Western leaders once told Ukrainians that freedom is not the same as independence. This was true, but they failed to point out that without independence there can be no freedom.
From: Kyiv Post By Charles Cockell
In those febrile days of August 1991 when the hard-line communists made their attempt to oust Mikhail Gorbachev and re-impose the Soviet order, Ukraine shuddered. Many of her most vocal freedom-loving politicians, scientists, and artists had already shown their cards.
Seeing the cracks appear in the socialist edifice, they had stridden out into the light and now there was every chance that the brief glimmer of sunshine would be extinguished with horrendous personal consequences.
It was not to be. The conservative coup failed on Aug. 22 and before another attempt could materialize, Ukraine grabbed its chance and declared independence on Aug. 24. In December that year, it would be ratified by an overwhelming majority of the Ukrainian population.
Western leaders at that time remained terrified of a disintegrating Soviet Union leading to mayhem, even rogue nuclear weapons. Uppermost in their thoughts, they did not want to be seen to be aiding and encouraging the end of the Soviet empire for fear that this apparent internal meddling would be interpreted as a direct attack on the Soviet Union itself.
It was within that hesitation, a diffidence which Ukraine has lamentably had to bear to the present day, that Western leaders did their best to distance themselves from independence.
On Aug. 1, 1991, US President George Bush spoke to the Supreme Soviet of the Ukrainian SSR in Kyiv, and it is worth revisiting some of his words.
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