"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"
"STAKES IN THE UKRAINIAN ELECTION"
"Once again in the former Soviet empire, we are witnessing the courage of
the human soul and the lengths to which oppressed people will go to seize
freedom. In Ukraine, a country besieged in the last century by two of man-
kind's greatest 'isms' of hate - fascism and communism - a populace has
risen against another kind of 'ism' - corruptionism. We are now witness to
the power of the individual standing up against forces of injustice and
oppression. We are also witness to the continuing saga of a people
aspiring to shape its own destiny, clear of the shadows cast for centuries
by powerful neighbors." [article number two]
"THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT" Year 04, Number 266
morganw@patriot.net, ArtUkraine.com@starpower.net
Washington, D.C., Kyiv, Ukraine, MONDAY, December 20, 2004
-----INDEX OF ARTICLES-----
"Major International News Headlines and Articles"
1. "A CHALLENGE TO PAT BUCHANAN"
Letter to the Editor: by David D. Sweere
Kyiv, Ukraine, Sunday, December 19, 2004
Published by The Action Ukraine Report
Washington, D.C., Monday, December 20, 2004
2 "STAKES IN THE UKRAINIAN ELECTION"
GREETINGS! SPECIAL MESSAGE TO UKRAINIANS
Office of U.S. Congressman James A. Leach (R-IA)
United States House of Representatives
Washington, D.C., Tuesday, December 7, 2004
3.CONGRESSWOMAN KAPTUR MEETS WITH UKRAINE PRESIDENT
IN KIEV DURING CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION VISIT
Office of U.S. Representative Marcy Kaptur
United .States House of Representatives
Washington, D.C., Sunday, December 19, 2004
4. UKRAINIAN OPPOSITION ACTIVIST EXPOSES NEW
METHOD OF RIGGING ELECTION
TV 5 Kanal, Kiev, Ukraine, in Ukrainian, 19 Dec 04
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, December 19, 2004
5. SCOTLAND'S KEY ROLE IN UKRAINE REVOLUTION
Simon Pia, The Scotsman, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK, Mon, Dec 20, 2004
6. GUESS WHO CAME TO DINNER?
Investigation into who poisoned Ukraine's opposition leader goes on
Notebook/Ukraine by Yuri Zarakhovich
TIME Europe magazine, Dec. 27, 2004 issue
7.SEBASTOPOL FACES NEW NAVAL BATTLE IF YUSHCHENKO WINS
By Tom Parfitt in Sebastopol, Telegraph, London, UK, Sun, Dec 19, 2004
8. YANUKOVYCH 'TO TWIST FRESH UKRAINE BALLOT'
By Tom Parfitt in Kiev, Telegraph, London, UK, Sunday, Dec 19, 2004
9. "RESILIENT UKRAINIANS IN FOR THE LONG HAUL"
By Jeffrey G. Hartman, Peace Corps Volunteer
ToledoBlade.com, Toledo, Ohio, Saturday, December 11, 2004
10. NEW YORK: LOCAL VOICES JOIN OUTCRY IN UKRAINE
Emigres here unite to support democracy at home
Victoria E. Freile, Staff writer, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
Rochester, New York, Monday, December 13, 2004
11. UKRAINIAN INSTITUTE OF AMERICAN TO HONOR
CHAMPION BOXERS VITALI AND WLADIMIR KLITSCHKO
The Ukrainian Institute of America (UIA)
New York, N.Y., Thu, December 16, 2004
12. ENTERTAINMENT COMMUNITY SUPPORTS DEMOCRATIC
ELECTIONS IN UKRAINE
Hollywood Trident Foundation, Los Angeles, CA, Sat, Dec 18,2004
13. "U.S. HYPOCRISY IN UKRAINE"
Statement of U.S. Congressman Ron Paul {R-TX)
Statement at Hearing: "Ukraine’s Election: Next Steps"
U.S. House International Relations Committee
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, D.C., Tuesday, 7 December, 2004
14. "INVASION VS. PERSUASION"
COMMENTARY: by George Packer
The Talk of the Town, The New Yorker magazine
New York, NY, Issue of December 20, 2004
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ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No. 266: ARTICLE NUMBER ONE
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1. "A CHALLENGE TO PAT BUCHANAN"
LETTER TO THE EDITOR: By David D. Sweere
Kyiv, Ukraine, Sunday, December 19, 2004
Published by The Action Ukraine Report
Washington, D.C., Monday, December 20, 2004
Letter to Morgan Williams, Editor
The Action Ukraine Report
It is incredible to think how the normally wise, free-market, religious
right, ultra-conservative Pat Buchanan (whose politics, I thought, resembled
my own) could write such a stupid, ridiculous and embarrassing commentary
about Victor Yuschenko and the Orange Revolution. Seems like the old
warrior is losing his touch (or, at minimum his discernment).
Unfortunately he did write it, and that sadly puts Mr. Buchanan in the
considerable category of ignorant, arrogant Americans' that preach loud
and do little. His negative statements about the intellectual, decent,
deeply religious and brave leader of the Orange Revolution, Victor
Yuschenko, are a true mark of this sad fact.
Buchanan's remarks and false insinuations and claims that he made in his
World Net Daily article about the abhorrent and disgraceful Ukrainian
general election and its fraud ridden run-off are a disgrace. It is clear
Mr. Buchanan knows little of reality in Ukraine, yet he spouts off about it.
Could it be that this has been one of the best kept secrets of many of his
compatriots on both sides of the western political spectrum concerning the
former Soviet Union for the past fifteen years?
By this message, I would like to challenge Mr. Buchanan to stand upright
and allow him to correct himself.
Today, the Orange Revolution has taken its rightful place next to the
Hungarian Uprising of 1956, the Czech Uprising of two years later, the
Solidarity Movement in Poland in the early 80's and the tearing down of
the Berlin Wall of 1989. Unfortunately, non of these movements were
adequately supported either by the 'fat cats' of the time, nor the
Governments of either Europe or the US to which Buchanan refers.
Had they been, the world could have prevented the countless suffering and
pain that another full generation has experienced under continued forced
poverty under a false democracy of the post communist era. Forced poverty
(such as the forced famine) in this enormously rich land, along with all of
the human suffering and cost that goes along with it.
Mr. Buchanan, you should also know that I am not a Ukrainian. I am a first
generation Dutch American who has spent more than fifteen years in hands-
on work, along side my Ukrainian national wife, applying tens of millions of
real investment in rural Ukraine to build a sustainable modern market driven
economy. And, furthermore, I am darn proud of it.
But, more and more, I am growing more proud of the America I remember,
rather than the America I know today because of those of you who know
better, but still abuse your forefathers' provided rights of free speech and
expression in all forms. Accordingly, I would like to invite Mr. Buchanan
to spend even one day with us in typical rural Ukraine (where still more
than 30% of the population live).
If Mr. Buchanan should accept this invitation he would quickly understand
what his old boss Ronald Reagan was referring to when he correctly labeled
the Soviet Union the 'evil empire'. Hopefully this would allow him to
understand the depth and breath of this evil, even as it stands yet today;
not only in the villages but in the District, and even, large Regional
cities where the post Berlin Wall 'power appointed democracy' continues
to sit on their chairs and dictate - even to the last drop of information
provided (incidentally, supported by billions in western institutional aid
and loans that contain little, if any, conditionality to form democratic
institutions and/or to provide genuine democratic reform).
People who read the Buchanan column need to be told the truth that the
few dollars provided the NGO's is but a tiny drop in the bucket next to the
billions provided these corrupt governments in stabilization, development
and other western institutional funding that they freely use to steal their
rigged elections.
My hope would be that when Mr. Buchanan is provided such enlightenment
it may even result in, not only the retraction of his recent statements
about the Ukrainian elections and the character of the Orange Revolution
and its leaders, but it would also result in him writing about the falsehood
that have been portrayed by the West's politicians and journalists wherein
they refer to the 'newly formed democracies' of the former Soviet block.
Surely even one day would be sufficient for him to observe the sad truth
that these are not democracies in any sense of the word, but rather they
have been allowed to grow into states, supported with huge sums of western
public money, that resemble fascist Oligarchies. Incidentally, when I
warned of this coming reality in a speech to the US Mission and visiting US
Officials in Kiev in 1994, it was the last time I was asked to make such an
'advisory' speech.
But, back to Mr. Buchanan. In the event Mr. Buchanan takes the challenge,
would it be possible that he would not be able to understand what becomes
of a people when they have been deprived of the basic human right to have
access to true information and when they have been lied to for three
generations by their criminal masters? Might it take the possible stumbling
over a headless corpse in a rural Ukrainian woods to awaken him?
Fortunately, for those of us who were born with the wisdom of common
people everywhere, and in the US with our forefathers' gift of freedom to
'vote the bums out', it does not take a four hundred page best seller to
explain why withholding the truth from people is one of the most serious
violations of basic human rights.
This has been, and continues to be, the greatest single crime committed by
the 'power' in Ukraine, and Mr. Buchanan, you, as an accomplished and
respected author, if anyone, should know it. And, let me further say to you
Mr. Buchanan and those who simply are too 'fat' to understand it.
The Orange Revolution is not some result of western influence or money
and to believe it represents pure ignorance of the facts. Additionally this
would be giving the west and its abundant arrogance (while sitting in their
easy chairs sipping their 'buds' and watching their multi-million paid
professional clowns throw punches), far, far too much credit.
Rather what is happening in Ukraine is the beginning of the final chapters
of a movement that has been empowered and held together by the
ecumenical 'gluten's' of the Holy Spirit that has, and is continuing to move
like a mist silently across the embattled, blood soaked, poverty stricken
land where 'good' truly does meet 'evil' - from Prague in the west, to
Vladivostok in the East.
And now who, in the person of Victor Yuschenko and his brave followers,
are screaming at the top of their lungs (be it mainly through silent
dignity, with only a common color that says it all) for the freedoms that
they have never experienced and most have only read about. It is this holy
mist that has now been given the long suffering people of Ukraine, through
the person of Victor Yuschenko, the long awaited hope to obtain a full
portion of it.
And, not Putin, Yanukovych, Kuchma, and all their poisoning legions (no
pun intended) are going to stop Him (or Her, if it makes you feel any
better); and, the beautiful thing about it is, these guys simply don't get
it. But, Mr. Buchanan, you, if anyone, should.
In closing, we would be most pleased to have you as our guest in Kyiv to
give you the opportunity to experience what I am talking about, and then,
after you have, allow you to give us your most eloquent, educated and,
would then be, respected opinion.
If you are unable or unwilling to take this challenge, them please have the
dignity to retract your statement as 'uninformed'.
Sincerely,
David D. Sweere
Co-Founder of Kyiv-Atlantic Ukraine and Atlantic Farms
One of too small a number of Sponsors of "The Action Ukraine Report"
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
FOOTNOTE: Pat Buchanan's Dec. 6, 2004 commentary piece
"What Are We Up To - In Ukraine?", referred to in the letter above
by David D. Sweere, can be found at the following links:
www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=41787 and at
link http://www.lewrockwell.com/buchanan/buchanan15.html. The
article was republished in The Action Ukraine Report, number 250,
on December 7, 2004, article number fifteen.
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ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No.266: ARTICLE NUMBER TWO
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2. "STAKES IN THE UKRAINIAN ELECTION"
GREETINGS! SPECIAL MESSAGE TO UKRAINIANS
U.S. Congressman James A. Leach (R-IA)
United States House of Representatives
Washington, D.C., Tuesday, December 7, 2004
U.S. Congressman James A. Leach and his chief of staff Gregory
Wierzynski express their deepest interest in a democratic solution
to the current political crisis in Ukraine. Their sentiments find
expression in the poem below ...
"It makes no difference to me
If I shall live or not in Ukraine
Or whether any one shall think
Of me 'mid foreign snow and rain
It makes no difference to me.
It makes great difference to me
That evil folk and wicked men
Attack our Ukraine, once so free
And rob and plunder at will
That makes great difference to me."
by Taras Shevchenko
"STAKES IN THE UKRAINIAN ELECTION"
Statement by Representative James A. Leach (R-IA)
Before the U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, D.C., December 7, 2004
Mr. Speaker,
History unfolds at an unpredictable pace. While we've been pre-occupied
with Iraq and our own elections at home, dramatic events have shaken
Ukraine for the past fortnight. They must not be overlooked or their
implications misunderstood.
Once again in the former Soviet empire, we are witnessing the courage of
the human soul and the lengths to which oppressed people will go to seize
freedom.
In Ukraine, a country besieged in the last century by two of mankind's
greatest 'isms' of hate - fascism and communism - a populace has risen
against another kind of 'ism' - corruptionism. We are now witness to the
power of the individual standing up against forces of injustice and
oppression. We are also witness to the continuing saga of a people
aspiring to shape its own destiny, clear of the shadows cast for centuries
by powerful neighbors.
At issue is the question of freedom and its transforming effects. Democracy
implies more than elections. It implies integrity of process, and when that
integrity is lacking, the charade of stolen elections can be more
debilitating than unabashed authoritarian rule.
There are geostrategic as well as philosophical dimensions to the Ukraine
situation that need to be understood in the broad context of the region and
its history.
Geopolitically, Ukraine is a large expanse about the size of Texas, with a
population of nearly 48 million people, stretching from the wheat fields
along a line between Warsaw and Moscow to the palm trees of Yalta, on
the Black Sea. Ukraine was the breadbasket of the old Soviet Union;
today, it is an economic and political hinge between the European Union
and NATO on the one hand, and the Russian Federation and the Asian
landmass, on the other.
The western, Ukrainian-speaking half of the country looks to Warsaw and
Berlin, Paris and Washington; eastern Ukraine, with its Russian-speaking
population, looks more to Moscow. Language creates cultural divisions,
but the forces of political cohesion are strong. Both population groups are
committed to independence and undiluted Ukrainian sovereignty.
So, in addition to democracy, at issue is Russian imperialism. Instability
in Ukraine can only strengthen the hand of an increasingly authoritarian
Kremlin. By contrast, a genuinely free election in Ukraine would not only
enhance national solidarity but encourage democratic forces in the rest of
the former Soviet Union, not least within Russia itself.
Those committed to democracy anywhere in the world should not hesitate
to identify with aspirations of the Ukrainian people. Ukraine may be on the
distant side of Europe from the United States, but our countries are bound
by a common heritage and an inalienable urge for freedom. As Taras
Shevchenko, the 19th century Ukrainian poet, wrote:
"It makes no difference to me / If I shall live or not in Ukraine / Or
whether any one shall think / Of me 'mid foreign snow and rain / It
makes to difference to me.
It makes great difference to me / That evil folk and wicked men /
Attack our Ukraine, once so free / And rob and plunder at will /
That makes great difference to me."
So far courageous Ukrainians have succeeded in halting a fraudulent
election. Sensing political winds blowing from a new direction, the once
docile supreme court has, startlingly, done an honest job, erasing an
injustice and calling for a new election. But the outcome is still in
doubt. There is plenty of opportunity before the court-ordered runoff for
status quo authorities to attempt, once more, to subvert the democratic
process.
There can be little doubt they will try to do so. For the KGB alumni who
dominate the Kremlin, Ukrainian democracy is more than an embarrassment.
It is a threat to their power and wealth and, for some, to their dream of
restoring the Russian empire.
No one wishes to poison relations with Russia, but free elections are not an
issue on which the United States should or, indeed, can compromise without
sullying its principles. Nor need we respect the threat of those who are so
fearful of losing power that they hint of promoting a division of Ukraine
into western and eastern parts. Separatism mis-serves the Ukrainian people.
It is a trend that Russia, grappling with Chechnya and other non-Russian
regions, can only endorse at great risk.
Differing with Russia may be politically awkward, but once the flame of
freedom is ignited, the U.S. and other western democracies have no ethical
choice except to stand up in support of the people of Ukraine. The march to
freedom in Poland, Czechoslovakia and other former communist-bloc
countries has shown that the risk of an outbreak of destabilizing violence
is far greater in situations where the popular will is suppressed than in
those where it is allowed to find full expression.
The Ukrainian election set for December 26 is one of the seminal events of
this new century. As members of the American people's House, we are
obligated to express our support for the aspirations of Ukrainians. -30-
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.house.gov/leach/; http://www.house.gov/leach/Ukraine.doc
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
FOOTNOTE: Congressman James A. Leach was elected to Congress
in November of 1976 and each succeeding Congress from Iowa's
Second District. He is Chairman Emeritus of the House Committee on
Financial Services and Chairman of the House Subcommittee on East
Asian and Pacific Affairs of the Committee on International Relations.
Congressman Leach attended Princeton University, and received a
Bachelor of Arts Degree (cum laude) in Political Science in 1964.
>From 1964-66 he studied at the School of Advanced International
Studies, Johns Hopkins University and received a Master of Arts
Degree in Soviet Politics. In 1966-68 he attended the London
School of Economics and was a Research student in Economics
and Soviet Politics.
In 1960 he was the Iowa High School State Wrestling Champion
for his weight division and was elected to the Wrestling Hall of Fame,
Stillwater, Oklahoma, and the International Wrestling Hall of Fame,
Newton, Iowa.
We have known Congressman Leach for many years and he is an
outstanding member of the U.S. House of Representatives.
[The Action Ukraine Report Monitoring Service]
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ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No.266: ARTICLE NUMBER THREE
========================================================
3. CONGRESSWOMAN KAPTUR MEETS WITH UKRAINE PRESIDENT
IN KIEV DURING CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION VISIT
Office of U.S. Representative Marcy Kaptur
United States House of Representatives
Washington, D.C., Sunday, December 19, 2004
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- U.S. Representative Marcy Kaptur (OH-9),
co-chair of the Congressional Ukrainian Caucus, along with a six-member
Congressional delegation, met with President Leonid Kuchma in Kiev on
Saturday in what Kaptur said was a very "open and positive" meeting. The
delegation is traveling in Ukraine through December 21 to add their voices
for a free and fair revote in the Presidential elections to be held next
Sunday, Dec. 26.
Kaptur and the delegation asked the President to do all in his power to
assure a fair revote and thanked him for accepting the decision of the
Supreme Court to nullify the vote. He admitted the decision had eased a
crisis. "We spent a great deal of time discussing progress Ukraine has made
over this past decade of independence in civic life, economic growth,
seeking accession to NATO, and openness to assembly and free speech,"
said Kaptur. Kuchma urged the delegation not to see Ukraine through the
prism of Russia, "but that is a remark frequently made to U.S. visitors,"
Kaptur added.
Thousands of election observers will be coming in from around the world,
and from within Ukraine to prevent the abuses that characterized the earlier
election, particularly manipulation of mobile voting stations and absentee
voting. Laws have been passed in parliament to avoid these pitfalls.
However, election observers will be critical in assuring a fair vote.
"Today, though far from an open society, Ukraine is making major strides
toward developing liberty's institutions," said Kaptur. "The impact of this
election in inspiring the next generation of Ukraine's youth cannot be
underestimated. There is enormous fervor among the young people. The
heated Presidential contest does offer real choices and commercial activity
is evident, though a rule of business law does not exist, and the media is
becoming more robust."
Saturday was spent meeting with other high-level government officials.
Kaptur met with U.S. Ambassador John Herbst, a career diplomat. Herbst
reviewed the series of events that have led to Ukraine declaring its recent
Presidential election invalid. The delegation also met with Speaker Lytvyn.
"His decisive leadership during the last few weeks in nullifying the
election because of fraud has elevated the role of the Rada and prevented
internal meltdown in Ukraine," said Kaptur.
Kaptur has traveled extensively in Ukraine since 1973. She is of Ukrainian
decent and her great-grandparents are buried there. Kaptur drafted the
Rada-Congress Agreement and created the Anastasia Fund -- named after
her mother -- a foundation for underprivileged Ukrainians. -30-
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contact: Elizabeth Ferranti, 202-225-4146
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ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No. 266: ARTICLE NUMBER FOUR
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4. UKRAINIAN OPPOSITION ACTIVIST EXPOSES NEW
METHOD OF RIGGING ELECTION
TV 5 Kanal, Kiev, Ukraine, in Ukrainian, 19 Dec 04
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, December 19, 2004
KIEV - Ukrainian television TV 5 Kanal news bulletin at 1900 gmt 19
Dec 04 featured Nestor Shufrych, captioned as presidential candidate
Viktor Yanukovych's representative in the Central Electoral Commission
(CEC), and Yuriy Klyuchkovskyy, captioned as a representative of
opposition presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko in the CEC, being
interviewed by presenter Roman Skrypin on their attitude to the newly
formed CEC and the Yushchenko-Yanukovych election debate scheduled
for 20 December.
Shufrych complained about bias and lack of transparency in the work of
the newly formed CEC. He also complained that not a single supporter of
Yanukovych had been elected member of the CEC.
For his part, Klyuchkovskyy said the new CEC was much more impartial
and expressed the hope that it would be able to ensure that the voting on
26 December was held in a fair an honest manner.
Shufrych denied that Yanukovych's election headquarters was aware of
anyone manipulating the computer server of the CEC, whereas
Klyuchkovskyy said the server had been manipulated and the election
results were therefore distorted.
Yuriy Klyuchkovskyy also expressed concern over a new method of rigging
the election. In particular, he said: "I need just 30 seconds to say that
the team of our opponent [Viktor Yanukovych], having realized that the trick
with absentee ballots will not work anymore, is employing another method.
[Passage omitted: Shufrych and Klyuchkovskyy exchange brief remarks]
The Interior Ministry is now vigorously printing so-called passport inserts,
which will contain information about the place of temporary stay of
citizens. All these people - [changes tack]
Trains and bus caravans are being formed again. However, these people
will travel not with absentee ballots but with passport inserts. These
inserts will contains information on the temporary place of stay of their
owners, confirmed by registration agencies. And these people will
demand that their names are put on the voters' lists on the basis of these
inserts."
To conclude the interview, Shufrych and Klyuchkovskyy were asked to
express their opinions of the format of the Yushchenko-Yanukovych TV
debate. Shufrych said he was happy about the format but complained that
the CEC had discussed the issue in the absence of Yanukovych's
representatives.
Klyuchkovskyy said the CEC had discussed the procedure for holding the
TV debate for several days and all members of the commission, including
those from the parties that support Yanukovych, had been involved. -30-
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ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No. 266: ARTICLE NUMBER FIVE
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5. SCOTLAND'S KEY ROLE IN UKRAINE REVOLUTION
Simon Pia, The Scotsman, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK, Mon, Dec 20, 2004
WHEN the second draft of history comes to be written of the Orange
revolution in Ukraine, the crucial role of Scotland may well be acknowledged
ahead of that of the US, EU or anybody else.
Well, to be more accurate the role of the Regent and Acting Chancellor of
the Kingdom of Scotland. Yes, it is our old friend Michael Ritchie we are
referring to, our self-appointed regent ever since the Declaration of Duns
in 1992. Some in Berwickshire and further afield may consider him a trifle
eccentric, but not our comrades in Ukraine.
With demonstrators on the streets of Kiev, Michael took it upon himself to
get on the phone. "It was through an indefatigable lady at Reuters office in
Kiev that I got in touch with various people. The first message was for
Viktor Yushchenko that I, as Regent and Acting Chancellor of the Kingdom
of Scotland speaking on behalf of the kingdom and its participants, accepted
him as the legitimate, democratically elected president of the republic of
Ukraine."
Now Ukrainian knowledge of Scotland may be as sketchy as this message was
seized upon by the television station Channel 5 [TV station in Kyiv]. It was
broadcast immediately and the news spread on to the streets that the Kingdom
of Scotland had recognised Yushchenko as president. "The first and only
state to do so," Michael proudly tells us.
Channel 5 phoned Michael back asking for a fuller statement which he duly
supplied, quoting Burns' "parcel o' rogues in a nation" and the Bible "Where
the spirit of the Lord is there is Liberty" as well as the coup de grâce:
"Ukraine is no more the backyard of Europe as Scotland is the backyard of
England".
Meanwhile, Michael has appealed for Scottish observers to be present on
election day, 26 December which, we are told, has been welcomed by Igor
Popov, the chairman of the committee of voters of the Ukraine. With
Holyrood in recess there may be no takers. -30-
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http://news.scotsman.com/opinion.cfm?id=1448792004
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ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No. 266: ARTICLE NUMBER SIX
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6. GUESS WHO CAME TO DINNER?
The investigation into who poisoned Ukraine's opposition leader goes on
NOTEBOOK/UKRAINE By Yuri Zarakhovich
TIME Europe magazine, Dec. 27, 2004 issue
Who poisoned Viktor Yushchenko? On Dec. 17, doctors identified a massive
dose of TCDD, the most toxic form of dioxin, as the cause of the Ukrainian
opposition leader's grievous illness and facial disfigurement. Yushchenko
claimed that the poisoning took place on Sept. 5 at a dinner with General
Ihor Smeshko, head of the SBU, Ukraine's domestic security service, and
Smeshko's First Deputy, Volodymyr Satsyuk. "That was the only place where
no one from my team was present and no precautions were taken concerning
the food," Yushchenko said on Dec. 16. The next day, campaigning for the
Dec. 26 rerun of the presidential vote, he backtracked a bit, saying he did
not intend to accuse the SBU officials themselves of "complicity" in
poisoning him at what might have been his last supper.
According to Dmytro Ponamarchuk, a Kiev political analyst opposed to
Yushchenko, "The meeting was initiated by Yushchenko, and the SBU agreed
to it in good faith to discuss how to keep [anticipated street protests]
under control in case of rigged elections." A key Yushchenko staffer says
that Smeshko made it clear at the dinner that the SBU would remain neutral
— which amounted to tacit support for Yushchenko. At least one part of
Yushchenko's account is disputed by Volodymyr Syvkovych, who is leading
a parliamentary investigation into the dinner. Syvkovych told Time that
someone from Yushchenko's team was present at the meal: David Zhvania,
an M.P. with Yushchenko's Our Ukraine party. According to Syvkovych's
preliminary report, "Food was served on common dishes. Zhvania and Satsyuk
were pouring the drinks from the bottles, opened in each other's presence."
The next morning, Yushchenko became seriously ill.
Smeshko has flatly denied involvement in any poisoning attempt; Satsyuk has
so far remained silent, and a spokesperson at the SBU declined to comment;
Zhvania did not return calls. But Yushchenko's remarks raised eyebrows.
Why would he implicate his potential allies? "It might be the influence of
some of his top lieutenants who want to keep the masses mobilized," says
the staffer. "Or he simply let it slip, provoked by incessant questioning."
Last week, outgoing President Leonid Kuchma abruptly fired Satsyuk from
the SBU and a motion, pending since July, to strip him of his parliamentary
status — and thereby his immunity — was approved. (Satsyuk's opponents
had argued that his job at the SBU was incompatible with being an M.P.)
Meanwhile, the first signs emerged that Ukraine's orange revolution may be
seeping across the border into Russia. Last week in the Siberian city of
Barnaul, the capital of the Altai region some 3,500 km east of Moscow, more
than 100 journalists published an open letter of protest against what they
said was pressure from the Kremlin to smear Vladimir Ryzhkov, an M.P.
from Altai and an outspoken opponent of President Vladimir Putin.
According to Valery Savinkov, editor-in-chief of the Altai news agency
Bankfax, "A gentlemen from Moscow came [in October] to offer us big
rewards should we do their bidding. When I turned him down, he said:
'You either share the bulldozer's driver seat with us or the bulldozer rolls
over you.'"
Savinkov says his next visitor was an officer from the FSB, Russia's
domestic security service, who warned that the agency would have problems
should Savinkov fail to cooperate. That's when Savinkov and his colleague
Vladimir Ovchinnikov, editor-in-chief of Svobodnyi Kurs, a Barnaul-based
weekly, drafted the protest letter. "It's not about Ryzhkov really," says
Ovchinnikov. "It's about the regime [the Kremlin] is once again imposing on
this country. We don't want to let it happen." Altai's journalists are
bracing for reprisals and have launched a new media union with local
colleagues in hopes of preserving their independence. -30-
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ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No.266: ARTICLE NUMBER SEVEN
Your comments about the Report are always welcome
========================================================
7. SEBASTOPOL FACES NEW NAVAL BATTLE IF YUSHCHENKO WINS
By Tom Parfitt in Sebastopol, Telegraph
London, UK, Sunday, December 19, 2004
SEBASTOPOL - The lines of frigates, submarines and heavily armed
destroyers moored at the hulking jetties of Sebastopol are a potent symbol
of a fractured nation.A pact between Moscow and Kiev after the Soviet
Union's break-up gave Russia's Black Sea fleet the right to keep its ships
in this historic port at the tip of Ukraine's Crimean peninsula. While the
agreement enraged Ukrainian nationalists, Sebastopol's mostly Russian-
speaking population was more than happy.
Now, as the pro-Western opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko gains ground
in the run-up to Ukraine's repeat presidential election, the town fears for
the future of its cherished fleet - and for its own economy. "People are
terrified that the base will be pushed out by Nato if Yushchenko wins," said
Yuri Lahno, the director of Sea Factor, one of the city's biggest maritime
crewing agencies.
Mr Yushchenko has promised to turn towards Europe and pursue Nato
membership if he is victorious in the election next Sunday. That could speed
up a process that has already begun as Nato makes overtures to Ukraine.
Only last month, with election campaigning in full swing, the US warship La
Salle came to Sebastopol to conduct joint exercises with Ukraine's navy,
part of the softly-softly approach used by Nato to cultivate potential
member states. In a separate arrangement, Ukrainian submariners will also
receive training from American sailors. The flourishing relations between
Nato and Ukraine have not gone unnoticed in Moscow. The Duma, the lower
house of parliament, has adopted a resolution condemning increased military
co-operation, including naval manoeuvres.
Although Mr Yushchenko says that he has no plans to challenge the lease
allowing Russia to rent space for the 130 vessels of the fleet at Sebastopol
until 2017, residents fear that he might change his mind if he wins the
election, caving in to critics who say it is a symbol of Moscow's
interference in Ukraine.
There are few Yushchenko supporters in this town. During the presidential
election last month - later invalidated - almost 90 per cent of Sebastopol
residents voted for his opponent, the pro-Russian prime minister Viktor
Yanukovich.
"This is a city of Russian glory," said Gennady Stroilov, 41, an English
tutor who teaches classes of mariners. "It's almost inconceivable to imagine
Nato ships at anchor here, but it could happen. Yushchenko is too weak to
control the chauvinists that surround him."
Officers at the Black Sea fleet's handsome white stone headquarters on the
bay say that there is no immediate cause for alarm. "We've held our own
exercises with Nato and we have good relations with the Ukrainian navy,"
said a senior officer. "Of course if we get directed from above to break
those friendly relations things could turn out differently." Russia plans a
new harbour at its Black Sea port of Novorossiysk next year but denies
that it will be the fleet's base.
Moscow's favoured candidate in the election, Mr Yanukovich, continues to
draw strong support in the region. His supporters say the extent of genuine
backing for their candidate was ignored by the thousands who took to the
streets in Kiev to protest at vote-rigging.
Olga Cherkasova, 20, a law student, stopped at the prime minister's campaign
tent in the central square and said: "We're here to show that nobody forced
us to vote for Yanukovich. He will protect our rights by introducing dual
citizenship and making Russian an official language."
Mr Stroilov was impressed by Mr Yanukovich's concrete election pledges,
if not his record of assault and robbery. "It was humiliating to vote for a
convicted criminal," he said. "But we need changes to stop us being treated
like third-class citizens and Yushchenko isn't offering that." If the
opinion polls are correct, however, Mr Stroilov will be disappointed.
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ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No. 266: ARTICLE NUMBER EIGHT
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8. YANUKOVYCH 'TO TWIST FRESH UKRAINE BALLOT'
By Tom Parfitt in Kiev, Telegraph, London, UK, Sunday, Dec 19, 2004
Ukrainian opposition supporters have warned that the prime minister, Viktor
Yanukovich, is preparing another widescale attempt to disrupt the country's
repeated presidential election. Allies of the opposition leader, Viktor
Yushchenko, claim to have evidence from "a mole in the prime minister's
camp" that Mr Yanukovich's supporters were planning to storm polling
stations in central and western Ukraine.
With the rival camps trading insults and accusations, the Boxing Day ballot
looks set to be another bitter battle. An opinion poll conducted last week
by the respected Kiev-based Razumkov Centre gave Mr Yushchenko 47 per
cent of the vote, ahead of Mr Yanukovich on 39 per cent. In last month's
disputed election, the pro-Moscow prime minister's margin of victory was
three per cent.
Mr Yushchenko's popularity appears to have been boosted by confirmation
that he had been poisoned, allegedly by Ukrainian security officials. His
face was left severely disfigured after he was dosed with a chemical used
in the defoliant Agent Orange.
Petro Poroshenko, one of Mr Yushchenko's closest allies and a leading
campaign manager, told The Telegraph that according to the mole, ''special
teams of bandits and criminals'' would invade polling stations, making it
impossible to count votes. Mr Yushchenko has said that he knows of
"provocations being organised in the eastern regions", which are Mr
Yanukovich's stronghold.
Mr Poroshenko, an MP and cocoa-importing multi-millionaire known as the
Chocolate King, also accused Yanukovich loyalists of planning to discredit
the opposition leader by dressing in orange - the colour adopted by Mr
Yushchenko's followers - and attacking parliament.
Last month opposition supporters flooded the streets of Kiev in the
so-called ''Orange Revolution'' to protest at the results in the disputed
second round of Ukraine's presidential election. The result was later
invalidated by the supreme court because of falsifications that were blamed
on the prime minister's team. They included mass fraudulent use of absentee
and home-voting ballots, intimidation of election officials and the
destruction of ballots with acid.
Asked how the information on fresh plans to skew the vote was obtained,
Mr Poroshenko said that it came from "a source who delivers it from
Yanukovich's teams ". He said that the main efforts would focus on
preventing Yushchenko supporters from voting, and interfering with
vote-counting.
He refused to elaborate, saying: "Giving more detailed information would
simply eliminate all our strategies for stopping it [the disruption]."
The prime minister's camp hit back at Mr Poroshenko. Mr Yanukovich's
campaign manager, Taras Chernovyl, poured scorn on his remarks, saying
that they "do not deserve a response". He said that the opposition team had
carried out "large-scale fraud" in western regions during the second round
and planned to repeat it. He added: "The world has heard only one side of
the story."
Thousands of international observers, including a team from the Organisation
for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), are expected to attend the
repeated vote, protected by tight security.
About 20,000 Yushchenko supporters are expected to travel to the east of the
country to work as observers and members of local electoral commissions, in
an attempt to ensure a fair vote. A similar number of Mr Yanukovich's
supporters will head to Mr Yushchenko's heartland in nationalist western
Ukraine.
New electoral law pushed through after the last election should reduce the
opportunities for falsifying the vote by restricting absentee and home
voting. A concerted effort to twist the result is still expected, however.
"Yanukovich remains in control of all the means of power in the [eastern,
Russian-speaking] Lugansk and Donetsk regions, so he has room for
manoeuvre," said Nina Sorokopud, an activist with Pora, the pro-
Yushchenko youth organisation.
Mr Chornovyl said that the prime minister's campaign team welcomed
international observers but could not trust them to give a fair
interpretation. He produced a document listing election results from one
polling station in the second round that appeared to show that 828 ballots
were recorded for Mr Yushchenko, although only 721 people voted.
"The OSCE ignored violations like this because it wanted to take complaints
only from Yushchenko's side," he said. "Their observers were deliberately
selected with a mindset that said he was the good guy."
The leadership crisis in Ukraine has been characterised as a standoff
between East and West, reminiscent of the revolutions that swept Serbia
and Georgia in recent years. Mr Yushchenko wants a sharp turn towards
the European Union and Nato, while his opponent favours slower integration
and strong ties with Russia.
Last week both candidates were on the campaign trail, trying to expand
their support beyond the faultline that neatly divides the country and their
respective strongholds.
Mr Yanukovich has sought to distance himself from the outgoing president,
Leonid Kuchma, who was seen as his patron. The prime minister has tried
to recast himself as a victim - and even opponent - of state authorities,
saying that they blackened his reputation by trying to fix the election
behind the scenes.
Mr Chornovyl said that his candidate was also damaged by open support
from President Vladimir Putin of Russia, who made two high-profile visits to
Ukraine before the election.
Mr Poroshenko ridiculed his claim. "For Yanukovich to set up himself as an
opposition candidate now is simply laughable. He has no chance of winning
fairly. "The attempts to disrupt the vote will not succeed, he said. "The
level of support for Yushchenko now gives us enormous hope for a
convincing victory." -30- [The Action Ukraine Report Monitoring Service]
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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/12/19/wukra19.xml
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ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No.266: ARTICLE NUMBER NINE
Suggested articles for publication in the Report are always welcome
=========================================================
9. "RESILIENT UKRAINIANS IN FOR THE LONG HAUL"
By Jeffrey G. Hartman, Peace Corps Volunteer
ToledoBlade.com, Toledo, Ohio, Saturday, December 11, 2004
IN THE two years I have spent living in Ukraine, I have never seen anything
like the events of recent days. Ukrainians have many admirable qualities -
they are hard working and hospitable, yet they generally tend to be
fatalistic people.
So I was both pleased and shocked to see them take charge of their own
lives as they took to the streets in protest after Prime Minister Viktor
Yanukovich's disputed "victory" in the second round of the 2004 Ukrainian
presidential elections.
I completed my service as a Peace Corps volunteer in Ukraine two days before
the Nov. 21 run-off election between opposition candidate Viktor Yushenko, a
pro-Europe, pro-democracy former prime minister, and Mr. Yanukovich, the
current prime minister and a twice-convicted felon who pledges to strengthen
ties with Russia. I had planned to travel to nearby countries before heading
home to Toledo. But the events that transpired prompted me to stay in the
country and watch the citizens of Ukraine defend their freedom.
The day after the election I was watching Ukraine's only TV station not
controlled by Leonid Kuchma, the current president of Ukraine, or Viktor
Pinchuk, Mr. Kuchma's son-in-law. The news showed hundreds of thousands
of demonstrators rolling into Independence Square in downtown Kiev, waving
orange flags in support of Viktor Yushenko.
As I witnessed Ukrainians standing up for themselves in protest of the
falsified elections, I knew that something unique was happening in the
country. Working as a university instructor in the city of Ternopil in
western Ukraine, I had often discussed aspects of Ukrainian society with
my students.Tradition is deeply imbedded in Ukrainian culture, and I often
heard the indolent answer, "This is just our Ukrainian mentality."
It was my job to encourage students to think for themselves, so to hear such
aloof acceptance was always disappointing and frustrating. But when I saw
the masses of protesters gathering in the capital, I knew that something
great was happening. I boarded a train for Kiev that evening in order to get
a closer look at the action.
The time that I spent immersing myself in the demonstrations in Kiev
revealed aspects of the Ukrainian character that I had never known to exist.
People from all edges of this ethnically divided land came in droves to
support one another in their fight for democracy. The protesters multiplied
each day as trains and private buses carted citizens into the capital, and
by the third day more than 1 million people had gathered in the streets.
A festive, almost carnival atmosphere greeted me as I strolled around
Khreshatyk Street in downtown Kiev. I sensed a subtle confidence
amongst these often-pessimistic people.
Speeches calling for freedom by Mr. Yushenko and his political allies were
met with howling cheers. Popular celebrities were applauded for their
support of the "revolution." In a country where freedom of speech is more
a fallacy than a law, I was surprised to hear the crowds earnestly chanting
slogans that called Prime Minister Yanukovich a "fool," and the Central
Election Committee "cheaters."
The behavior being displayed by the Ukrainian people during what is arguably
the most important event in the country's history is remarkable. Although
the people are strong they show no signs of aggression. I saw students
placing yellow flowers, a symbol of a parting of ways, in the shields of
riot police who defended the presidential administration headquarters.
People regarded the police in battle gear as men simply earning a day's
wages. They treated them with peace, singing folk songs and offering them
plates of food. I was deeply moved when I saw two of the officers shed
tears behind the Plexiglas shields of their war helmets. In the long lines
for free tea and food rations, people conducted themselves with a
courtesy and politeness that I have rarely seen in the country.
The ubiquitous cutting and rudeness that usually plagues lines in the former
Soviet Union were absent. Instead, I witnessed people patiently waiting
their turns while engaging in small talk. The events in Kiev are but one
example of a nation finally standing up for itself. Across the country
people are also gathering in city squares.
Voices calling for freedom and democracy can be heard in the streets
of traditionally patriotic cities in the west such as L'viv and Ivano-
Frankivsk, as well as in eastern metropolises like Kharkiv, where
Russian influence has long dominated the culture.
Since Ukraine's independence in 1991, this is perhaps the first time that
both the Ukrainian-speaking west and the Russian-speaking east have
united. But despite the good nature of the people, they are firmly
determined to stay in the streets until justice is served.
In my conversations with citizens rallying in Kiev, I have learned that the
people are unwavering, and doggedly committed to "stay to the end."
Ukrainians are not often active, but they have always been resilient. I was
surprised to see my hosts take to the streets and fight for their freedom,
and I believe them when they say that they will not leave until justice has
been served. I feel a certain satisfaction in seeing such inspiration among
the people at the end of my service in this country.
Such motivation is not common here, and perhaps it is overdue. The people
have finally found their voice and I believe they will shout until they are
heard.
Viktor Yanukovich underestimated his people's will to stand up and fight in
the wake of a corrupted election. I must admit that I was also guilty of
this, as I had never seen any indication in the past that Ukrainians might
make the effort to control their own destiny. The times have changed.
Ukrainians have gathered to defend their democracy and will remain in the
streets until their freedom is achieved. -30-
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Jeffrey Hartman of Toledo is a graduate of St. John's Jesuit High School.
He just completed two years in the Peace Corps teaching business in
Ternopil, Ukraine. [The Action Ukraine Report Monitoring Service]
=========================================================
ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No. 266: ARTICLE NUMBER TEN
Names for the distribution list always welcome
=========================================================
10.NEW YORK STATE: LOCAL VOICES JOIN OUTCRY IN UKRAINE
Emigres here unite to support democracy at home
Victoria E. Freile, Staff writer, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
Rochester, New York, Monday, December 13, 2004
IRONDEQUOIT, New York - They may not be in Kiev, but scores
of local supporters of Ukraine showed their spirit Sunday afternoon.
More than 200 people decked out in orange rallied by Irondequoit
Town Hall to support Ukrainians protesting the results of last month's
presidential election.
Ukrainian opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko lost to Prime Minister
Viktor Yanukovych for the nation's top job on Nov. 21, but the
Supreme Court threw out the results because of voting irregularities.
On Saturday, doctors confirmed that blood tests revealed Yushchenko's
sudden illness in September was the result of poisoning by dioxin.
Yushchenko will again face Yanukovych on Dec. 26.
Oksana Samodurov, 55, of Perinton left Ukraine in 1992 and
remembers what it was like to live there without a democracy. "I
don't want to see anyone go through that again," she said, shaking
her head. "But we want to peacefully win this - to show the world
that we aren't only good in sports, but also politics."
Around her, other Ukrainians dressed in orange - the signature color
of Yushchenko's campaign and therefore democracy - sang the
Ukrainian national anthem. During the rally, local Ukrainians spoke
of the importance of democracy in both English and Ukrainian and
showed support for those still living in their homeland.
"We will not be intimidated," said Bill Nojay, who served as an
election observer in Ukraine. "Our mission today is to show that the
forces of democracy can and will prevail." Nojay will head back
to Ukraine to observe the Dec. 26 election.
"People in the Ukraine don't want to be divided, but they don't feel
that the election was fair," said Bohdan Zakharchyshyn, the chairman
of the Rochester Committee to Support Democracy in Ukraine.
"My vote makes a difference," said Yaroslav "Jerry" Stefankiv, 44, of
Irondequoit, a Ukrainian citizen who left 13 years ago. On Nov. 21,
he rode a bus to New York City to cast his ballot at the Ukrainian
consulate. He'll vote again on Dec. 26.
"We think America is a tremendous country and we're blessed to be
here, but our hearts are still Ukrainian," said Elena Dilai, 35, of
Webster. "For me, this is now or never. This is our best chance for
freedom. It's a beautiful time to live, and we're glad to be a part of
it, even though we live here." VFREILE@DemocratandChronicle.com
LINK: http://www.democratandchronicle.com
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ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No. 266: ARTICLE NUMBER ELEVEN
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11. UKRAINIAN INSTITUTE OF AMERICAN TO HONOR
CHAMPION BOXERS VITALI AND WLADIMIR KLITSCHKO
The Ukrainian Institute of America (UIA)
New York, N.Y., Thu, December 16, 2004
NEW YORK - The Ukrainian Institute of America (UIA) will honor Vitali
and Wladimir Klitschko with its 2004 "Persons of the Year" Award, the
Institute has announced. The official awards ceremony, with the Klitschkos
in attendance, will be held March 8, 2005 in New York City.
The decision to honor the boxing brothers was an obvious choice, according
to Walter Nazarewicz, President of the Institute. "Not only are Vitali and
Wladimir world class athletes and champions in the boxing ring, they are
passionate advocates for the rights of Ukrainian citizens to a fair and free
election," Nazarewicz said.
"Furthermore, they work tirelessly with charities to help those less
fortunate than them. This year, we would like to salute the two brothers who
have contributed to Ukraine's international renown not only in the world of
professional sports but also through their philanthropic and civic-minded
endeavors."
Vitali retains his World Boxing Council heavyweight title by defeating Danny
Williams in Las Vegas on December 11, 2004. Wladimir won Olympic gold
for Ukraine in Atlanta in 1996.
Besides their athletic achievements, the Klitschko Brothers have become
virtual goodwill ambassadors for Ukraine. Publicly proud of their Ukrainian
heritage, the brothers -- who hold PhD degrees -- are active in a variety of
charitable endeavors in Ukraine, and are spokespersons for UNESCO
(German Commission). They were honored by UNESCO in 2002 as
"Heroes For Kids" for their dedication to helping children in need
worldwide.
Previous UIA Person of the Year award recipients include Oscar award
winner Jack Palance, U.S. General Nicholas Krawciw and international
financier George Soros.
Founded in New York in 1948, the Ukrainian Institute of America is a
non-profit organization dedicated to showcasing Ukrainian culture and
achievements. -30- [The Action Ukraine Report Monitoring Service]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
--
The Ukrainian Institute of America is located at 2 East 79th Street; tel:
212.288.8660 E-mail: programs@ukrainianinstitute.org; web:
www.ukrainianinstittute.org
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ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No. 266: ARTICLE NUMBER TWELVE
Letters to the editor are always welcome
=========================================================
12. ENTERTAINMENT COMMUNITY SUPPORTS DEMOCRATIC
ELECTIONS IN UKRAINE
Hollywood Trident Foundation, Los Angeles, CA, Sat, Dec 18,2004
HOLLYWOOD, California - Academy Award® winning actor Jack
Palance, Academy Award ® winning director Robert Wise, television
star David Duchovny, and RKO Studios president Paul Speaker are
among the 130 names gathered on a petition calling for free elections in
Ukraine and supporting the pro-democratic demonstrations that have
thronged Kyiv following serious irregularities that surfaced in the
presidential run-off election of November 21.
The Hollywood Trident Foundation (HTF), formed under Palance's
leadership to facilitate contact among professionals working in the
entertainment industry who are interested in Ukrainian affairs, initiated
the petition. The foundation is a non-profit 501 (c) (3) organization
registered with the Internal Revenue Service. The petition has been
sent to Ukraine to be shared with demonstrators still on the streets
of Kyiv as well as with others through the local news media.
Serious concerns arose during the course of the election campaign when
presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko became ill and was subsequently
diagnosed as the target of a poisoning attempt. Other election
irregularities that particularly concerned Western governments and observers
were the interference in the electoral process on the part of Russian
President Vladimir Putin, who personally came to Ukraine on at least two
occasions to support pro-Moscow candidate Viktor Yanukovych, and the
numerous election ballot violations reported broadly by Western observers
monitoring the results of the second round.
Exit surveys showed Yushchenko, the pro-NATO and pro-European Union
candidate, over 10 points ahead of his competitor, yet the Ukrainian
Electoral Commission declared his opponent the winner. Following
demonstrations by over a million people in the streets of Kyiv and a
far-reaching Western outcry over the unfairness of the process, this
decision was overturned by the Supreme Court of Ukraine, which ruled
that a new run-off election must be held on December 26, 2004.
In addition, Ukraine's parliament passed a vote of non-confidence in the
newly elected presidential candidate and later adopted laws to improve the
electoral process during the upcoming vote. Thousands of observers from
Europe, Canada and the United States are currently making their way to
Ukraine to monitor the re-run of the second-round election.
The HTF petition calls on "all foreign governments, especially Russia, to
respect Ukrainian sovereignty and to immediately stop interfering in the
Ukrainian elections." It also calls "for a fraud-free re-run of the
second-round elections to allow the people of Ukraine to make their
choice fairly and honestly...and for a fair, transparent and fully
internationally monitored re-run election on December 26."
A copy of the petition and the signatures follow:
LET FREEDOM RING IN UKRAINE FOR THE NEW YEAR!
We, the members of the media and entertainment industry in Hollywood
and around the world, hereby express our solidarity with our fellow
professionals in Ukraine who support the democratic electoral process.
We are moved by the hundreds of thousands of people who braved the freezing
cold both day and night for more than two weeks to demand fair and honest
elections. We salute and support each and every person who raised a voice
for freedom and democracy in Ukraine.
We especially commend the courage of those professionals who work in
Ukrainian television, radio and media who refused to mouth further
propaganda and who took a stand on behalf of freedom of speech and freedom
of the press and who, with great courage, supported the ideals that are so
important to a free society and the creative process. We also commend our
fellow artists in Ukraine in the recording, sports and performing arts
fields who suffered prolonged hunger and freezing cold to stand up for
democracy and to entertain and support the pro-democracy demonstrators.
We call on our brothers and sisters in the media industry worldwide to
recognize that the pro-democracy movement in Ukraine is embraced by the
vast majority of people living in Ukraine, whether they speak Ukrainian or
Russian, whether they are Orthodox, Catholic, or Jewish, and whether they
live in Eastern or Western Ukraine. The Ukrainian nation is united in its
desire for freedom and democracy.
We call on all foreign governments, especially Russia, to respect Ukrainian
sovereignty and to immediately stop interfering in the Ukrainian elections.
We call on all governments and all people of good faith throughout the world
to support the independent democratic process in Ukraine.
We call for a fraud free re-run of the second round of elections to allow
the people of Ukraine to make their choice in a fair and honest process.
We call on all governments to refute all attempts to subvert the democratic
process through the use of delay tactics and legalistic maneuvers. Freedom
delayed is freedom denied.
We call for a fair, transparent and fully internationally monitored re-run
election on December 26th, 2004. Let freedom and democracy for all
Ukrainians be our gift to the world this holiday season.
Jack Palance - Chairman of the Hollywood Trident Foundation
Elaine Palance - Producer
Peter Borisow - President of the Hollywood Trident Foundation
SIGNATURES:
Alianak, Hrant, Actor/Writer/Director; Andrusiak, Roma, TV Producer, CBC
Andrusiak, Steve - Fanshawe College, Chair of Communication Arts
Antoniuk, David - Filmmaker; Ayoub, Elizabeth - Singer/Actress
Babiuk, Greg - Producer; Badham, John - Film Director
Beley, Raymond - Production Manager, CBC
Bergstresser, Pat - Media Consultant
Bolt, Jeremy - Executive Producer - Impact Pictures
Brytan, Roman - Radio Producer/Host; Caland, Huguette - Actress/Artist
Campbell, Larry Joe - Actor; Carl, Charmian - Writer, Editor
Cattaneo, Anne - Dramaturg, Lincoln Center Theater
Chaim Kline, Eric - Antiquarian Bookseller
Cherneskey,Christyna - Radio Personality
Chittick, David - Actor; Dallas, Eugenia - Author
Demianchuk, Olenka - Television Producer.
Dixon, Neill - President, Canadian Music Week
Domanczuk, Taras - Film and Theater Technician
Domville, Philippa - Theatre Actor/Writer
Duchovny, David - Actor, Writer, Director
Egoyan, Atom - Filmmaker; Evanko, Edward - Actor and Singer
Ezrin, Bob - Record Producer; Fedynsky, Alexander - Attorney
Frank, Laurie - Writer/Filmmaker; Glasko, Victor E. - Animator
Gongadze, Myroslava - Radio & TV Journalist
Goy, Luba - Actor - Comedienne; Grass, Clancy - Film Producer
Grdevich, Sabrina - Actor
Halatyn, Slavko - Artist/Producer BeSharp Audio
Harper, Taras (Jason) - Television Producer/Director
Harris, Mark Jonathan - Filmmaker/Novelist
Hrushetska, Maryna - Film Producer
Hurko, Marijka - Television Documentary Producer
Husar, Natalka - Artist; Hussakowsky, Andy - Record Producer
Kapeniak, Vasyl - President of Ukraina TV Corporation
Karasevich, Joan - Actress; Kay-Markson, Alicia - TV Journalist.
Keske, Luba - Senior Vice President, Administration,
Business Affairs - MGM - UA Studios
Keske, Wally - IATSE, Local 44; Kit, Zorianna - TV Personality
Klufas, Jurij - Producer - Kontakt TV Network
Kochan, Alexis- Musician/Producer; Kochman, Svitlana - Writer
Komichak, Michael - Ukrainian Radio Program - Pittsburgh
Kondracki, Larysa - Film Maker; Korneluk, Keith - Actor
Koropecky,Sergio - Writer/Film Maker; Kostash, Myrna - Writer
Kramarchuk, Alex - VP, CFO STS Media Corp.
Kuchmij, Haliya - Film Maker/Television Producer
Kulyk Keefer, Janice - Author; Kuzyk, Mimi - Actor
Kytasty, Julian- Bandurist
Labunka, Iya - Vice President of Production - Walt Disney Studios
Lada, Mir - Visual artist; Lemonds, Debra - Still photography Editor
Levine, Michael - Public Relations Consultant
Levytsky, Marco - Newspaper Editor and Publisher
Los, Taras - Actor; MacQuarrie, Paulette - Writer, Broadcaster
Makichuk, Jim - Film Producer/Director
Malarek, Victor - TV Journalist, Author
Markewycz, Roxana - Producer; Masnyj, Yuri - Visual Artist
Masnyj, Victor - Editor/Broadcast Designer
Mitchell, Nick - Playwright
Nabereznyj, John (Ivan)- Feature Film Post Production Supervisor
Niven, Barbara - ActressNowytski, Slavko - Film Producer
O'Hern, Francis - Sound Engineer; Palance, Holly, Publisher and Actress
Paskievich, John - Film Maker/Photographer
Petani, Lorena - Producer; Pikas, Alexander - Director
Pikolycky, Jaroslaw, DDS - Film Producer
Pitillo, Maria - Actress; Pochmursky, Christina, Film Maker and Journalist
Pultz, David - Film Producer
Rabinovitch, Jack -Founder, The Giller Prize for Excellence in Canadian
Fiction; Rudakewych, Lee - Screenwriter
Reshitnyk, Mike - Photojournalist - Quebec Chronicle-Telegraph
Rumak, Oleh - Television Producer
Russ, Dick - Managing Editor -WKYC-TV (NBC)
Saj, Justin - Actor; Santore, Charles - Actor/Director/Producer
Sahula, Abby - Writer
Santore, Christina - Media Writer/Producer/Management/Consultant
Sassounian, Harut - Newspaper Publisher - The California Courier
Sawycky, Roman Jr. - Film Maker; Schellenberg, Augie - Actor
Schlega, Daria - Attorney; Schiffman, Oryna - Writer
Semchyshyn, Taras - Film Distributor
Semeniuk, Ivan - Columnist/Producer, "Daily Planet" Television Show
Semotiuk, Natalie - Actor; Semotiuk, Andriy - Attorney
Simpson, Peter - Chairman of Norstar Filmed Entertainment Inc
Sivo, Yuri President - Delicious Films; Sorenson, Holly - Writer
Spak, Harvey - Film Producer; Speaker, Paul - President RKO Pictures
Stawnychy, Misho - Screenwriter
Steinborn, Mary - Director- Mobius Film Works
Stochansky, Andy - Musician; Sushko, Orest - Re-recording Mixer
Tapscott, Don - Author, Columnist and Media Authority
Taskey, Olanna - Actor; Thorpe, Stephanie - Actor
Toporowych, Roxy - Film Maker, KinoRox Productions
Tymyc, Bohdan - President Yevshan Communications Inc.
Wasik, Walter - CSC- Film producer; Wiess, Elfie - Actor/Singer
Wise, Robert - Director; Wise, Millicent - Producer
Wolansky, Paul - Film Professor/Writer
Woloshyn, Ted - Radio Personality; Wynnycky, Marcus - Actor
Yaskell Winant, Dorcey - Actor/Director; Zabytko, Irene - Writer
Zaitoon, Denise - Director; Zenga, Bo - Writer/Producer.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Contacts: Peter Borisow (310) 552-5354 Office
Andy Semotiuk: (323) 253-8236 Cell; Paul Wolansky
(310) 922-3024 Cell; Email: Semotiuk@aol.com
========================================================
ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No. 266: ARTICLE NUMBER THIRTEEN
Letters to the editor are always welcome
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13. "U.S. HYPOCRISY IN UKRAINE"
Statement of U.S. Congressman Ron Paul {R-TX)
Statement at Hearing: "Ukraine’s Election: Next Steps"
U.S. House International Relations Committee
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, D.C., 7 December, 2004
Ron Paul, M.D., Member of Congress (R-TX)
Mr. Chairman: President Bush said last week that, "Any election (in
Ukraine), if there is one, ought to be free from any foreign influence." I
agree with the President wholeheartedly. Unfortunately, it seems that
several U.S. government agencies saw things differently and sent U.S.
taxpayer dollars into Ukraine in attempt to influence the outcome.
We do not know exactly how many millions - or tens of millions - of dollars
the United States government spent on the presidential election in Ukraine.
We do know that much of that money was targeted to assist one particular
candidate, and that through a series of cut-out non-governmental
organizations (NGOs) - both American and Ukrainian - millions of dollars
ended up in support of the presidential candidate, Viktor Yushchenko.
Let me add that I do not think we should be supporting either of the
candidates. While I am certainly no supporter of Viktor Yushchenko, I am
not a supporter of his opponent, Viktor Yanukovich, either. Simply, it is
none of our business who the Ukrainian people select to be their president.
And, if they feel the vote was not fair, it is up to them to work it out.
How did this one-sided US funding in Ukraine come about? While I am afraid
we may have seen only the tip of the iceberg, one part that we do know thus
far is that the U.S. government, through the U.S. Agency for International
Development (USAID), granted millions of dollars to the Poland-America-
Ukraine Cooperation Initiative (PAUCI), which is administered by the U.S
-based Freedom House.
PAUCI then sent U.S. Government funds to numerous Ukrainian non-
governmental organizations (NGOs). This would be bad enough and would
in itself constitute meddling in the internal affairs of a sovereign nation.
But, what is worse is that many of these grantee organizations in Ukraine
are blatantly in favor of presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko.
Consider the Ukrainian NGO International Centre for Policy Studies. It is
an organization funded by the U.S. Government through PAUCI, but on
its website you will find that the front page in the English section
features a prominent orange ribbon, the symbol of Yushchenko’s party
and movement. Reading further on, we discover that this NGO was founded
by George Soros’s Open Society Institute. And further on we can see that
Viktor Yushchenko himself sits on the advisory board!
And this NGO is not the only one the U.S. government funds that is openly
supportive of Viktor Yushchenko. The Western Ukraine Regional Training
Center, as another example, features a prominent USAID logo on one side of
its website’s front page and an orange ribbon of the candidate Yushchenko’s
party and movement on the other. By their proximity, the message to
Ukrainian readers is clear: the U.S. government supports Yushchenko.
The Center for Political and Law Reforms, another Ukrainian NGO funded
by the U.S. government, features a link at the top of its website’s front
page to Viktor Yushchenko’s personal website. Yushchenko’s picture is
at the top of this US government funded website.
This May, the Virginia-based private management consultancy Development
Associates, Inc., was awarded $100 million by the US government "for
strengthening national legislatures and other deliberative bodies
worldwide." According to the organization’s website, several million dollars
from this went to Ukraine in advance of the elections.
As I have said, this may only be the tip of the iceberg. There may be many
more such organizations involved in this twisted tale.
It is clear that a significant amount of U.S. taxpayer dollars went to
support one candidate in Ukraine. Recall how most of us felt when it became
known that the Chinese government was trying to funnel campaign funding to
a U.S. presidential campaign. This foreign funding of American elections is
rightly illegal. Yet, it appears that that is exactly what we are doing
abroad. What we do not know, however, is just how much U.S. government
money was spent to influence the outcome of the Ukrainian election.
Dozens of organizations are granted funds under the PAUCI program alone,
and this is only one of many programs that funneled dollars into Ukraine. We
do not know how many millions of U.S. taxpayer dollars the National
Endowment for Democracy (NED) sent to Ukraine through NED’s National
Democratic Institute and International Republican Institute. Nor do we know
how many other efforts, overt or covert, have been made to support one
candidate over the other in Ukraine.
That is what I find so disturbing: there are so many cut-out organizations
and sub-grantees that we have no idea how much U.S. government money
was really spent on Ukraine, and most importantly how it was spent. Perhaps
the several examples of blatant partisan support that we have been able to
uncover are but an anomaly.
I believe Congress and the American taxpayers have a right to know. I
believe we urgently need an investigation by the Government Accounting
Office into how much U.S. government money was spent in Ukraine and exactly
how it was spent. I would hope very much for the support of Chairman Hyde,
Chairman Lugar, Deputy Assistant Secretary Tefft, and my colleagues on the
Committee in this request.
President Bush is absolutely correct: elections in Ukraine should be free of
foreign influence. It is our job here and now to discover just how far we
have violated this very important principle, and to cease any funding of
political candidates or campaigns henceforth. -30-
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http://wwwc.house.gov/international_relations/108/pau120704.htm
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ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No. 266: ARTICLE NUMBER FOURTEEN
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14. "INVASION VS. PERSUASION"
COMMENTARY: by George Packer
The Talk of the Town, The New Yorker magazine
New York, NY, Issue of December 20, 2004
President Bush has put the idea of spreading democracy around the world
at the rhetorical heart of American foreign policy. No one should doubt that
he and his surviving senior advisers believe in what they call the “forward
strategy of freedom,” even if they’ve had to talk themselves into it. Dick
Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Condoleezza Rice, and Bush himself are late-
comers to the idea; in earlier incarnations, they sounded a lot more like
Henry Kissinger than like Woodrow Wilson. By now, though, it’s clear
that, however clumsy and selective the execution, Bush wants
democratization to be his legacy.
So when his critics, here and abroad, claim that his rhetoric merely
provides cynical cover for an American power grab, they misjudge his
sincerity and tend to sound like defenders of the status quo. And when the
Administration tries to wring every last sweet drop of partisan gain from
its foreign policy (sincerity is not the same thing as honesty), critics are
driven to conclude that “democracy” is just another word for
“neoconservatism.”
This is not a good position for the opposition to be in, either morally or
politically. The best role for critics in the President’s second term will
be not to scoff at the idea of spreading freedom but to take it seriously—to
hold him to his own talk. The hard question isn’t whether America should
try to enlarge the democratic order but how. It’s a question that the
Administration seems to have thought about very little, yet it makes a big
difference. Look at the two examples from the week’s front pages: where the
approach has been subtle and collective, the outcome seems hopeful; where
it has been noisy and unilateralist, it does not.
The popular uprising in Ukraine has now secured a new Presidential election,
the previous vote having been discredited by huge fraud. There’s a quiet
American story behind that achievement. For years, beginning in the
nineteen-nineties, governmental and non-governmental organizations
poured millions of dollars into Ukraine’s politics, building up the parties,
training civil-society groups and journalists, establishing election
monitors. These efforts helped strengthen the opposition against a corrupt
government, but they were nonpartisan: technical support was given to all
parties.
The work in Ukraine built on earlier experiences in Serbia and Georgia,
where groups like the National Endowment for Democracy and the Open
Society Institute contributed, behind the scenes, to popular movements that
eventually seized the moment to overthrow strongmen. Three peaceful
democratic revolutions in ex-Communist countries in four years—a tremendous
success, and few Americans even know that part of the credit belongs to this
country.
Not surprisingly, the outgoing President of Ukraine, Leonid Kuchma, and the
Russian President, Vladimir Putin, have complained about American meddling.
So has an unlikely tandem in this country. “Ukraine has been turned into a
geostrategic matter not by Moscow but by Washington, which refuses to
abandon its Cold War policy of encircling Russia and seeking to pull every
former Soviet Republic into its orbit,”The Nation claimed, once again taking
the Russian side of the Cold War. And Pat Buchanan declared, “Congress
should investigate N.E.D. and any organization that used clandestine cash or
agents to fix the Ukrainian election, as the U.S. media appear to have gone
into the tank for global democracy.”
But in Ukraine the meddlers have done nothing worse than help guarantee a
people’s right to choose a government freely. The effort succeeded for two
reasons: there was a democratic movement already in place; and outside
support did not come with a “Made in America” label, because the
Organization for Security and Coöperation in Europe also played an important
part. “The thrust of the campaign is to oblige Ukraine to have a free and
fair election,” Thomas Carothers, a democracy expert at the Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace, says. “This is a human right. It’s not
American. It’s not unilateralist.”
In other words, the United States did in Ukraine exactly what it failed to
do in Iraq: it upheld international standards in conjunction with democratic
allies. The consequences of this failure in Iraq will always haunt the
American effort there. The war has grown so destructive that Afghanistan,
where Hamid Karzai was just inaugurated as the first democratically elected
President, has become the Administration’s success story almost by default.
But Karzai’s victory only ratified a political consensus that had been
hammered out by anti-Taliban parties, under United Nations auspices, in
Bonn in 2001, and had won immediate international recognition. In Iraq, the
United States has tried to stage-manage the political transition alone, and
has seen every plan overtaken and nullified by events.
Lacking legitimacy in the eyes of both Iraq and the rest of the world,
defying international standards and declaring its own, the Administration
has had to base its claim on good intentions. But in the war of perception
between that claim and the daily stories of tortured prisoners and civilian
deaths America is losing. According to Carothers, who has just co-edited
the first technical book on democracy promotion in the Middle East, the
Iraq model has set back the cause of Arab reformers.
At this point, the Administration seems ready to hold an election and
declare victory. Meanwhile, the insurgency looks increasingly like a civil
war. An election, though politically necessary, might only worsen the
conflict. Shiite politicians and clerics are organizing a unified ballot
that will guarantee the majority Shiites a vast share of next month’s
election spoils at the expense of the country’s alienated Sunnis. The
elected parliament, which will write a constitution, isn’t likely to be
truly representative, or to create a political consensus out of this violent
polarization.
More probably, the losers will opt out and the civil war will intensify.
The alternative of delaying elections, advocated by some Sunni and
Kurdish politicians and, privately, by some Administration officials,
would only antagonize the leading Shiite cleric, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani,
the one indispensable man in Iraq today. Delay would also perpetuate
the occupation. As always in Iraq, America is faced with bad choices.
Not every country is lucky enough to be Ukraine, where internal opposition
and quiet outside help will likely succeed in replacing a bad regime. But
the ordeal in Iraq has shown that a war of liberation is a crude instrument
for setting a country free. Democracy is not the absence of tyranny. It has
to grow from within over time, and it requires far more care and feeding
than Washington seems able to give. -30-
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LINK: http://www.newyorker.com/talk/content/?041220ta_talk_packer
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