THE UKRAINE IS A SPLIT NATION...YET STRANGELY UNITED.
HISTORICALLY, THE WEST HALF OF UKRAINE BELONGED TO POLAND (OR AUSTRIA AFTER THE PARTITIONS OF POLAND IN THE 18TH CENTURY)...
AND EASTERN HALF TO RUSSIA... WITH A SMALL PART (CRIMEA) UNDER TURK CONTROL.
UKRAINE IS SPLIT BETWEEN EASTERN ORTHODOXY AND WESTERN ROMAN CATHOLICISM...
THE UKRAINIAN LANGUAGE IS EAST SLAVIC IN ORIGIN...LIKE RUSSIAN AND BELORUSSIAN...
CULTURALLY, UKRAINE HAS BEEN "LITTLE RUSSIA" IN MORE WAYS THAN ONE...FOR A LONG TIME.
MANY UKRAINIAN INTELLECTUALS AND WRITERS "RUSSIFIED" THEMSELVES... IF THEY "MADE IT" IN ST. PETERSBURG SOCIETY...GOGOL BEING THE GREATEST OF THEM.
BUT THE WESTERN UKRAINIANS ARE A DIFFERENT BREED...
FOR THEM THE "INVENTED" NATIONALISMS OF THE 19TH CENTURY WERE REALITY...AND THEY HATED THE POLES...WHO WERE THEIR 'LANDLORDS'...EVEN AFTER THE PARTITION OF POLAND.
WESTERN UKRAINE...OFTEN CALLED "GALACIA" WAS UNDER BENIGN HABSBERG DYNASTY RULE, SINCE THE FINAL PARTITION OF POLAND IN THE 1770'S...
SO GALACIANS ARE SOMEWHAT DIFFERENT FROM KIEVAN UKRAINIANS...
THEIR GALACIAN RELIGION IS A "BLEND" OF CATHOLIC AND ORTHODOX..."GREEK CATHOTLICS" OR "UNIATES" AS THEY ARE CALLED...
NOW ONLY A SMALL, BUT POWERFUL, GROUP OF GALACIAN ULTRA-NATIONALISTS IN KIEV WANT TO BRING UKRAINE CLOSER TO THE WEST... THESE ARE THE PRO-NATO UKRAINIANS...
BUT THE REAL SOLUTION WOULD BE TO BRING RUSSIA INTO THE WESTERN ALLIANCE...
AND FINALLY BREAK THE ODD SELF IMPOSED ISOLATIONISM THAT RUSSIANS HAVE PUT ON THEMSELVES... FROM THE BAD OLD DAYS OF CZARIST AUTOCRACY, ORTHODOXY AND NATIONALISM...
CONSIDERING HOW "DIVERSE" EUROLAND ...AND EVEN ENGLAND IS NOW...
ALLOWING THE RUSSIANS "OUT OF THE COLD" AND INTO THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITY MIGHT BE THE BEST THING TO HAPPEN IN 2009, UNDER THE NEW OBAMA ADMINISTRATION...
