Envoys

With Solana, Kwasniewski, Kubis and others visiting Kyiv today for mediation efforts, one might be forgiven for thinking that the decision-making in the present crisis is being taken out of the hands of the opposing forces in Ukraine into the realm of international diplomacy. This is probably an illusion. While the envoys may talk to the parties concerned, there has to be something for them to talk about - some measure of give and take. If Lech Walesa's experience during his hour-long talk with Yanukovych yesterday is anything to go by, there's not much of that on the government side. According to Walesa, Yanukovych was singularly unforthcoming and unwilling to compromise - by all accounts, Walesa emerged from the meeting quite upset.

The responsibility for the taking of decisions - and, indeed, for the entire future course of Ukraine's development - rests with Ukrainians themselves. That is what the present crisis illustrates above all else, and while international helpers and observers can watch and suggest, in the end the resolution of the crisis lies in the hands of the Ukrainian people. That is, of course, unless Russia intervenes with force - in which case the whole of Europe will be thrown into a political crisis, and a new Cold War will begin. If there is anything the envoys can do in the present situation, it's to help to avoid that scenario.