Longing for the Bomb
Ukraine, Myths, and Nuclear Weapons
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
Parts of the Ukrainian elite and public are quarrelling over Ukraine’s nuclear disarmament after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Some see it as a mistake. This nostalgia for the bomb feeds on a widespread inferiority complex. The occasionally hysterical, anti-Ukrainian tone in Moscow, worries about the escalation of a conflict over the Crimea, and the feeling that Ukraine is being ignored by the West do the rest. But this nuclear nostalgia is harmful. It confuses myth and reality and distracts society from real security and economic problems as well as substantial reforms that must have one goal: the country’s integration into western structures.
(Osteuropa 11/2009, pp. 89–108)