It’s Incredibly Insulting For Lvov’s Mayor To Smear Protesting Polish Farmers As Pro-Russian

In contemporary Polish parlance, comparing anything to Russia is considered to be one of the greatest affronts imaginable.

Lvov Mayor Andrey Sadovoy smeared protesting Polish farmers as “pro-Russian provocateurs” after they dumped grain from a Ukrainian truck that broke through their de facto border blockade. They resumed their prior closing of all crossings to raise awareness of how the influx of cheap Ukrainian agricultural goods is ruining their businesses and harming their families’ livelihoods. Instead of acknowledging this reasonable economic motive, Sadovoy incredibly insulted them with his kooky conspiracy theory.

In contemporary Polish parlance, comparing anything to Russia is considered to be one of the greatest affronts imaginable. That country’s historical experiences have made its people naturally suspicious of Russia, the sentiment of which is especially high among those whose families have passed down stories of alleged mistreatment at the hands of its political and military representatives. It’s neither here nor there to determine their veracity, but simply to relate this sensitive socio-cultural context to the reader.

Ukrainians are aware of this and that’s why Sadovoy’s words should be understand as a deliberate provocation aimed at discrediting those protesting farmers’ cause by attempting to turn their compatriots against them on the false pretext that they’re traitorous agents of that foreign power. The subtext is that they deserve to be investigated and possibly even detained until the situation is clarified, which could be exploited by returning Prime Minister Donald Tusk to break up their de facto blockade.

He just economically subordinated Poland to Germany after first politically and militarily subordinating it as a quid pro quo for Berlin helping him return to power late last year. Although he tried appealing to patriots last month to support Ukraine, he’s actually a liberal-globalist that’s hellbent on destroying his traditionally conservative-nationalist country, to which end he’s utilized totalitarian tactics to impose his radical policies onto society. Scaremongering about Russia is meant to distract from all of this.

Since Tusk lacks any shred of decency, he therefore isn’t expected to challenge Sadovoy by standing up for his compatriots and reaffirming their reasonable economic motives. To the contrary, since his government – which has been described as a regime by those who oppose its totalitarian tactics – favors Ukrainians over fellow Poles, he might even jump on the bandwagon and either directly launder his false claim or rely on his media proxies to do so instead.

The point is that the incumbent authorities don’t have any national self-respect otherwise they’d never let a Ukrainian mayor smear their own people as “pro-Russian provocateurs” for flexing their democratic right to protest and especially knowing how incredibly insulting that label is popularly considered to be. If the admittedly imperfect conservative-nationalist government was still in power, they’d predictably give Sadovoy a tongue-lashing, while Tusk would prefer to give him a French kiss.