Abandonment of Ukraine Allows Conflict to Drag On

Clair Wang, Staff Cartoonist

Editors’ note: Yesterday, Russia invaded Ukraine, breaching international law and inciting sanctions from the U.S. In light of the ongoing brutalities, this Editorial Board has chosen to reflect on the moment by reprinting this Opinions piece from 2015. The piece was written after the Russian annexation of Crimea in the wake of the civil war in southern and eastern Ukraine. Especially at this moment, this piece is a poignant reminder of our responsibility in a fractured world.

Sean Para, OC ’16

Mass media has covered little of the conflict in Eastern Ukraine over the past few months. Since the success of February’s Minsk-2 accords, large-scale fighting has abated in Eastern Ukraine. Nonetheless, violence continues. Small numbers of soldiers in both the Ukrainian and rebel armed forces are still dying. Minor firefights break out often, artillery fire is still exchanged — the conflict has not ended. The international community needs to refocus its attention on the civil war in Eastern Ukraine and come together to forge a peaceful resolution that takes into account both Russian and separatist interests. This is the only way the conflict will end.

Civil war erupted in Eastern Ukraine after an uprising in the spring of 2014. The region, known as the Donbass, because it lies in the Donets Basin, is comprised of two industrial oblasts, or provinces, Donetsk and Luhansk. In order to understand this conflict, it is important to realize that the Soviet Union only broke up 24 years ago, and before that, Russia and Ukraine had never been separate countries. The cross-border ethnic, linguistic, economic, and cultural links still run deep. Ukraine has always had a large Russian-speaking population concentrated in the south and east of the country. Many of these Russian speakers are ethnically Russian, while others are Russian-speaking Ukrainians; these divisions are often very blurred, as one might consider themselves Ukrainian, speak only Russian on a daily basis, and have both Russian and Ukrainian ancestry. Before the breakup of the USSR, these divisions had no significant importance; Russians and Ukrainians were “brother peoples.”

Things changed dramatically after the fall of the Soviet Union. Legally speaking, the USSR was succeeded by the Commonwealth of Independent States, a multinational organization that was originally conceived of as a confederation of sorts but only ever held symbolic power among the post-Soviet states. Different post-Soviet states had very different relationships with Russia. Some, like Belarus, Armenia, and Kazakhstan, became and remain Russian satellites, which are integrated militarily, economically, and politically with Russia. Others, like the Baltic States and Georgia, took opposite paths and sought alliances with the West. Then there was a category of states that drifted between the two poles, Ukraine being the most notable and, for our purposes, the most pertinent example. Closely tied to Russia politically and economically, Ukraine nevertheless expressed some desire for alliance with the West and for the creation of a Western-style liberal democracy.

The events of February 2014 were a turning point in the Ukraine-Russia relationship. At the time, Ukraine was being run by a pro-Russian regime headed by Viktor Yanukovych. In November 2013, he scrapped a strategy to make an Association Agreement with the European Union. Instead, Yanukovych accepted a deal from Russia, under which Ukraine would join the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union in exchange for much more financial aid than the EU had offered, as well as less stringent regulations and reform requirements. This anti-EU swing sparked a protest movement in Kiev. The protests increased in size, intensity, and violence in February 2014, when pro-EU protesters occupied Kiev’s main square, the Maidan, prompting pro-government forces to launch a violent crackdown against them. Unable to contain the protests or retake the city center, Yanukovych fled to Russia on Feb. 21. Ukraine’s legislative assembly, the Verkhovna Rada, stripped him of power in an unconstitutional vote, and a new, pro-Western government took power. This was the Maidan revolution of 2014, and its consequences shall cast a shadow over the world for a long time to come.

Events quickly spiraled out of control following the Maidan. The new, pro-U.S. government was weak; it was composed of a broad coalition from student intellectuals to radical right-wing nationalists. Protests against the revolution broke out all over southern and eastern Ukraine, from Odessa to Kharkov. Paramilitaries, who were in fact Russian special forces, took control of Crimea. Crimea largely accepted these “polite green men” and seceded from Ukraine, declaring independence with Russian backing. Crimea was populated mostly by ethnic Russians and had only been part of Ukraine since 1954, when no one could have imagined the Soviet Union would fall apart or that Russia and Ukraine could be separate countries. In March, Crimea voted in a heavily disputed referendum to join Russia. It was the first time a power had seized land by force in Europe since 1945.

The Russian annexation of Crimea, condemned by the international community, also had major implications for Ukraine’s other Russian-speaking regions. These parts of Ukraine looked to Russia as a protector, a mindset bolstered by Russian propaganda that portrayed the new government in Kiev as fascist and bent on the destruction of Russia and Russian-speakers everywhere. Protests in other parts of Ukraine continued. In three major cities in Ukraine’s industrial east — Donetsk, Luhansk and Kharkov — pro-Russian protesters took control of the main government administration buildings and declared “People’s Republics.” While Kharkov was retaken by the central government, rebellion spread across the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. The Ukrainian government then launched an anti-terror operation to retake the rebellious regions. However, the rebels, while not being officially recognized by Russia, received huge amounts of Russian financial and material support, as well as aid from small forces of Russian troops — the “popular defense militias,” as they are known.

The war in the Donbass has had many twists and turns, but in the past eight months it has settled into a stalemate where the rebel republics control many of the region’s main population centers and the Russian border area; Kiev has retained or retaken significant parts of the area as well. This conflict cannot be overlooked. It lies at the nexus of nationalism, sovereignty, capitalism, and communism — many of the great historical themes of the past century have converged in the Donbass. The world needs to turn its attention back to the conflict and bring about a peaceful resolution to the stalemate.

Failure to Adhere to COVID Guidelines Demonstrates Lack of Compassion

Danny Valero

At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, I kept hearing from people that the reason Oberlin had been doing so well with mitigating COVID cases was because Obies cared. They cared about the pandemic, they cared about their neighbors, and they cared about disabled people, low-income people, and people of color.

However, since the beginning of the fall 2021 semester, there have been more masking violations than ever before. Not only that, there have also been people who are vehemently anti-mask, refusing to wear one outside or inside. I have seen anti-maskers engage with increasing hostility with people trying to remind them about COVID-safe practices. However, those who are quieter about their disregard for safety guidelines are just as dangerous. With the rise of the Omicron variant, hospitalizations, deaths, and reports of “long COVID” — a chronic, debilitating illness — have increased. Students who are refusing to wear masks, especially indoors with this highly infectious variant, simply do not care about anything — or anyone — besides their own comfort.

While some of the uptick in COVID cases on campus is attributable to Omicron, the lack of compliance has exacerbated the trend. Just before winter break, as testing became more limited and more people refused to wear their masks, the spread of COVID grew exponentially. This has heavily impacted our disabled and immunocompromised students, who are afraid of contracting this disease from people who refuse to consider their safety. Not only that, but students who have elderly family members or family members with serious illnesses were afraid to return home this past holiday season due to the inconsiderateness of their peers. My own grandmother was recently diagnosed with terminal cancer. Because of this, I have been unable to visit her in her last few months, since my family and I fear that I could spread the virus from Oberlin to her while traveling. If she were to be taken early by COVID when she is already so ill from cancer, my family and I would be even more devastated.

Not to mention, COVID hospitalizations and deaths disproportionately impact low-income individuals and people of color. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Black/ African American, Hispanic/Latino, American Indian, and Alaska Native persons in the United States experience higher rates of COVID-19-related hospitalization and death compared with non-Hispanic White populations.” According to their COVID Data Tracker, at the most recent peak of the pandemic — Jan 8, 2022 — Hispanic communities had 1,186.2 cases per 100,000 people, while white non-Hispanic communities only had 622.1 (which is still an incredibly large number). This trend is again true for the Black and Asian/Pacific Islander communities in this country, which had 978.6 and 943.2 cases per 100,000 people, respectively.

The College has not taken serious action regarding the violations that have occurred. Students who have been reported to the ObieSafe program often do not face any real consequences for endangering others, even after multiple reports. As much as I hate that this system needs to exist in the first place, the lives and health of our students and community members are more important than anti-maskers getting their feelings hurt after talking to an administrator. If you’re upset that someone values disabled lives, and expects the institution to do the same, you’re part of the problem.

It’s become increasingly evident that Obies don’t care. Oberlin students don’t care about the sick, the disabled, or anyone who may be negatively impacted by their selfishness. Obies only care about optics — the optics of being viewed as caring and socially responsible — but they’re not willing to put in the work, even when that work is as simple as wearing a mask.