Russia Minor!?

[fridi]

The term has gone out of use for quite a while. In recent decades it was being seen as a disparaging term used by Russian nationalists and pro-Russian Ukrainian "traitors" who believe Ukraine should be part of neo-imperial Russia.

And now it's being resurrected, and in quite a quasi-official way:

Separatists proclaim a new state to replace all of Ukraine

In comes one Alexander Zakharchenko, leader of the separatist People's Republic of Donetsk, the runaway region in East Ukraine that no one, not even Russia has recognized as a state. His actions in proclaiming the creation of the Republic of Malorussia (Russia Minor) have come as a surprise even to the Kremlin. Naturally, the EU deems it unacceptable, and Kiev is vowing to restore the territorial integrity of Ukraine.

The EU now expects Russia to take a clear and strong stance, and condemn this unilateral act. So far, Putin has remained silent on the issue. The situation is about to explode soon.

As for this Malorussia mongrel, according to its manifesto, it's supposed to be a "multinational federal state with broad autonomy". Russian and Malorussian would be its official languages. If you wondered what this Malorussian language is, well, it's a dialect of Russian, something between Russian and Ukrainian. They'd be using the flag of Bohdan Khmelnytsky. Capital: Donetsk of course. Kiev would be its "historical and cultural center". Sounds good, eh?

Zakharchenko has been more than clear about his intentions. The long-term plan is to create a new state in place of current Ukraine. He insists the only legitimate authority in Ukraine is the one in Donetsk, Luhansk and in Crimea. I.e., the Russian separatists.

All indications suggest that none of this has been coordinated with Moscow, so don't expect the new creation to last long. And it would've been mildly fascinating from a postal stamp point of view, had it not posed such a grave threat of new bloodshed and devastation for Ukraine.

Btw, the leader of the self-proclaimed People's Republic of Luhansk, Igor Plotnitsky has not reacted to these developments, either. The only news from that direction came when the chairman of the local separatist "people's council" stated that no official envoys have been sent from Luhansk to Donetsk, and no one had been informed, or had ever really discussed the possible creation of a state called Malorussia. So it's a pretty unilateral move indeed.

Ukrainian president Poroshenko is promising to restore Ukrainian authority over East Ukraine no matter what. Which can only mean one thing.

Comments

[policraticus]

How is this different than Transnistria, Abkhazia or South Ossetia?

This seems like Russia SOP, to me.

If the EU and the US aren't willing to back the Ukrainians in their fight with weapons and training, then this is a dead letter issue. The parts of the Ukraine that the Russians have the best ethnic claim on are effectively annexed to Greater Russia. The best the Ukrainians can hope for is maintaining as much of the rest of their territory as possible.

[halialkers]

There's no pretense that any of this is in Asia, not Europe, it's the only difference.

[policraticus]

Do people pretend Transnistria is in Asia?

I think that, to most Americans and Western Europeans, Ukraine is sufficiently "other" that caring about them is only optional. Everyone remembers John Paul II and may have listened to Chopin, so Poland is OK. Almost no one has read Gogol and most would locate Bessarabia somewhere East of Yemen.

[halialkers]

No but the Russians haven't exactly put soldiers there either, have they?

[policraticus]

Umm... yeah, they have. Its been about 20 years now.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/14th_Army_involvement_in_Transnistria

[johnny9fingers]

There's the thing about Uncle Vlad in this room, and he don't need no heffalumps.

The division of Ukraine is a done deal. Obfuscation, then consolidation. We're in the consolidating phase now. That land grab has been made. Syria is bubbling along nicely, and the renewal of the close diplomatic arrangements with Iran are all sorted.

He's a fucking Maestro. And geopolitics is his orchestra. Spotting the weak point and deploying and directing the right tools to exploit it: be they a thousand trolls in a web-factory to sway an election, or military assistance where required. He even patched up the Erdogan/Turkey thing. And China are happy to meet him.

Jeez.

Haven't the rest of you worked out yet that you're completely outclassed? For all Russia's observable weaknesses, they are screwing us over completely in applied intelligence. And this is what our cut-price education systems and our disinclination to pay taxes lead us to.

[edit] Here's hoping hubris will unmake his genius, else our best hope is that he has a nemesis.

[oportet]

It's not over yet. Wait until we pull out #FreeUkraine #RussiaIsBad #IStandWithUkraine... Vlady will be sorry he ever tried this.

[asthfghl]

DQ.

[halialkers]

Catherine the Great would approve of the methods here. I expect Russia Minor will soon petition out of 'free will' to be annexed into Russia, which will be equally surprising in the Kremlin and quickly added, securing the Donbas and the Crimea at a stroke.

To put it brutally as well, in treating Turkish airspace like the star of a Brazzer's production to zero accountability and getting his satellites to attack Turkey conventionally with zero accountability and NATO only showing up when the war attacks Paris directly, he's killed NATO as a practical force and it's just going through the motions. And he also has seen that thanks to the USA being distinctly unlikely to actually be hostile to him under this President and how completely and utterly useless the rest of NATO is with everything except its nuclear arsenal he has no reason to fear military threats and he, at least, doesn't care about what it takes to end-run the sanctions.

Russia will, of course, in the long and medium terms, but that's not his problem.

The USA rigged European militaries to rely on it taking a predominant role and it's back to the 1920s with the USA refusing to take it and the Russians deciding basically 'nice social order you got there, I'm-a smash it.' And there essentially is no means to actually redress Russia's gains or the first genuine steps to reconstructing Russia west of the 1991 borders.

I claim everything!

[tcpip]

I confess that I have had a bit of sympathy for those people in Donetsk, Luhansk, and Crimea who would prefer to be part of Russia rather than the Ukraine and previously have advocated UN-sponsored referendum in such areas to determine the degree that such a desire is real.

But claiming all of Ukraine is just comical. Clearly partially to attract attention and partially to encourage Russia to step in on an even greater level than they currently are doing.

However, Alexander Zakharchenko is also obviously a small minded person. Why stop at Ukraine? I take this opportunity to hereby declare the entire universe is under my (obviously benevolent) rule.

I am the centre of then universe
The wind of time is blowing through me
And it's all moving relative to me
It's all a figment of my mind
In a world that I've designed
I'm charged with cosmic energy
Has the world gone mad or is it me?

[asthfghl]

Malorussia sounds like a nice name for Russia without the Far Rast, Siberia, Karelia and Caucasia...

At first, the inhabitants of the Putler-occupied parts of Ukraine insisted on naming themselves Novorussians. Then, Russians. Then, Donbass ethnos. Then, The Two Peoples of the Two People's Republics of the Donbass. And now, Malorussians.

I wonder what's next. Hobbits perhaps? Smurfs? Teletubbies? Pokemons?

The main administrative division in Malorussia will be one Microrussia, which in turn will be divided into several Nanorussias, and a few Matryoshkas. Doubtless, that would settle the matter once and for all, including at a quantum level as well. Because there's a lot of quantum in Malorussia: it simultaneously exists (mostly in the minds of some crackpots), and it doesn't (in the real world).

[fridi]

Win.