Former PM who came to power after the anti-Moscow Orange Revolution fears her country is turning into a ‘disenfranchised colony’ that is losing its sovereignty
Western Ukraine moment. What you said is true, there’s no disagreement here.
What I meant to say is that outside of Western Ukraine, few people were buying into the rehabilitation campaign because they had no interest in a crusade against Russia that would just rock the boat. Foreign propaganda campaigns only work if the populace is interested in the narrative.
Then the invasion/SMO happened “anyway” in their eyes and people went: “Maybe the nationalists talking about Russia as an existential threat were right after all”. I called it “knee-jerk” because it’s grounded in little other than “Russia bad, Ukraine good”. This is my explanation for the sudden surge between the 2021 and 2022 polls.
Domestic efforts with support or tolerance from Western governments have engineered the parameters of political debate since 1991, that’s of course undeniable. I’m just a little wary of chalking it all up to Western interference as it makes the average Ukrainian sound like a gullible dupe without agency.
Western Ukraine moment. What you said is true, there’s no disagreement here. What I meant to say is that outside of Western Ukraine, few people were buying into the rehabilitation campaign because they had no interest in a crusade against Russia that would just rock the boat. Foreign propaganda campaigns only work if the populace is interested in the narrative.
Then the invasion/SMO happened “anyway” in their eyes and people went: “Maybe the nationalists talking about Russia as an existential threat were right after all”. I called it “knee-jerk” because it’s grounded in little other than “Russia bad, Ukraine good”. This is my explanation for the sudden surge between the 2021 and 2022 polls.
Domestic efforts with support or tolerance from Western governments have engineered the parameters of political debate since 1991, that’s of course undeniable. I’m just a little wary of chalking it all up to Western interference as it makes the average Ukrainian sound like a gullible dupe without agency.