Saber Rattling with Rocket Launchers

Even though it was technically the last day of my vacation (more on that later) I stopped by the office to delete some of the 2000-odd junk emails I accumulated during the break. Just before closing time, I heard some extremely loud rumbling outside on Chervonoarmiiska. Looking out my window, I actually was a little frightened, especially after recent events in Georgia, to see a column of armored personnel carriers driving up the street. I then remembered that Ukrainian independence day is over the weekend, and our staff confirmed that the APC's were part of a dress rehearsal of sorts. Which struck me as a bit strange, considering that last year President Yushchenko decided to do away with the old military-style parades that were common during the Soviet Union and that they continued up until the end of President Kuchma's era. In fact, I remember watching the 2000 parade of military troops strutting down Khreshatik. So why bring the military parade back this year? Clearly, Ukraine is among those countries very unsettled by Russia's conflict with Georgia, and even modest and calm Yushchenko is feeling the need to

let Russia know that Ukraine is in no mood to tolerate a Georgia-style creep when it comes to Crimea and Sevastopol. Or at least this is what it seems to me. And there is the domestic audience of course, which is perhaps more important. The Ukrainian government wants to show it will stand firm in the face of possible bullying. So that means a big ole military parade, including huge columns of tanks, rocket launchers, anti-aircraft missiles, and massive 200 mm self-propelled vehicles, probably the biggest land military vehicles I have ever seen in person.

The rehearsal I witnessed today would have probably been the most thrilling thing ever to me as a 12-year old. But now, it just saddened me that the government needs to resort to old-fashioned patriotic military demonstrations to bolster domestic support against possible Russian foreign policy bullying.