As readers of the Kyiv Post no doubt know, on the eve of his Sept. 21-24 visit to New York, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych penned an open letter to the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America, in which he appealed for cooperation with the Ukrainian diaspora. The diaspora in general and the UCCA in particular responded by snubbing him–not only refusing to meet with the president, but also organizing a demonstration against him.
Foreign Minister Kostyantyn Hryshchenko then criticized the diaspora for living according to old stereotypes and for not living in Ukraine–implying that they’re just a bunch of old fogies and turncoats.
If supporting Ukrainian language, culture, and identity is old-fashioned, and if supporting democracy is treacherous–then so be it. But what’s perfectly clear, and far more important, is that Yanukovych and Co. failed to do their elementary homework.
As even a junior diplomat from a minor country can tell you, the first rule of diplomacy is: never go public with something unless you are absolutely certain of success. Yanukovych and his advisors should have known that the Ukrainian diaspora is hostile toward his administration for two non-negotiable reasons: his policies are anti-Ukrainian and anti-democratic.
Even a casual stroll through the Ukrainian neighborhood in New York would have led Yanukovych’s minions to realize that the diaspora will not budge on these two issues. Any Ukrainian-American could have told him that. Heck, I could have told him that, if he’s genuinely serious about enlisting the diaspora’s support, Minister of Education and Science Dmytro Tabachnik and Head of the Security Service Valeriy Khoroshkovsky have got to go.
What Yanukovych’s latest faux pas means–and make no mistake about it: to be turned down by some diaspora organization is the ultimate diplomatic failure–is that Yanukovych’s people have no clue about Ukrainians living abroad. And that means that both Hryshchenko and Khoroshkovsky failed to do their jobs: after all, it’s the job of diplomats and spies to know what foreigners are thinking about. (This may explain Hryshchenko’s intemperate comments about the diaspora: he knows he flubbed and probably should be sacked.)
Worse, they could’ve found out so easily. All they had to do was hang out with Ukrainian-Americans at some local New York bar or pick up a copy of The Ukrainian Weekly. Evidently, they didn’t even do that. Couldn’t they afford a subway ride downtown? Don’t they speak Ukrainian or English? Or did they just assume that, when the boss of Donetsk expresses a wish, everyone will naturally interpret it as a command and jump to attention?
But forget the diaspora. The real meaning of Yanukovych’s unprofessionalism is this. If Yanukovych’s team of proFFesionals is so unprofessional when it comes to something as minor as relations with the diaspora, one can begin to imagine how utterly outclassed they must have been while negotiating fleets, pipelines, and energy with the Russians, free trade zones and visa-free travel with the Europeans, or trade and investment with the Chinese.
Those guys are pros, and they know what they’re doing. Yanukovych and his friends clearly are not and do not. One can just imagine how Russian, European, and Chinese diplomats must be running circles around Yanukovych’s band of amateurs. Small wonder that Moscow was able to sucker Kyiv into extending the Russian Black Sea Fleet’s basing rights in the Crimea for nothing.
As W.C. Fields put it, “Never give a sucker an even break.” And Yanukovych’s proFFesionals are acting like, alas, suckers.
Psst, Viktor: ya wanna buy the Brooklyn Bridge?
Alexander J. Motyl is professor of political science at Rutgers University. He can be reached at [email protected]
