Novorossiya

"Ukraine must be cleansed of idiots. [Time to effect] genocide [of the] race of bastards."
Alexander Dugin, Russian nationalist

"Nothing threatens America, it's far away. But Eastern European countries will place themselves under the threat of total annihilation."
Vladimikr Zhirinovsky, Russian member of Parliament

Ukrainian troops riding on tank / Reuters/Vasily Fedosenko

The Russian Academy of Sciences has announced the publication of a history of Novorossiya. That would be "New Russia", which they will claim, is not at all a new construct of the Kremlin and Russian President Vladimir Putin making history in presenting their Russian supporters with the gift of yet another new Russian enclave, somewhat akin to South Ossetia and Abkhazia, not so long ago part of Georgia. But neither Georgia nor Ukraine are members of NATO, thus vulnerable to humiliating loss.

The newly published history will trace the origins of Novorossiya back into history, perhaps to Catherine the Great. Maps of Novorossiya are at the present time circulating in Moscow. Some of those maps also include Kharkov and Dnipropetrovsk, cities located hundreds of miles from the fighting in Ukraine. Some of the maps put Novorossiya along the coast, to connect Russia to Crimea and then on to Transnistria, the Russian-occupied province of Moldova.

Clearly, Novorossiya is a movable feast of geography that can vary and spread as the whim takes the Kremlin and the current Stalinist champion of Russian exceptionalism. Of course the state must become a reality, and it will be up to the valiant efforts of the Russian military to make it so. How much of a struggle that will turn out to be will be contingent on how hard Ukraine will be determined to hold on to its historical territory.

Ukraine's President Poroshenko has insisted he will restore Crimea to Ukraine, wresting it back from Russia by some peculiar alchemy of will. That advent seems, on the current evidence of what is occurring, some time distant indeed. The Russian nationalist whose hardline philosophy of a resurgent Russia as of yore has so impressed and shaped the direction that Vladimir Putin has now taken, Alexander Dugin calls for Ukraine to become Russia's total possession.

Vladimir Zhirinovsky, a Russian member of parliament put his position on television in a clarity of vision that there was no point wasting the weapons in Russia's possession when their use could cut short all these preliminaries; Russia could nuclear-bomb Poland as well as the Baltic countries; "dwarf states" as they are, to show the West the power Russia holds within Europe.

Pro-Russian rebels ride on a tank near the village of Berezove, eastern Ukraine, on Sept. 4, 2014, after a clash between pro-government troops and Russian-backed separatist militia. Photographer: Sergei Grits/AP Photo

Ukrainian forces appeared close to their goal of recapturing the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk and in the process crushing the rebellion just a few short weeks ago as the ethnic-Russian rebels faced the potential of being crushed; surrounded, besieged in the two capitals. And then begged Russia for intervention to save their insurgency, and in the process preserve eastern Ukraine for Russia. Thus was born the "humanitarian" 200-truck mission of 'supplies', undercutting Ukraine.

Which was when Vladimir Putin decided to go for broke and deployed a thousand Russian combat troops across the border along with tanks, self-propelled artillery and other undeniably useful armoured vehicles, superior in strength and experience to what Ukraine's military could confront them with. In the process opening another front and distracting Ukraine from their initial purpose of confronting and defeating the rebels, to mount a defence of Mariupol.

The rebel strongholds given relief and a Russian column opening a new front. Forcing President Poroshenko back to the humiliation of negotiating with an enemy who holds all the cards. Resulting in the 14-point ceasefire agreement leaving the ethnic Russians in charge of Donetsk and Luhansk and territory in between with their combined population of 1.5-million Ukrainians. A country that cannot defend its own, is a failed country, and Moscow is pleased to emphasize that.

Along with the unalterable fact that much more has been lost; the surrounding area represents Ukraine's industrial heartland and the country's major coal reserves. Russia insists Ukrainian forces must have no option but to withdraw beyond artillery range of Donetsk and Luhansk. In response the NATO summit wrapped up approving plans to create a rapid response force to counter Russian aggression. That is to say, if a member-country comes under attack by Moscow.

"It sends a clear message to any potential aggressor: Should you even think of attacking one ally, you will be facing the whole alliance", harrumphed Anders Fogh Rasmussen, NATO secretary-general. A NATO military officer thereafter stated that the number of Russian soldiers directly involved in the conflict has expanded to at least 3,000.

And in Mariupol: "I am only for peace. How many people must die on both sides? God, these young people are dying. Brother is fighting against brother. That's not right", moaned Nikolai Mesyats, 55-year-old resident of the city of 500,000 lying between Russia and the Crimean Peninsula.