problem

Welcome to Ukraine, the most corrupt nation in Europe, reads a Guardian headline from February 2015, followed by the lead “While the conflict with Russia heats up in the east, life for most Ukrainians is marred by corruption so endemic that even hospitals appear to be infected. Can anyone clean the country up?”

What is also noteworthy about this long article is that it is not presented as an opinion or commentary, but rather as a news article. While there would be way too many aspects to cover with regards to the systemic corruption that plagues Ukraine, we highlight a few.

One such aspect of Ukrainian society that is central to corruption is that of the oligarchy that is running the nation. Some of these oligarchs and their abuses have been outlined in this post. In this respect, The Guardian also noted:

“Ordinary Ukrainians have seen their living standards stagnate, while a handful of oligarchs have become billionaires.”

Two other Guardian articles have outlined such corruption with the latter specifically examining the country’s governance problems: here and here. The second article titled IMF warns Ukraine it will halt $40bn bailout unless corruption stops from 2016, highlights how the International Monetary Fund (IMF) would halt its $40 billion bailout program to Ukraine unless the country takes immediate action to tackle corruption.

“I am concerned about Ukraine’s slow progress in improving governance and fighting corruption, and reducing the influence of vested interests in policymaking,” stated Christine Lagarde who was the IMF’s managing director at the time. By “reducing the influence of vested interests in policymaking,” the IMF chief was obviously referring to the country’s bribery problems in which oligarchs basically dictate policymaking.

Perhaps what was a little bit ironic about this (and other) statements by Christine Lagarde, who is now the current head of the European Central Bank (ECB), is that she, herself, was criminally convicted for corruption in France. It takes a crook to know another.

A September 23, 2021, press release titled EU support for reforms in Ukraine ineffective in fighting grand corruption from the European Court of Auditors commenced with “Grand corruption and state capture are still widespread in Ukraine despite EU action.”

The release continued:

“For more than 20 years, the EU has been supporting Ukraine in its reform agenda. Tackling corruption, which is a major obstacle to a country’s development and runs counter to EU values, is an integral part of that. Grand corruption and state capture are endemic in Ukraine; as well as hindering competition and growth, they also harm the democratic process. Tens of billions of euros are lost annually as a result of corruption.”

For more than 20 years the EU, and more recently, the international community, has been funneling billions in cash and weapons into this extremely corrupt country.

According to Ukraine’s own National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP) section on declarations by officials, the criminal, administrative, and disciplinary offenses are too numerous for any human being to fathom. Here is a statistical summary of what their own findings indicate:

Where are all these billions going? Sadly, as evidenced above, much of it has been pilfered by Ukraine’s ruling class, including its president.

Where are the weapons going? Alternative media has written many pages devoted to examining this question.

The final point to be made here comes from a Max Blumenthal tweet whereby he points out that Andrew Milburn, a retired U.S. Marine Colonel, who recently provided training for troops in the Ukraine referred to the country itself as a “corrupt, f**ked-up society” run by “f**ked-up people”.

This comes from one who is all too familiar with the inner-workings of the reality that is taking place on the ground near Russia’s borders. Having trained Ukrainian soldiers and having met many of their commanders, coupled with a deep understanding of the country’s history and culture, Milburn undoubtedly has a firm grasp about the mindset of those carrying out orders from the top.

Conclusion

What has been presented above can serve as a primer about the ugly realities that surround the country whom many deem as being on the right side of history.

Absolutely, there is no arguing that a tremendous number of Ukrainian citizens have perished, suffered, and been greatly affected by this war with Russia. But it remains, nevertheless, necessary to present these inconvenient truths that have been repressed and omitted by the mainstream media, so as to offer a more complete picture of Ukraine’s own role in this conflict, along with those of NATO, the United States, Canada, and all other governments who support the former Soviet republic.

Also let this exposition serve as an exhibit for governments around the world, where countless billions of our tax payer funds are carelessly being siphoned away to the corrupt Ukrainian regime rather than being put to better use for citizens who are struggling.

We end this article with hope that this global collective madness comes to an end in 2023.

 

yogaesoteric
February 18, 2023