The United States and the Holodomor
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.68347/0ck8aa77Keywords:
Holodomor, international law, genocide, Russia’s war against Ukraine, the United StatesAbstract
For the third time in history Ukraine has become a battlefield in the geopolitical struggle between Russia and the West. While Woodrow Wilson made “the world safe for democracy,” his principle of self-determination did not apply to Ukrainians; thus, Ukraine’s independence was sacrificed for the sake of “Russian unity.” The consequences were the Red Terror and Lenin’s famine of 1921–1923 in Ukraine that drowned in blood its national liberation movement. Lenin’s disciple, Joseph Stalin, consolidated the totalitarian system and implemented his predecessor’s policy toward Ukraine that led to physical, biological, and cultural genocide against the largest non-Russian captive nation. Franklin D. Roosevelt’s administration not only did nothing, but also never acknowledged publicly Stalin’s crimes. American journalists along with politicians participated, albeit indirectly, in the Holodomor denial. The rehabilitation of Stalinism in Russia, revision of the past, and Holodomor denial have led to further escalation of violence on the eve of the ninetieth anniversary of the crime. President Joseph Biden has called Russia’s actions in Ukraine genocide. The next step is to draw a parallel to the Holodomor and respond to that denial by bringing the perpetrators of today’s genocide before an international tribunal to restore the rule of law and justice.
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