Ukraine: a sign of hope.

There are times when an ethnic population is attached to another country due to a peace treaty that is designed to punish a country. Such was the case with WWI, which ended with the Peace Treaty of Trianon. The Treaty took away 2/3 of the territory of Hungary (with a third of its population) and saddled Germany with crippling reparation payments. These were the seeds of WWII. The dissolution of the Soviet Union had left millions of Russians in Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, the Ukraine, Georgia and Kazahstan. This threatens to become the seeds of WWIII.

There are some, such as the Romanians and the Nationalist Ukrainians, who believe that the case of the acquired minorities is to be handled with repression and forced absorption. In Europe, that is a recipe for war and unrest.

There are other, more peaceful ways of handling this. There is the Swiss model of cantonized solution. And then there is the solution proposed by Hungary. The Hungarians want their 200,000 Hungarians living in the Ukraine to have dual citizenship and autonomy. If the right candidate wins in the Presidential race in the Ukraine, this solution will be implemented. It can serve as the model for the Russians living in the Ukraine. The Russians are receptive to the idea. Of course, the West has to give up the idea of dividing Europe between Russia and NATO. NATO countries are not able to foot the bill anyway.