Ukraine's presidential polls backfire

The dramatic upsurge in violence in eastern Ukraine in the week before the new presidential elections should come as no shock to anyone. This was a predictable development which seems has taken only the United States and the European Union by surprise.

From Egypt to Afghanistan, the playbook of recent US administrations, whether Republican or Democrat, has been equally rigid, conformist and predictable. The US prescribes that democratic national elections be held as soon as possible with the somewhat hypocritical proviso that the candidate Washington believes meets its own "impeccable standards" should win. He or she will then accept the appropriate terms of the International Monetary Fund and the European Commission, regardless of how many millions more people lose their jobs as a consequence. The glorious goal of nation building (or rebuilding) can then be launched anew.

Except, of course, the playbook never works out. The infinite diversity of societies, cultures and political structures and traditions in a world of more than 200 states and 7 billion-plus human beings makes that inevitable.