Opinion: Dictatorship and democracy have nothing in common

Published 11:24 am Thursday, February 24, 2022

I am Ukrainian!

On Feb. 24, at 5 a.m. Kyiv time, we woke up to a new Ukraine and a new world.

A world that was imposed on us. A world that lives not by laws, but by the concepts of thugs with nuclear weapons.

The territory of Ukraine is clearly visible on the map of this world.

It is a map of the missile strikes that Russia has carried out — from Lugansk to Ivano-Frankivsk, from Sumy to Kharkiv, from Kherson to Kolomyia, from Kryvyi Rih to Lutsk.

Today we are united by love and hatred — love of freedom and hatred of Putin’s Russia together with its dictator, obedient majority and “spiritual crosses.”

Our only “fault” is that we want to be masters of our own house — to find a way, to make mistakes, to correct mistakes, to build a future without regard to the phobias and complexes of our northern neighbor.

For eight years now, Ukraine has been in the club of countries that have felt the fraternal embrace of Russia.

By 5 a.m. on Feb. 24, this “embrace” was awkwardly disguised as “hybridism” and “ikhtamnet” (they are not there).

By now, the masks have been thrown off.

Evil has shown its unconcealed grin of peace. Only those who have completely lost the ability to see and analyze can talk about “not everything is so clear-cut” today.

What to do when missiles fall on our cities?

Recall British Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s speech on May 3, 1940, after Britain entered World War II.

“You will ask me, what is our political course? I answer: to wage war at sea, on land, and in the air, with all the power and strength that God gives us; to wage war against a terrible tyranny that surpasses any human crime. This is our course.

What, you may ask, is our goal? I can answer in one word: victory, victory at any cost, victory in spite of all horror, victory no matter how long and difficult “the road may be; because without victory there will be no life.”

At 5 a.m. on Feb. 24, along with the first Russian missiles falling on Ukrainian territory, the era of post-truth ended for the world.

Along with its hybrid worries, understatements and non-binding phrases.

Today everything is clear. It is a time of utmost simplicity and honesty.

Freedom will never become slavery.

The war unleashed by Russia is a crime against humanity and humanity, even if it is called a thousand times “special operation”, “denazification” and “peace enforcement”.

Dictatorship and democracy have nothing in common.

And if the world does not realize this even now — well, so much the worse for the world.

On June 26, 1963, in front of the Schöneberg Town Hall in West Berlin, then US President John F. Kennedy gave a speech that went down in history as “I am Berliner.”

Kennedy flew in to be with the people of that city, who had been cut off from the world since Putin’s spiritual advisors erected the Berlin Wall.

May the speechwriters of the American president forgive us. We will replace just a few words in this text.

Here is a snippet of this speech, written seemingly today and specifically for us.

For 2,000 years a winged phrase has been “I am a citizen of Rome.” Today, in the free world, it should sound like this: I am Ukrainian.

There are many people in the world who really don’t understand, or say they don’t understand, what is the biggest problem between the free world and Russia.

Let them come to Kyiv.

There are those who say Putin’s Russia is the idea of the future.

Let them come to Kyiv.

And there are those who say that both in Europe and anywhere else we can cooperate with Russia.

Let them come to Kyiv.

And there are even those who say that yes, Putin’s Russia is an evil system, but this doesn’t prevent us from cooperating with it in economy.

Let them come to Kyiv.

All free people, no matter where they live, are citizens of Ukraine.

Therefore, as a free man I proudly declare: “I am Ukrainian!”

Editor’s Note: This editorial was published early Feb. 24 in the independent, online publication Ukrainian Pravda (Ukrainian Truth) in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.