№15, 2009 On the Other Side of IndependenceWe were forced to live together for a long time. However, it doesn’t mean that we have become one unit or at least brothers. In the eve of the Independence Day we can not avoid foreign context, while thinking about the fate of the country, which we have to call our Motherland. We have been independent for not long time so we can not talk about us only. Contrary widespread myths Ukraine had never voluntarily been a member of Russia: it is better to be a master in own house than a stepchild in someone else's. For example, at the Pereyaslavska Meeting Getmanschyna finally “joined” Moscow empire only after the Ukrainian-Moscow War 1658–1659, which was unsuccessful for the Cossacks. For the second time Ukraine “became a member of the family of brotherly people” in the result of defeat in the Ukrainian-Soviet War 1917–1921. Bitter taste of offenses as well as historical truth over the years went away in the past. Only empty May Day slogans and leading articles from the newspaper “Truth” about “from everlasting” friendship between soviet people are left in the memory of contemporaries.Yuriy POTASHNIY |