RT (Germany) (Machine translation), 9/16/23

“The future of the world will be decided in Ukraine” – this was the motto under which the two-day conference of the “Yalta European Strategy” (YES) forum took place in Kiev last week. The event has been organized by the Ukrainian oligarch Viktor Pinchuk’s foundation since 2006. RT DE took the trouble to watch almost all of the video recordings of more than a dozen panels of the conference, which the organizer gradually published on YouTube a few days after it ended .

Why is that important? The YES has established itself as an annual meeting point for the loud and influential Ukraine lobby among the Western elites, a kind of mixture between a “Ukrainian Davos” and the “Munich SiKo on a small scale”. Ideas are developed, information is exchanged and plans for the future are made. It is a look into the workshop of Western thought about Ukraine, Russia, the West and the rest of the world. In a practical sense, it is the opportunity to understand what is being discussed and planned in governments, parliaments, editorial offices of well-known media, think tanks and military staffs about the current status of the Ukraine conflict.

Pinchuk is a multi-billionaire, media mogul and son-in-law of former President Leonid Kuchma. He also sees himself as a link between the Western establishment and Ukrainian business elites. As organizer of YES, he said in his welcoming speech:

“Ukraine is at the center of the universe. Ukraine has been at the center of European history for hundreds of years. Today it is at the center of world history. This war is the most important and significant war in world history.”

These words were received with enthusiasm by the audience. Many high-ranking and well-known participants who subsequently appeared in dozens of panels at the conference saw the situation similarly. Something eschatological was in the air, the philosophy of the morally based final battle between good and evil, rise and fall, form and chaos, reason and irrationality, etc.

So it started with images of the world apocalypse that President Vladimir Zelensky painted on the wall in his welcoming speech if Ukraine, as a champion of “democracy and humanism,” does not win this fateful battle:

“The speech is about the future of morality. If Russia wins, the world will turn into a world of slaves who will kill people like Putin just because they like it.”

He also compared Russia’s victory to the coming climate catastrophe. Historians and journalists gave this narrative a further “civilizational” component. According to the US historian Timothy Snyder, ancient Greek democracy and thus the civilization of the cities were only able to develop thanks to access to the fertile southern Ukrainian soil in the Black Sea region.

Later wars were mainly about control of these areas. The Polish colonization of the 16th and 17th centuries, Adolf Hitler’s attack on the Soviet Union and Josef Stalin’s project of modernization are examples of this. Today Ukraine is the main breadwinner of the world population. If she loses, there will be global hunger.

Since Russia went to war without ideas or a vision of the future, this war was also the war against hopelessness. “It makes Russians angry that Ukrainians have hope,” he claimed. By hope he meant the desired accession to the EU and NATO. Since Russia does not rely on the power of ideas, but on the right of the strongest – i.e. brute force – a Russian victory means the triumph of the forces of chaos and darkness.

His Ukrainian colleague Jaroslav Grizak also shared this idea. A defeat of Ukraine would mean nothing less than the end of human civilization. According to him, the previous world wars were about “improving the world” (although he didn’t say exactly what). The Ukraine war is about the sheer survival of humanity.

Russia is a central problem. It is not capable of becoming a “normal European country”. Since reforms that always fail are always followed by a strengthening of tyranny, there is the so-called “Russian pendulum”, which inevitably culminates in aggression against its neighboring countries. This pendulum must be stopped, demanded Grizak.

The majority of other Ukrainian participants in the forum from politics and the media supported the idea that Russia cannot be improved, regardless of whether Vladimir Putin is in power in the Kremlin or a “better person” like Alexei Navalny. “We in Ukraine often say that only a dead Russian is a good Russian,” explained a Ukrainian politician. At one of the panels, four Ukrainian military officers who had come straight from the front sat on the podium. The death (of the heroic Ukrainians and the “evil Russians”) was a central theme.

Among them was lawyer and fighter Masi Nayyem, who lost his right eye in the war. The uncovered, gaping scar at this point allowed him to have a say because it gave him the credibility of a sufferer. Nayyem described what his fondest dream is:

“I cannot say that I am waging this war in the name of new values. I want to take revenge. I want to take revenge in the most cruel way possible in view of international conventions. The more Russians die, the better it is for me as a participant in hostilities. I have the right to kill Russians, and that is my greatest wish.”

“What the heroes fight for and give their lives for” – that was the name of the corresponding panel. The monologues of the hand-picked war participants were undoubtedly the emotional highlight of the entire two-day conference. The Western spectators showed respect and admiration for the hard-tested fighters – after all, they sacrificed themselves for their interests, which they openly admitted on occasion.

But there was also a bit of culture and entertainment. A Ukrainian singer and a writer should explain to the audience what makes the Ukrainian idea “so strong.” The panel also had a meaningful name. However, the reason for this was quite easy to identify.

“Ukrainians are smarter and better than Russians,” said a Ukrainian rock singer based in New York in unaccented English. The writer and avowed nationalist Sergei Shadan, who has been showered with Western prizes and awards, compared Ukraine to a young and cool punk band and Russia to an aging cabaret singer who is completely unaware that her time is over. At the end, the two sang passionate songs about “Peremoga”, the Ukrainian victory.

The respectable audience was amused. These Ukrainians are a wonderful people! Not only does it go to war against the Russians heroically and without fear of death, but it also sings. But will the oft-touted Ukrainian victory come at some point? Are there problems on the way to the glorious future of a transparent, successful, digitalized, climate-friendly country, a mandatory NATO and EU member that attracts investments, feeds the world and develops the most advanced technologies – as Prime Minister Denis Shmygal enthused in his speech ?

Yes, these problems exist, and at least one panel has been devoted to each of them. For example, the organizers correctly recognized that the majority of the world’s population is not on the side of Ukraine. Or that voters in the West could vote out Ukraine’s supporters in their governments. And finally, that the Russians simply cannot allow a military victory for Ukraine.

However, these difficulties still appear to be surmountable. The Third World can still be convinced by adapting the narrative. After all, ordinary people are on the side of Ukraine, as Zelensky and a British participant suggested. For Africa, for example, it would make sense to declare that the Russian war against Ukraine was the last “Western”, imperialist-colonial war. Russia is an eternal imperialist, whereas the West has overcome its colonial past.

Problems with “Ukraine fatigue” in the West could be solved by increasing “reporting” on “cruel” Russian war crimes. “Then people know who is good and who is bad, and of course they feel like supporting the good side,” said a US lawmaker. His French colleague added that people in his country are well aware that supporting Ukraine is simply “in our own economic interest.”

And in addition to the heroism and ingenuity of the Ukrainian soldiers, only an intensification of arms deliveries can help against the slow advance of the Ukrainian army. “Weapons, weapons, weapons,” echoed so often through the hall on these days ( RT DE reported ).

Conclusion

YES 2023 was a first-class propaganda event, with the usual fantasies on this topic. It showed: The West is preparing for a long-term war against the “enemy of humanity” Russia. A Ukrainian (and therefore our own) defeat or a fragile peace are out of the question.

And this war is still being fought – as originally planned – by its loyal mercenary state Ukraine. However, its condition is worrying. It was therefore carefully examined whether the level of hatred against the enemy and the ambition of the remaining fighters were still high. The result: satisfactory.

Anger, sadness and a desire for revenge should now more than ever guide the soldiers’ final battle. The Victor Pinchuk Foundation has caught the spirit of the times and posted the one-eyed fighter Nayyem’s vows of revenge as the quintessence of the event, which lasted several hours, on the Internet. The short video translated into English is spreading like wildfire, and the bloody slaughter at the hands of strangers can continue.