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Mar 13, 2015, New Cold War: Ukraine and Beyond
Canada’s minister of immigration and citizenship, Chris Alexander, was one of the featured speakers at a fundraising dinner in Toronto on February 22, 2015 organized by the extreme-right Ukrainian Canadian Congress. The minister delivered a pro-war rant that could easily serve as dialogue in a film sequel to the 1964 doomsday-nuclear war film, ‘Dr. Strangelove’.
Alexander told the audience that “every” military option must be exercised in the process of giving a “comeuppance” to Russian president Vladimir Putin.
“What is going on in eastern Ukraine… really has to do with the incomplete process of ending the existence of the Soviet Union for good. Ending the oppression and ending the Faustian bargain that was made during the Second World War with Stalin’s Soviet Union, for good…
This minister continued, “We have been expecting this. We have been expecting a crisis in Ukraine because there have always been Russians, since 1991—everywhere, and now around Vladimir Putin–who wanted to put humpty dumpty back together, who couldn’t accept that Ukraine could be an independent country. They are a menace to Russia, they are a menace to Ukraine, they are a menace to the whole world.”
Of note in the minister’s speech is the threat to move against RT.com and other news services out of Russia, “which are preaching absolute poison”.
The minister sounded a stirring finale in his speech: “This is going to be a great struggle. We are just at the beginning of this struggle.”
The aggressive tone of the minister was no doubt occasioned by the presence of the principal guest speaker at the dinner–Andriy Parubiy. He is a deputy chairperson of the Ukrainian parliament. He was a founder of an important organization of the extreme right in Ukraine back in 1991, the Social-National Party of Ukraine. The party became a fount of future extreme-right formations, including today’s Svoboda Party.
Parubiy was also a ‘commander’ of the far-right shock troops which seized the leadership of the protest movement called ‘Euromaidan’ in Kyiv in late 2013 and early 2014. The violent actions of the extreme-right on Maidan Square in Kyiv sparked the overthrow of the elected president Viktor Yanukovych and the commencement of the civil war by the new government against the people of eastern Ukraine.
The dinner was attended by several hundred people. Parubiy travelled to Ottawa the next day where he was feted by the Conservative Party government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper. The shock troop commander received a warm welcome from Canada’s minister of foreign affairs, Rob Nicholson, and from many members of Parliament.
Below is a transcript of excerpts of Chris Alexander’s four-minute speech to the Toronto event. His speech can be viewed (beginning at the 10′ mark) as part of a one-hour Ukrainian-language news program, ‘KontaktUkrainian TV2′, published here on You Tube.
The program episode was posted to YouTube more than two weeks ago and has garnered a mere 71 viewers. It includes portions of Andriy Parubiy’s speech to the dinner as well as a nine-minute interview with him.
That event was organized by the Ukrainian Canadian Congress. The same group organized a gala event in Toronto on November 29 to mark the one-year anniversary of the Euromaidan movement. The guest speaker there was Valeriy Chobotar, a leader of the Right Sector brought all the way over from Ukraine.
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Canada’s Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Chris Alexander, speaking to a fundraising dinner in Toronto on February 22, 2015, organized by the Ukrainian Canadian Congress (excerpts):
We know, as you know, that Vladimir Putin is only going to face his comeuppance, that his whole, mad nightmare is only going to come apart at the seams, when the whole world is standing against him, with every option [speaker emphasis] on the table, denouncing his illegal action and standing with Ukraine. With military assistance, and with every other form of assistance.
This is the biggest issue facing the world today, in my view. I think [also] in the view of the prime minister, in the view of my team…
There is absolutely no scenario going into the future that leads to peace and security for this world… that does not include a full international effort to give Ukraine the tools it needs to drive Russian forces from [Ukraine’s] border and to secure its borders for good…
What is going on in eastern Ukraine… really has to do with the incomplete process of ending the existence of the Soviet Union for good. Ending the oppression and ending the Faustian bargain that was made during the Second World War with Stalin’s Soviet Union, for good…
We have been expecting this. We have been expecting a crisis in Ukraine because there have always been Russians, since 1991–everywhere–and now around Vladimir Putin, who wanted to put humpty dumpty back together, who couldn’t accept that Ukraine could be an independent country. They are a menace to Russia, they are a menace to Ukraine, they are a menace to the whole world. We must speak out against this dangerous ideology, which is present in our own city of Toronto. Which is present across Canada. Which comes to us via Russian, state-sponsored channels which are preaching absolute poison…
All of our democracies, all of our democracies, depend on the outcome of this struggle. This is going to be a great struggle. We are just at the beginning of this struggle. When I see groups like this assembled… I know that the future of Ukraine is still bright. I know that the times that bring Canada to Ukraine have never been stronger.
