"THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT"
An International Newsletter
In-Depth Ukrainian News, Analysis, and Commentary
"The Art of Ukrainian History, Culture, Arts, Business, Religion,
Sports, Government, and Politics, in Ukraine and Around the World"
INTERNATIONAL ELECTION MONITORS
If several thousand election monitors were not able to stop
the massive voter fraud schemes implemented by the authorities
in Round One and in Round Two what will be different
in Round Three?
"THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT" Year 04, Number 248
The Action Ukraine Coalition (AUC), Washington, D.C.
Ukrainian Federation of America (UFA), Huntingdon Valley, PA
morganw@patriot.net, ArtUkraine.com@starpower.net (ARTUIS)
Washington, D.C., Kyiv, Ukraine, MONDAY, December 6, 2004
NOTE: Do not miss out on the news from Ukraine this month!
Pleases send this Report to anyone you think would like to receive
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-----INDEX OF ARTICLES-----
"Major International News Headlines and Articles"
1. "FROM A DREAM TO THE STREETS OF KIEV"
We cast a vote for freedom
OUTLOOK SECTION: COMMENTARY:
By Myroslava Antonovych, Kiev, Ukraine
The Washington Post, Washington, D.C.
Sunday, December 5, 2004; Page B01
2. OPPOSITION UNRELENTING IN UKRAINE
By Natalia A. Feduschak in Kyiv, The Washington Times
Washington, D.C., Sunday, December 05, 2004
3. MONITORS VOW TO AID NEW VOTE IN UKRAINE
Yushchenko seeks international assistance, not meddling
Nick Paton Walsh in Kiev, The Guardian
London, UK, Monday, December 6, 2004
4. MAKE A DEAL OR PARALYZE UKRAINE PINCHUK STATES
Chaos looms if opposition chief does not back down in bitter election
dispute, Kuchma's son-in-law tells MARK MacKINNON
By MARK MacKINNON, Glove and Mail
Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Friday, December 3, 2004 - Page A18
5. UKRAINE LEADER ADVISES BOYCOTT OF RUNOFF VOTE
By Steven Lee Myers, The New York Times
New York, NY, Monday, December 6 2004
6. KIEV'S STRONGMAN SEEKS IMMUNITY
Mark Franchetti and Askold Krushelnycky, Kiev
The Sunday TimesOnLine - World
London, UK, Sunday, December 05, 2004
7. INFORMATION ABOUT EASTERN UKRAINE
LETTER TO THE EDITOR:
Prof. Alex I. Nosich, Inst. Radiophysics and Electronics,
National Academy of Sciences, Kharkov, Ukraine
The Action Ukraine Report, Washington, D.C., Mon, Dec 6, 2004
8. UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT MIGHT NEED WISDOM OF
SOLOMON TO END CRISIS
SPEAKOUT: By Bob Schaffer, Special to the News
Rocky Mountain News, Denver, Colorado, Sat, Dec. 4, 2004
9. "THE DANGER OF UNDERESTIMATING RUSSIA"
COMMENTARY: by Walter Prochorenko
The Action Ukraine Report, Sunday, Dec 5, 2004, Wash, D.C.
10. "UKRAINE YEARNS TO BE FREE"
By Howard Dahl, The Forum,
Fargo, North Dakota, Sunday, December 05, 2004
11. AN EVENING WITH DISTINGUISHED UKRAINIAN COMPOSER
BOHDANA FILTS, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 9
Embassy Of Ukraine, Washington, D.C., Thursday, Dec 9, 2004
12. "THE TWO VIKTORS"
Ukraine is none of DC's business
OPINION: By Charley Reese
LewRockwell.com, Center for Libertarian Studies
Burlingame, California, Saturday, December 4, 2004
13. "OPPOSITES ATTRACT"
Bush and Putin, supposedly soul mates, are not on the same page
EDITORIAL: Houston Chronicle
Houston, Texas, Sunday, December 5, 2004
14. "PUTIN'S LECTURE ON DEMOCRACY"
By Mohammed A. R. Galadari, Khaleej Times Online
English Language Daily Newspaper
Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Monday, 6 December 2004
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ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No. 248: ARTICLE NUMBER ONE
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1. "FROM A DREAM TO THE STREETS OF KIEV"
We cast a vote for freedom
OUTLOOK SECTION: COMMENTARY:
By Myroslava Antonovych, Kiev, Ukraine
The Washington Post, Washington, D.C.
Sunday, December 5, 2004; Page B01
KIEV - Ever since my childhood, first in the Dnipropetrovsk region of
eastern Ukraine and later in the Lviv region of the west, I have dreamed
about a miracle -- although back then I did not realize what shape my
dream might eventually take. My recurrent vision was of a time when all
Ukrainians -- from the west and the east, from the north and the south --
would come together as a single nation.
For the past two weeks, I have been joining demonstrations in Kiev's
Independence Square together with my students and colleagues, filled with
optimism that my dream is at last becoming reality. Ukrainians from Kiev and
Lviv, from Kharkiv and Odesa stand united in our opposition to acting Prime
Minister Viktor Yanukovych and in our belief that the presidential election
was rigged in his favor to prevent the election of the people's choice,
Viktor Yushchenko.
The people were determined not to leave the streets until the election was
overturned, and we didn't. Now the Ukrainian Supreme Court has ordered a
rerun of the second round. Everybody feels that we are privileged to play a
role in this pivotal moment in our country's history. We dare to hope that
we are witnessing the logical culmination of our country's 1,000-year
struggle for true independence and unity.
To understand this feeling, you must first understand a little of our
history of division. My country has been divided from the 9th century
onward, both by outer enemies and inner traitors, so that until recently my
dream seemed a mere mirage. Our periods of independence, such as that
of the Ukrainian People's Republic from 1918-1919, were so short that
people hardly had time to know what it meant.
My mom used to tell me that when the Nazis occupied Lviv in 1941, it took
them only days to smother independence, which had recently been proclaimed
by Ukraine's nationalists. After that the Nazis started to arrest people and
take them to Germany. Those very short periods of independence were never
completely peaceful, so all the population's energy went into combating
outside invaders. Little energy was left to build or even speculate about a
common Ukrainian future.
For the first time in our history, Ukraine has now experienced 13 years of
peace. Our rebirth began in 1991, when our parliament declared our country
no longer part of the Soviet Union. Symbolically, the official name of our
capital is now Kyiv, which is a close reflection of how we Ukrainians
pronounce it, rather than Kiev, which is how it sounds in Russian.
Throughout those 13 years, a few oligarchs have robbed their own people
by privatizing factories, all the time reassuring us that we are fortunate
to be living in peace -- and we came to accept that as a significant
achievement, because Ukrainians know full well that poverty is nothing in
comparison with war. And the period of peace bore fruit. With the support
of the international community and non-governmental organizations, we have
begun to develop a civil society in Ukraine. As a result, hundreds of
Ukrainian and international human rights organizations have worked actively
and consistently to advocate human rights, freedom of the press and the rule
of law here.
Having benefited from the Pylyp Orlyk Constitution of 1710 -- a Ukrainian
document that was one of the first in the world to define standards of
political and legal thought and to create a division of powers -- as well as
the 1918 Constitution of the Ukrainian People's Republic, which established
broad rights and liberties, Ukrainians were bound to be democratically
minded. So it was only natural that we should rise in opposition last month
when we realized that our right to choose our president in a free and fair
election had been so rudely violated.
In truth, this uprising has turned out to be fabulous. Can you imagine being
part of an uprising alive with the sunny smiles and sparkling eyes of those
who rose in protest? Can you imagine young girls presenting flowers to
soldiers as they stand with shields in front of the demonstrators? Can you
believe that people have actually been giving food and warm clothes to
supporters of Yanukovych who were brought into Kiev by special buses
and trains?
Yes, all these miracles have been taking place in Ukraine for the past two
weeks, and we call it the "Orange Revolution." Ribbons on our sleeves, on
our hats and even on our trousers, ribbons tied to our cars and around our
trees and even ribbons on pets have turned our country orange -- a symbol
of our desire to break with our past and move toward Europe rather than
fall back into the Kremlin's orbit.
People on the streets here are still very excited even though they are tired
and understandably cautious. They are no longer scared of Ukrainian
policemen or soldiers, who will never fight their own people, to whom they
have sworn an oath of allegiance.
Some people suspect that Russian detachments may be used against the
demonstrators. Everybody knows that Russia's interference in Ukrainian
elections was huge. Russian President Vladimir Putin demonstrated his
support of Yanukovych before the elections and was the first to congratulate
him on his victory. His heavy-handedness did not work. Even so, Ukrainian
President Leonid Kuchma has flown again and again to meet with Putin and
nobody doubts that the aim is to consult the Russian president about what to
do next -- telephone conversations are no longer considered safe.
People are sure that separatist rumblings in eastern Ukraine were scripted
with Russian help. But they failed even so. After the separatists made their
declarations, many people who had always been pro-Russian started to say
that they do not want to live in Russia after all. We are left wondering why
Kuchma does not consult with us, instead of going to Putin -- he is still
being given a chance to avoid being cursed by his own people.
I know that all democracies have experienced periods in their history
similar to the one we are experiencing. The Czechs, the Lithuanians, the
East Germans and other former communist subjects went through them more
than a decade ago, and now their countries are all members of the European
Union. Ukraine's future is in Europe, and the EU has already given a signal
that once free democratic elections are held and the results not falsified,
Ukraine will get its chance to become an EU member.
One of the provocative arguments made against Yushchenko throughout the
presidential campaign was that he is pro-American, that the United States
has been financing his campaign, thus advancing its own agenda here. In
response, Yushchenko repeated the words of the famous Ukrainian poet
Vasyl Symonenko, who was a victim of the Soviet regime: "Let America
and Russia keep silence when I talk to you, Ukraine."
True, the United States has extended financial aid to Ukraine over the last
13 years of our independence, but I don't see this as having been done for
nefariously self-serving reasons. Even when the U.S. government cut
financial support to Ukrainian governmental projects, it continued to
support the non-governmental sector and the academic exchanges of
professors and students, thus financing the development of freedom in
Ukraine.
I have profited myself, traveling to the United States and learning there
about the rule of law. Unlike Russia, which has always acted
surreptitiously, the United States never made a secret of its actions. I
think first of all about how in America, the government basically gets
permission for this support from its own citizens -- the taxpayers.
On Friday, in my office, we hugged, congratulated each other and wiped
away each other's tears when we heard that the Supreme Court had
annulled the runoff election results. Similar expressions of jubilation
burst out among the tens of thousands of demonstrators in Independence
Square, and fireworks crackled in the night sky. The new vote will take
place on Dec. 26.
We know that this is not the end, that difficult weeks lie ahead. But for
the first time, we believe that we the people can do something without
having to follow a script, no matter who wrote it. This is the will of the
people, who have chosen freedom. -30-
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Myroslava Antonovych, a professor of international law at Kiev-Mohyla
Academy, was a Fulbright scholar in 1996 at the Urban Morgan Human
Rights Institute of the University of Cincinnati College of Law. Author's
e-mail: mma@iatp.kiev.ua
------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A34782-2004Dec4.html
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ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No.248: ARTICLE NUMBER TWO
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2. OPPOSITION UNRELENTING IN UKRAINE
By Natalia A. Feduschak in Kyiv, The Washington Times
Washington, D.C., Sunday, December 05, 2004
KIEV - Opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko went on the offensive
yesterday, urging protesters to remain on the streets after parliament
blocked measures to prevent ballot-box stuffing in a court-ordered
Dec. 26 presidential election. The setback for Mr. Yushchenko came
one day after the Supreme Court declared the November presidential
runoff election invalid and ordered a new vote the day after Christmas.
"Today, we are in the final decision of this conflict," Mr. Yushchenko said,
speaking to hundreds of thousands of orange-clad supporters - his largest
public display of support since Ukraine's political crisis began 13 days
ago. Orange has become the color of his opposition campaign. "The number
one problem of this country isn't its resources. ... It is its authority,"
Mr. Yushchenko said in an impassioned 43-minute address in Kiev's
Independence Square. "We have a criminal regime. ... We need to change
the government," he said.
Mr. Yushchenko's rival for the presidency, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych,
said through his press secretary he would participate in the new voting,
putting to rest speculation he might withdraw from the race.
Earlier in the day, parliament rejected a package of reforms designed to
prevent a repeat of the massive fraud that marred the Nov. 21 election
between the two rivals. Parliament also rejected a series of constitutional
changes that would have reduced the president's powers.
Mr. Yushchenko has urged hundreds of thousands of his supporters to continue
their 13-day-old protest in Kiev's main square until parliament passes the
election reforms debated yesterday. But a planned marathon weekend session
of parliament abruptly adjourned for 10 days without approving the measures.
The standoff in parliament was interpreted by some as a payback by
pro-government lawmakers who were angered by the Supreme Court decision.
The opposition has demanded the resignation of Ukraine's Central Election
Commission, which the Supreme Court blamed for electoral machinations.
President Leonid Kuchma said a new round of international mediation was
necessary, making the plea during a phone conversation with Dutch Prime
Minister Jan Peter Balkenende, whose country holds the rotating presidency
of the European Union. "The opposition isn't fulfilling practically any of
the agreements," the president's office said in a statement. "That
exacerbates the situation in the country." Up to 2.8 million suspect ballots
were cast, according to Ukrainian observer groups. In many districts in
eastern Ukraine, a Yanukovych stronghold, voter turnout exceeded 100
percent.
The government-opposition talks with European mediators are to continue
tomorrow, with Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski; Lithuanian
President Valdas Adamkus; the European Union's foreign-policy chief,
Javier Solana; and Russia's parliament speaker, Boris Gryzlov, serving as
mediators. -30- [The Action Ukraine Report Monitoring Service]
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http://www.washtimes.com/world/20041205-010846-7113r.htm
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ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No.248: ARTICLE NUMBER THREE
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3. MONITORS VOW TO AID NEW VOTE IN UKRAINE
Yushchenko seeks international assistance, not meddling
Nick Paton Walsh in Kiev, The Guardian
London, UK, Monday, December 6, 2004
KIEV - Thousands of international election observers responded yesterday
to a call by the Ukrainian opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko for help
mediating the re-run presidential election.
Mr Yushchenko appealed to the international community to ensure "a
strong observers' presence", in a speech on Saturday night to
supporters massed in central Kiev.
The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe chairman
Soloman Passy promised to send hundreds of observers for the re-run on
December 26. The Alberta provincial council of the Ukrainian Canadian
Congress promised 1,500 observers.
In a BBC interview yesterday Mr Yushchenko warned other countries not
to meddle in the vote. "The election of the president of Ukraine is
exclusively an internal issue for 47 million Ukrainians. I wouldn't
recommend to anyone in the international community to try to lend such
a support to any one candidate."
His tacit demand that Russia must not repeat its open support of his
opponent, the prime minister Viktor Yanukovich, was made on the first
day of official campaigning.
Yesterday brought further negotiations for the electoral reforms the
opposition says are essential to overcome polling fraud. Mr Yushchenko
was in talks with the leader of the Socialist party, Oleksandr Moroz, in
an attempt to secure his support for the reform package.
MPs failed to agree on electoral reforms on Saturday, when the
Yushchenko faction refused to let constitutional changes weakening the
post of president be appended to the bill.
The two men were expected to announce a "joint plan of action" last
night. A spokeswoman for Mr Yushchenko said they hoped for another
vote in parliament tomorrow.
The outgoing president, Leonid Kuchma, has yet to comment on Friday's
supreme court ruling ordering the re-election. He is thought to be trying
to secure the constitutional reforms weakening the role of his successor,
together with guarantees that he will not be prosecuted.
Oleksandr Zinchenko, the head of the Yushchenko electoral campaign,
said immunity from prosecution would "depend on his moral conduct in
the coming days". But the opposition denied that any deals were being
made with Mr Kuchma.
Mr Yushchenko said his family were still in hiding, because he feared
for their safety. But with regard to his own position he told the BBC:
"I know what the authorities here may try to do. I don't believe the
numerous threats against my life which I hear or receive in the mail
will be successful."
He said he "was expecting something like" the mysterious illness that
took him out of campaigning for three weeks before the first round
vote on October 31. He has claimed that it was poisoning.
He dismissed the suggestion that eastern Ukraine, which is
predominantly pro-Russian and voted mainly for Mr Yanukovich,
might secede from Ukraine in the face of a Yushchenko administration.
"I think that it is a completely wrong view to think that Ukraine is
divided into west and east," he said.
"No one should even think that Ukraine is losing its territorial
sovereignty or integrity. Those are speculations, nothing more."
But the Yushchenko campaign has yet to make any public advances
to the powerful industrial figures who run the east and, in the
opposition's opinion, sway its voters.
Mikhail Bugara, director of the Uzhnodonbasskaya mine in the Donetsk
region, said in a telephone interview: "There is no reason why
Yanukovich cannot win the election. He has big support in the country
- some 15m votes.
"The question of autonomy is a way of reforming the politics of the
country. It is not connected to elections, but a decision taken by the
regional assembly." Referring to the opposition's stance against
constitutional reform, he said: "Negotiations [with the opposition] are
practically impossible." -30- [Action Ukraine Monitoring]
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ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No. 248: ARTICLE NUMBER FOUR
========================================================
4. MAKE A DEAL OR PARALYZE UKRAINE PINCHUK STATES
Chaos looms if opposition chief does not back down in bitter election
dispute, Kuchma's son-in-law tells MARK MacKINNON
By MARK MacKINNON, Glove and Mail
Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Friday, December 3, 2004 - Page A18
KIEV -- Ukrainian opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko, whose Orange
Revolution has brought him to the edge of power, now faces a stark choice
between seeking compromise with President Leonid Kuchma's regime or
inheriting a country spiralling into chaos, a key government insider said
yesterday.
Viktor Pinchuk, a powerful business tycoon and Mr. Kuchma's son-in-law,
told The Globe and Mail that if Mr. Yushchenko did not back down, the
country could be crippled by a deepening economic crisis, as well as
separatism in the east of the country. Both, he said, were very real threats
to the country's future if the 12-day-old political turmoil continued.
The only way out, he said, was for the opposition and the government to cut
a deal that would result in something less than winner takes all. "If
[Yushchenko] is a patriot, he has to understand the real situation. We must
find a compromise." Such a deal, he said, could either take the form of a
fresh election, something Mr. Kuchma has offered before but which Mr.
Yushchenko has rejected outright, or constitutional wrangling.
A new ballot would allow the Kuchma camp to put forward a new establishment
candidate. Mr. Yushchenko, meanwhile, has demanded a rerun of the Nov. 21
runoff between himself and the now-discredited Prime Minister, Victor
Yanukovich. Another way forward, Mr. Pinchuk said, was through
constitutional reform, which would see parliament strengthened -- and given
the ability to impeach a president -- while the powers of the presidency
would be diminished.
The opposition has fought that proposal for more than a year, seeing it as
an effort to keep Mr. Yushchenko, who had a wide lead in opinion polls when
it was first raised, under the thumb of Mr. Kuchma and his allies.
If there is constitutional reform, Mr. Pinchuk suggested, the Kuchma camp
might be willing to accept a Yushchenko-Yanukovich runoff. Speaking in
Moscow yesterday, Mr. Kuchma said he would fire Mr. Yanukovich and his
cabinet as soon as constitutional reforms are passed. He is compelled to
dismantle the government within 60 days of a no-confidence motion, which
was passed by parliament Wednesday.
On the same day, the two sides signed a vague agreement in the presence of
international mediators that committed both camps to resume negotiations on
how the presidential-election process might proceed after the Supreme Court
hands down its crucial decision on the legality of the last round. That
ruling is now expected today.
Mr. Pinchuk, in addition to being one of the Ukraine's wealthiest men and
wielding vast influence with his father-in-law, also sits in the Rada, or
parliament. He is often the regime's friendly face to the West, where he
counts billionaire George Soros and former U.S. president Bill Clinton
among friends. What he has to say matters a great deal in the negotiations
to solve the crisis.
He said a new election would be the preferred way out, since they would
ensure the winner had untainted legitimacy. "The best way forward for the
country is to have new elections as fast as possible. "Both camps used
dirty techniques and falsifications during this [past] campaign. I would
prefer to have a new president who will win not a dirty campaign, but a
normal, Western-style democratic campaign." Mr. Pinchuk said the Kuchma
camp would be prepared to accept whoever won a fresh campaign, which
he conceded would likely be Mr. Yushchenko.
He added that while he sympathizes with the "very nice" protesters on the
street, Ukraine's power struggle is not the good-versus-evil fight often
portrayed in the media. While he was careful not to attack Mr. Yushchenko
directly, he said that some of the opposition leader's closest allies were
as corrupt as those they seek to replace.
"In both camps, we have highly corrupted people and highly professional and
honest people," he said. "They are no more corrupt and no less corrupt than
people in the other camp."
His father-in-law, he said, "made some mistakes" while in office, but will
leave the country in far better shape than when he took over 10 years ago.
He cited statistics that show Ukraine was the fastest-growing economy in
Europe before the current crisis began.
While many of the protesters on the streets of Kiev are rabidly set against
Mr. Kuchma, who is seen as having grown increasingly authoritarian in the
later years of his rule, Mr. Pinchuk said the President is now making an
honest effort to find a solution acceptable to all sides, one that avoids
both separatism and civil war. "He understands very well that the next 10
days in his life are much more important than the previous 10 years."
========================================================
ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No.248: ARTICLE NUMBER FIVE
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5. UKRAINE LEADER ADVISES BOYCOTT OF RUNOFF VOTE
By Steven Lee Myers, The New York Times
New York, NY, Monday, December 6 2004
KONCHA-ZASPA, Ukraine - President Leonid D. Kuchma of Ukraine said
Sunday that if he were Prime Minister Viktor F. Yanukovich, the man Mr.
Kuchma had selected to be his successor, he would not run in a new
presidential runoff ordered by the country's Supreme Court.
Mr. Kuchma also accused the opposition leader, Viktor A. Yushchenko, of
prolonging the electoral crisis by breaking a promise to mediators to allow
changes in the constitution sought by Mr. Kuchma before the new vote, now
scheduled for Dec. 26.
In his first interview since the country was thrown into tumult by a
disputed election, now overturned, Mr. Kuchma appeared reconciled to the
possibility of a Yushchenko victory in the new vote, but also suggested that
a withdrawal by Mr. Yanukovich could complicate Mr. Yushchenko's effort to
win a victory seen as legitimate. Nevertheless, he vowed to push through a
sweeping overhaul of the country's politics, shifting some powers from the
president to Parliament - in effect creating a weaker presidency for Mr.
Yushchenko to inherit, should he win.
Mr. Kuchma ruled out drastic measures, including a state of emergency, which
he said some in the eastern part of the country, where the support for Mr.
Yanukovich is centered, were pressing him to declare. He also ruled out any
steps to cancel the new election ordered by the court. "The election will be
done in full compliance with the laws," he insisted.
He warned, however, that Mr. Yushchenko had to seek a political compromise
or risk a prolonged stalemate, an economic crisis and the loss of
legitimacy, even if elected, especially among Mr. Yanukovich's millions of
supporters. Mr. Yanukovich has yet to address the court decision publicly,
though a spokeswoman said he would run again. (For the past few days, Mr.
Yanukovich has been ill with a fever, Mr. Kuchma said, by way of explaining
his silence.)
Buffeted by criticism here and abroad, harassed by protesters banging drums
and chanting "Kuchma out!" and evidently isolated from many of the people he
has led for 10 years, Mr. Kuchma, now 66, seemed resigned, even tired, but
not yet out of fight. He was dismissive, almost indifferent, to the
extraordinary uprising of popular sentiment that has swept Kiev and much of
the country over the last two weeks. "Revolutions are prepared by
dreamers," he said. "And I always recall 1917: They are carried out by
fanatics, and they are exploited by scoundrels."
Mr. Kuchma acknowledged, indirectly, that the Nov. 21 runoff had been marred
by electoral violations, though he questioned the extent of them, and said
he believed that Mr. Yanukovich had actually won. Mr. Kuchma also criticized
the Supreme Court's decision "as a political decision, not a legal one,"
though he later said that he, like Mr. Yanukovich, would honor it.
By suggesting that Mr. Yanukovich not take part, however, Mr. Kuchma made it
clear that he intended to continue to navigate Ukraine's convoluted
intersection of power and politics, bureaucracy and business, in what appear
to be the waning weeks of his presidency. He has effectively done that for a
decade, despite accusations of corruption and criminality, which he denies.
"Though Yanukovich said he would run, I don't know," he said. "If I were he,
I would not, from any point of view. I do not exclude that we shall have a
plebiscite instead of elections, with one candidate. I do not want to say it
is final but this is how the situation is developing."
A withdrawal by Mr. Yanukovich could leave Mr. Yushchenko running
unopposed. That would require him to win 50 percent of the vote, which is
not a foregone conclusion, given the deep ethnic, regional and political
divisions created by the campaign to replace Mr. Kuchma.
Mr. Kuchma described the fight spawned by months of nasty campaigning, two
rounds of voting - and now a third - as one not between East and West, as it
has been widely portrayed, but as one over the reins of power in Ukraine. He
referred to the country's historic rulers, the hetmans, warriors whose
political might came to be represented by possession of an ornate mace.
"And this is what we are having today," he said, speaking in Russian during
a relaxed, wide-ranging, two-hour interview in a stucco government
guesthouse here outside Kiev, where he has been forced to work ever since
protesters blockaded his presidential office. "This is not a struggle for
Ukraine," he said, "but a struggle for the mace."
Mr. Kuchma's tenure has covered most of the period since Ukraine gained
independence from a crumbling Soviet Union in 1991, but he has clearly lost
control of what he had hoped would be a smooth transition to his chosen
successor. He blamed not himself, his government or the Central Election
Commission, but rather the two candidates and external pressure from the
United States and Europe. "We ended up in a deadlock, not only ourselves,
but with the help of outside forces," he said.
While the Supreme Court on Friday handed a surprising and decisive victory
to Mr. Yushchenko, clearing the way for another vote that his supporters are
sure he will win, Mr. Kuchma's remarks made it clear that the electoral
crisis was far from resolved.
He accused Mr. Yushchenko, a man who once described their relationship as
one between father and son, of acting in bad faith, saying that he had
reneged on agreements signed last Wednesday under the auspices of European
mediation. Those agreements included one to pursue the constitutional
changes in exchange for new laws for conducting a new election and another
to lift protesters' blockade of government buildings.
"I do not know what other country would tolerate such outrageous behavior,"
he said of the blockades, noting that he had challenged Secretary of State
Colin L. Powell on that point in a telephone conversation during the crisis.
When asked Mr. Powell's response, he added, "I think we understood each
other."
The political divisions, however, only hardened over the weekend. On
Saturday, with Mr. Yushchenko riding the momentum of the ruling made Friday
and the jubilation it provoked on the streets, his allies in Parliament
blocked a vote on the constitutional changes. Members loyal to Mr. Kuchma
then refused to adopt the election laws that Mr. Yushchenko's allies have
demanded in order to avoid a repetition of the irregularities that called
into question the results of the second round.
Unable to reach a compromise, Parliament adjourned until Dec. 14.
Underscoring the stalemate, a new round of talks with European mediators -
scheduled for Saturday, and then Monday - have been canceled.
As for the throngs massed in Kiev, clad in the orange color symbolizing Mr.
Yushchenko's campaign, Mr. Kuchma first said there were not as many
protesters as claimed. Then he acknowledged that there might have been
200,000. "O.K., let's say 300,000," he said. They do not, in his mind,
represent the will of Ukraine's 48 million citizens, but rather brilliant
"American technologies." referring to Western-style campaigning. "Anyway,
this is only part of Ukraine," he said. "And it is not the crowd that should
make decisions on the future of Ukraine."
In one of many contradictions in his interview, however, he suggested that
the Supreme Court had succumbed to pressure from, among others, the crowd.
The court's decision stunned him. "I think it was unexpected for many,
including myself," Mr. Kuchma said, "because the decision went beyond the
legal framework determined by the law on election of the president."
The court's decision abruptly ended Mr. Kuchma's efforts to hold a new
election from scratch, possibly with new candidates. Even before the ruling,
Mr. Kuchma revived the issue of constitutional reform as a way out of the
crisis caused by the disputed results, and now it is his departing political
objective.
Mr. Kuchma's view - supported by many in Ukraine, including some in Mr.
Yushchenko's camp - is that a greater distribution of power is the only way
to bridge the country's deep divisions. Mr. Kuchma said that neither of the
current candidates could successfully overcome the divisions between ethnic
Ukrainians and Russians, between Roman Catholicism and Orthodoxy, between
rich and poor that splinter Ukraine. "We can hear voices of some well-known
political figures, and from regions, too, that neither Yushchenko nor
Yanukovich is the figure who can unite Ukraine," he said.
The country, Mr. Kuchma said, could have avoided the electoral debacle if
Parliament had already restructured Ukraine's political system, effectively
creating a power-sharing system. He also failed to note that Mr.
Yushchenko's and other opposition parties blocked the changes in March,
narrowly, because they feared Mr. Kuchma intended to use them to remain in
power, perhaps as a newly empowered prime minister.
"If the political reform had been conducted, the elections would have been
held according to a completely different scenario," he said. "And Ukraine
would have been a different place, not torn apart, not split as it is now."
=======================================================
ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No. 248: ARTICLE NUMBER SIX
Letters to the editor are always welcome
========================================================
6. "KIEV'S STRONGMAN SEEKS IMMUNITY"
Mark Franchetti and Askold Krushelnycky, Kiev
The Sunday TimesOnLine - World
London, UK, Sunday, December 05, 2004
KIEV - UKRAINE'S outgoing president, Leonid Kuchma, is trying to
negotiate a deal that would guarantee him and his family immunity from
prosecution in return for satisfying opposition demands over the rerunning
of elections on December 26.
As jubilant supporters of Viktor Yushchenko, the opposition leader, partied
on the streets of the capital Kiev last night to celebrate the success of
their historic two-week campaign to annul the result of last month's
presidential vote, it emerged that Kuchma is locked in frosty talks to
secure his own future.
Presidential sources said Kuchma, 66, a former Communist party boss, is
seeking assurances he will not be pursued over allegations of corruption
during his 10-year rule and over the gruesome killing of Georgy Gongadze, a
high-profile opposition journalist whose headless torso was found in a wood
outside Kiev in 2000. He is also said to want to be allowed to keep his
state-owned dacha and a £3m yacht the Ukrainian press says belongs to him.
The outgoing leader - who has denied any wrongdoing - is believed to be
ready in return to sack Yushchenko's challenger, Viktor Yanukovych, from his
post of prime minister, and dismiss members of the election commission.
Parliament last week passed a vote of no confidence in Yanukovych's
government but Kuchma has so far resisted calls to fire his ally and
Yanukovych surprised observers yesterday by announcing he would, after
all, stand again in the new poll after the Supreme Court on Friday ordered a
rerun.
Yushchenko's supporters are also yet to be sure of how fair the rerun will
be: in a setback for the opposition, parliament adjourned for 10 days last
night without approving changes in the electoral law intended to make
cheating more difficult.
Yanukovych, favoured by the Kremlin, won the disputed poll only after
widespread vote-rigging. It would be much more difficult for him to repeat
this if he were out of power, without access to government resources and
support from the electoral commission.
Sources close to Kuchma said securing his own future and that of his family
and close associates remained a crucial consideration in his handling of the
crisis, which has spilt onto the streets of Kiev in a dramatic explosion of
"people power".
"He has many enemies in the opposition, who have called for him to be
prosecuted and jailed," one source said. "He wants guarantees that if he
backs down and gives in he will not end up in the dock or, even worse, in a
prison cell."
Kuchma is believed to be particularly anxious over the case of Gongadze,
who was killed while investigating allegations of corruption surrounding the
president.
One of the president's bodyguards, who fled to the West after the discovery
of the journalist's dismembered body, revealed he had secretly recorded
hundreds of hours of the president's private conversations. They included an
excerpt in which an angry Kuchma is heard ordering that the journalist "be
taken care of".
The scandal - which became know as Kuchmagate - led to attempts by the
opposition to impeach the president. The moves failed and Kuchma sacked the
prosecutor-general when he sought to investigate claims that the killing was
linked to the president's inner circle. Four years later, the case is still
open and nobody has been charged. Gongadze's remains lie in a Kiev morgue.
Kuchma's enemies also want an investigation into allegations that he used
his power to help his businessman son-in-law Viktor Pinchuk amass a fortune
estimated at more than £1 billion. Critics allege that Pinchuk, 43, who
heads a steel pipe-making empire and is also a member of parliament, won
state privatisation contracts at a fraction of their market value thanks to
his family ties.
In June this year, Kryvorizhstal, the country's largest state steel plant,
was sold to a consortium backed by Pinchuk and Rinat Akhmetov, Ukraine's
richest man - who is close to Yanukovych - for £418m. A rival US-British
consortium offered £770m and pledged to invest £617m in the plant.
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LINK: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-1388813,00.html
========================================================
ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No.248: ARTICLE NUMBER SEVEN
Your comments about the Report are always welcome
========================================================
7. INFORMATION ABOUT EASTERN UKRAINE, ESPECIALLY KHARKIV
LETTER TO THE EDITOR:
Prof. Alex I. Nosich, Inst. Radiophysics and Electronics,
National Academy of Sciences, Kharkov, Ukraine
The Action Ukraine Report, Washington, D.C., Mon, Dec 6, 2004
Dear Editor:
I am writing in response to the international press coverage of the
recent events in Ukraine, more specifically the information about
East Ukraine and especially my 1.5 million city, Kharkiv, as I
believe that today there are no reporters writing from here.
Since last week we are having a revolution here directed against
corrupted Ukrainian government which had severely distorted
the process and the results of presidential elections. We are grateful
to the US and UK governments for decision not to recognize official
results. This is a huge contrast to the position of France and Italy,
which seem to be blind about existence of Ukraine at all. I feel that
common EU position will never be fully in favor of real freedom
because they need Russian gas. Now the true background of our
trouble is seen - Russia tries to establish its puppet "government" in
the East Ukraine (like it did earlier in parts of Georgia and Moldova),
thanks to the presense of strong local barons that want to keep in
power. Then we here in Kharkiv will be having very hard time, for
God knows how long.
The situation is depicted in the Western press incorrectly and
develops dangerously. In Kyiv, the capital, there are from 0.5 to1
mln protesters against the massive fraud demanding now that
Kuchma, President, fires his heir and Putin's protege,Yanukovich
from the post of PM and new voting is fixed for 12/12 under EU
supervision.
Army, police and security keep formally neutral. It is believed and
the proofs are seen that a special unit of security troops from Moscow
is guarding Kuchma, as more trusted than any Ukrainian troops.
Last Friday a phony conference of various pro-Yanukovich deputies
of minor levels (only 30 MPs) gathered in Luhansk Region, east of
Kharkov and declared that they will be seeking an autonomy. Yanukovich
attended it, as well as an ardent Russophil Luzhkov, Major of Moscow.
It was stressed that Kyiv is over 400 km from this area and Russian
border is only 40 km. It was mentioned that they could make a capital
of this puppet 'autonomy' in Kharkiv.
However, the latter point is not so obvious as they'd like to make. My
city is really a key to the East Ukraine. Three days ago a governor of the
Kharkiv Region, appointed by Kuchma, declared his closing of opposition
TV channel, switched police to his command, appealed for autonomy, etc.
However, the next day our elected Mayor called a session of the city
council that nullified the governor's move and declared it illegal. We still
have TV and police is peaceful. City council had also filed a case against
the governor to the city procecutor for separatism. Every day we have an
'orange' rally in the city center. Last Monday just when the fraudulent e
lection results were announced, we had 80 000 in the street including
me, my colleagues, friends, students and businessmen.
For Kharkiv this is very large number, and this is the largest rally in the
whole East Ukraine. Thus, do not believe when reading that all eastern
Ukraine is pro-Yanukovich - this is not true.
According to observers, Kharkiv city voted up to 50% for reformist
Yuschenko although the really terrible scale of fraud is unknown.
Kharkiv boasts its main 200-years-old university and 24 other universities,
so it is hard to persuade people to vote for a criminal turned politician.
(Yanukovich was jailed twice in his youth for street robbery and for
beating a man.). After the first round, several city police officers told
a UK journalist (The Independent) that they saw a room in a small
town nearby where as many as 0.5 million ballots pre-filled in for
Yanukovich were kept before voting. This, as many other huge
violations, was not considered by any court as the courts are
controlled by the government.
There is no doubt that the same was done at the second round.
Everybody knows about the fraud. Therefore we shall be fighting
against any phony 'autonomy'. Fortunately we have a brave Mayor.
However, the Russian border is really 50 km away....
In fact, the same had been done once long ago. In Dec. 1917 Lenin
issued ultimatum to the Kyiv government which did not respond. Then
a detachment of Red Guards came to Kharkiv from Moscow and
seized power with the aid of local communists. Then they called a
phony 'congress' of deputies (some 20 out of some 500 of Ukrainian
deputies), which declared itself a supreme authority and asked
Moscow for military intervention - already started. I hope that the
85 years that have passed have really changed something in the
people's hearts.
However even more important is real international support - if
only the EU and US can really see that Putin is behind the scene,
and he will be really punished for what he is doing.
Alexander Nosich, Kharkiv, Ukraine
------------------------------------------------------------------------
E-mail: alex@emt.kharkov.ua
Website: www.ire.kharkov.ua/dep12/MOCA/nia.html
=========================================================
8. "UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT MIGHT NEED WISDOM OF
SOLOMON TO END CRISIS"
SPEAKOUT: By Bob Schaffer, Special to the News
Rocky Mountain News, Denver, Colorado, Sat, Dec. 4, 2004
Yesterday's ruling by the Ukrainian Supreme Court is truly a historic, giant
step for the cause of democracy. The court resoundingly nullified results
previously certified by the Ukrainian government regarding the country's
Nov. 21 presidential election runoff. The court also ordered a rerun of the
botched election setting a date of Dec. 26.
That Ukraine's presidential election was marred by fraud was hardly
debatable. Overwhelming irregularities observed before, during and after the
Nov. 21 election have been chronicled by foreign election observers and
myriad Ukrainian watchdog groups. There was so much evidence of fraud,
it took the court several days to review it all before it could rule on the
contest's validity.
It remains unclear who will win or how the same government can conduct a
more transparent, fairer rerun. Those answers hang in an election purgatory
somewhere between the dubious rulings of institutional election officials
and the millions of Ukrainian demonstrators who for 13 days have filled the
streets and public squares confident the election had been stolen by their
government.
In the meantime, it is an easy matter for objective pundits to ascertain who
ought to be Ukraine's next president. The election pits two former prime
ministers, the Kremlin-backed Viktor Yanukovych of the Donetsk oligarch
clan against the pro-Western reformer Viktor Yushchenko.
It is also easy to conclude that underhanded election tactics emblematic of
post-communist "democracies" have failed. Russian President Vladimir Putin
has deployed troops to Ukraine since the election. His personal involvement
in the election has backfired. His imperialist ambitions in Ukraine have
gone awry. The cheaters have been caught.
They have been called out first by the citizens of Ukraine who now assert
their God-given right to the same liberty embraced by our own Declaration of
Independence. Their claims have been vindicated by the global community, by
history, and now by Ukraine's high court. Lacking complete autonomy from the
executive branch, the court was expected by most observers to rubber stamp
the certification of Ukraine's Central Election Commission, which had
declared Yanukovych the winner.
What's occurring in Ukraine today is an authentic revolution. It is an
overdue rebellion against institutionalized corruption and it may indeed
mark the infancy of a reclaimed republic led by sincere democrats. I saw it
with my own eyes. Dubbed the Orange Revolution after the campaign color
of Yushchenko, it is a spectacle to behold.
I returned Thanksgiving Day from my ninth visit to Ukraine, this time as an
election observer under the auspices of the Association of Former Members
of Congress and the U.S.-Ukraine Foundation. The association sponsored
five such delegations throughout the months leading up to the election.
Our team's observations are consistent with those of most others. There
can be no possible assurance the will of the people was reflected in the
government's final vote tally nor in its conclusion Yanukovych won. In
fact, evidence points to the contrary.
Yesterday's ruling only gives Ukrainians direction with no guarantee of a
suitable solution. There is no precedent or legal roadmap to guide the
nation past a corrupt election and a condemned government. The rerun
election could turn out to be just as corrupt as the last.
Yet Ukraine's history as a peaceful, open nation makes a thoughtful,
bloodless conclusion quite possible. Amid the anxiety and heightened
military presence, there is a quixotic peace in the streets. To be sure, the
massive demonstration grows larger with each passing day, but without
violence, taunting, drunkenness, tear gas or tanks.
On Dec. 1, Ukraine's parliament approved a vote of "no confidence" in Prime
Minister Yanukovych. It cast a subsequent vote to dismiss him and his
government. These votes occurred at a time when European and Russian
leaders flocked to Kiev to offer mediation, help, influence and advice.
While ongoing dialogue and negotiation are indeed positive indicators,
virtually every solution proffered so far comes with new sets of problems,
some perilous. For example, Yanukovych has even entertained the separatist
threat in eastern Ukraine.
This radical proposal drew instant criticism from Secretary of State Colin
Powell and uncompromising demands by Yushchenko and the parliament's
speaker to prosecute the regional governors who defy Ukraine's constitution
by fomenting regional autonomy. Redrawing Ukraine's border to appease
pro-Yanukovych forces in eastern and southern regions is lethal for Ukraine.
Most agree it cannot be done without bloodshed.
It is upon this baneful specter, however, that Ukrainians can now morally
base their destiny, upon which the West must assert Ukraine's territorial
integrity and upon which Putin should admit a miscalculation that could
ignite separatist tinder in his own country. It is also a point upon which
outgoing Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma might summon the wisdom
of Solomon to resolve his country's election predicament.
Kuchma's record has been checkered. Deserving credit for moments of
prudent stewardship, his presidency will be marked instead by sporadic
blunders, episodes of scandal including alleged complicity in the murder of
an opposition journalist. Kuchma's final act as mediator of Ukraine's great
national crisis could become his legacy to democracy and leave him a heroic
place in Ukrainian history.
Kuchma's unexpected role hands him a dilemma not unlike the one confronted
by King Solomon himself. When asked to determine which of two women had
legitimate claim to an infant, the 10th century B.C. ruler suggested he
would cleave the child in two, leaving each woman her own half. It was the
rightful mother who relinquished her claim in order to save the baby's life
(1 Kings 3).
Yanukovych's openness to splitting Ukraine should similarly disqualify him
from leading the nation if only on moral grounds. His loyalty to the whole
Ukraine is now reproachable. Indeed, his pronouncements on the matter of
separation formed the basis for the parliament's vote of no confidence.
Plus, his government failed to conduct fair, transparent elections. He was
the prime minister. It is his fault.
Whether Kuchma is capable of assessing these facts is unclear. He,
Yanukovych and Putin could concede the obvious outcome now by declaring
Yushchenko the rightful winner. Whether Kuchma opts for a whole Ukraine
remains to be seen. If not, his next, but more circuitous option is to agree
to the court's outline for a rerun of the invalid election.
Regardless, the millions of demonstrators understand the moral imperative
of the Orange Revolution. The future of Ukraine is ultimately in their
hands. They will not accept their freedom crushed nor the wisdom of Solomon
lost to Moscow. -30- [The Action Ukraine Report Monitoring Service]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOTE: Bob Schaffer is a former Congressman who represented
Colorado's 4th Congressional District [northeast Colorado]. We
worked with him for several years in Washington on matters related to
Ukraine. Bob, who has Ukrainian heritage on his mother's side of the
family, was one of the few Congressmen who were pro-active regarding
key Ukrainian issues. We met in Kyiv a couple of weeks ago when we
were both international election monitors. Bob is now back in Colorado
and can be contacted at: bobschaffer@comcast.com. [EDITOR]
========================================================
ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No.248: ARTICLE NUMBER NINE
Your comments about the Report are always welcome
========================================================
9. "THE DANGER OF UNDERESTIMATING RUSSIA"
COMMENTARY: by Walter Prochorenko
The Action Ukraine Report, Sunday, December 5, 2004, Wash, D.C.
In 1946 Churchill viewed Russia as the world's greatest threat.
60 years later, even with the weakened, wounded, and impaired
Russian bear Ukraine would make a grave mistake in
underestimating Russia's imperialistic resolve and Ukrainians
should not let down their guard and celebrate prematurely.
Ukraine's euphoria on winning the support of the Supreme Court
ruling about the fraudulent elections should not allow
Yushchenko's and his democracy's supporters to diminish their
resolve. History is replete with incidents of underestimation of
the enemy. Armenia suffered greatly when they underestimated the
Turks in 1914-1916. The Arabs still shake their heads in
disbelief because they underestimated Israel. Russia is a
multi-tentacled monster that can be most dangerous when wounded
or mocked.
The fact that Kuchma and Yanukovich have already pledged their
allegiance to Russia, and all but ceded Ukraine to Putin's
collection of controlled states, makes Russia feel as if Ukraine
is already part of its imperial puzzle. Now, Russia has no
choice but to fight to keep what she thinks is hers. And fight
she will. We have not seen the last of Putin or Putin's
lackeys, like phoenixes they will return to pick at Ukraine until
they absorb it all again.
Ukraine's only hope is its persevering, persistent, and
phenomenal protesters and their dreams of a truly democratic
country. Should they prevail, it will keep Putin at bay until
the Russian people's own ambitions for a democratic state take
hold. Then, and only then, can Ukraine relax at least a little.
When viewing the events since November 22nd, one cannot help
but notice the peaks and troughs of the daily news and occurrences.
December 3rd was one of the highest peaks in this symphony of
events, but one cannot help but wonder what we will find in the
inevitable valley. What vile deed or deeds have the cunning and
calculating trio of Russia, the oligarchs, and Ukraine's ruling
elite have planned for their next move.
Hopefully December 26th will bring the highest peak in Ukraine's
history, but only wariness and attentiveness will ensure that it
does. -30- [The Action Ukraine Report Monitoring Service]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Walter Prochorenko is a businessman I have known for several
years who spent over 8 years in Ukraine in private enterprise which
included consulting, real estate development, business appraisals for
banking interests, and construction. He is presently pursuing a
doctorate in International Business with his main area of research:
business in Ukraine. Walter is from Paramus, NJ and can be contacted
at prowalt@yahoo.com. [EDITOR]
=========================================================
ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No.248: ARTICLE NUMBER TEN
=========================================================
10. "UKRAINE YEARNS TO BE FREE"
By Howard Dahl, The Forum
Fargo, North Dakota, Sunday, December 05, 2004
I have just completed my 38th trip to the former Soviet Union and had
the privilege of being in Kiev on election day. I was able to watch my
Ukrainian friends vote and feel the enormous yearning for freedom and
democracy from so many people. The present government is beset by
systematic corruption at every level, and has done everything conceivable
to remain in power and maintain their life of ease, at the expense of the
people they are elected to serve.
Ukrainian history is replete with sorrow from the Mongolian invaders in
the 13th Century to Joseph Stalin and his systematic starvation of Ukraine
in the 1930s. I have asked countless Ukrainians over dinner to tell me
their family story as it intersects with Stalin. Everyone has a story
about a family member being murdered. One of the stories was told by
an elderly man with a tear in his eye as he told the story of his father
being murdered when he was 4 years old.
One of the tragedies of this period is the complicity of some on the left
with a despotic regime that is increasingly being understood for what it
was, a regime that was arguably worse than Hitler's. And yet Walter
Duranty of the New York Times was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his
reporting in the early 1930s on all the accomplishments of Stalin. This
still angers many Ukrainians.
Many have ably written about all the well meaning, but nave people that
were duped by Stalin. The late British writer Malcolm Muggeridge moved
to Moscow in 1932 because he felt that the perfect civilization was finally
being formed in Russia. After seeing firsthand what was going on and
watching people like Duranty at work, he became extremely disillusioned.
He writes of people like the Archbishop of Canterbury saying that the
Kingdom of God had come to earth with Stalin.
Staying at my hotel in Kiev during the election was a senior associate of
the firm that was monitoring election fraud around the country. I had the
privilege of getting an hour by hour analysis of the hundreds of incidents
of election irregularities. These have been so well documented that even
the perpetrators are not trying to argue it was a fair election.
In the days leading up to the election there was a sense of joy pervading
Kiev as people had orange ribbons tied to the antennas of their cars and
when the ribbon adorned cars would meet on the street, there would be
threes sounds of the car's horn, equating to the three syllables of
Yushchenko's name. The joy has continued unabated.
Viktor Yushchenko is a rare politician in post-Soviet times. Even his
enemies cannot say anything to tarnish his integrity. Ukrainians sense
this and long to be led by a person who is not duplicitous. One of the
great thrills for me was to watch the cheering crowd as Yushchenko went
to vote near Independence Square in the heart of Kiev and a block
from my hotel.
Vladimir Putin and most Russian officials are not at all happy with what
is going on in Ukraine. The meaning of this election for Russia is a saga
yet to unfold. In the meantime, the ferment in Ukraine today has brought
unity to New and Old Europe and North Americans. There is a widespread
support of the aspirations of so many Ukrainians for a free press, free
elections and a true representative government.
The outcome of this impasse is uncertain, but life will never again be the
same in Ukraine as so many have tasted something very sweet and will
not be satisfied with their previous "diet." -30-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
FOOTNOTE: I have known Howard Dahl for eleven years. He is a
Fargo, North Dakota farm equipment manufacturer who has done
extensive business is Russia and Ukraine in spite of the very difficult
business situation. Howard and his family have designed and manufactured
new and very innovative types of farm machinery for many years.
Machinery that is specifically engineered to maximize production at
the lowest cost for the lands of the Great Plains, from Texas to Canada,
Ukraine and parts of Russia. For further information about the equipment
please contact Howard at hadahl@amitytech.com. [EDITOR]
=========================================================
ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No.248: ARTICLE NUMBER ELEVEN
Suggested articles for publication in the Report are always welcome
=========================================================
11. AN EVENING WITH DISTINGUISHED UKRAINIAN COMPOSER
BOHDANA FILTS, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 9
EMBASSY OF UKRAINE
3350 M Street, NW, Washington DC, 20007
You are cordially invited to attend
AN EVENING WITH DISTINGUISHED UKRAINIAN COMPOSER
BOHDANA FILTS
Lyuba Shchybchyk, soprano
Oleksandr Abayev, violin
Maryna Rogozhyna, piano
Thursday, December 9, 2004, at 7:00 PM
Tickets: $20, Donations will be accepted at the door
RSVP by December 6, 2004 by telephone (202) 349-2961
or email: Natalia Holub; nholub@ukremb.com
This is Bohdana's first visit to the United States. She returns to Ukraine
on December 14th, 2004. Her long and distinguished career in promoting
Ukrainian vocal music for children's choirs, choruses, art songs to words of
Shevchenko, Franko, Lesia Ukrainka, Lina Kostenko, Oleksander Oles' and
others, as well as compositions for piano solo and symphonic works have
received wide acceptance and recognition in Ukraine, the countries of the
Former Soviet Union and Europe. -30-
=========================================================
ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No. 248: ARTICLE NUMBER TWELVE
Names for the distribution list always welcome
=========================================================
12. "THE TWO VIKTORS"
Ukraine is none of DC's business
OPINION: By Charley Reese
LewRockwell.com, Center for Libertarian Studies
Burlingame, California, Saturday, December 4, 2004
Do you know who Viktor Yanukovich is? Do you know who Viktor
Yushchenko is? Do you know what either man stands for? Could you
take a blank map of Europe and draw in the boundaries of Ukraine?
For most of us, the answer to all of the above is "No." The two Viktors are
rivals in the disputed contest for the presidency of Ukraine. We don't know
because it does not concern us. According to superficial news reports - and
"superficial" is the operative word in journalism - one man is alleged to be
pro-Western, and the other, pro-Russian.
If true, it still does not concern us, and the U.S. government ought to get
its nose out of the business of Ukrainian politics. It is more important for
the United States to have good relations with Russia than it is to have good
relations with Ukraine. Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union for decades,
and it lies on the border of Russia. It is therefore rationally of great
interest to Russia to have a friendly government in power. What kind of
government Ukrainians have doesn't concern us at all.
The reason is quite simple: At the end of the Cold War, the Russians
withdrew all of their nuclear weapons from Ukraine. Our relations with
Russia matter because they concern the question of war or peace; our
relations with Ukraine don't matter because there is nothing Ukraine can
do for us or to us.
One of the flaws of the Bush administration's foreign policy is the belief
that we are the world's last remaining superpower, and therefore, might
making right, we can shape the entire world to our liking.
That is flawed for several reasons. One is that whether we are the sole
superpower depends entirely on one's definition of "superpower." Russia
has the nuclear capability of wiping us off the face of the Earth. The
Russians could do that in about 30 minutes. True, we could wipe them
off the face of the Earth in retaliation, but that would be of little
comfort to the survivors in either country.
A statesman must always look at capabilities, not at intentions. Intentions
can change in minutes. Capabilities cannot. So long as Russia has the
capability of destroying us, it is of paramount importance that we not
allow political disputes to escalate out of control. We would not like it if
Russia decided to play a role in the elections in Canada or Mexico, and
the Russians don't like it, for the same reason, that we are attempting to
play a role in Ukrainian elections.
A second flaw in American imperialistic foreign policy is that we are,
frankly, incompetent. Our government has designated as "pro-Western" some
of the worst human beings ever to walk on this Earth. We have installed far
more dictators than we have democrats, and every time the blowback has
cost us. The Iranians don't like us because we deposed their democratically
chosen leader and imposed on them the dictatorship of the Shah of Iran.
Surely most Americans realize that the unusual amount of hostility toward us
is not because the rest of the world consists of New England liberals. Even
the Pentagon has finally come up with a study that says exactly what I, the
rest of the world and even al-Qaida have been saying: The world hates our
foreign policy, not us, and not because we are free or rich but because we
are arrogantly attempting to dominate the world.
I see in the Bush administration the same arrogance that led to the
demise of the British Empire. Arrogance leads you to underestimate
your opponents and to overestimate your own capabilities. It is a
dangerous trait for a head of state.
God knows we have serious domestic problems that need our attention.
Still-porous borders, a record federal deficit, a record trade deficit, a
falling dollar, a health-care crisis and a failed public education system
are more than enough for us to deal with without worrying about who
gets elected in Ukraine.
President George II should beware of emulating the mistakes made by
King George III. -30-
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Charley Reese has been a journalist for 49 years, reporting on everything
from sports to politics. From 1969-71, he worked as a campaign staffer
for gubernatorial, senatorial and congressional races in several states. He
was an editor, assistant to the publisher, and columnist for the Orlando
Sentinel from 1971 to 2001. He now writes a syndicated column which is
carried on LewRockwell.com. Reese served two years active duty in the
U.S. Army as a tank gunner. Write to Charley Reese at P.O. Box 2446,
Orlando, FL 32802.
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LINK: http://www.lewrockwell.com/reese/reese141.html
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ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No. 248: ARTICLE NUMBER THIRTEEN
Letters to the editor are always welcome
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13. "OPPOSITES ATTRACT"
Election crisis in Ukraine shows Bush and Putin,
supposedly soul mates, are not on the same page
EDITORIAL: Houston Chronicle
Houston, Texas, Sunday, December 5, 2004
Russian President Vladimir Putin recently condemned any international
interference in Ukraine's constitutional crisis, brought on by election
fraud. Putin then promptly dismissed the idea of repeating the flawed
presidential runoff election a course that opposition candidate Viktor
Yushchenko demands, Ukraine's Parliament favors and its Supreme
Court has ordered.
Putin apparently still regards Ukraine as a Russian province, or at least
an inviolable sphere of influence. Putin's desire to keep Ukraine oriented
toward Russia rather than the West is understandable, given the long
political and cultural attachment of the two countries and the rapid
expansion of NATO to Russia's borders. However, Russia cannot maintain
its ties to Ukraine at the expense of democracy and honest elections.
As Ukraine's democratic institutions worked to relieve the crisis and
ensure democratic rule untainted by voter fraud perpetrated by the
government, Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma traveled to Russia to
meet with Putin, as if the Russian autocrat's advice should have a bearing
on the course of Ukrainian democracy.
Putin, himself democratically elected, has used his tenure in office and
the excuse of Chechen terrorism to reduce state and local control by
elected officials. He is also trying to re-establish government control
over Russia's media and energy sector.
When Putin visited Houston and President Bush's ranch at Crawford in
2001, Bush said the more time he spent with Putin, the more he could
see the latter's heart and soul, and the more sure he became that the two
could form a relationship built on trust. Bush should tell his Russian
counterpart that the relationship also requires mutual reverence for
democracy and fair elections. At a time when Bush says freedom is on
the march, Putin is all too willing to march in the opposite
direction. -30- [The Action Ukraine Report Monitoring Service]
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ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No. 248: ARTICLE NUMBER FOURTEEN
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14. "PUTIN'S LECTURE ON DEMOCRACY"
By Mohammed A. R. Galadari, Khaleej Times Online
English Language Daily Newspaper
Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Monday, 6 December 2004
SEE, who is giving a talk on democracy and against dictatorship? Vladimir
Putin. Can you imagine it? Dear readers, what is the Russian leader's track
record in these respects?
Putin had egg on his face before he landed in New Delhi two days ago. For,
he was in a hurry to congratulate the Ukrainian government and its prime
minister for "winning" the presidential poll there; and then, sensing the
mood in Ukraine, he had somewhat backtracked. He was by far the only
world leader who stood by the largely flawed election process there that
brought shame on democracy and prompted the court there to eventually
reject the results. Putin had to eat his own words and is yet to overcome
that embarrassment.
And, Putin now uses New Delhi as a base to hold forth on the merits of
democracy. His argument: the US is running a dictatorship over global
affairs, whereas only "a balanced democratic system of international law"
could help ease the current tense situation around the world. According to
Putin, "Dictatorship, the more so dictatorship in international affairs, has
never solved and could not solve the problems in the history of mankind".
Clearly, some may see it as a case of devil quoting the scriptures; or of
pot calling the kettle black. In recent times, Putin has been accused of
rolling back democratic reforms in his country, and going hammer and tongs
at his opponents--from businessmen to social activists and even media
personnel. When he found oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky was posing a
threat to his power, that allegedly prompted him to put the businessman
behind the bars.
So happened in some other cases too. Putin has not left the media untouched,
following as he does the footsteps of some other governments. His government
allegedly harassed journalists who didn't toe his line, closed down TV
stations that were critical of his governance, seized control of TV stations
from private hands, and exercised control over media establishments. It is
said that there is no one to question him.
At the political level, he is accused of having made the Duma (parliament)
docile, its systems weak; and governance more hard-edged. He scrapped the
system of election of regional governmental heads-the governors; and made
nominations the norm so that he could have "his men at the helm in
provinces". He also declared null and void some regional elections in which
his rivals fared well. No one asked for explanations; nor did he give any.
Putin's handling of the Chechnya crisis is well documented. His harsh
policies have made life more miserable there. No one has forgotten the way
he handled the school siege. He refuses to hold discussions with rebels. So
much for Putin's concern for democracy!
Can it be that Putin has turned himself into a democrat in New Delhi? Like,
as the saying goes, "While in Rome, do as Romans do". Exhortations will
not do; Putin has to show his democratic credentials by way of his actions.
Putin was keeping quiet against the US for a long time. Why this loud
thinking now? Some might say it is Ukraine that irks him. George Bush has
put a spoke into the Putin's wheels. Putin's men couldn't have their way in
Ukraine. Perhaps that irritated him.
But, Bush has taken the right step forward in Ukraine. He insisted that it
should be democracy's way, or no way. The people turned against the
Ukrainian government; the court set aside the election verdict and called
for new elections. Putin's men faced a tough time. All this might have
forced the Russian president to speak out. -30-
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Readers' response may be forwarded to marg@khaleejtimes.com
Website: http://www.khaleejtimes.com
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PUBLISHER AND EDITOR
Mr. E. Morgan Williams, Executive Director, Ukrainian Federation of America
(UFA); Coordinator, The Action Ukraine Coalition (AUC);
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