Weltschau

As the war that Russia launched in late February 2022 to completely invade Ukraine passes its 4.5th year and approaches its 5th, and as Ukraine expands its war beyond its own borders into what could be considered a turning point, spreading it entirely across Russia, the information Zelensky announced on his personal Telegram account in mid-July—that the country would change its strategic vision in political, economic, and military terms, and that a government change would follow—has caused considerable confusion among both experts and citizens. Indeed, while the world was talking about the highly successful cross-border operations of Ukrainian air forces against Russian strategic targets, and especially while the complete paralysis of the Crimean peninsula, the epicenter of the invasion that ignited the 2014 war in Ukraine, had created excitement in many circles, and even predictions heralding the end of the Putin regime in Russia had begun to sprout here and there, what happened that Ukraine suddenly threw its government into disarray, and the young IT guru Mikhail Fedorov, to whom a large share of the military success was attributed in public opinion, was dismissed from his post after a conflict with the Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Oleksandr Syrksky, according to leaked information? Finally, as expected, the young Maidan protesters, Ukraine’s vibrant forces, took to the streets and protested the decision and expressed their support for Fedorov in at least 16 cities, large and small, primarily Kyiv, Lviv, Kharkiv, Odessa, Dnipro, and Zaporizhzhia (Fedorov’s hometown). As if Zelensky had already played a magical role in Fedorov’s entry into politics, he is now going to entrust him with a position within the National Security and Defense Council Secretariat that suits his portfolio (digital transformation, innovation, anti-corruption, etc.). Let’s hope for the best.

However, amidst all that’s happening, there are some things that are a little unsettling and raise suspicions. Ukraine seems to have seized the initiative, but the war is being won on the battlefield, and while rumors are circulating that Russia’s troop shortages are disproportionately high due to casualties, the number of Ukrainian soldiers forced to remain on the front lines without handing over their posts is not negligible. Ukraine has visibly botched its mobilization efforts. The children of the rich and those who pull strings slip away, while the children of the common folk and volunteers rush to their deaths. The grim reality we all know! And 20% of the country is still groaning under occupation. Despite determination, sweeping the invader away is currently beyond reach. The severe damage inflicted must have sounded the alarm bells for sane Russians in positions of some authority, who cast aside their country’s past woven with fake tinsel to focus on its salvageable future. If a change is to come, it will not be brought about by a populace scaring the living daylights out of the old regime, as in 1917, but by the déclassé strata of our time—a ‘revolutionary’ clique whose direction will be set by the upper-middle and middle classes. It seems essential that Russia, which by all valid criteria is the closest candidate for being wiped off the face of the earth among the great powers, quickly establishes a position for itself in the emerging new world order where it can overcome its unfortunate fate.

Crimea has recently been at the center of speculation. While the bait was likely cast by others, the agiotage was fueled and amplified by lone wolves in Turkey who claim to be of Crimean Tatar descent. Unfortunately, their false flag cries for help have found a partial response, at least on social media, among many well-meaning Turkish circles. Naive individuals, unaware of what is really happening, have virtually mobilized to support their Crimean compatriots and co-religionists in their plight. But what was really happening in Crimea? What was the place and role of the Crimean Tatars in all of this? Ukraine has been conducting intense air strikes to isolate Crimea, which has been illegally occupied by Russiasince 2014, turning electricity, water, and fuel into scarce commodities. And both the old and new Russian occupiers are shedding tears of blood in the face of this situation. So what was the role of the Crimean Tatars in all of this? For the Crimean Tatar people, who for centuries have known how to develop adaptation mechanisms against all kinds of hardships, migrations, exiles, imprisonments, and oppression, these Ukrainian moves that are supposedly bringing about freedom are not developments that will provoke rebellion. We don’t think so. Our people have never been one to accept living under subjugation. Yet, a handful of clueless or bought-off contrarians in Turkey, who simply don’t know how good they have it, are marketing to them not this option of freedom, but a future of folklore status under perpetual subjugation. To this end, they are even attempting to manipulate the Turkish government as their pawn. By the way, tell me, where on earth were you, my dear sirs, when your Tatar kinsmen were being abducted and murdered in Crimea, when they were sentenced to decades in prison and exiled thousands of kilometers away, when lawyers were barred from practicing, and when children grew up without fathers??

There is no third way for Crimea. Unless, of course, you are a fool or a sellout.