One of the oldest ploys of colonial and imperial powers is to deny the existence of other nations which might be in any way inconvenient to them - by, for instance, daring to occupy territory in an area coveted by the colonial power. It’s often accompanied by an argument that the people concerned had no meaningful history before they were colonised. It's an approach which has been on display today from the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, who said that Ukraine “… does not have a history without the Russian people, none at all”. It’s an arrogant and dismissive thing to have said, but it reminded me of the Welsh politician who said that “…between the mid-sixteenth century and the mid-eighteenth century Wales had practically no history at all, and even before that it was the history of rural brigands who have been ennobled by being called princes”. Lavrov is clearly a mere amateur; such a statement would have been much more effective had he found a tame Ukrainian to say it. But perhaps the Ukrainians have more self-respect.
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1 comment:
Plenty of Kinnocky types may be found in Eastern Ukraine, folk who may be of Ukrainian stock, whatever that may entail, but have adopted Russian values, whatever they may be. Indeed Kinnock may not be the best example of his kind but given that he was part of our political landscape and prone to be a loud mouth he probably deserves the "recognition" his daft comments earned for him.
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