Brussels, June 8 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych and his team are using the rhetoric of the Cold War times by using the term “bloc” in a draft law on principles of domestic and foreign policy, which foresees a nonaligned status for Ukraine, according to Associate Director for Russia and Eurasia at the Center for American Progress Samuel Charap.
Politicians use no more this term in current conditions on the international arena, Charap told Interfax-Ukraine, while commenting on the voting at first reading for the relevant draft law.
"In the West even the word ‘bloc’ causes embarrassment, especially among the current generation of politicians, including for example, U.S. President Barack Obama. This is a term from Cold War times, and since the Berlin Wall fell the notion of ‘bloc’ has not been used among those who are involved in international politics, at least in the West," he said.
Charap noted, as an example, the policy of open doors of the North Atlantic Treaty, which "can’t be combined with the notion of blocs."
When asked about the reaction of Washington regarding reports on voting at first reading of the draft law, the expert said that "those, who resolve these problems, are concerned, and they are right to be, not about this law, but about the domestic problems in Ukraine." Among such problems Charep named the appearance of censorship, the situation with the university in Lviv, changes in the judicial system, and other matters.
