About ‘123 PER CENT’

‘123 PER CENT’

It was a violation of the 1994 Budapest Memorandum. On December 5th 1994, the heads of USA, the Russian Federation and great Britain all met in Budapest, and agreed that, if Ukraine disarmed itself of its large nuclear arsenal, then its boundaries would be assured.

Russia violated this treaty, using the Euromaidan protest as an excuse, their argument was that, because there had been a ‘revolution’ in Kyiv, then Ukraine had changed and become a ‘new state’. This was stretching events to suit the Kremlin aim of grabbing territory whenever an opportunity comes along. Ukraine had not changed dramatically, but was rebelling against corruption. In Russia, the narrative was that is was a US led coup. It’s impossible to say how much of an influence the USA had in the protests. It wouldn’t surprise me, if, in years to come, it emerges that Russia and USA did a deal over Ukraine, before Euromaidan even happened.

The referendum was conducted in some haste – within 3 weeks of the annexation of Crimea, the votes had been cast. But, how can a referendum be held when a territory is under military occupation, with Russian soldiers patrolling, with heavy armour and artillery, and with the gun smoke of unrest in the air?

 

123 PER CENT

123 PER CENT                                                                   March 28^th 2014

Stale air lingers inside a small room
Making a bad smell, noxious, unrelenting
Pieces of paper are marked with a cross
Carefully folded, then dropped into a wooden box

Commanders claim victory before the count even commences
Statistics are quoted before they come into existence
Percentages rise high from multiple distortions
A rapid execution, no need to wait for official reports

Papers stacked on a desk, a mathematician’s mountain
Heads bent down, furious fingers, creative accounting
A number is thought of, a fairly random approximation
Big enough to justify adding new territory to a nation

Results are announced with almost indecent haste
The leader of the land lets a smile crawl on to his face
History’s hourglass tilts, boundaries shift, stolen sand
The people have voted to be part of the Motherland

According to the records, a majority of 93 percent
Got caught, gave their land away as a present
Then the calculations are exposed as a sham
123 percent said yes, in a rigged vote, a political scam