The "autocrat" Yanukovych was democratically elected by the people of Ukraine. In 2014 he was ousted in a coup organized by the CIA, working with Ukrainian far right and neo Nazi groups, overseen by US Assistant Secretary State Victoria Nuland. A foreign-engineered Fascist coup which, included many bloody atrocities, is not the basis for any democracy anywhere.
3
This is very sad. I feel for these people. For what it's worth, if there are any Ukrainians who read these words, we are with you. Trump is on his way out and hopefully soon. We will be back, so hold on and don't give up hope. Trump is not America and we are not Trump.
But you know what? How much of this backstory is Trump even remotely aware of? How much of their recent history does he comprehend. (Don't even bother to ask him about what happened to the region since the 1930's). Even worse, is there anyone close to him in the White House that can properly advise him and more to the point, would he even listen?
Trump listens to no one except when they glorify him. He has surrounded himself with incompetent sycophants who are totally devoid of merit. He considers himself to be the law.
The rule of law will return to America. It will take a while to restore normalcy. But rest assured, a majority of Americans will defeat Trump. This would be a lot easier if we could get rid of minority rule. Maybe you folks could help us with that since you have figured out how to establish democratic principles under despotic rulers.
69
@Bruce Rozenblit
Our President only listens when it’s about him or when it affects his finances. He doesn’t read much unless it’s on Twitter or in a headline.
Ever see him wear reading glasses? He’s too vain for that. Maybe that’s why he uses a huge black Sharpie to sign anything.
5
Why are millions of Ukrainians running away from their "vibrant democracy" to less democratic Poland?
1
Everything in this article reflects liberal delusion and their weird understanding of reality. While this 'America joins the axis of autocrats' is simply stupid - just because Trump won, which the liberals are ready to scorch Earth about, and they are working on it hard.
1
Putin hates it, so of course trump hates it too.
1
Quel coincidence!
The Trump/Erdogan call was Sunday and Putin's birthday was Monday?
1
Republican voters also were once about expanding freedom and democracy, but now have no problem with Trump dragging the US by its metaphorical ankles into the club of autocrats. Why is that? Answer that question and you will finally understand why Trump has a strangle hold on the GOP.
I'm sorry, but Trump hates Ukraine? Did you make that up?
2
SHOCKING that we have a president who is not for us. He is a TRAITOR and those repubs who support him are too. They are for Russia. How one man dismantled our position in the world and PROUD of it. He is NOT FOR US.
2
If you think that becoming the poorest country in Europe is a success story, then I feel sorry for you.
2
"and ostrich farm"
so is this where Paul Manafort got his ostrich jacket?
1
Between Ukraine and the exit in Syria, can it be any more clear that POTUS is in the back pocket of Putin? I hope in my lifetime we find out the truth of what Putin has on Trump, whether it's the mythical 'pee tape' or much worse.
2
"Under Trump, America has joined the axis of autocrats."
Trump came to power in a nation already on that road.
Power has increasingly been concentrated in the Executive Branch for the last 50 years - more by Republicans than Democrats but with the acquiescence of both.
I cannot help but think that the Republican political establishment is horrified that the power that they have concentrated in the Executive Branch is now being used by someone not under their complete control.
All the fears Republicans had about Hillary becoming President have been far surpassed by Trump - a 'Republican' himself.
Keep in mind that Trump is playing in the sandbox built by W.
George W. Bush did lasting damage to this nation but somehow his image has 'improved' with time. Illegal wars that have lasted almost 2 decades, torture - with detainees still held in Guantanamo after 18 years, and the destruction of the Bill of Rights are his legacy. The 'rancher' George W. Bush was just as much of a phony as the 'successful millionaire businessman' Donald Trump but - so far - has done far more damage.
2
Putin annexed Crimea and invaded eastern Ukraine on Obama's watch. Obama barely lifted a finger to help Ukraine. He sent them field rations rather than the weapons they needed so as not to annoy Putin. Where was Ms. Goldberg then?
5
"Under Trump, America has joined the axis of autocrats." It seems that, under Trump, America has ben usurped by autocrats who clearly knew that Trump's corrupt election to the presidency was their time. Putin knew this and is basking in his success.
If Ukraine is a vibrant democracy, she does not need USA. She doesn` t need Russia. Leave her alone. Let her be on her own. Then we will see if she is a vibrant democracy.
4
Ukraine has become a pawn in Trump's endless quest for self-aggrandizement.
Trump only wants one thing: more. The Ukrainians only want one thing: to be left alone in peace. Caught as they are between eastern Europe and the eastern fringes of Asia, with Russia their neighbor, Ukraine has struggled to overcome the legacy of Stalinist oppression and Putin's lust for power. And now, it has to deal with Trump's bottomless corruption and their own relative defensive weakness.
It is our national disgrace that Trump has become president, that he is the monster that he is and that he sees the world and its inhabitants as little more than tools to feed his endless greed.
Regarding looting, this is not so much a western thing. Regarding the Ukraine being democratic now, let's hope so, but there is lots of graft and corruption in the country that could well undermine the fragile democracy.
4
Ukraine still has a way to go to be the vibrant democracy that the US was until recently.Yet they have come a long way in the past few years and here's hoping that the rule of law can become the goal of all its citizens. It is still working to escape its corrupt past, there is a reason Manaford (and possibly Biden) came to Ukraine. If it can survive the Trump era, the US will be back on its side, as support for Ukraine is one of the few bipartisan areas of US agreement. The other thing Ukraine has to fear is the recent elevated status of Russia, which continues to do terrible KGB efforts in Crimea and Syria, but which now has more international clout than for many years. The most important thing to watch is how well the reformers Goldberg praises here can continue to be successful.
"It's hard to see where our allies are."
They’re right here, just not running the executive branch or the senate at the moment.
It's time for progressive states on the entire west coast, in the upper midwest, and on the entire east coast down to Virginia, as well as others, to form a "Grownup States Coalition" without leaving the USA. No matter who wins the White House.
The GSC would have the fourth largest economy in the world and could be a player on the world stage, doing things like rejoining international environmental groups that the current US government has left, and encouraging struggling democracies.
It could create jobs in infrastructure repair, infrastructure maintenance, and ecological restoration, taxing its many rich residents to pay for it (where else are they going to go live, Alabama?). It would be large enough to create a successful and affordable health insurance plan for its residents.
And perhaps most importantly, it could let the world know that democracy is indeed alive and well in the USA.
It’s not that Trump hates Ukraine, it’s that he hates to see what Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, have done to it and does not want to see it fall victim to further Biden corruption. With the damage done, Trump just wanted to get to the bottom of it and use it against Biden should he run against him for the presidency in 2020. If Trump didn’t do that, the he would be doing America a terrible disservice for not exposing the truth. Nothing wrong with that and I support him in doing that. As for Ukraine being a “vibrant democracy,” the verdict is still out. Also lumping America and Trump with the Axis powers is shameful. Look, all that Trump wants is what every other American wants, America first. What’s wrong with that? Who besides the Left wants America last? Americans, and most are, at least I hope, proud of their country and want it to be first. Why would they want anything less? In fact, the citizens of all countries should feel that way about their nations and President Trump has said so much. I support the President. I support Trump. I detest the Left. America first! MAGA! KAG! Thank you.
5
Michelle, is it not glaringly obvious that Trump took his marching orders from Putin regarding the Ukraine?
1
So the question is; will the Ukraine allow itself to be manipulated by Trump & his bizarre conspiracy delusions inorder to curry favor to Trump? Is this the United States that Ukraine wants to align itself with?
Nevertheless, Ukraine is still walking, still picking itself up by the bootstraps. They have a long way to go, but they are making it so far.
Of course, everything so far no thanks to the poor example set by Donald Trump and his crooked toadies. Yet maybe that is also, in a strange way, a hopeful sign. Where there is really is a will to change, there is yet another day we have hope. Let's continue to rejoice in that and encourage Ukraine to continue on course.
Judge Napolitano told Shep Smith that the transcript Trump prepared showed that Trump committed a Crime.
This was the reason that OUR attorney general got Smith fired.
CASE CLOSED !
Hunter Biden did not make Trump commit the crime.
Hunter Biden did not conspire with Rudy Giuliani and a bunch of criminals
Hunter Biden did noT cause Trump to commit treason as defined in the Constitution (aid to an enemy of the US)
Hunter Biden did not cause Trump to obstruct Justice.
Hunter Biden did not cause Trump to lie to Mueller and the FBI (In writing)
Time for Trump to RESIGN or be removed!
However Republicans love traitors, criminal and liars who give their rich contributors tax breaks..
1
Sometimes, I think these authors are so far gone that they actually believe their own headlines.
8
After reading this, I am crying.
10
Where Corruption-Destruction-TV star Trump goes and crashes things, USA's alliances, Putin steps in every time and benefits! This has become an obvious pattern. Are we screen-glued Americans totally clueless?Too focused on "watch the squirrel" distraction-PROPAGANDA? That's become too dangerous.
@Darkler Still hoping for that Russia collusion thing?
1
This "assessment" of Ukraine as a vibrant democracy is ridiculous.
Ukraine has been a failed state ever since its accidental independence from the USSR. It has had a succession of corrupt presidents. It is proving itself ungovernable. Its boundaries are those of a Soviet administrative unit and make no sense in terms of a national state. A plebiscite on devolution and separation is probably the only way forward.
Mr Zelenskiy is proving himself as helpless and as susceptible to corruption as all his predecessors.
Ukrainian politics is basically kleptocrats vs fascists, with a sprinkling of clowns and Russian fifth columnists.
They might have been better off sticking with Russia instead of becoming a Western threat on their border.
The country has become the poorest in Europe as the promise of close ties with the US have not resulted in the benefits promised.
To our Ukrainian friends:
Be aware that the US doesn't' want to defeat Ukrainian corruption, but to force it to serve the interests of international corporations.
Our politicians and corporations are in Ukraine to exploit you. Profits over people is our mantra. Welcome to the West!
You’re just learning how to have your own democratic system.
Don't repeat our mistakes:
Make politicians accountable. Make them explain themselves fully, and make them accept that it is the people of Ukraine who ultimately decides. Keep pushing for honest law enforcement and an end to special privileges, rights or exemptions for oligarchs.
7
I spent time in the region last year. Warm wonderful brilliant people. They're bravely and resolutely doing the very best they can along the lines of our own traditional values. As those values are spelled out, in squirrelly writing and roundabout prose, on yellowed fusty old documents. What those folks have overcome and are resisting is never far from sight. In one city we walked through the old KGB prison cells. Thirty thousand innocents passed through that single facility on the way to the Russian gulags, and only a handful survived to return. Of course Russia has already invaded part of Ukraine and is fighting a proxy war for the whole shebang. Our loyal allies the Kurds are simply looking for a place where they can be free of depredation and Turkish ethnic cleansing, where they can exercise their inalienable right to life, liberty and happiness. What's not to get about that? I'm talking to you, Trumpies--
1
Stunning reporting and writing from and about Ukraine. I only wish all Americans read this and the reporting on the Kurds/Syria disaster so as to understand the terrible damage theTrump gang is doing to not only our reputation but our country.
The US had a history of undermining democratically-elected governments for decades after becoming a global superpower, everywhere from Iran to Guatemala to South Vietnam, and didn't do that well before then either--Hawaii used to be an independent kingdom, not a US territory.
I had hoped that we were finally past all that once our military was used for more humanitarian reasons in the 1990s, but the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan gave me pause. Trump's freeze on aid to Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression, combined with his withdrawal of troops helping the Kurds, shows how far we have fallen.
A wise country works with its allies, and one devoted to democracy helps nourish that impulse in every country. Under Trump's leadership, we sadly qualify as anti-democratic fools.
We desperately need to change this.
1
Ukraine is becoming more democratic but vibrant democracy is too much. We are too in the habit, in the US, of not using the right terms to talk about what's going on in other countries--as well as our own (including our past). It makes Americans reach for democracy as a way to describe nearly everything they see--including their president's nondemocratic behavior.
4
Good take! As a multinational investor, Trump represents world power that is opposed to democracy. His tax returns, once produced will bear this out, along with his continual illegal use of the office of presidency for his own gain, financially and politically. His domestic platform bears this out: largest tax breaks in history for the elite, a deregulated Wall Street, silence on unlimited money in politics. His anti-democracy is in the GOP's tactics of voter suppression, no health care improvement, no gun control, no infrastructure improvement and complete disregard for the environment. The shoe fits.
2
Clean The Trump Cesspool , the Trump Filled Cesspool !
1
Trump has no use for democracy. It interferes with his business.
1
Ukraine is fighting for its democratic freedom. Let us benefit from their example and fight for our democratic freedom as well. We can start by getting rid of Trump and his minions. This is a great article Michelle Goldberg.
1
I have been reading the novel Poland by James Michener. I'm almost through but dwelling on it because of the things happening in that part of the world 800 years ago and yet still happening today. The conflicts both intra country exo country sound almost like today's daily news.
5
What about the Senate, Electoral College, Cabinet and Federal Courts don't you accept and understand that America is not and never was meant to be a democracy?
Every state has two Senators.
The Electoral College selects Presidents.
Cabinets and federal judges are nominated by the Electoral College President without the advice and consent of the House of Representatives.
America is a very peculiar kind of republic. A divided limited different power constitutional republic of united states.
Ukraine used to be part of the Soviet Union. Ethnic Slavic Ukrainians and Russians have deep historical ties that precede the U.S.S.R.. Beginning with Kiev Rus through the reign of Peter the Great there is an imperial tradition of closely related ethnic sectarian people.
9
@Blackmamba There is an imperial tradition all right: the only relationship that there has been between the various Russian states (imperial, soviet) and Ukraine is one of colonizer/colonized; empire/conquered; persecutor/persecuted.
17
I believe you forget that those don't all go Russia. The Jagiellonian Empire spanned Poland and Ukraine for centuries. Ukraine also sought independence after World War I, and succeeded for a short while. There's nothing inevitable or inherently right about the land-grabbing greed of an empire.
2
Michelle Goldberg does us a service by traveling to Ukraine and actually talking to people about their country and their culture. She brings the complexities into language we can understand.
What's so depressing, at times, is that Trump has no ideology, no knowledge and no desire to understand anything. Let's put it simply:
Trump is out for money, at any cost to the US or the world. Trump is out for power, because that shields him from consequences. More specifically, Trump is out for reelection because that would shield him from criminal prosecution and help run out the clock on relevant statutes of limitation.
Trump is a cornered, rabid dog -- my apologies to dogs everywhere -- and, like a (infantile) vampire, he needs attention, more money and immunity.
Let's starve him of all three.
7
Ukraine is a vibrant democracy like the US is a country of polyglots. It is appropriate to laud a younger generation of democratically leaning and aspiring Ukrainians. It is far from appropriate to pretend that a thousand years of corruption at every level and in every sphere of society can be eliminated through wishful thinking. We are talking about culture change which takes more than one generation, let alone a period of "one step forward, two steps back" as has been the case so far. Poroshenko and Tymoshenko are hanging on to their loot. So are the other "billionaires" who somehow acquired the rights to natural resources and other national assets. Ukraine is different from it's larger neighbor in the sense that elections appear to be fair. Whether this translates into a vibrant democracy remains to be seen.
7
Thank you for this article. It expanded my understanding of the Ukraine
3
I would not have been happy if Mitt or Marco or JEB were President. They would all pander to the religious right, to business interests, to climate change deniers, to the NRA and to abortion foes. They would have done tax cuts for billionaires because that is what Rs do when in office. They would have been happy to have McConnell fill the courts with conservative extremists. None of them, though, would have been crude and reduced civil discourse to the trash heap. They would not have had rallies where they sought to encourage violence, racism, sexism, xenophobia. They wouldn't have brought their no talent sons and daughters in to run domestic and foreign policy behind the scenes. They wouldn't have been as reckless as Trump. So let's be clear. Republicans stick with Trump because his policies are their policies. They cringe as his behavior but love the outcomes. He is the Republican Party.
3
Trump and the Republican Party are a party without principles, and the Republicans are now The Dirty Party. (But they have been for a long time really, it is just now so clear.)
3
I am pleased to hear more about the progress Ukraine has made towards becoming a democratic republic. At this point in time, they may be more democratic than the U.S., which struggles under the weight of Republican attacks on free, open and secure elections.
But I am troubled by President Zelensky's apparent need to dissemble on behalf of Trump. His refusal to acknowledge that Trump dangled military aid and a White House reception in exchange for opening an inquisition to smear the Biden's, strongly suggests that he is being transnational for the good of Ukraine, but misses the point that he is bargaining with a backstabbing conman and sullying himself and his nation by engaging in corruption with a totally corrupt American president. No lasting good can come of it.
5
I read articles like this and hang my head that I know two people well, my wife's BFF and her younger brother both voted for the GUTTER RAT. I would love to send this piece to them, but they do not care. I have severed all ties with the BFF and my wife knows not to mention her name. The brother in Atlanta, a different story but he is not my brother-in-law as that implies a relationship and I want nothing to do with him either. I have figured out a way to spend only two days with he and his family this XMAS, rather than the five days my wife is spending with them. My feeling is fish and house guests smell after three days and I don't want to smell.
2
@Steve Beck
I understand your problem with family members who are no better than Trump. Mine our evangelicals to boot. I love my sister but I refuse to socialize with anyone who voted for and continue to support this aberration of a human being.
I agree. And one way to start moving back to genuine democracy is to rid ourselves of this corrupt traitorous President, his regime and a republican party which long ago lost its way so very long ago. Whether initially by impeachment and then soon thereafter by an electoral drubbing we must push these folks out of political power. It is truly sad that so many Americans would support this type of President and "government". What is worse is after witnessing the last three years that so many would continue to support this behavior. It is up to the rest of us, hopefully a large majority, to politically marginalize Trump and the republican party with an overwhelming electoral defeat at all levels of government. That will at least provide some immediate protection for what's left of our democracy and the opportunity for rational people to move into the republican party. If that does not occur then a new political movement will likely arise and restore healthy party competition. It's ultimately up to us. Let's hope we meet the challenge.
2
"Those who dream of a more open society have no other power to turn to."
Sure they do! LeBron James will be their champion! Of course they'll have to educate themselves before calling for a more open society, because otherwise "... people could have been harmed, not only financially, but physically, emotionally, spiritually."
I believe that Mr. James made that statement from a lunch counter in Greensboro, NC.
Although Trump represents autocratic rule and nationalism which is illiberal, the House of Representatives is controlled by a party that represents democracy and if not for extreme gerrymandering the Democrats would have a much bigger majority in the House. So who represents America? Trump didn't even get a majority of American votes. And he had a lot of help from Russia in the election via hacking and social media, assistance which he at the very least did not discourage and may have colluded in. So Trump is spreading his views around the world without the backing of a majority of Americans. People around the world should understand that these autocratic views only represent a minority party that has strategically manipulated itself into power in a number of ways including voter ID laws which were instrumental in Trump being able to win Wisconsin. To be able to help a country like Ukraine maintain liberalism against the dark forces of nationalism this country needs to gets it electoral process in order so the majority in the US, who do support democracy, can be expressed through the people voting.
7
Working with out allies, there are so many opportunities to expand the goals and values of liberal democracies--and yet, we ditter away these opportunities in exchange for money and political power.
2
While I agree with the views expressed in the article in so far as Trump is concerned, hard to miss a "we versus them" in dealing with issues of independence and liberty of other people.
" Those who dream of a more open society have no other power to turn to. " Really? To reach their liberty should a people look to see to whom they should auction their political independence.
The Ukrainians will never reach their open society by looking toward the East or the West, a Putin or a Trump. Independence and freedom always come tied together. Modern history of freedom-seeking small countries is a testament to this enduring fact.
1
Maybe Goldberg needs to be reminded that this "democracy" emerged out of a coup against an elected government - no more corrupt than the one replacing it - and the shock troops in the Maiden were ultra-right nationalists and neoNazis.
Goldberg's animosity toward Trump - which I share - doesn't give her the right to ignore these unpleasant facts.
9
@J Albers
This topic is "off the table" in the liberal media.
This coup involved all the upper echelons of the Democratic Party: Obama, Hillary, Biden, Victoria Nuland, Samantha Powers, Susan Rice...
In a just world, these people would be tried for their crimes at The Hague.
No wonder we have tried to undermine the legitimacy of that court.
4
Trump gave Ukraine javelin anti tank missiles weapons the previous administration would not provide. Russian tanks have mostly withdrawn. Similar for the Baltic countries and Poland. Trump also undercut Russian energy markets.
Yes,Trump has tried to woo Putin also for good reason,China. Russia allied with China is not a desirable situation for the West. Russia and China recently held joint military maneuvers for the first time ever. Trump haters seem oblivious to the situation.
Fact is Obama did nothing when Putin invaded Crimea inspite of treaty obligations to defend Ukraine borders,a treaty negotiated by Clinton when Ukraine gave up its 1200 nuclear weapons..and no javelin missiles either.
Goldberg conveniently overlooks facts.
4
Democracy is such a positive thing--the voice of the people. You can envision each person voting his or her conscience as to how they want to be governed.
And then reality sets in and money changes hands and democracy like so much else falls victim to the powerful. Media can be bought, legislators can be bribed, judges can be swayed; and suddenly the voice of the people is no longer their own but a parrotting of received slogans from the powers that be.
In Ukraine and all over the world democracy demands voting your conscience amid all the propaganda.
5
I am so happy that President Trump has supplied the Ukraine with lethal weapons like the Javelin missiles.
I always thought it was a mistake for President Obama when he cowered in the face of Putin objections and wouldn't sell them.
2
@Tim
The American solution to all foreign policy questions: more guns and weapons of mass destruction.
To Saudi Arabia, To Israel, to Ukraine, to radical jihadis in Syria...
Zelensky replaces a parade of tanks with a celebration of musicians on Independence Day, of course trump finds this abhorrent so he starts the compromising of this new leader by withholding military aid. The chips will become more expensive as times moves forward.
1
Ukraine is looking to cast off its recent corruption and aspires to be the kind of placed we used to enjoy. If it succeeds, it will be a model and example for the region.
What would a Batman villain do? Yup, induce a cowed complicity in a blatantly transparent corruption while dangling an existential threat.
This should be the straw that brings him down. If the institutions can't defend against this brazen sleaze then they're already finished.
I hate to repeat his name, because that's what he lives for, but I would like to see the word Trump eventually come to be used like this; as in "Ow that guy really Trumped himself." It would be shorthand for someone lying, cheating and blustering themself to a high position, only to blow it and lose everything because they just couldn't resist doing brazen stupid stuff.
5
It is beyond the slow tedious process of impeachment of Trump. The facts revealed the past few weeks regarding Ukraine and his devastating actions after a conversation with Erdogan proves he has failed as President and as Commander in Chief. There must be a relentless, aggressive movement to force his resignation and remove his collaborators in order for our own democracy to survive. This would restore the relationships with the nation's allies and prove to the international community American ideals are not dead.
2
As always, this write is wrong and ridiculous. All she needs to do is read the reconstruction of Trumps call to confirm he views that Ukraine has lots of potential to succeed and he favors that. Those silly enough to also believe that this editorial is correct must have not read the reconstruction of the call. -
6
The Ukrainian's have a strong allied in Canada, they had for around a century now and the Canadian Foreign Ministry, Christa Freeland is from Ukrainian descent.The Russians don't like her nor does President Trump. I wonder why?
3
"When the Ukrainian autocrat Viktor Yanukovych fled to Russia after a popular uprising in 2014, thousands of citizens poured into Mezhyhirya, his 340-acre estate on the outskirts of Kiev."
Er, it was a "regime change" coup engineered by the CIA, the IMF and NATO. Don't you remember Victoria Nuland bragging about how we financed it?
And, the economy is not "vibrant"
9
@Bartolo
Never let facts interfere with a political agenda.
A Democratic administration overthrows elected government of Ukraine, therefore the result of said coup must be a "Vibrant Democracy" and, of course, Trump must hate it.
3
Trump’s grand plan is to make Americans dependent on mind-numbing drugs (the chief one being alcohol). Ask Russians about alcoholism and per capita vodka consumption in their country. Putin, Trump’s bff, probably hipped our president to how to maintain a sedated populace, and how easy it is to usurp power from the people when they are so stoned they no longer care about much of anything. Nihilism, anyone?
1
I don’t know where you are getting your ridiculous impressions of the Ukraine. There has been no revamping of the justice system. The banking system is not trusted at all and most save their money at home or invest in real estate. Huge amounts of US and IMF monies have not been accounted for under Biden’s watch. Biden has been a dismissal failure and his cronyism and hypocrisy has been front and center for years. This has to be a joke!
8
it is crushing to understand Ms. Goldman’s clear and cogent explanation of a blooming young democracy, now twisted and endangered by the thoughtless whims of our greedy, criminal president.
1
When, or frighteningly if, the whole truth comes out, I expect that the reasons for Trump's obescience to Putin will be revealed. The dots are there - that is, for those willing to connect them.
It would be a very small thing, but I hope a representative and a senator ( Democrats, no doubt) will read both this piece and Ms. Goldberg's previous piece into the Congressional Record.
While I agree with Michelle Golberg's assessment, she's trying to hold Trump accountable for changing the Republican Party in this regard, when the Republican Party had already turned against democracy.
The following is an excerpt of an article from the Annenberg Classroom:
"The essence of democracy is majority rule, the making of binding decisions by a vote of more than one-half of all persons who participate in an election. However, constitutional democracy in our time requires majority rule with minority rights. Thomas Jefferson, third President of the United States, expressed this concept of democracy in 1801 in his First Inaugural Address. He said,
All . . . will bear in mind this sacred principle, that though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will to be rightful must be reasonable; that the minority possess their equal rights, which equal law must protect and to violate would be oppression.
In every genuine democracy today, majority rule is both endorsed and limited by the supreme law of the constitution, which protects the rights of individuals. Tyranny by minority over the majority is barred, but so is tyranny of the majority against minorities.
This fundamental principle of constitutional democracy, majority rule coupled with the protection of minority rights, is embedded in the constitutions of all genuine democracies today...
Both majority rule and minority rights must be safeguarded to sustain justice in a constitutional democracy."
105
@Mark Baer -
I used to use this simple example of the tyranny of the majority in my classroom:
I would announce that I am tired of grading all their papers and therefore I would give one group of students A’s and one group would get F’s. So, I would ask them, do right-handed people get A’s? Or do left-handed people? The vote was overwhelmingly for right-handers, every time. Then I asked the lefties if they thought it was fair, after all, everyone got to vote. I pointed out that just because a majority voted for it, that did not make it right. (Then, almost always, one of the right-handers, usually one missing assignments, would ask if I was going to let their decision stand. Sigh...)
11
@Mark Baer-- I beg your pardon, but we currently have tyranny by a minority. Did you just wake up? The question is: will the majority show up on election day, and exert their inherent power? Will the electoral college betray the voters? Or, the Supreme Court? They have done it in the past, a couple of times. We have a system that enables exactly what you are criticizing. It's not working.
17
@ChesBay How one defines majority and minority is important. The Republican Party represents exclusionary politics. The Democratic Party represents inclusionary politics. Since we have a two-party system, members of groups excluded as a result of Republican exclusionary politics tend to join forces with the Democratic Party. As a result, the Democratic Party is far more diverse than the Republican Party. However, the diversity also makes it more difficult for its members to come together, which is why Democrats are known to eat their own. Thus, even though the Republican Party has fewer members, regardless of its efforts to rig the system by engaging in voter supression, its members are more likely to vote and support Republicans who hold public office. That's not a minority in my book. It is a majority because it is the largest minority and it has cohesion. Everything is a matter of perspective, isn't it?
1
In my 75 years, I never thought that I would live to see the day that America was placed on the same pedestal, if you will, as the original Axis Powers who sought to destroy the world: Italy, Germany and Japan. We were taught in school, early in the 50's that these three countries constituted the worst of mankind in the quest for freedom for every nation.
Eventually, all three countries became America's allies after they were occupied. The Axis Powers, once tamed, were taken up by Mao's China and Khruschchev's Russia and their hydra-like insurgents in Africa, Asia and the Western Hemisphere. The inherent evil of Communism is that it denies the spirit of the human being in its need to be free to flourish and spread its liberal ideas where they can find resonance and allow subjected peoples to flourish.
In Donald Trump, we have a combination of Stalin and Mao and Pol Pot, all suffocaters of freedom and a mortal enemy of the human spirit. The American president's supporters view him as an archetypal god of antiquity who has arrived to punish those who attempt to ascend from the depths of darkness up the ladder to enlightenment.
Ukraine, wrestling to be free of resurgent Russian predatory instincts, nevertheless depends upon America as it stands alone in a hostile region. And the country is held hostage to a would-be tyrant who lords it over a nascent nation's vulnerability to extract a tribute from its leaders so it can find its way to continued political dominance and evil.
267
@Red Sox, ‘04, ‘07, ‘13, ‘18
And what ,pray tell, about the evil of Capitalism, the greatest Ponzi scheme of all time, based on greed, the worst instants of selfishness and ego, and the absurd idea of infinite expansion?
9
@Reality Capitalism just needs the proper controls to make it work for everyone. Vote Warren!
9
@Red Sox
1) Stalin 10 million deaths at least; Mao 40 million; Pol Pot 2 million:
The three of them together, 52 million deaths at least.
Whatever his other sins, Trump has killed zero so far as I know, so he's not quite a combination of the three.
2) Russia is not the predatory nation here. The US has marched its creature NATO to the Russian border, a truly predatory aggressive act. What are Russians to think of the most powerful military force in the world's looking them in the eye?
Change the roles of US and Russia and you get the Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962.
In that epochal showdown, Kennedy prepared to invade Cuba and threatened WWIII to remove a lethal threat from a hostile neighboring country.
Russia's intrusion into Ukraine is the same sort of action. It is a warning that if the US tries to use Ukraine as a cat's paw against Russia, ie bring it into NATO, Russia will fight the US in Ukraine.
Barbaric? No more so than Kennedy's plans to fight the USSR in a sovereign country, Cuba.
Nuclear confrontation tends to make brutes of us all.
3
"Under Trump, America has joined the axis of autocrats."
That sentence was terrifying to read in print. Sure I've been saying and writing this belief for the past 3 years, but somehow, reading it in an official NYT opinion piece, still gave me goosebumps.
It shouldn't. Everything Trump has done seems to benefit Russia, even if only indirectly. For Putin, Donald Trump is the gift that keeps on giving.
And the funny thing is, he got Trump dirt cheap. All it took was a better understanding of Americas greatest divisions-- even more than many politicians have displayed.
Now Ukraine, having finally squeezed out domestic corruption, finds itself squeezed again by two of the most corrupt leaders in the world taking aim, from the north and the west.
Only now, as Michelle Goldberg there is no longer any powerful democracy ready to step up and rescue Ukraine. If I'm alarmed, I can't imagine what it must feel like to be Ukrainian.
384
@ChristineMcM Everything you say is true, but it is important to recognize that Trump is just a symptom and the results of our political climate. Our gradual descent into a more divided nation has been going on over fifty years. Big donor's' money in our elections have given us Trump, the current Supreme Court, and a Republican Party without convictions. Too many of us now view the solutions to fix our democracy as extreme policies. So with our own corruption, we now find ourselves in a very frightening place.
28
@MT: I agree. It has been building to the extent all the major financial levers of power are in the hands of the money-worshipping GOP. Don't get me wrong: I love money as much as anyone, but it doesn't rule my life or guide my principles. I've long said that wealth inequality is killing this nation. Unless, and until, we experience another internal, domestic revolution in thought, we can't be rescued and will become a permanent oligarchy. But time is running out, frankly, and this Trump-Russia connection seems to run deep, heading towards some type of divvying up of the world, to create a global white Christian world that excudes everyone else. This is the worldview of Steve Bannon, and I believe, also of Trump.
32
@ChristineMcM It's an insane and unhinged statement.
The last 3 years has been about the deep state, from election day, trying to take my vote away because they were disappointed in how I voted.
1
Ukrainians have Mezhyhirya; Russians have Catherine's palace; Italians have Vatican City; Americans have San Simeon. Whether it is theft through politics, religion or the excesses of capitalism, people have a remarkable fascination with excess.
I am not sure whether it is just awe about what can be done with money or a hidden belief in the ability of any of us to achieve such wealth for ourselves alone which drives this.
I am delighted to learn of Ukraine's success in working toward better governance even if it is as fragile as their much vaunted Easter eggs. I am hopeful we can rejoin them with true support after we dispose of our current Orange Distraction.
2
So grateful for this reporting. So grateful for the reporting going on in the impeachment depositions. The truth shining out like lady liberty's torch. So grateful.
4
What a fairy tale, curtesy of wishful thinking by Ms. Goldberg! Vibrant democracy? Was it a dream you had about Ukraine or have you actually traveled there? Corruption is rampant! You have to grease everybody to get anything done: the local bureaucrat in city hall, the doctor, the nurse etc.etc.etc. There's a very big economic divide between the eastern part, predominantly Ukrainians, and the much richer, industrious western part, where the majority of the population is Russian. And that's a big challenge. Btw, the president of Ukraine told reporters he wasn't even aware the military aid was on hold when Trump called him. Well, that's quite a quid pro quo, isn't it? Ms. Goldberg could have mentioned how popular Trump is in Poland! Why? Well, the Poles certainly don't feel they are completely at Putin's mercy. Why is that? Talk to the people, Michelle, not philosophers!
7
It’s cold comfort, but the Ukrainians and others know we’ve been foxed by Putin. They’ll hold out some hope that we can overcome this foreign infektion eventually. We need our immune system to function again.
Now!
5
Excellent column again today, Michelle. However your last line needs an asterisk. "The last time authoritarianism was on the march" was in the 1930s; as with today it was also "hard to see where the allies were." Led by Great Britain and France, the West, including the US, betrayed the democratic government of Spain to the Fascists who were waging a three-year war against it with the backing of Hitler and Mussolini. This abandonment of democracy was also reflected in the US waiting over two years to join the war against Fascism, even as Britain stood alone in the fight. Plus ça change....
5
Joe Biden in tomorrow's debate should say as president he would support Ukraine membership in NATO.
THAT would send a message to Putin and his White house puppet and let Ukraine know real Americans won't abandon them.
I remember when the late William Safire of this newspaper was so livid with the speech written by Condi Rice and delivered by President George HW Bush on the floor of the Ukraine Parliament warning that country against "suicidal nationalism" as the USSR broke up that Safire labeled the speech the "Chicken Kiev" speech.
It was considered the worst foreign policy speech ever given by a US president.
Until Trump came along, that is.
4
To view Russia through Ukrainian eyes is to see through a dark glass clearly. The Russian bear has not changed much over the centuries and is pawing at the door of the west as we speak.
4
Looking at the US aid to the Ukraine over time and several administrations one sees a significant increase under Trump. He hates them that much?
5
It seems that every passing with, with each important ally Trump undermines or betrays - the Ukrainians, then the Kurds - he seems determines, before his time is done, to utterly wreck every tenuous foreign policy achievement of recent memory, along with the entire international system that came out of the ashes of World War 2.
It's like this global clock is ticking, and Trump is trying to, if only by petulant whim, to destroy as much as he can before it runs out. History, such as it might go on in our now weakened country, will not be kind to this foolish goon and those who supported him.
3
How many countries can Trump tear down with his conniving, corrupt, and criminal manipulation? Congress do your job and show the world that we will not let this travesty of an "administration" continue.
2
The people of Ukraine are trying so hard to have a free, independent nation free of corruption. If there is one country in the world that the US should be there for, it's Ukraine.
4
Some with fertile imagination thought Gorbachev was our agent in the Kremlin. Same now suggest the trump is the puppet of Putin in the WH.
He who laughs last, laughs the best. The Soviets have won the Cold War unfortunately. Or is it the battle? I hope the latter. Hope must be kept alive at all cost
Cry for the beloved country
President Zelensky stated there was no quid quo pro, are the Democrats calling him a liar?
7
A "vibrant democracy" that comes along with a 23.5% increase in their heating gas bill. Don't they know that this is one of the privileges of being a "civilized Western vibrant democracy"? Did they actually believe that their new friends will continue handing out cookies in the street and paying them 50 euro a day for making an appearance in the Square? Those days are gone, just like the days when they got heavily discounted gas from Russia. To be clear, this latest hike in the price of gas is not due to any Russian increase in the price of the commodity. This is courtesy of their new friends who are imposing the well known, in the West, "austerity measures". You want to borrow money to buy more western weapons to fight Russia with? They'll starve you or freeze you to death for it along with your "vibrant democracy".
Perhaps when they told you that by overthrowing your democratically elected government in favor of their puppets you'll belong to the West, you didn't realize that they literally meant "belong to the west"; they now own you, you and your country, to do with as they please. Good luck in your newly acquired western slavery "vibrant democracy" & welcome to the “Free World.”
6
Is there a Pulitzer Prize for commentary?
If there is this column and its immediate predecessor should win such a prize.
Good work Ms. Goldberg.
2
"Ukraine once had a history of murderous anti-Semitism; today its new president, Volodymyr Zelensky, is a Jew."
It is nice that Ukraine has a president born to Jewish parents. However, this does not mean that the "murderous anti-Semitism", long a part of the history of Ukraine has disappeared. One might quibble about the levels of "murderous", but anti-Semitism is alive and well there:
https://www.timesofisrael.com/topic/anti-semitism-in-ukraine/
See especially the article from ha-Aretz:
https://www.haaretz.com/world-news/.premium-clear-the-kikes-from-ukraine-who-will-confront-kiev-s-anti-semitism-problem-1.7910931
6
Let's not forget that Poroshenko was handpicked by Democrats in 2014 to succeed Yanukovych (Victoria Nuland personally nixing the popular former boxer Klitschko to be president) and that Ukraine was up to its eyeballs in corruption right up until Zelensky got elected. Corruption in Ukraine far predates Trump, and Giuliani (who I could easily see Michelle Goldberg casting a vote for mayor for) isn't helping one iota.
3
As former President Obama (or the last real POTUS) said. ...."Vote!". If you don't you'll have 4 more years of Trump. That truly could be disastrous.
1
Remember Manafort’s ostrich jacket? I wonder if that could have been gifted from Yanukovych’s farm. Blech
How strange is it to read beautifully written pieces that overanalyse and attribute great strategy to what essentially boils down to machismo. Excellent writing from the Times, as usual, a fine product, but still can’t really see a finger on the pulse?
1
The phone call between Trump and the Ukrainian President was a love fest.
What basis do you have for saying Trump hates the Ukraine other than your imagination?
Turns out the healthy democracy in Ukraine really is trying to crack down on corruption.
They reopened the Biden/Burisma investigation themselves back in February.
Uh oh.
4
Is Goldbergh obtuse? The Ukraine is hardly a vibrant anything. It is country struggling to survive politically and economically. Give me a break.
8
It is Putin that hates having Ukraine become a vibrant democracy and Trump is just doing Putin's bidding as he has done since the first day he became president.
4
The Dems have raided Ukraine for years.
Biden was given Ukraine by Obama, and he did a Clinton on it: He used it as his personal piggy bank.
But it’s Trump’s fault, right?
8
Re “Ukraine Has Become a Vibrant Democracy. No Wonder Trump Hates It.“
My admiration of the Ukrainians just keeps growing. From the beginning, nigh on four years or better, they’ve been the strongest anti Putin force in the world. Yes Michelle, Trump hates it.
Ukrainians, Kurds, maybe even the Israelis, depended on our country, our congress, our president to stand side by side with them.
As we depart the field of geopolitics, Putin mates his check. Game almost over.
All over but the shoutin, or worse perhaps.
2
Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders and the rest of the "progressive" socialists are the ones who want big government taking over our lives and putting us on the path to communism. Why does the New York Times consistently fail to point that out? Meanwhile, it's Trump who favors small government and liberty. Yes, he has his flaws, but there's a reason the United States is the best country in the world... Capitalism and individuals' rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Stop attacking Trump. He is the only one who fights every day for what makes America great. Ignore his tweets and other offensive commentary. The issues that then remain, which are what make America great, are what count.
2
@ABC123
I suppose we should disregard his no respect for the rule of law. That is what makes Amerca great.
1
Trump and Yanukovych are cut from the same cloth. Both profiteers, taking advantage of the spoils of the office. If justice prevails, Trump will suffer the same fate.
2
Thank you Ms Goldberg for this carefully reported, sensitive article about a country I love. It's so important, now more than ever, for Americans to understand Ukraine's struggle to overthrow its Soviet past and emerge as a Western-oriented, vibrant democracy.
A decade ago, I lived and worked in Ukraine for two years having gone there to learn about the country my Jewish grandmother ran out of with her hair on fire. I found, to my delight, a country my babushka would not have recognized -- a country where the grandchildren of those who oppressed her have elected a Jew as their president by a landslide. A country which has had not one, but two popular revolutions (2005 and 2014) to toss out the corrupt, Moscow puppets who kept the country prostrated under an authoritarian boot while fleecing it -- in an exact imitation of Putin's kleptocracy. I witnessed the 2005 revolution first-hand and received first-hand reports of the second from a Ukrainian friend who during the revolution worked for the independent Hromadske T.V. station you mention in your article. This is why I am heartbroken -- and enraged -- to see Trump export corruption to Ukraine. As you put it: "Ukraine is a country struggling to transcend its history of corruption, and Trump has tried to make it behave more corruptly."
To understand politics simply ask: Who benefits? Everywhere we look, now in Syria too, everything Trump does benefits Putin. Trump is a traitor hiding in plain sight.
8
Others echo your sentiments. The larger question to ask is “ why aren’t the republicans in Congress doing the same?”
Every American should ponder that.
2
I don't seem to recall Trump ever saying he hated Ukraine. In his recent White meeting with their President, he expressed only admiration for him and his country. To say he wants Ukraine to fail can only be deemed an outright lie based upon all his public statements to the contrary.
Basically, Trump has given them everything they have asked for in the form of aid. He has withheld nothing. They are not struggling because of him. They are struggling because they were once the biggest cesspool of corruption in the region. Trump had nothing to do with that, or their ongoing civil war, or their loss of Crimea.
Trump's biggest crime, according to this article, is asking for a corruption investigation that reminded everyone what a corrupt place Ukraine was and still is. It was a sad reminder they have a lot of work to do if they are going to escape their past.
Sounds more like a life coach than someone hating on Ukraine.
5
“Ukraine Has Become a Vibrant Democracy. No Wonder Trump Hates It.“
Sadly perhaps the past tense now applies.
If there is one thing Putin fears, it is democracy and the transparency it brings. Expect him to try again to destroy and subdue Ukraine.
5
This story proves one must GO TO a country and talk to the people to understand it. Thank you, Michelle for doing so. You have served up the kind of true insight we all need to be made aware of here in the U.S. May democracy thrive in the Ukraine - despite the POTUS. Strange sentence to write. Wow.
5
I think Putin hates the Ukraine even more than trump, but for the same reason: it’s a democracy.
4
Vibrant democracy? Really?
Hint: it's not. The president is an official lapdog of an oligarch.
The will of about 50% of people to use Russian language is ignored, so there is a war in the Eastern part of the country because people there do not want any of this "democracy".
5
With the possible exception of the Czechs no people east of the Rhine has any democratic past worth speaking of -- certainly not the Ukrainians.
1
Ukraine should be brought into NATO now. It will send the right message to Russia, that you can’t bully your neighbor into submission through military adventurism and subversion of the local population. And most Ukrainians support NATO Membership now, they know where their future lies.
4
Unlike most Americans I have actually traveled to Ukraine as recently as September and have seen its beauty and issues firsthand. It's quite clear that Trump is entirely Putin's creature and this attempt to pervert Ukraine's democracy would immediately and only benefit Russia. Another of the myriad reasons why we need to impeach and throw Trump out of office, that is, if he isn't spirited away some night by his Russian handlers.
7
So, where are Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan in all this. Why is it only the United States that is being pictured as not supporting the Ukraine? Why aren't these first five, who are closer to the action and will be hurt if it goes badly, not stepping up with aid that the Ukraine West needs to bring the East part back into the fold? Why aren't they involved in high-level negotiations with the Ukraine East? WHY NOT?
Ms. Goldberg: You seem to think the USA should be the world's policeman. Ever since WW II, that has turned out badly---Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Libya, Bosnia, et. al.
We have forgotten the only reason to enter a war is to WIN. To utterly and completely defeat the enemy. We should thank the Japanese for waking us up. It could have turned out much worse had we not been awakened as we were almost totally isolationist. Britain was the last bastion.
All these other wars have been utter failures. We have a Nuclear N. Korea. American companies in Vietnam where 56,000 Americans (my brother, too) were killed and our society torn apart. 18 years wasted in Afghanistan that will go to the Taliban soon after we leave. Iraq: we destabilized the entire Middle East. Libya: still a mess of fighting. Insanity squared.
When will we learn we cannot 'save' the world? Remain strong, speak softly, carry a big stick that utterly defeats those who attack the West. Utterly, completely defeats.
5
How can anyone think that Trump is acting in the best interests of the USA and not doing what Putin wants him to do?
7
Let's not forget that Trump's primary policy goal as president has been to remove the financial sanctions on Russia's oligarchs. In fact, it was his primary policy goal when he was a candidate running for president. It's the only consistent thread that runs through his entire presidency and this republican administration. It transcends all of his corruption, crimes, and incompetence. Someday, I hope to understand why.
11
@Markymark
'It's the only consistent thread that runs through his entire presidency and this republican administration. It transcends all of his corruption, crimes, and incompetence. Someday, I hope to understand why.'
He wants to do business with them.
Ukraine a vibrant democracy? Hardly. On the Corruption Perceptions Index, Ukraine ranks 120, Russia - 138, whereas Poland in Central Europe ranks 36. No comparison.
Ukraine, mostly due to its corruption, is the poorest country in Europe, and nothing indicates that it can lift itself from its poverty anytime soon. Its GDP (PPP) per capita is $9,700 - African level of poverty. For Russia it’s $30,300, Belarus - $21,000, and Poland - $33,700. Ukraine’s corruption and poverty, unfortunately, attract schemers from all over the world, incl. the United States.
Ms. Goldberg didn’t do her homework.
10
Michelle, I have been extremely impressed with your work for quite some time, but your last two articles have been stellar. The fact that you went to Ukraine during these tenuous times and were able to get to the heart of what real people think there, is a testament to your journalistic integrity and capabilities, and to The Times for their vigilance in getting to the truth. I especially was gripped by your last article on Serhiy Leshchenko, and worry for his well being. I also worry for you. I’m sure you and the Times consider safeguards, but in this period in our country, I wouldn’t put it past trump and his minions to silence others any way they can...you know what I mean. Be safe out there, but keep up your outstanding work. Your voice, and journalists in general, need our support. We will win the day.
2
What about all the Oligarchs? It seems to be a system unique to Russia and Ukraine, the buying of influence by rich men in limousines. Is Ukraine doing anything about democratizing business and making it work for the general population?
1
You have to wonder. How has our country been allowed to stoop so low?
Everyday I am grateful for “the whistleblower” who still remains a mystery.
But what about the lack of whistleblowing? Think of all that has been seen and heard and has never been called out, as the country goes on in its daily cycles. Think of all who could have been as courageous and could have come forward about corruption they heard and saw, yet did nothing?
It’s similar to a healthcare situation where a healthcare provider sees wrongdoing of another provider and never reports it.
Innocent people go on being hurt.
Here, our country has taken a toll, and innocent Americans are bewildered and used. Those that have known have let our country and its people suffer. And who knows what more suffering will occur?
Would this situation with Turkey and Syria have been going on if Donald Trump had been stopped in his tracks before all this, and his horrible decision in the past week? This inept man parading around “leading” our American soldiers in his “duty” as president has been allowed to do so, perhaps, because others in charge who know better “don’t want to get involved in politics” as we heard this past weekend on “Meet the Press.”
It has to make us think, what besides Ukraine has been directly or indirectly involved in Donald Trump’s master plans - and why? Will we ever know?
5
It seems like Ukrainian is greatly contributing to saving our democracy, I hope we get to return the favor in the not too distant future.
1
Of course the Ukraine should worry with djt and the republicans in control of the US government. The reason they should worry: there are no trump properties in the Ukraine. If they have a trump property like turkey, they could count on the republican djt to betray allies in order to preserve his income producing property. Unfortunately, the Ukrainians have what djt's puppeteer wants: their land.
Life is tough.
Will we impeach djt in time to save the Ukraine. I would not count on it.
2
Michelle, miracles do not happen just because we want them to. Rather than characterising Ukraine as a "vibrant democracy," I think it would be more accurate to call it "a young democracy struggling to get out from beneath years of corruption and confusion."
6
Michelle, people in America need to know what Trump's threats and withholding of U.S aid (approved by Congress) has cost Ukraine--in emboldening the Russians and putting both Ukraine and NATO interests at risk.
1
"Before Paul Manafort was Trump’s campaign chairman, he helped Yanukovych rise to power by stoking ethnic division. "
Works every time - you stoke hatred for a group of people, among those who are embattled and weak - you hit gold. It's exactly how Trump became president.
Footnote: Ms. Goldberg has done her best writing this last week.
2
Again spot on. In just one week Trump has singlehandedly destroyed the US influence and boosted that of Russia in the ME and Eastern Europe.
1
My hope is that the hard working career diplomats are trying to hold the fort of democratic values and decency until Trump is gone. Unfortunately the State Department has been cleansed of some of those people and replaced with sycophants. It would be nice for Democracy if there were verbal bipartisan support in the Senate and House for the people of Ukraine. Trump is a one off, Ukraine hang in there.
We are hearing so much negativity about Ukrainian bad actors that it is easy to forget that this nation has real people who yearn for the freedom and rights of a democracy. Michelle has done justice to their dignity. The people are neither corrupt oligarchs nor mafia sorts. They are like you and me with aspirations of security, order, peace, and equality. What is disheartening now is their vulnerability. I can only compare their paradigm as being trapped within an ever-tightening vise, with two thugs from two different nations on either side. I get Russia’s Putin. However, what I still find difficult to fathom is America’s Trump. How did we get here, why, and what have we done to ourselves and others from as near as Central America to the Ukraine? I wish these citizens in Eastern Europe well. But I believe that our own democracy must heal and be cured of a Trumpian disease before we are able to reach out to others.
Hold on Ukraine! Help is on the way. American elections are in 2020! American commitment to human rights and democracy will return. This Trump episode is an aberration which Pelosi and the Democrats are trying to get rid of.
Never have I been more proud to be American than when I saw first-hand the country of my birth lifted as inspiration by Ukrainian people claiming basic human dignities. When riot police beat bloody peaceful protesters against the last-minute rejection of financial aid from the European Union, the nation arose. During the rest of my visit, and as I followed closely every development after my return to the United States, I was overcome with how much these people reminded me of what is best about the United States.
When I visited the maidan (square) in mid-January, I carried a small American flag from a nearby shop to add to a display from visitors who supported the peaceful occupiers. I never made it. A crowd of exceedingly polite young adults, full of energy and optimism, surrounded me to ask what I thought about them and their country. Choked with tears, I could say only "Slava Ukraini" (glory to Ukraine) - and gave them my flag. They lifted it with pride and joy.
My tears today flow for a different reason. The country those wonderful people sought to emulate has betrayed them like a vicious pedophile. I feel filthy. But I hope that someday soon my country can become again as good as Ukraine.
348
@Randolph
Cold comfort, but Ukrainians and others know we’ve been foxed by Putin. They’ll hold out hope that we can overcome this foreign infektion eventually. We need our immune system to function again.
Now!
15
For those who want to understand more about the Ukrainian people and their quest for a free and democratic country, I suggest watching the documentary Winter on Fire.
12
@Randolph While this is likely a fraudulent post, this unctuous sentimental drivel cannot be left unanswered. If your worldview is so insipid, non-fact based, and prone to confusing jingoistic language for reason, you are the reason the US has Trump and Tom Clancey novels sell.
3
To call this country a vibrant democracy is a stretch.
Don't get me wrong. Ukrainians are wonderful people but have a history of being chopped up and added on to other countries and no history of democracy.
Trump will take any side as long as it makes him rich and look good no matter what atrocities are being committed by any side.
That is the bottom line. Right now he will do the bidding of Putin, since he is Trump's financial backer, one of the few that will give him money.
43
One great strength of democracy is that it forces citizens to either learn, get involved, and elect for the good of the people, or watch their country, and their lives, fall into autocracy.
We in the US have been too complacent for too long, we ignored the fact that we were vulnerable, not only in our poorly protected voting systems, but in our really, really poorly designed political system that has needed change for a century.
Well, it is up to the young to show up and vote, and work for change, or else our future is that of Russia, one stupendously greedy oligarch at a time.
Hope is an alien feeling to me, but I do feel its warming tendrils.
Hugh
27
@Hugh Massengill
Agree completely on all counts.
Thanks for your comments.
My wife and I work tirelessly to help our younger generation (kids and grandkids) prepare for the challenges that we are leaving them.
9
The 'Revolution of Dignity.' What a refreshing, inspiring read, Michelle. Thanks very much for shining attention on what I believe many of us wouldn't have realized was happening with all of the evil yet true news coming out of there. Ironically, it took Trump and his ilk, with their greed and corruption, to reveal what a newly resurgent society looks and acts like.
Yes they can.
So can we.
Vote.
29
The phone call was a courteous call and conversation between two state leaders. Nothing too harmful there.
5
@Jong Smith
The coercion was fairly polite. Could you do us a favor, though? pretty innocuous.
2
Goldberg, quite tellingly, doesn't mention Germany, Europe's economical giant, in her story.
This country hides behind it's dark past nowadays just to avoid responsibility.
1
@Albert Koeman you mean the country that not only shed up to now other € 1.4 billion into Ukraine to build up a functioning responsible bureaucracy? Or the one pulling the heavy lifting in the endless diplomatic scrabble to contain the donbass ceasefire from out right war - a task Trump just reacently failed in epic proportion?
17
@Arne Lohf ,Indeed, quite recommendable, but being a soft power is not enough in a world progressively dominated by authoritarians.
@Albert Koeman What are you then going on about? Should Germany somehow shed its "dark past" by intervening militarily in Ukraine? Somehow I suspect that would not go over particularly well.
2
Thanks, Michelle, for this update on the youth and progressives in Ukraine. The future of this newly democratic country is in their hands but they need all of our help.
We in the US are living with the Trump nightmare every day and are anxious for a new day with our new president who will return us to a helpful ally and friend.
In the meantime, we will hope for Ukraine's better future and watch as our president and his cronies are brought to justice.
18
Not to take away from how despicable it is to pressure a struggling country into illegal schemes.
But the presentation of Ukraine as a vibrant healthy democracy is one-sided. The election of Zelenskiy shows that the democracy works and elections are free but also that the public is highly susceptible to populism and naive well sounding promises. The phone call with Trump shows the lack of experience, substance and toughness in Zelenskiy...
15
You make very fair points. May I add ? Each time Trump takes a call from a less powerful foreign power he too exhibits his lack of experience, substance and toughness PLUS an absence of loyalty to his own nation and allies.
20
Former Warsaw Pact members applied for NATO membership and subsequently became members because they feared Russia's invasion. It was not NATO that sought the expansion but rather the Baltic and other countries which were under Soviet rule during the Cold War seeking protection.
16
@val Don't be naive; it was both.
1
Russia is a much larger country than Ukraine, therefore Trump stands to make more money from Russia than he possibly could in Ukraine. It's that simple.
31
Paul Manafort was instrumental in helping elect the completely corrupt Viktor Yanukovych (Putin’s favored candidate) campaign to an improbable 2010 victory as that nation’s president.
Ukraine under the corrupt Viktor Yanukovych was a complete oligarchic kleptocracy until early 2014, when the Maidan Revolution toppled the government and the greedy, amoral Yanukovych fled to Russia and his corrupt patron Putin.
After doing his best to savage Ukraine, Paul Manafort departed and headed back to the USA where he eventually repeated his corrupt election martial arts to help the 2016 Donald Trump campaign to an improbable and corrupt victory; Trump was Putin's favored candidate.
Donald Trump, who doesn't have an ethical bone in his body, thought he could corrupt the new Ukraine the way his buddy Manafort helped corrupt the old Putin-sponsored-Yanukovych Ukraine.
Ukraine has a long way to go to, but it's trying to dig out of its history of corruption while Trump is trying to submerge back in.
And the Republican Party, which has no interest in American democracy, has no interest in Ukrainian democracy.
The fact there are still Americans who support the patently undemocratic and corrupt oligarchic political syndicate that is today's Trump-Manafort-GOP is astounding.
Those Americans need to lower their American flags and raise the Russian flag.
November 3 2020.
There will be only one major American political party on the ballot.
Let's see if Americans can figure out which one.
168
Education will make Ukraine vibrant. Yet we send them aid in the form of weapons manufactured in the USA. Meanwhile a school teacher who makes $200 a month hasn’t been paid for three months. Somehow “aid” from the USA is no longer about promoting democracy, and worse, is about partisan politics here.
33
@Ellen Ukraine is at war through no choice of their own. Education isn't happening in the Donbas because of that war. If the war were to spread, there would be no education in the rest of the country either. Priorities are important and preserving the borders of Ukraine are necessary for the welfare of its people including educational opportunities.
19
@Ellen
After the US-directed coup, the Ukrainians have become US vassals as well a a tool to cause Russia problems. If peace and 'progress' is desired, it is a simple matter for Uncle Sam to direct the Ukrainian legislature to enact the provisions of the Minsk Agreement, but Uncle is not interested in peace and 'progress' there -- better to have unending conflict in the Donbass.
4
@Ellen
U.S. "aid" has never been predicated on promoting democracy but to thwart it through bribery, quid pro quo and ensuring its global hegemony. Giving or selling arms to its clients has weaponized the world. There is nothing new here except in the flagrant way it is done.
3
Thank you Michelle for exposing us to the real damage Trump is doing to the Ukraine and democracy. We must remember, however, that Trump is not the cause but a symptom of what happens when alienation takes over and people lose faith in their government Trump spoke to those people and has given them a gigantic bait and switch. Bernie and Elizabeth do too - and offer real solutions.
11
Goldberg's last two opinion pieces, including this one, are the best and most useful she has ever written.
129
@CitizenJ, I agree. Her previous piece ("The beacon has gone out" I think?) articulated and framed so clearly the situation in Ukraine. I was delighted to hear that that the Revolution of Dignity appeared to place a bunch of young "Buttigieg's" in charge, and it's absolutely no wonder that Ukraine's vibrant system would incur the disdain of our utterly frumpy administration. I especially loved the linked piece in Michelle's last column, which detailed Sergei Leshenko's penchant for responsible raving! Seeing Leshenko at Burning Man with an art car and a feathered cap made my day.
Go Ukraine, and thank you, Michelle Goldberg!
3
@CitizenJ
I agree. Her writing has improved greatly, the "I Believe Juannita" nonsense not withstanding.
1
Glad to hear that Ukraine is birthing a vibrant Democracy, I'll need to consider it when our's dies. Corruption to reform in just five years is impressive until you think that it only took three years of corruption to dismantle the ideas, ideals and laws set forth by our country's original reformers. Seeing with what ease and speed our Democracy can be taken away, I have to wonder if we were naive to believe all the patriotic songs, chants and prayers dedicated to it's continuation?
55
If Trump “hates” Ukraine, why did he provide Ukraine with military aid (only the second shipment of Javelin missiles was the subject of the phone call), while Obama refused to provide any military weapons to Ukraine, despite the pleas of NATO and his military commanders?
16
@Richard K. According to the Congressional Research Service, the US has given about $1.5 billion in aid to Ukraine, starting in 2014, after the overthrow of Yanukovych that Goldberg discusses. Obama, of course, was president in 2014.
Of course, one could also say that presidents don't provide the aid, as the aid is authorized by Congress. Now, following that constitutional line of thinking, it's true that Trump froze the aid to Ukraine that Congress had authorized.
65
@Richard K. Yes, it is shameful that Obama did not provide weapons to Ukraine to allow Ukraine to defend itself, however those Javelins that you speak of are purely symbolic- they were given with the proviso that they are not to be used in the current war in Donbas against Russia. And the initiative to provide even these symbolic weapons did not come from Trump but from some of the then still functioning parts of the GOP, and the Democrats in the house and Senate.
4
@Richard K. Wrong...Obama provided plenty. Trump provides what he needs in order to extort from whomever he needs something, trump cares about NO ONE BUT HIMSELF. The sooner people like you understand that, the sooner we can evict him...maybe from America, not only the WH.
6
Very perceptive analysis. But to answer Ms. Goldberg's concluding question: While the US Under Trump isn't Ukraine's ally, that ally is the American people. We have November of next year to demonstrate that.
110
This is total nonsense. Trump is cooperating with Zelensky to promote an end of the war in the Donbass and its re-integration into Ukraine. Zelensky won the election by some 70% and did well in the West as well as the Russian areas. So, of course, Trump is all for democracy in Ukraine.
15
@Jerry Hough
So why did our president pointedly refuse, for so long, to have Zelensky in for a visit with him at the White House. All the guy wanted was a photo of himself with Pres. Trump in the White House. Just a photo. Not much of an ask between friends.
1
@Jerry Hough
Trump is "all for democracy in Ukraine" as long as it suits his personal needs. Trump and his goons, Guiliani, Barr, Sondland, etc., clearly understand that Ukraine is between a rock (Russia) and a very hard place (a U.S. administration far more friendly to the rock.) They tried to exercise this position arrogantly and in pure self-interest without any genuine concern for democracy at all. Let's not be naive about these things.
2
@Jerry Hough
I’m a bit puzzled. Nothing you write dispels the fact that Trump tried to coerce the Ukrainian President to dig up dirt on Biden. There is no way to spin it otherwise.
6
Vibrant Democracy? Have you been there? How many Ukrainians have you interviewed before writing this? The country is suffocating from corruption and governed by political cliques, people's lives are ruined.
31
@JG As if corruption has magically evaporated. Overall a good article by Michelle, but naive. Talk to the man and woman on the street about, for example, maternity leave and small-business payoffs.
6
@JG I've been here. Ukraine is doing better than ever before, thank you very much. About 65-70% of Ukrainians agree with this assessment.
3
@JG Ruined lives, political cliques and corruption do not necessarily signal a lack of democracy.
1
What I find most disturbing is our media being quite unable to spell this out clearly in its pages outside the op-ed section! I’ve read and sought to understand each report in the NYT and the WashPo yet they were much more muddled than this and MG’s prior column. Please let (require?) your reporters and editors to do better explanations of the politics of - not just Ukraine- but also the other countries we’re manipulating politically.
75
I’m no Trump fan, but, the United States should support Ukraine, but only to a point. Russia has faced two major invasions from the west in a little over 100 years. A point I think many Americans have forgotten but I’m sure no Russian has. The Russian view also is that in order for a reunited Germany to be in NATO, NATO was not supposed to expand further east (whether that was expressly promised remains in dispute). Many former members of the Warsaw Pact are now NATO members, and the former Soviet Baltic states are as well.
Ukraine matters a lot more to the Russians than it does to us, they are indefensible if Ukraine joins NATO, or completely aligns with the US/EU.
I don’t like what Putin, or Trump, is doing in Ukraine, but it does make sense from the Russian viewpoint. I’m sure if Putin did nothing, he would be gone and replaced with someone who would act.
I know I’m not really addressing the point of Michele’s fine article, but I think we need to be realistic on the limits of US involvement in Ukraine versus Russia’s understandable reaction (or overreaction).
14
@spughie - Thank you for your thoughtful and rationale counter-point. I think what’s shocking to most of us is the fact that we - America - home of the brave, land of the free - would attempt to corrupt Ukraine by holding hostage the most sacred thing for any country - their own security in the form of the $400 million in military aid they need to defend themselves. I can’t imagine the Faustian decision Zelensky must’ve had to make knowing full well he would need to deliver some kind of made up dirt or “cooperation” in order to defend his country.
83
@spughie
You are correct about NATO expansion up to the borders of Russia, that it broke a promise to Russia after the end of the Soviet Union, and how frightening that can be to Russia. We missed a great opportunity to help Russia democratize by continuing to treat it as an enemy after the Soviet Union ended and allowing its economic collapse to continue, unlike what we did in Western Europe in the 1940s from fear of communism. Maybe it would not have worked, but we never tried.
22
@spughie
“Ukraine matters a lot more to the Russians than it does to us, they are indefensible if Ukraine joins NATO, or completely aligns with the US/EU.”
Indefensible against what? Do you honestly see NATO launching a war of aggression against Russia? Rather it is inoffensible because the targets of its efforts to Make Russia Great Again are members of a mutual defense treaty.
18
I’ll keep it simple. This article breaks my heart.
162
Ms Goldberg, keep onto this theme of Eastern Europe. You posit that which likely concerns a good many geopolitical thinkers. Hungary and especially Poland which is a staunch NATO ally are backsliding. No other nation east of Germany has the importance of Ukraine and none has the capacity to resist the tug and the infiltration of Russia if Ukraine cannot alone or with US bolstering countervailing it. Whilst it won’t be labelled a Cold War 2, coupling it with the ‘belt and road’ and other pressures of China in the South China Sea militarily and in susceptible nations financially globally foreshadows diminishment of US objetives and Western freedoms.
58
@Suburban Cowboy They are not backsliding, Cowboy, so much as desperately trying to hold onto their Christian heritage against the Muslim hordes that are being allowed into the EU by the idiots in Brussels. The West is dying and doesn't know it. See "How Civilizations Die" by David Goldman. And these two pieces will explain further why we, in the West, are dying, unable to defend ourselves because we know it not.
Two articles:
It's not only their virtues that will destroy them:
https://quillette.com/2019/09/14/europes-virtues-will-be-its-undoing/
So will their (and ours now) self-hatred.
https://quillette.com/2019/10/07/oikophobia-our-western-self-hatred/
So, are our leaders capable of waking up? I wonder if Trump is the last-gasp phenomena before we spiral down and the Chinese and Indians rise up.
I'm old, 82, I won't get to see it but my children and grandchildren will. None of the Dem Presidential candidates understand it, a Trump surely doesn't.
The ancient curse is upon us: "May you always live in interesting times".
1
Trump will further degrade the Ukraine if he can. As far as he's concerned President Selensky failed him, and sees no benefit by aiding this new and vibrant Democracy. Trump walked away from the Kurds, and he won't hesitate to do the same for the Ukrainians.
The only way the U.S. can help this country now is with our votes in 2020.
201
@cherrylog754
Just a note that citizens of Ukraine do not use "the" - that's the Russian version of their country, because it denotes that they are just a Russian territory instead of an independent nation.
46
@cherrylog754 and Kris,
I would also add that the traditional spelling of Ukraine's capital (i.e., Kiev) reflects the Russian into version due to Russian dominance during the tsarist and Soviet periods.
The spelling in Ukrainian is Kyiv.
It would be appropriate if the spelling commonly used would be Kyiv.
39
@Kris There is actually no equivalent of "the" in either Ukrainian or Russian, and it is not the Russian version of Ukraine. It's an issue only in the English language. However, it is true that since independence Ukraine has preferred not to use the antiquated form of its name in English.
11