But Svoboda Party has now become a subject of some attention in Western press. Some pundits are understandably critical. Others are hurriedly explaining why Svoboda is recently gaining popularity among voters.

The explanations carry a spark of truth, and point out that politics in Ukraine are poisoned by kleptocratic, anti-democratic regime of the Regions Party, which plants the seeds for increasingly radical responses. Be it as it may, the list of toxic substances may be actually longer than that.

Nevertheless, Svoboda Party leaders undoubtedly had learned, from earlier experience, that sniping at Jews and Russians by itself leads only to slim pickings.

And, besides radicalism, there is also another, altogether different dimension in Svoboda’s growing popularity. It is a legitimate dimension, and it is filling a void.

The void is where a winning chapter for Ukraine should exist, but has not been written yet. Here is why not:.

During the 20 years of recent independence, except for a brief period of the Orange Revolution, the people of Ukraine have been failing to meet the challenges of the opportunities to establish a viable national democratic state.

There is enough blame to go around. Leaders have stumbled. Traditional indifference and tendency towards disillusionment and finger-pointing took its tall. The oligarchs are the ones who took initiative and shaped what exists today, mostly to their own advantage.

But perhaps the number one stumbling block is an amorphous national identity, as the country is de facto divided between the East and West. To have Ukrainian ethos on one side and pro-Russian flavor on the other is not cohesive. The winning numbers for Ukraine could not be produced in close elections, notably with the election of Viktor Yanukovych as president in 2010.  And there is also a void, a vacuum in between and also somewhere within both parts. .

Whatever Svoboda Party’s shortcomings, its professed patriotism and discipline tend to fill that void to some extent. And it finds acceptance.

Is that party xenophobic in its present form? Or is it now trying to polish its image and stress the positive? There is a version in the theory of relativity suggesting that phobias of all sorts are currently rampant in many parts of the planet, at various levels of intensity, and are often hiding in the shadows of hypocrisy and, yes, democracy.  The ongoing military conflicts and intermittent clashes could not exist without the catalysts and stimulants of racial and religious bigotry that are often not one-sided.  Imperialism and colonialism are alive and well.

In comparison with the big league results and manifestations, such as have been  revealed in places like Abu Graib and elsewhere in the Middle East and in Afghanistan, including well-documented persistent violence against civilians, xenophobia in Ukraine towards minorities doesn’t measure up.
It also takes a back seat to Ukrainophobia shown within the Yanukovych government, or to the openly contemptuous hauteur towards Ukrainian speakers in eastern urban areas that are heavily Russified.

There is never any justification for ethnic or religious intolerance, much less for violence, spectacular or less visible, rationalized or not, in any part of the world.  

If there is willingness on all sides to avoid stereotyping and blaming one ethnic group or another as culprits for the country’s ills, most disputes can be deciphered  without inflammatory accusations and responses in kind.

An op-ed in the Kyiv Post by Bishop Paul Peter Jesep (“Anti-Semitism rise in Ukraine,” Dec. 28, 2012) presented an impartial description of upbraiding statements and comments from Svoboda leader Oleh Tyahnybok and from his critics – although the author also injects his own criticism.

To his credit, he noted that the New York based Anti-Defamation League, which raised concerns about comments made by Svoboda leaders, “needs to fine-tune its approach, coupled with a fuller understanding of Ukrainian history not Russified or marginalized by detractors of the country’s unique culture and language.”

Boris Danik is a retired Ukrainian-American living in North Caldwell, New Jersey.