Ukraine: Order is the basic and necessary component of liberty. No one sane claims that the Arab dictators or President Yanukovych were ideal. But prudence dictates that violent revolutions not only are not ideal; they are the definition of tyranny. Violent revolution is the ultimate unraveling on all limits to the evils of human nature in a political community. Where ever violent revolution takes place, there sorrow and bloodshed follows

The Case Against the Revolution

by Peter Strzelecki Rieth

“Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych was a criminal and a crook, like Saddam Hussein!” blared the reporter on the television screen as I ate my chicken soup and tried to remain sane. This was a business program on a Polish public television network, but it didn’t sound like business news was on today’s agenda. “He had a big house and his two sons were millionaires who owned lots of cars!” I tried not to look at the screen, but couldn’t help it. I gleaned a few vintage, pre-war Fords. “Like Saddam Hussein, Gaddafi and the former President of Tunisia, Yanukovych prospered while his nation suffered grinding poverty!” I wondered whether it was a coincidence that Ukraine’s President was suddenly put in the company of men killed by American invasion or American-inspired bloody revolution in the Arab world?

The reporter droned on and on, citing an anti-Yanukovych opposition website as his source. “Ukraine is on the verge of bankruptcy, its government in debt and its people poor, but Yanukovych lived in luxury! Look at this chandelier!” No mention was made that due to the fact that the opposition parties violated the agreement brokered by Poland and Germany by illegally deposing the Ukrainian President, Russia stopped previously deferred payments of financial assistance meant to help save Ukraine from bankruptcy—money that Poland and Germany do not have and would not pay. As pictures of Yanukovych’s house flashed on the screen, I thought of the Barbara Walters interview with Ronald Reagan at his sprawling ranch. I thought of President Clinton’s lucrative post-presidential career. I thought of Tony Blair and Gherhard Shroedder’s fortunes. I thought of the posh butler I saw walking around the Polish Ministry of Defense inquiring whether anyone would like a bottle of water brought to him on a tray. I reminded myself that Western leaders have money and estates as well and one needn’t look far in the West to find vast wealth inequality.

This “business” program I happened to be watching, I knew—in my gut—was the definition of Psy-Ops. It was black propaganda. Its aim was not to convince me that Ukraine’s former President was a corrupt man; its aim was to deaden my moral conscience, to fill me with the darkest of emotions—to make sure that when Yanukovych was caught and hung by the revolution, when the revolution caught up with and shot his sons in the head; I would stand with the sheep as if in 1984, yelling “Death to Goldstein!” and telling myself that the evil Yanukovych and his evil sons got the justice they deserved. I could not believe that the content of this television report was written by Poles. It was too familiar, too obvious; it had to be written for them.

..........................

Read more: www.theimaginativeconservative.org