Nashi to do the pro-Putin brainwashing of the first generation to come of age in post-Soviet Russia. They look like all those sick little Aryans in the Hitler Youth of the 1930s. On top of that, he’s out of official power as president, but still runs the country. You decide.”
“You make a solid case,” Alex said.
“But how does that affect us? Today. With the president going to Ukraine?” Cerny asked. “The Russians have never accepted the idea of an independent Ukraine. But Ukraine is about to join NATO. There are groups of fanatically pro-Russian, pro-Putin young Ukrainians who are opposed to this. They’ve vowed to cause trouble, probably when our president visits the monument to the victims of the famine. The president is visiting to maintain a visibility in support of the pro-Western elements, not the least of which are the members of the many Christian churches in Ukraine.”
Alex was always smart enough to listen to an expert on anything.
“Why would ethnic Ukrainians support the Russians?” she asked.
“While there are Ukrainians who are strongly committed to Ukrainian independence from Russian influence, there are others who actually regarded Ukraine’s past as one of partnership with Russia in what was a superpower,” he answered.
“Despite the famine?”
“Despite the famine,” Cerny said. “The Russians hoped to eventually turn the Ukrainians into Russians, something not all that difficult given the relative similarity of the languages and cultures, including the common Orthodox faith prior to the Russian Revolution. The Russians ruthlessly repressed any stirrings of Ukrainian nationalism but offered ‘little brother’ status in return. An ambitious young Ukrainian who bought into the concept could wind up in the Politburo in Moscow. Ukraine’s first president, Leonid Kuchma, was actually the boss of the factory that made the ICBM’s that were the Soviet Union’s nuclear deterrent.”
“But there is Ukrainian nationalism? Right?” Alex asked.
“Absolutely. It is centered in western Ukraine, where the Austro-Hungarian Empire let Ukrainians be Ukrainians as long as they were loyal to the emperor in Vienna. But the tension between Ukrainian nationalists and ‘Russophiles’ is a basic fault line that runs through the country. And it has implications for the US. The Ukrainian nationalists want a Western-oriented Ukraine, one that joins the European Union and NATO. The Russophiles don’t necessarily want to reestablish the Soviet Union, but they want a close ‘special relationship’ with Russia.”
Cerny had organized some hard-copy reading for her. He had a briefing booklet, a blue-jacketed document of several dozen pages folded into something with a blue cover that looked like an old-fashioned examination book. He placed it on the table. Then he gave her another half dozen books.
She knew the drill. It was a day of background preparation.
“Choose a comfortable place to read,” he said, motioning to the sofa and the chairs. He glanced at his watch. “Take the rest of the day with this stuff. Let’s meet back here at 4:30 this afternoon, and we’ll speak further. How’s that?”
“That would work,” she said.
Alexandra broke the official seal on the table. She scanned the stiff opening pages that warned of dire legal sanctions for blabbing what she was about to read.
Cerny slid a paper along the desktop in her direction. “The confidentiality agreement,” he said. “If you please …”
He slid a fountain pen along with the paper.
She picked up the pen and looked for the space for her signature.
“You might wish to read it first,” Cerny said. “Always a good idea, you know.”
She was midway through the form already. At the top was the usual “steam-rollered eagle,” the flattened bird that was the Great Seal of the United States.
Olive leaves in one talon and the arrows in the other. Then the content:
I, Alexandra LaDuca, have today read the
“You make a solid case,” Alex said.
“But how does that affect us? Today. With the president going to Ukraine?” Cerny asked. “The Russians have never accepted the idea of an independent Ukraine. But Ukraine is about to join NATO. There are groups of fanatically pro-Russian, pro-Putin young Ukrainians who are opposed to this. They’ve vowed to cause trouble, probably when our president visits the monument to the victims of the famine. The president is visiting to maintain a visibility in support of the pro-Western elements, not the least of which are the members of the many Christian churches in Ukraine.”
Alex was always smart enough to listen to an expert on anything.
“Why would ethnic Ukrainians support the Russians?” she asked.
“While there are Ukrainians who are strongly committed to Ukrainian independence from Russian influence, there are others who actually regarded Ukraine’s past as one of partnership with Russia in what was a superpower,” he answered.
“Despite the famine?”
“Despite the famine,” Cerny said. “The Russians hoped to eventually turn the Ukrainians into Russians, something not all that difficult given the relative similarity of the languages and cultures, including the common Orthodox faith prior to the Russian Revolution. The Russians ruthlessly repressed any stirrings of Ukrainian nationalism but offered ‘little brother’ status in return. An ambitious young Ukrainian who bought into the concept could wind up in the Politburo in Moscow. Ukraine’s first president, Leonid Kuchma, was actually the boss of the factory that made the ICBM’s that were the Soviet Union’s nuclear deterrent.”
“But there is Ukrainian nationalism? Right?” Alex asked.
“Absolutely. It is centered in western Ukraine, where the Austro-Hungarian Empire let Ukrainians be Ukrainians as long as they were loyal to the emperor in Vienna. But the tension between Ukrainian nationalists and ‘Russophiles’ is a basic fault line that runs through the country. And it has implications for the US. The Ukrainian nationalists want a Western-oriented Ukraine, one that joins the European Union and NATO. The Russophiles don’t necessarily want to reestablish the Soviet Union, but they want a close ‘special relationship’ with Russia.”
Cerny had organized some hard-copy reading for her. He had a briefing booklet, a blue-jacketed document of several dozen pages folded into something with a blue cover that looked like an old-fashioned examination book. He placed it on the table. Then he gave her another half dozen books.
She knew the drill. It was a day of background preparation.
“Choose a comfortable place to read,” he said, motioning to the sofa and the chairs. He glanced at his watch. “Take the rest of the day with this stuff. Let’s meet back here at 4:30 this afternoon, and we’ll speak further. How’s that?”
“That would work,” she said.
Alexandra broke the official seal on the table. She scanned the stiff opening pages that warned of dire legal sanctions for blabbing what she was about to read.
Cerny slid a paper along the desktop in her direction. “The confidentiality agreement,” he said. “If you please …”
He slid a fountain pen along with the paper.
She picked up the pen and looked for the space for her signature.
“You might wish to read it first,” Cerny said. “Always a good idea, you know.”
She was midway through the form already. At the top was the usual “steam-rollered eagle,” the flattened bird that was the Great Seal of the United States.
Olive leaves in one talon and the arrows in the other. Then the content:
I, Alexandra LaDuca, have today read the
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