Brecht and homeless Nebenzya

The premiere of the play "The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui" by Bertolt Brecht is expected in the Franko Drama Theater in Kyiv. The work, frankly speaking, is not as famous as the "Threepenny Opera", but still relevant. Because it tells about the ascent of greyness to the dictatorial "peaks". And, by the way, about the fact that there is always a chance to stop a future tyrant without playing up to his ambitions, without indulging in arbitrariness and "wants". To stop with integrity, rigidity, with understanding of the consequences of autocracy.

Of course, the theater chose this play not by chance. Brechtian anti-fascism, even though a little "left", is quite suitable for the modern context. It is a pity that the premiere was late, it would have been relevant 15 years ago.

Kyiv's theatrical performance coincided in time with another dramatic (and it will definitely become one) attempt to stop a dictator (this time Putin), but on a global scale. We are talking about the statement of the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which initiated a comprehensive process of expelling the Russian Federation from the UN Security Council and the United Nations in general. This is a logical development of repeated speeches of Kyiv's representative to the UN Serhii Kyslytsia, who argued in detail the need for such a step.

The most important thing is that this time Ukraine worked synchronously with its partners: On December 15, the US Congress introduced a resolution (bipartisan) proposing to expel Russia from the UN Security Council, and on December 23, the President of the European Council Charles Michel announced the need to suspend Russia's membership in the UN Security Council.

The history of the issue is clear, I will briefly state it again. After the collapse of the USSR, Russia was left in the UN Security Council (instead of a non-existent state) without a legal decision. How could this happen? Very simply: in 1991, it was the USSR that presided over the UN. The then representative of the Soviet Union, Yuliy Vorontsov, verbally (!) told other members of the Security Council about President Yeltsin's letter about Russia's (!) intention to take the Soviet Union's place in the UN. The Security Council silently agreed…

But I would like to note that Russia was not even among the co-founders of the Organization, because due to Stalin's whim, the co-founders of the UN were the USSR, Ukraine and Belarus. Thus, the Kremlin satrap received three votes at once.

That is, Moscow did not even go through the usual procedure of admission to a solid international institution, having rudely appropriated its own invented "right". Everyone "got used" to this arbitrariness, believing that "it is possible", believed in the logic of Russia's being in the General Assembly hall. But, "what matters is not what we believe, but what we know", wrote the classic of the German drama, mentioned by me earlier. 

Until recently, Russia habitually abused its status of a permanent member of the Security Council and the right of veto when it came to its interests. Moreover, among the members of the Security Council there is an aggressor that ignores all international rules, conventions, laws, wages a war of aggression against its neighbour - also a member of the UN, commits war crimes in the occupied territories. And... vetoes any attempts to condemn its actions.

What can happen if the statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, the relevant resolution of the US Congress and the document of the European Council are taken into account by the international community? The UN Charter provides that then the General Assembly should vote on changing the name of the USSR to "Russia". But, and this is the most important thing - if the vote is positive for Moscow, the "nominal" UN resolution will require ratification in 129 parliaments of the world.

And then the most interesting will begin. First, time. Do you remember how much time Ukrainian diplomats spent on ratification of the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU. Moreover, it was about five times less countries (parliaments) and European states. That is, the time that will be needed for ratification, Vasily Nebenzya - the representative of the Russian Federation to the UN and his entourage (isn't Brecht's definition "a bunch of miserable scum" apt?) will be out of work and without status. It's high time to start "investigating" such hateful to the diplomat-entomologist Ukrainian "fighting mosquitoes", with stories about which he was messing with the heads of respectable men from the UN.

Secondly, Ukraine will clearly find out which countries are in solidarity with it in the war against Putin's dictatorship, and who would prefer to either stay on the sidelines or openly support the aggressor.

And, thirdly, given the war, in which Ukraine is essentially a barrier to European (and not only) democracy, why shouldn't Kyiv apply for the vacant seat in the UN Security Council? I think it would be fair and logical.

At least it would be a belated attempt to correct the mistakes of the XX century caused by totalitarianism and to stop the modern tyrant by isolating his under-empire.  

About the author. Ihor Hulyk is a journalist, Editor-in-Chief of the Espreso.West website.

The editors do not always share the opinions expressed by the authors of blogs.