BY JED JALECO DEL ROSARIO
SOME two weeks ago, portions of Ukraine’s Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhia oblasts held referendums to secede from Ukraine and join Russia.
Western media calls these referendums shams, whereas Russia and, from what I can tell, its allies defended their legality.
I’ve seen some polling data that supports validity of the referendums and I’ve seen plenty of arguments that dismiss their validity. The truth, however, is that these referendums don’t matter. Russian power is what forced/allowed these regions to secede from Ukraine and become parts of Russia.
Let’s assume for a moment that the referendums were not a sham, and that there isn’t a war going on. Under a normal, peacetime scenario, Kiev would not have accepted the validity of such referendum, even if the people of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia overwhelmingly voted to leave to join Russia. No sovereign country would do that, democracy be damned. The only reason these oblasts could secede is because of Russian power.
On the other hand, Russia would never have allowed Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhia to vote to stay in Ukraine because that would have rendered the war pointless and the entire situation a farce.
One way or another, Russia annexed Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhia due to its military might. Complimenting that might is a referendum and the illusion of popular will, but behind it all, is Russian power.
In the future, I suspect other countries will use a similar tactic in annexing other countries. If they have enough media finesse, they might even convince other countries that their referendums are honest and that the people they’re annexing want to be annexed.
In any case, Russia has set an important precedent with these referendums. They have chipped away at an important veneer of the world, and used democracy as a weapon against itself./PN
