Ukraine – 4/29/2023 Sitrep
By: Robert Homans & Bohdan Chomiak
April 29, 2023
“The art of decolonization - How Eastern European art became the latest battlefront in countering Russian imperialism”/Meduza IO
The latest Russian invasion of Ukraine has opened a discussion about the extent to which Eastern European cultural traditions, including Ukraine as being very distinct from Russia, has been polluted by the effects of Russian imperialism. We have spoken about the war between the 2 armies, and the War of the Churches, but there is also a 3rd war, that essentially involves putting Eastern European (Ukraine as an integral part of Eastern Europe) cultural traditions as distinct from Russia, and the extent of Russian cultural imperialism.
The 3rd War is also being contested inside Western educational institutions, most significantly the campaign to make Ukrainian studies distinct from Russian studies and, more significantly, Soviet studies and Imperial Russian studies.
While focusing on art, this article illustrates the dynamics of the 3rd War. The article frames “decolonization as, “Russia’s dominion over Eastern Europe — first as the Russian Empire and later as the Soviet Union — ushered in many of the same colonial practices as Western European empires: the suppression of local languages, the persecution of the local intelligentsia, and education reforms that prioritized the metropol’s view of culture and history. Schoolbooks, cultural institutions, and academies lauded the achievements of Russian art and literature, which were promoted and positioned as superior to their local counterparts.”
As Alla Myzelev, a Ukrainian-born academic and Associate Professor of Art History at SUNY Geneseo. “In the context of Eastern Europe, decolonization is removing the idea that everything revolves around Russia and the Russian Federation.”
As the article states, “it wasn’t until Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine that the topic of Russian colonialism converged with broader conversations about decolonization, but it catapulted into the public consciousness quickly.”
“ “Previously, decolonization was one of the issues that we would come across as historians of Eastern Europe but didn't quite know where our place [was],” says Marta Zboralska, a Departmental Lecturer in Art History at Oxford University.”
Two Western museums, The National Gallery in Great Britain, and the Metropolitan Museum in New York, have re-named paintings by French impressionist Edgar Degas, to reflect that the painting depicted Ukrainian dancers. The Metropolitan Museum has changed the nationalities of 3 artists, Ivan Aivazovsky, Arkhyp Kuindzhi, and Ilya Repin. The most controversial of the 3 is Aivazovsky.
In the United States Serhii Plokhii of Harvard and Timothy Snyder of Yale are leaders in an effort to make Ukrainian Studies an educational discipline distinct from Russian Studies, Soviet Studies or Imperial Russian Studies. Lectures of Snyder’s recent course on Ukraine at Yale is available on YouTube and has been downloaded thousands of times. The Harvard-Ukraine Research Institute, which Plokhii heads, has become a major resource in Ukrainian Studies. Plokhii’s book, “The Gates of Europe,” is a must read for anyone who wants to understand Ukrainian History and why and how its distinct from the history of Russia.
Aivazovsky
Aivazovsky, along with Winslow Homer are, arguably the 2 greatest painters of seascapes. In December 2008, I had the pleasure of visiting the Aivazovsky Museum in Feodosia, Crimea, Ukraine. His painting of 1812 Moscow Fire, part of Russia’s effort to stop the advance of Napoleon I into Russia, is now becoming a favorite painting among Ukrainians.
There is controversy over the decision by the Metropolitan Museum to label Aivazovsky as being Ukrainian. This article, entitled “The Met Shouldn’t Have Reclassified Ivan Aivazovsky as “Ukrainian,” describes Aivazovsky’s background. “Does the fact that Aivazovsky was born in Feodosia, a port on the Black Sea in the peninsula of Crimea where he was mostly based throughout his life, make him Ukrainian? The fact that he was baptized as Hovhannes Aivazian in the Armenian Apostolic Church St. Sargis of Feodosia and buried in the same church 83 years later, along with his strong identification with the Armenian people, should already tell us something about his identity. He did not belong to the Ukrainian Church and did not speak Ukrainian. His birthplace was part of the Crimean Khanate (1443–1783), a vassal to the Ottoman Empire that was later under the control of the Russian Empire until 1917, nearly two decades after Aivazosvky’s death, and part of the Russian Soviet Socialist Republic until 1954.”
Other than living in Crimea, but long before Crimea became part of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic and, later, an independent Ukraine, perhaps Aivazovsky’s only important connection to Ukraine, and Ukrainians, was when he and Taras Shevchenko, Ukraine’s poet laurate, competed for the attention of the same girl, when both were students at the Imperial Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg. Aivazovsky “won,” largely because he invited the lucky lady to accompany him on a painting trip to Italy. This story was told to me by the curator of the Aivazovsky Museum, in a response to a question that I asked her – did Shevchenko and Aivazovsky know each other at the Imperial Academy? She was very impressed that I asked the question.
Aivazovsky’s nationality is a small example of the many conflicts that make up the 3rd War.
“Patriotic Ukrainians are rushing to pay their taxes”/The “Economist”
There is a debate going on, whether Ukraine will really change after it defeats Russia. This article, describing the significant but surprising increase in tax revenues, may suggest that the answer is “Yes.”
Prior to the start of Russia’s latest invasion, approximately 35% of Ukraine’s GDP was estimated to be in the “Gray Economy.” If the willingness to pay taxes results in a meaningful decrease in the Gray Economy, this would have a profound effect on Ukraine’s economy and budget going forward, especially as a result of decentralization where 50% of Ukraine’s collections are reverted back to the localities.
It would also have a substantial positive effect on graft. Ukraine has a Tax University, located in Irpin one of the cities devastated by the Russian invasion. Prior to the war, even though it is a State university to enter the tax university one had to pay “tuition” of $5,000. Students were told that they would be able to get back their “tuition” in less than 1 year, as a result the bribes that businesses would have to pay to avoid being shut down as a result of a tax audit.
The most astounding part of this article was that Ukraine is continuing to receive tax payments from businesses located within temporarily occupied territories. As the article states, “Perhaps most astonishingly, the State Tax Service of Ukraine continues to receive payments, through its online portal, from occupied territories (albeit not from Crimea, where Russia’s grip is strongest). For people in such areas, the pressure to pay Russian taxes is enormous, says Mr Marchenko, Ukraine’s finance minister. Lots of local businesses must also grease the palms of Russian commanders and militias to get permission to keep operating. Even so, last year 2.3m individuals and organisations in occupied areas paid $9.5bn in taxes to Ukraine. They are braving the risk of retribution from Russian “punishers”, who have a fondness for brutality.”
News From the Battlefield
“Reporting From Ukraine” focuses on Ukraine’s success in combatting Russian air strikes around Bakhmut. An overriding question is how this success, combined with Ukraine’s continuing success in shooting down Russian cruise missiles and drones, would translate itself it achieving adequate air cover for the planned Ukrainian counterattack.
At around 2:30 into his video, the “Latest Denys” describes how U.S. intelligence aircraft are supplying targeting information to Ukrainian anti-aircraft systems. Note that the plane, flying over the Black Sea, is manned. I wonder if this means that NATO, after an unmanned drone was damaged by a Russian fighter and fell into the Black Sea, is no longer using unmanned drones to collect intelligence over the Black Sea, effectively daring Russia to try to shoot down one of their manned aircraft that are having such a profound effect on Ukraine’s ability to shoot down a vast majority of Russian drones and cruise missiles..
Sevastopol Refinery Fire – Took place early Saturday morning and was likely the result of a strike by one, or more, Ukrainian drones. Depending on the extent of the fire, this could have an impact on fueling sources for the Russian Black Sea Fleet.
4/28/2023 Sitrep
The result of my partner being interrupted by a Russian missile and drone attack that took place early yesterday morning, April 28th, 2023 –
Russian Invasion of Ukraine 12:00 noon April 27 to 12:00 noon April 28, 2023
Abbreviations:
RMA = Regional Military Administration SBU = Security Service of Ukraine
RASHISTS = russian Facists/all russian invaders
INTERNATIONAL
Thursday April 27
NATIONAL
Thursday April 27
Mordor - russia
Thursday April 27
KHARKIV
Thursday April 27
DONETSK
Thursday April 27
ZAPORIZHIA
Thursday April 27
DNIPRO
Thursday April 27
KHERSON
Wednesday April 26
MYKOLAIV
Thursday April 27
SUMY
Thursday April 27
CHERKASY
Thursday April 27
POLTAVA
Thursday April 27
Comparing Soviet invasion of Afghanistan to Russian invasion of Ukraine using Wikipedia and Ukraine Ministry of Defense Daily Bulletins. Soviet and Russian military losses not including captured equipment.
SOURCES
https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/
https://espreso.tv/
https://cutt.ly/Blyskavka