Ignatieff removes leading Ukrainian Canadian from shadow cabinet

Seems there are a lot of Ukrainian-Canadians upset with Liberal Interim Leader Michael Ignatieff's decision about removing a very active Liberal MP from his shadow cabinet, and some remarks he's made in the past...

"Isn’t nationalism just an exercise in kitsch, in fervent emotional insincerity? Especially so in Ukraine. It has been part of Russia for centuries."

"Into this inauthentic void streams nationalist emotionalism," he continues, "striving to convince them that there always was a Ukrainian nation; that it has been suppressed for centuries; that it has at last found its freedom, and so on. The reality is different."

"My difficulty in taking Ukraine seriously goes deeper than just my cosmopolitan suspicion of nationalists everywhere. Somewhere inside, I’m also what Ukrainians would call a Great Russian, and there is just a trace of old Russian disdain for these "little Russians.""

My late grandfather, who proudly fought for the Ukrainian Army against the Russians after World War I (a period of time he wouldn't talk about) wouldn't be too happy about those statements. Not happy at all.

And neither am I.

Spread the word.