Heavy Fighting in South Ossetia

[Adrian II]

I didn't find anything about nuclear weapons in this poll.

I now that recent Ukrainian polls have all indicated a small majority for opponents of Nato membership. But elections are more important than polls and in the last presidential election the pro-Nato candidate was victorious.

Neither of us should entertain illusions about Ukrainian democracy. It is still developing, and both the U.S. and Russia have exerted huge pressure on the country's leaders and public opinion, the Russians crudely, the Amnericans more subtly, but both have been effective in setting agenda's and influencing choices. Now my point is that I am convinced that pro-Nato views will carry the day if Ukrainians master their fear of Russia. This is the real issue. Many Ukrainians are not averse to Nato, but fear a Russian drive to break up their country as a consequence of membership.

That's what Russian parties, activists and demonstrators in the East and South have consistently and openly threatened since 2004. in this sense Ukraine is held hostage by its neighbour. Even the Ukranian Orthodox Church has supported the anti-Nato drive, with the Patriarch stating that 'This is another attempt to implement the centuries-old intention of the Protestant and Catholic, Masonic and Godless West to divert Ukraine from unity with the world’s center of the Orthodox religion, Moscow, and to pull Ukraine into the sphere of Western false values, to make it part of the new world order.'

If you think the old man is off his rocker, try some of the Russian channels broadcasting into Ukraine, claiming that Nato would be 'worse than the Gestapo' and sell Ukrainian daughters off to Saudi oil sheikhs. That's the level of Ukrainian public debate we are dealing with.