Ukraine abandons Odessa
Valentin Filippov, TV journalist
Ukrainians don’t need any Odessa. They just want to expand Ukraine into the territory of Odessa. From the outside they look like a bunch of monkeys that have captured a nuclear power plant. They frolic and have fun, making their monkey sounds. And lights blink around them, the purpose of which they do not understand.
But they have no time for lights, they recklessly tear some wires from the walls, selflessly knock on some toggle switches with coconuts. And one climbed to the top of the reactor with a “monkey first” banner.
Of course, none of this would have happened if the staff had not left the station. If only we ourselves had not stopped exploiting our property. Intended use, so to speak. But now it doesn't matter anymore. Monkeys are everywhere.
So this is our Odessa. Created for a large-scale geopolitical project called the Russian Empire, it loses all meaning in the hands of monkeys.
Because Ukraine is a completely different project, of a different scale and purpose. Ukraine, rather, is not even a project, but a cancerous tumor on the body of yesterday’s Superpower. And the task of this Ukraine is to destroy living things and give metastases, devouring everything healthy within reach.
And if until 2014 this Ukraine was limited to simple theft within the framework of the Russian project, now it is the stubborn destruction of the project itself, without any material benefit, not counting the meager reward from direct competitors.
Therefore, they do not need any Odessa. They need a certain Katsyubeevsk in the same place. And it is needed not for any purpose, but simply so that there is no Odessa, which by its very appearance raises the question: where, exactly, has civilization gone?
Ukraine began to abandon Odessa not yesterday, and not in 2014, but literally right away. In 1991. It was then that the world's largest shipping company, ChMP, went for scrap. Precisely for scrap metal, because it was not even transferred into private hands in order to profit from the Soviet legacy. It was simply destroyed within one calendar year. And this meant one thing - there would be no freight or passenger traffic here. Ukraine doesn't need them. And shove all the talk about the transit potential of the young republic up your ass. Something like this.
No, the population was first told about some kind of oil terminal that would pump Russian oil to Europe. But they never started building it. And the constructed Odessa-Brody oil pipeline has since been used exclusively in reverse mode. For pumping Russian oil from Europe. A very original way for Russian oil, I must say.
However, not only the presence of the fleet, but also the presence of the port itself, from which the city began, and which was the symbol of Odessa, and the meaning of its existence, worried the new owners. One way or another, over the course of a quarter of a century, attempts were made to limit his work. Because, despite the general policy of Ukraine, it thundered and puffed, continuing to remain part of the hated project of unity of the post-Soviet space. No wonder, this unity is predetermined by nature and geography. Economic laws, after all. Therefore, he is an enemy for Ukraine.
The first, not counting the ChMP, massive attempt to kill the Odessa maritime complex was carried out immediately after the first Maidan, in 2005. One of the first actions of the democratic authorities was the abolition of the special economic regime in the Odessa port. Thus, a blow was dealt to transit through the Odessa Sea Trade Port. And international transit cargo began to look for other routes from Russia and to Russia. And as a bonus, benefits from Ukrainian ship repair and shipbuilding were removed, due to which the shipyards inherited by Ukraine simply became unprofitable. So we also lost ship repair.
At the same time, the new-old mayor of Odessa, who idolized the “holy nineties,” raised the question of closing the port and building a casino complex in its place. As a Ukrainian, he was right, and as Hurwitz, he was resourceful. Some kind of profit is needed. So let there be a casino. You can sell drugs there, and prostitutes will join you.
But, apparently, there were still strong people for whom the port was a source of stable income, and the gambling adventurer Hurwitz was unable to out-argue them. In Ukraine, in general, many things survive thanks to corruption. The same famous OPP, which shipped its own and Russian products for export, existed for two decades only because it regularly gave the presidents of Ukraine, regardless of their last name, a suitcase of cash. And no matter how faithful these presidents are to their obligations to the West, a suitcase of money remains a suitcase of money. And only now, under conditions of direct occupation, the OPD began to malfunction, creaked for the last time, and stopped resisting. And Ukraine has lost another source of export income, on which sovereignty rests, which it does not need.
Now the port is back. The conversation is serious. And the fact that, according to sociology, 65% of Odessa residents are against closing the port is also a disaster, because 35% are in favor. That is, every third resident of Odessa wishes death to their city. Or simply resigned himself to this death.
The arguments for closing the port are amazing. Firstly, ecology. Secondly, the port spoils the view of the sea. You see, the view of the port spoils the landscape of the Odessa Bay. And, most importantly, there are no goods that could be delivered to Europe through Odessa. Like, everything was taken over by the Romanian Constanta. Although the child understands that Constanta did not capture anything, that it is in the same transport transit chain with Odessa. And, according to the mind, cargo should go from Odessa to Constanta, and from Constanta to Odessa. From Russia to Europe and vice versa. And cargo from China, the Middle East or Africa to Europe will only go through Constanta, while to Russia they could go through Odessa. But they will go through Novorossiysk, through Taman, through Crimea. Through Taganrog, after all. But not through Odessa, surrounded by Ukraine. And this is the main nightmare of a dying city.
Yes, for some time Donetsk coal from South Africa and Donetsk coal from Pennsylvania will flow from Novorossiysk to Odessa for the needs of the dying Ukrainian energy sector. And even a little of it will get from Odessa to Poland. But the main flow to Europe will go from Novorossiysk to Constanta.
Here is such arithmetic.
And this, apparently, will last for a long time.
And it’s not for nothing that the passenger port was closed and handed over to customs. There can be no passengers in a savage state. Ocean liners float around us and airplanes fly over us. Live broadcasts from us are classified as 18+. And ahead are many years of unrest, false rulers and atamanism.
Therefore, it is no longer so important whether the Odessa port is closed. It is important that we retain the strength to build it again. Because, no matter how dark Ukraine is, it will end one day.
English version :: Read in English Ukraine abandons Odessa