Dear Sir,
Nearly 100 years ago, a Ukrainian classic writer noted acerbically that the liberalism of Russian liberals ends at the Ukrainian border.
So, I was not greatly surprised by m-me Stoliarova’s piece (TOL, 31.07.2014) but I still wonder why reputable TOL publishes this kind of unscrupulous propaganda, an odd mixture of lies and half-truths.
The list of m-me Stoliarova’s distortions and manipulations would be just too long, so I would rather spare your (and my own) time with all the BS about ethnic Russians allegedly “victimized by rampant(!) Ukrainian nationalism”, and alike.
But one point is especially outrageous – implicating “the Ukrainians government’s responsibility for using serious military force against civilians”.
Sorry, Sir, but Ukrainian soldiers suffer huge casualties primarily because they try to minimize casualties among civilians (just compare Putin’s operation in Chechnia!) – and it’s really morally irresponsible to blame them rather than Putin-paid-and-armed bandits for that.
I’m afraid, in this particular case, TOL’s pluralism is too broad, or blind, dangerously bordering unfairness and partisanship.
Still, I hope your standards would not be further undermined by this type of publications.
With best wishes,
Mykola Riabchuk,
a journalist and former TOL contributor