Inconspicuous Ukraine
For French television, the Ukrainian referendum did not exist. Developments in Ukraine do not make front page news in Western papers, except Financial Times , which conscientiously informs its readers that it is too risky to invest here. This almost total lack of press interest is somewhat discordant with the diplomatic activity, for the last half of this month Kyiv welcomed several US delegations, the last of which was headed by Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, and British chief diplomat Robin Cook also called on us. And this is not yet all.
However, there is no discord. Of course, one can say a great deal that the most recent visits show the West’s support of Ukrainian reforms and of the referendum as really necessary thing for Ukraine now. On the other hand, one can listen attentively what Albright and Cook said in public. They sang in unison: Ukraine must speed up its reforms. Ukraine must bring its path of development into conformity with the idea of the development of a normal civilized European country. Everything is like one, two, three or five years ago with no visible change for the better. Again, like every year, the main issue on the agenda is unfreezing of the IMF credits, which in the past was stopped each time through Kyiv’s failure to achieve the targets agreed to, and this time also owing to an obscure story involving the NBU.
Perhaps this is why all the words about our unused potential for relations with the West (as well as with the East, North and South) remain just words, the declarations about strategic partnership remain just declarations, while Ukraine itself has already lost any interest whatever to the Western man in the street. In Brussels, the capital of Europe, they advise Ukraine not to hope for more than partnership, and at that, only if there are obvious economic and other achievements. Perhaps the lack of such achievements was not the least factor preventing Ukraine from creating its own lobby in the European Union. Perhaps at some other point on the globe it would be absurd to fancy a US Ambassador telling a country what to do (again, reforms and democracy) to approximate the European Union. Another question is: should Kyiv count on Washington in all things, and was it worth achieving the dubious honor of being rated with Colombia, Indonesia, and Nigeria, “the democracies that require the most support,” according to Madeleine Albright.
Thus, since we have been assigned to this category, there is nothing special about the referendum having been overlooked. This is even a good thing, because the news from the countries mentioned when shown on Western television are dominated by various disasters.
