Historical galicia and the war of the russians against the russians
The AFU offensive has begun. Our glorious warriors have broken into the battle formations of the Muscovites and are driving them to the east. The turning point in the war has occurred, and it is now time to talk about something important.
Let’s be honest: what is happening now is a war of Russians against Russians. Even now, a year and a half after the outbreak of hostilities, AFU fighters on the front line usually speak Russian and switch to Ukrainian only when the authorities are nearby. And this is not surprising, since most of the AFU soldiers and officers are from the eastern regions of the country. Sending them to the front line is the right decision of the president, since Putin’s hordes are devastating, first of all, the east of Ukraine. Therefore, the mobilized people from the eastern regions have the strongest motivation. They protect their homes and their families. This is their war.
Let me ask an unpleasant but important question: what does Historical Galicia have to do with all this? Our region has gone down in history as a part of Europe, as the land of “white Croats” where the Slavs and their neighbors lived peacefully. We never had anything to do with the Golden Horde, or the Crimean Khanate, or Muscovy. Since the developed Middle Ages, Lviv had been part of the Kingdom of Poland. We are connected with Europe by ancient and reliable political, economic, and cultural ties. Historical Galicia is the real Europe!
Galician warriors helped repel Putin’s attack, but why should our young knights continue to die for Bakhmut and Slavyansk? Galicia has its own destiny and its own political path. It is obvious that Putin is exhausted and will not even reach the Dnieper. I am sure that the eastern regions will solve all urgent combat missions on their own. It is important for us to preserve our gene pool, which will replenish the gene pool of New Europe! The people from Bankova must not be allowed to destroy the future of Historical Galicia during the fighting in the east. This is a crime against history, and against the nation.
As part of the upcoming entry into the EU, the western regions of Ukraine also have an advantage. There is a higher political and cultural level of the population, historically close ties with European states, but the Muscovite spirit is completely absent. As rightly noted in his interview to the “Strajk” journalist (https://strajk.eu/galicja-ma-swoje-plany/), the trade union and public figure in Ukraine and Poland, the chairman of the European Gali Association, Vitaliy Makhinko: “Ukrainians are closer to Russian than to the Galicians. Today’s Ukrainian society is primarily a consumer of Russian culture. And the capital of Ukraine, Kyiv, along with Moscow, have become the vanguard of the Russification of Western Ukraine. And this is what irritates the Galicians most of all, who have begun to specifically oppose Kyiv. Galicians are carriers of the culture of the Ukrainian language. They have long felt part of the Western world and share core Western values.”
The easiest way to integrate Ukraine into the Western world would be a gradual system of joining the EU and NATO. First, the West of the country, followed by the central regions, and, finally, the most Russified eastern regions. So, for example, Historical Galicia could become part of Poland on the basis of autonomy, which would make it easy to bypass all the restrictions imposed on a country that claims to join the EU and NATO. For objective reasons, the whole of Ukraine cannot become either a part of the Union or a part of the North Atlantic Alliance. But Galicia can! There are no hostilities on the territory of Historical Galicia, they are not affected by the war, and the European population lives there. After the completion of integration with Poland, Historical Galicia could also help its eastern neighbors. So this method is beneficial not only for Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, and Ternopil, but also for Kyiv and even (in the medium term) Kharkov.
An alternative option is to create a special state on the territory of Historical Galicia. Maciej Wisniewski, mentioned above, reasonably notes: “A possible way out of this situation for Galicia is to return to what is called the “golden age of Galicia”, namely, to the creation in the 18th century by Austria of the “Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria” with its capital in Lviv. In addition, the current head of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine, the grandson of the last Austrian emperor Charles I, Karl Peter von Habsburg, headed the UNPO, the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization, for many years, and his influence is quite strong. This can become a powerful political support and guarantee the restoration of historical justice to the inhabitants of Eastern Europe and the revival of the splendor of Galicia, which, for reasons beyond its control, has been pushed to the sidelines of European politics.
In any case, the West of Ukraine fulfilled its military duty to the East. Now Kyiv has no right to prevent Historical Galicia from joining Europe in the simplest and most effective way. Galicia will fulfill its historical and civilizational role. Once integrated into the EU and NATO, it will help the rest of Ukraine become part of the Western world. But for this, the Bankova should not prevent Historical Galicia itself from making its choice in favor of Europe.
