In viral news, Estonian foreign minister, Urmas Paet, was caught on tape telling Lady Ashton, the EU foreign affairs minister, “There is now [a] stronger and stronger understanding that behind the snipers, it was not Yanukovich, but it was somebody from the new coalition." Ashton replies, "Gosh."
The remark was seized by opponents of the usurper regime in Kiev as further proof of a conspiracy to bring the Ukraine into the fold of Western hegemony. But that is not the real story behind the taped conversation. Or, put another way, proof of a hegemonic conspiracy came from Lady Ashton herself.
During the conversation, Ashton talked at length about her discussions with various protest leaders and members of various civic associations. She told Paet that, in these discussions, she discussed the financial and technical help that the West could offer Ukraine in "changing" its "political economy." According to Ashton, the West has had experience and success in bringing about these changes in other former Eastern Bloc countries. The same assistance and investment could be forthcoming to the Ukraine but none of it would materialize unless the West had someone to "partner" with. It was therefore, said Ashton, essential that there be a responsible government in Kiev for the West to deal with.
What was astonishing about Ashton's remarks was her conviction and sweetness of tone in the way she said these things as if it were the most obvious and natural thing in the world. It was quite clear that an alternative political economy -- one which did not involve debt servitude to the I.M.F. or penetration by foreign investors -- was simply not in Ashton's conceptual cosmos. But of course, we assume you want to be our vassals! What else?
Ashton's sweetness and light was simply the Fetish of the Commodity on a global scale. The West is absolutely and zealously certain of its Mission in Plunder and that history is on its side. Unfortunately too many Ukrainians are eager to crawl into the box
©Barbo 2014
During the conversation, Ashton talked at length about her discussions with various protest leaders and members of various civic associations. She told Paet that, in these discussions, she discussed the financial and technical help that the West could offer Ukraine in "changing" its "political economy." According to Ashton, the West has had experience and success in bringing about these changes in other former Eastern Bloc countries. The same assistance and investment could be forthcoming to the Ukraine but none of it would materialize unless the West had someone to "partner" with. It was therefore, said Ashton, essential that there be a responsible government in Kiev for the West to deal with.
What was astonishing about Ashton's remarks was her conviction and sweetness of tone in the way she said these things as if it were the most obvious and natural thing in the world. It was quite clear that an alternative political economy -- one which did not involve debt servitude to the I.M.F. or penetration by foreign investors -- was simply not in Ashton's conceptual cosmos. But of course, we assume you want to be our vassals! What else?
Ashton's sweetness and light was simply the Fetish of the Commodity on a global scale. The West is absolutely and zealously certain of its Mission in Plunder and that history is on its side. Unfortunately too many Ukrainians are eager to crawl into the box
©Barbo 2014
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