Behind The Battle For Ukraine Essay Example

[Professor]

PBS Frontline Documentary entitled The Battle for Ukraine presented a first-hand documentation of the civil war in the said country. It documented mostly the atrocities between the two groups fighting for Ukraine’s take-over which are the Nationalist and the Separatist. Although it presented both sides of the war, the Nationalists who want freedom and Separatists who want to renew close ties with Russia; it did not dig deeper on the roots of the civil war. The documentary was presented in a manner that two groups in one country are killing each other in the name of controlling power. The Nationalists want to control the whole of Ukraine to set up a new government properly and the Separatists wanting to take over the Ukraine especially the Eastern part in order to reunite with Russia. The documentary film presented a two fighting powers in a realist manner. In this manner, the conflict will just worsen as it will instil hatred among the Ukrainians whether they are Nationalists or Separatists.
On the other hand, the film can be viewed as a way of the United States that has a direct hand in the conflict to divide the country further. Menon and Marten (2015) in their article entitled Facing a Fragile Ceasefire mentioned that the United States is thinking of arming Ukraine due to the moves of Russia of helping the Eastern Ukraine to fight. The documentary film even added a video clip featuring one of the Separatist saying that they are being paid to fight. And the film concluded that the Separatist movement is paid by Validimir Putin to divide Ukraine and drag the East to Russia. The film did not mention any historical accounts why the Eastern side of Ukraine is longing to be reunited with Russia. It displayed a bias among the rightist movement which is the Nationalist movement which has ties with the US, Europe and even Canada. Roger Annis (2014) mentioned in his article entitled Political Left in Ukraine Facing Huge Challenges as Rightist Government Assumes Office that the Western countries are reinforcing the political rightist groups and conservatives in Ukraine. He started the article telling:
“The governments of the United States, Europe and Canada are working furiously to help consolidate the conservative and rightist government” (Annis, “Left in Ukraine Facing Huge Challenges as Rightist Government Assumes Office”)
Moreover, using the issue of Ukraine sovereignty, the US government is now confronting Russia for its movements in Crimea. In a speech Obama said: “We stand with the international community that there will be costs for any military intervention in Ukraine” (Childress, “Obama’s Choices: Syria and Ukraine”).
Reading articles about the controversies in the battle zone in Ukraine leads to a question of who was the mastermind of the ouster of the former authoritarian president of Ukraine? It go back again to the battle over power between the world’s super powers which are the US and Russia undermining the peoples’ legitimate struggle for self-determination. The legitimate struggle of the nationalist for self-governance with-out ties with Russia and the legitimate struggle to break away in the pursuit for self-determination in the East Ukraine.

Works Cited

PBS. “Frontline: The Battle for Ukraine.” pbs.org, 27 Mar. 2014. Web. 18 Mar. 2015.
Menon, Rajan & Marten, Kimberly. “Facing a Fragile Ceasefire: If the Deal Doesn’t Hold, Don’t Arm Ukraine.” Foreign Affairs, 15 Feb. 2015. Web. 18 Mar. 2015.
Annis, Roger. “Political Left in Ukraine Facing Huge Challenges as Rightist Government Assumes Office.” rabble.ca, 2 Mar. 2014. Web. 18 Mar. 2015.
Childress, Sarah. “Obama’s Choices: Syria and Ukraine.” PBS: Frontline, 27 Mar. 2014.
Stanford. “Political Realism in the International Relations.” Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy, 2 Apr. 2013. Web. 18 Mar. 2015.