Purging the Purged: Solzhenitsyn, Ukraine, and the West

Nina Byzantina

Alexander Solzhenitsyn is one of the best-known Soviet dissidents, so much so that he earned the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1970. His Gulag Archipelago, written in the 1950s-60s, and One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich from 1962—both about the Stalin-era labor-camp system—are his most famous works outside of Russia. Yet after the collapse of the USSR, it became increasingly clear that much of his foreign support was not inspired by the Western ideal of ‘human rights’ or concern for average Russians, but served as a tool of geopolitics instead.

His statements about resurgent Russia, particularly in the last years before his death in 2008–well into the era of Putin’s leadership–did not suit those that would rather have the country in the permanently weak state of ‘freedom’ and ‘democracy’ of the 1990s, so that its resources could continue being plundered by domestic oligarchs and foreigners alike, while its culture–transformed into…

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Canada’s Ukrainian Obsession

SLAVYANGRAD.org

Canadian Defence Minister, Jason Kenney, announcing that Canadian troops will be sent to Ukraine. / by Adrian Wyld, The Canadian Press

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Preamble: On the heels of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra’s fiasco in attempting to silence the music of a brilliant pianist Valentina Lisitsa for her outspoken position on the war in Ukraine, Lysiane Gagnon, a renowned Canadian journalist and a long-standing correspondent of the Montreal publication La Presse and the Globe and Mail, tackles yet another serious issue for Canada—whether or not to put boots on the ground in Ukraine. For Ms Gagnon, the answer is clear: “Stephen Harper’s Ukrainian obsession is a dangerous little game.” She concludes that it is Harper, not Putin who must get out of Ukraine. In Montreal, one of the centres of Western Ukrainian diaspora in Canada, this position is a bold one, notwithstanding the Québecers’ long-standing dissatisfaction with the Canadian Prime Minister. Do Ms Gagnon’s forthright condemnation of Canada’s meddling in Ukraine and the…

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Oles Buzina: His Open Letter to the US Ambassador in Kiev

SLAVYANGRAD.org

During the Maidan uprising, the now murdered journalist, historian and writer, Oles Buzina, wrote an open Letter to Geoffrey Pyatt, the Ambassador at the US Embassy in Kiev. It was published January 23, 2014, one month before the coup d’état on Buzina’s Blog on the Ukrainian news site segodnya.ua

Edited by @GBabeuf

Oles Busina: His Open Letter to the US Ambassador in Kiev

Mr. Pyatt, I appeal to you as a recognised and well-known Ukrainian writer, who never asked for and never took any grants [money –ed.] from your country. This letter comes from my own initiative, there are no political parties or oligarchic groups behind it. However, I am sure my opinion coincides with the thoughts of many Ukrainian citizens whom you blatantly ignore.

The other day, when unrest on Maidan Square reached its peak, the media reported that a representative of the U.S. National Security Council, Kathleen Hayden, demanded…

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10 Reasons Ukraine is Dead

Murder of Oles Buzina— a campaign of intimidation by NATO?

SLAVYANGRAD.org

Original: Убийство Бузины – акция устрашения НАТО
Translated by Valentina Lisitsa / Edited by @GBabeuf

Having considered some of the circumstances of the death of Oles Buzina, we are leaning towards the conclusion that his murder is one element in a bloody campaign unleashed by NATO with the aim of intimidating dissenters in Ukraine. Yet another victim of this campaign—Oleg Kalashnikov.

Judge for yourself:

The Ukrainian website “Mirotvorets” [The Peacekeeper] publishes personal information of “separatists”, “partisans of the Russian Universe” and other enemies of the Kiev regime. On April 13, 2015, a user named “404” published on this website all personal information on Oleg Kalashnikov:

https://psb4ukr.org/criminal/kalashnikov-oleg-ivanovich/   [Screenshot S1 – Translation see on bottom of page]

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The Toronto Symphony Orchestra Silences Valentina Lisitsa’s Music

SLAVYANGRAD.org

It is no secret that nowadays many alternative media activists face appalling state-sponsored censorship in many nominally free and democratic Western countries. Now it seems that such censorship has penetrated much deeper than we have come to expect. Art itself, the truest form of free expression, is being silenced.

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Valentina Lisitsa is a brilliant musician, a famous virtuoso pianist, also known for publicly expressing her opinion on the Ukrainian conflict through her Twitter account. She is a good friend of the Slavyangrad Team and has kindly translated a number of articles for our publication. Her views are always insightful and she has never made them a secret. We are lucky to have Valentina’s first-hand account about dealings with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra (“TSO”), which has decided to cancel her concert because of her political opinions. The TSO’s decision to silence Valentina’s music because she has exercised her inviolable right to express her beliefs is a message to all artists that the…

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