Tag Archives: Ukraine

DL Opinion columns

Chattanooga’s Helping Hands Reach Ukraine – by Deborah Levine

Originally published in The Chattanooga Times Free Press

My brain was numb even before that White House meeting with Zelensky, Trump and Vance (Z,T, V). My brain cells started to explode days earlier when Trump declared Russia’s invasion was all Ukraine’s fault. And when Trump mentioned World War III, I was suddenly back in the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis when the Cold War almost went nuclear. Thankfully, the Soviet Union dissolved into 15 independent countries, including Ukraine which definitely doesn’t want to be re-colonized by Russia. So, now what? 

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International Podcasts, Ukraine

Ukrainian Podcast: Mayor Yuriy Bova

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Mayor Yuriy Bova Yuriy Bova is Mayor of Trostyanets, a Ukrainian city just 20 miles from the Russian border that endured occupation for a month. Badly damaged in fighting with Russian forces almost two years ago, Trostyanets is one of six settlements being rebuilt in a pilot program to develop the skills and experience needed for a far broader reconstruction drive.

Trostyanets is now in partnership with the City of Chattanooga whose Mayor Tim Kelly formalized a cooperative agreement with the war-torn Ukrainian city. I met Mayor Bova at  a  recent reception celebrating the collaboration with many city leaders and organizations like Sister Cities. 

Hear Mayor Bova discuss through his translator:

  • The history and significance of Trostyanets and the remaining historical monuments
  • Trostyanets’ response to Russia’s large-scale invasion in 2022 and what the Russians did in the city 
  • The process of rebuilding: how it began and its current status
  • The city’s development strategy including sports and tourism industries and attracting new investors to the community

Takeaways:

  • What are current threats from Russia?
  • What are the most important problems requiring solutions now?
  • What will be the benefits of this partnership with Chattanooga and how does your visit benefit your people?

CLICK for podcast interview

Artists, DL Opinion columns

Culture Wars: Can artists win? – by Deborah Levine

Originally published in The Chattanooga Times Free Press   

Why do we now say Kyiv instead of Kiev? It’s because Kyiv is the Ukrainian pronunciation and Russia’s invasion is a culture war.  Their disputes are old-as-dirt and Ukrainian Nikita Khrushchev tried to enable a Ukrainian revival with the transfer of Crimea from Russia. But, Soviet repression went beyond land and sovereignty.

With the USSR dissolution, Ukraine established a new government with its own national anthem in Ukrainian, not Russian. It’s no accident that Putin’s treaty demands include protection for the Russian language. It may seem trivial, but imagine if England suddenly tried to re-establish British control over America and insisted that we revert to British English. If England were like Putin, you might go to jail if you refused to spell “color” as “colour”, the original, British version. Or what about our patriotic song, “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee”? That melody was originally an unofficial national anthem of England. We wouldn’t tolerate going back to its original title: “God Save the Queen”. We’d fight a new War of Independence.

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DL Opinion columns

Don’t Underestimate Putin’s Threat – by Deborah Levine

Originally published in The Chattanooga Times Free Press

Ukrainian-born Comedian Yakov Smirnoff jokingly said Russia’s secret police, the KGB, stood for Kiss Goodbye Your Butt. That was decades before another comedian, Volodymyr Zelensky, became Ukraine’s president. But Zelensky knows there’s nothing funny about Russia’s annexation of the eastern part of his country. Fortunately, we have helped guard against further Russian encroachment. So what was Trump thinking in using our aid as a pawn in this political chess game?

The Russians have never been muted in their aggressive global reach. From Vietnam to Cuba, the United States and the former Soviet Union wrestled in a Cold War. As the Soviet Union, Russian invasions included Poland, Ukraine, Latvia and what became the communist republic of Eastern Germany. A relentless dictatorship from czarist times to the present, the number of people who tried to escape Russian rule are legendary.

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Around the world, Authors A-H, Gender, Social Issues

Ukraine Makes the Headlines, Again – by Dr. Fiona Citkin

I periodically become a target of all-around questioning just because originally—more than 25 years ago—I came to the US from Ukraine as a Fulbright Scholar. Of course, this gives me the leverage to deeper understand what’s going on there, and why. But I do not hold a magic ball that predicts what the future holds in a largely unpredictable country – and even more unpredictable America under the current government. So, let me just answer some of these questions and clarify my positioning. Continue reading Ukraine Makes the Headlines, Again – by Dr. Fiona Citkin →