"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"
ON THE EVE OF A NEW YEAR
"Dear friends, I would like to thank every generation, every region that was
represented at Independence Square during these days. We are on the eve
of New Year. On behalf of my family, I would like to wish wellbeing and
happiness to every Ukrainian household, so that every Ukrainian could say
proudly that they are Ukrainians, that they are proud of being Ukrainians
and of living on Ukrainian land." [article one]
"THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT" - NUMBER 401
morganw@patriot.net, ArtUkraine.com@starpower.net
FROM: KYIV, UKRAINE, SATURDAY, JANUARY 1, 2005
-----INDEX OF ARTICLES-----
"Major International News Headlines and Articles"
1.YUSHCHENKO SAYS UKRAINE NOW FREE AT NEW YEAR RALLY
TV 5 Kanal, Kiev, Ukraine, in Ukrainian, Fri, 31 Dec 04
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Friday, Dec 31, 2004
2. GEORGIAN PRESIDENT ADDRESSES CROWD IN UKRAINE
'orange revolution' changed Europe
TV 5 Kanal, Kiev, Ukraine, in Ukrainian, Fri 31 Dec 04
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Friday, Dec 31, 2004
3. GEORGIAN PRESIDENT SAAKASHVILI DELIVERS NEW YEAR
MESSAGE TO GEORGIA FROM UKRAINE
Mikheil Saakashvili, sitting in a studio in Kiev, Ukraine
Georgian State Television Channel 1, Tbilisi, in Georgian, 31 Dec 04
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Sat, Jan 01, 2005
4. UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT ADDRESSES NATION ON NEW YEAR'S
UT1 State TV, Kiev, Ukraine, in Ukrainian, 31 Dec 04
BBC Monitoring Service,UK, in English, Fri, Dec 31, 2004
5. PM IN UKRAINE QUITS, GIVING WAY TO OPPOSITION RULE
By Steven Lee Myers, New York Times
New York, NY, Saturday, January 1, 2005
6. "NEXT STEPS IN UKRAINE"
The U.S. must help Viktor Yushchenko succeed as president.
OP-ED: By Steven Pifer, The Washington Post
Washington, D.C.. Saturday, January 1, 2005; Page A23
7. "STARS 'N STRIPES OVER KYIV'S MAIDAN"
LETTER FROM LVIV: By Volodymyr Hrytsutenko
Teacher of English, translator and occasional op-ed
contributor to The Action Ukraine Report
The Action Ukraine Report, Kyiv, Ukraine, Sat, Jan 1, 2005
8. ITALIAN EDITORIAL: "IN THE EAST PROOF OF DEMOCRACY"
EDITORIAL: Il Sole 24, Ore, Milan, Italy, in Italian, 30 Dec 04 p 12
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Fri, Dec 31, 2004
9. CZECH: "NO IDYLL AWAITS YUSHCHENKO"
COMMENTARY: Excerpt from commentary by Jiri Roskot
Czech newspaper Pravo web site, in Czech, 28 December 04
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Fri, Dec 31, 2004
10. TURKMENISTAN CUTS OFF GAS SUPPLIES: RUSSIA, UKRAINE
Turkmen Foreign Ministry press release, Asgabat, in Russian 1 Jan 05
BBC Monitoring Service,UK, in English, Saturday, Jan 01, 2005
11. "NEW YEAR'S IN THE NEW UKRAINE"
From: Masha Gesson
Subject: Fireworks in Independence Square
SLATE.MSN, Dispatches, Friday, December 31, 2004
12. UKRAINE: INTERVIEW WITH BORYS TARASIUK:
Yushchenko's Foreign Policy Adviser
By Askold Krushelnycky, RFE/RL
Prague, Czech Republic, Fri, December 30, 2004
13. "LETTER FROM KIEV"
VIEWPOINT: Alex Shprintsen
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC): News Analysis
Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Thu, Dec. 30, 2004
14. "UKRAINE -- COUNTRY OF THE YEAR"
By Peter Lavelle for UPI - United Press International
Moscow, Russia, Saturday, January 01, 2005
=========================================================
1. YUSHCHENKO SAYS UKRAINE NOW FREE AT NEW YEAR RALLY
TV 5 Kanal, Kiev, Ukraine, in Ukrainian, Fri, 31 Dec 04
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Friday, Dec 31, 2004
KIEV - Opposition leader and presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko
has said that Ukraine is a free country now. Speaking to a huge New Year
rally on the central square in Kiev, he thanked those who protested against
vote-rigging after the second round of the presidential election on 21
November and those who helped them.
The following is the text of Yushchenko's speech broadcast live by
Ukrainian television TV 5 Kanal on 31 December:
Dear Ukrainian people. Dear and beloved friends. Holy fathers. Highly
esteemed Kiev mayor Oleksandr Oleksandrovych Omelchenko. Highly
esteemed Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili. Dear friends, brothers
and sisters.
I know that the Ukrainian people had only a few decades of real
independence in the last 800 years. Burial mounds of heroes, who fought
for Ukraine's independence, are scattered all over the Ukrainian land. We
have been independent for 14 years, but we have not been free. Today we
are independent and free. I would like to congratulate you on this, my
Ukrainian people.
I am happy because my generation fought for Ukraine's freedom and
independence. I want to specially address Independence Square, our friends
and colleagues who have fought for Ukraine's freedom since 22 November.
Dear friends, these 500,000 people worked for the sake of 47m Ukrainians,
whom they wanted to see free and independent. We saw great help by Kiev
people, who fed and warmed Kiev's [Independence] Square at that time.
Kiev's [Independence] Square was the heart of Ukraine at that time.
Dear friends, I would like to thank every generation, every region that was
represented at Independence Square during these days. We are on the eve
of New Year. On behalf of my family, I would like to wish wellbeing and
happiness to every Ukrainian household, so that every Ukrainian could say
proudly that they are Ukrainians, that they are proud of being Ukrainians
and of living on Ukrainian land.
Addressing you, I would like to say simple and well-known words in Ukraine.
I wish you luck. I wish you luck in all your good deeds. God bless you. Long
live everyone of you. Long live Ukraine. Glory to God. -30-
=========================================================
2. GEORGIAN PRESIDENT ADDRESSES CROWD IN UKRAINE
'orange revolution' changed Europe
TV 5 Kanal, Kiev, Ukraine, in Ukrainian, Fri 31 Dec 04
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Friday, Dec 31, 2004
KIEV - Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has delivered an emotional
speech before a huge crowd of supporters of Ukrainian opposition leader
Viktor Yushchenko in the main square in central Kiev. Saakashvili, who
spoke in Ukrainian, said Europe's destiny was decided in that square and
that the "orange revolution" changed Europe.
He said he "felt like a Kievite" again during the opposition protests in
Ukraine. Saakashvili congratulated Ukrainians on their victory and their
"new president" and wished them a happy New Year. His speech was
immediately followed by Yushchenko's New Year address from the same
square.
The following is the text of the speech by Saakashvili aired live by
Ukrainian television TV 5 Kanal on 31 December:
[Saakashvili] Dear friends. Brothers and sisters. I greet you all. You do
not fully realize yourselves what this square means to the world. We held
our breath watching you. We admired your courage. The future destiny of
Europe was being decided in this square.
Good overcame evil in this square. You had us relive the moments of joy that
we sensed during our own, Georgian, revolution. We, Georgians, were very
proud to see our national flags in this square. I want you to know that we
will always be on your side.
These days I have felt like a Kievite again, but - [shouts of approval] As a
president and official, I had no opportunity to come, but I was on
Khreshchatyk [street in central Kiev] in my heart. I was with you. [shouts
of approval]
But each freedom-loving person was a Kievite at that time, at the time of
the orange revolution, which has changed Europe. On behalf of a fraternal
people, my wife and I wish to greet you on the New Year. We wish to
congratulate you on your victory, a great victory, a new president. My
greetings to all of you.
Happy New Year to you all, all inhabitants of Ukraine, on behalf of
fraternal Georgia. I greet you all once again. You have a wonderful, amazing
president, a friend of mine, a great friend of mine and a truly great
political figure. [shouts] Greetings. -30- [Action Ukraine Monitoring]
=========================================================
3. GEORGIAN PRESIDENT SAAKASHVILI DELIVERS NEW YEAR
MESSAGE TO GEORGIA FROM UKRAINE
Mikheil Saakashvili, sitting in a studio in Kiev, Ukraine
Georgian State Television Channel 1, Tbilisi, in Georgian, 31 Dec 04
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Sat, Jan 01, 2005
For the first time, I congratulate you on the New Year as the president of
Georgia. It has been a successful year for our motherland, Georgia. We have
restored the control of the Georgian state over one of our most beautiful
regions, Ajaria. We liberated this region from domestic Georgian, feudal
separatism. We have sharply reduced the level of corruption, as we promised,
and we have recovered a large part of the stolen property. We have created a
new, European-type police and we have made important steps towards creating
truly modern and strong Georgian armed forces.
We learnt to collect taxes and we shut down channels of smuggling. As a
result, we increased the budget by several times, and the increased budget
allowed us to repay old arrears and to sharply increase the salaries of many
state employees as well as to increase pensions. We have adopted a new tax
code and the acts of financial and tax amnesty. Consequently, our business
is now starting its activities virtually anew as we have opened up
completely new possibilities for it.
This year, we have managed to enhance our country's international reputation
at an unprecedented scale. After the rose revolution, for the first time,
Georgia began establishing itself on the world political map and the whole
world started talking about our country with great sympathy. It is no
accident that I am now in the liberated Kiev.
The factor of the Georgian revolution was very important in Ukraine's
revolution. Leaders of the Ukrainian revolution, our friends, talked about
this factor. This was also recognized by the whole world. At the same time,
Viktor Yushchenko was the first to congratulate us on our victory, and I
have come here to congratulate them on their victory.
We have achieved many other successes during the past year. Fort the first
time since our independence, we managed to establish respect towards our
state symbols among our people. Our people have come to love our most
beautiful, five-cross flag, and they have embraced our anthem. This is
especially true with respect to our children who know the anthem by heart.
We won our first Olympic gold medals in our history under this anthem and
this flag.
What is most important, we have learnt to win. Our faith has been restored.
Not only has our faith in God been restored and strengthened, but our
confidence in our own strength and winning ability has also been restored.
Statesmanlike thinking has emerged again. For the first time, thousands of
our compatriots have gone through training in reservists' camps.
We have started consolidating our compatriots from around the world with the
Georgian state. We have begun gathering Georgians scattered around the world
from Fereydun [in Iran] to Israel, from Turkey to Russia and America. Anyone
who knows at least a little about history will notice that there are signs
of revival in today's Georgia identical to those of the epoch of the great
[medieval Georgian king] Davit Aghmashenebeli. However, the difference today
is that the Georgian nation as a whole is a collective Davit Aghmashenebeli.
In unity lies strength - this is not only a slogan on our state emblem, this
is the essence of our life, this is what will enable us to accomplish even
the most difficult tasks.
I wish a happy New Year to all our citizens living in Georgia: Georgians,
Azerbaijanis, Armenians, Abkhaz, Ossetians, Russians, Kurds, Jews, and
everyone of any other nationality or background. Georgia is our motherland
and we should fight together for Georgia's victory.
I wish a happy New Year to our compatriots who have now gathered outdoors
in Tbilisi and Kutaisi, and also to those patriots who left their family
homes and are now meeting the New Year in reservists' camps. I congratulate
police and military servicemen as well as other servicemen who are now
performing their duties. I want to thank every one of them very much. No
matter where we are at this moment, we should have a feeling that we
have common interests as a united nation, common interests and intentions,
with our common present and, most importantly, common future.
The New Year and the forthcoming Christmas [on 7 January] are family
holidays, so I want to address every family in Georgia: I want to wish you
that the New Year makes you forget any pain or problems you experienced in
the past year. I wish you more warmth and more happiness in your family in
the New Year. Let us raise a toast to a better future and inevitable victory
of Georgia. May God be our protector. Glory to Georgia. I congratulate you
on the New Year. -30- [The Action Ukraine Report Monitoring Service]
==========================================================
4. UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT ADDRESSES NATION ON NEW YEAR'S EVE
UT1 State TV, Kiev, Ukraine, in Ukrainian, 31 Dec 04
BBC Monitoring Service,UK, in English, Fri, Dec 31, 2004
KIEV - Outgoing Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma has called on all regions
and citizens of Ukraine to receive the new president in 2005. Speaking in
his New Year's address to the nation, he said Ukraine had achieved a lot and
thanked all those who had helped to solidify Ukrainian statehood over the
last decade. Kuchma said he was sure that the country has a prosperous
future ahead of it.
The following is the text of the New Year's address given by Ukrainian
President Leonid Kuchma on Ukrainian state-owned television UT1 on 31
December:
Dear fellow countrymen, I want to wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New
Year! And I wish you happiness and prosperity. And may love and accord rule
in every Ukrainian family, and warmth and coziness and in your homes, good
spirits and a pleasant festive atmosphere. From all of my heart I wish the
whole of our country peace and understanding. Our country has gone through
extraordinarily difficult times and really has become different.
We have overcome our historic rubicon and shown our right to be an
independent, free and democratic state. And today, summing up the results of
the last decade, I would like to say that we have laid a strong foundation
for confident movement forward. Now, there are new, important tasks ahead
of us: a truly new era, a new stage in development and a new stage in
history.
Of course, I would very much like us not to carry into the new year the many
problems which we should have got rid of a long time ago. But the path which
we have taken in the last few years was taken by a whole range of other
countries during many decades. And, unfortunately, not all managed to take
this path in a peaceful and bloodless manner. Some were sidetracked because
they were uncertain about the final goal, while others got stuck halfway in
a range of crises and conflicts. While others were frightened by the
prospect of any kind of changes and, so, everything remained as it had in
the past.
Ukraine, despite all the difficulties, moved forward in a consistent and
determined way. And I am proud of the fact that we all crossed this path
together.
Dear friends, today, on behalf of all Ukrainians, I would like to thank all
those who fought for Ukrainian independence at the beginning of the 1990s.
Thanks also to all those who formed the fundamental institutions of
Ukrainian statehood: the army, the national currency, power structures and
local government bodies, the legislative branch, the law-enforcement and
judicial system. My thanks also to all those who worked on the adoption of
the Ukrainian constitution in 1996 and its implementation.
I would also like to express my sincere thanks to all those who assisted the
adoption of constitutional reform in 2002 and 2004. And those who defended
the right of political choice during the recent presidential election,
regardless of personal allegiance. And those who ensured a peaceful outcome
to the recent political crisis and assisted reconciliation in society.
Every person who, regardless of political passions, continued to work for
the sake of prosperity and economic development in Ukraine, deserves special
thanks. Thanks to your efforts Ukraine changed. It has changed conclusively
and new democratic features have conclusively been instilled.
I would also like to thank all those people I worked with over the last few
years. Both faithful allies and those which politics brought to opposite
sides of the barricades. And those for whom criticism of the authorities and
their opposition stance have always been matters of principle.
I am certain that thanks to this kind of dialectic debate, through continual
overcoming of conflicts, Ukraine managed to attain democratic progress.
This is a guarantee of our future development.
I want to wish all those politicians who will come tomorrow and will shape
the face of the Ukrainian state over the next 10 years responsibility,
patience and a careful approach to those achievements attained by previous
generations of Ukrainians. If peace and accord prevail in Ukraine then the
rest will be done by our hard-working Ukrainian people with their own hands
and intellect.
My dear fellow countrymen, I want to say to all those living in the west,
east, south, north and centre of the country, in the towns and villages of
Ukraine, and I appeal to you as the single and undivided Ukrainian people.
There will be a new president in Ukraine in 2005. And the whole of Ukraine,
each region and every citizen should receive this democratic choice as their
very own choice. This person will need your support.
I am sure that growth and prosperity await our country. And I believe that
peace and accord will always rule in our multi-ethnic society. Once again, I
wish you all prosperity, good health, new successes and happiness in the new
year. -30- [The Action Ukraine Report Monitoring Service]
=========================================================
5. PM IN UKRAINE QUITS, GIVING WAY TO OPPOSITION RULE
By Steven Lee Myers, New York Times
New York, NY, Saturday, January 1, 2005
MOSCOW, Dec. 31 - Viktor F. Yanukovich resigned as Ukraine's prime
minister on Friday, signaling the end of a tumultuous political drama that
nearly propelled him to the presidency but resulted in his defeat after a
popular uprising against state-sponsored electoral fraud.
Mr. Yanukovich, who was prime minister for two years under President Leonid
D. Kuchma, said he would continue his legal challenges against the repeat
presidential election last Sunday, in which the opposition candidate, Viktor
A. Yushchenko, appeared to hold a commanding, if unofficial, lead. But
increasingly isolated, abandoned even by some of his closest advisers and by
all appearances deeply embittered, Mr. Yanukovich held out little hope that
the challenges would succeed in overturning the results.
"As far as the election results, we are keeping up the fight but I don't
have much hope for a just decision from the Central Election Commission and
the Supreme Court," he said, according to The Associated Press, referring to
his last-ditch appeals against what seems to be Mr. Yushchenko's victory.
Mr. Yanukovich's resignation capped an excruciating chapter in Ukraine's
recent political history, beginning when his seeming victory in a runoff
against Mr. Yushchenko on Nov. 21 was immediately called into question by
reports of widespread fraud and intimidation.
After 17 days of huge street protests by Yushchenko supporters in Kiev, and
a bitter political struggle in which the heavily pro-Yanukovich eastern part
of the country briefly threatened to secede, the Supreme Court nullified the
vote. Observers of the new election declared it relatively free of the type
of bare-knuckled fraud that doomed the original.
On Friday, speaking in a televised New Year's Eve address to the nation,
Mr. Yanukovich said, bitingly, that he could not continue serving as prime
minister under the country's new leadership, a reference to Mr. Yushchenko's
approaching presidency. "I believe it is impossible to have any position in
a state that is ruled by such officials," he said. He defended his term as
prime minister, citing economic growth and political and social stability -
all central themes of his campaigns. He also vowed that he would remain in
politics, though, it is becoming clearer, in the opposition.
If his appeals are rejected, as expected, his next avenue to re-enter the
fray could come in the parliamentary elections scheduled for the spring of
2006. His prospects for success appear strong, given his winning nearly 48
percent of the vote in the new election and his support base in the eastern
part of the country.
His resignation had appeared inevitable after Mr. Yushchenko won the vote
count in the election on Sunday. He had already taken a leave from office
for what amounted to a third campaign after the Nov. 21 runoff was
overturned.
Earlier this week, he vowed to resume work, only to have Mr. Yushchenko's
supporters mass again around the government's headquarters in Kiev,
preventing a meeting of Mr. Yanukovich's cabinet from taking place there.
The cabinet met elsewhere without him.
Mr. Yanukovich remained defiant, insisting he was the rightful victor in the
elections. He charged that tens of thousands of Ukrainians had been
prevented from voting in the new runoff because of changes in election laws
adopted by Parliament after the demonstrations in Kiev and other cities.
International election observers, however, noted no widespread violations
like those that marred the first and second rounds of the elections. And on
Thursday, the Central Election Commission, with newly appointed members,
rejected his preliminary appeals, saying there was no basis to his
accusations. Mr. Yanukovich's appeals have nevertheless delayed an official
declaration of the winner, though Mr. Yushchenko has been acting with
increasing confidence as the country's president-elect.
Late Friday, Mr. Yushchenko appeared before a crowd estimated at more
than 200,000 people gathered for a New Year's celebration in Independence
Square, the site of the protests that took him to the edge of the
presidency. "I would like to wish well-being and happiness to every
Ukrainian household," Reuters quoted him as saying. "We are living in a
different country already, thanks to you."
With him was the president of Georgia, Mikhail Saakashvili, whose election
victory after a wave of popular protest against electoral fraud inspired
activists in Ukraine. "We held our breath watching you," Reuters quoted Mr.
Saakashvili as saying. "We admired your courage. The future destiny of
Europe was being decided in this square." -30-
=========================================================
6. "NEXT STEPS IN UKRAINE"
The U.S. must help Viktor Yushchenko succeed as president.
OP-ED: By Steven Pifer, The Washington Post
Washington, D.C., Saturday, January 1, 2005; Page A23
Viktor Yushchenko's victory in Sunday's Ukrainian presidential election is a
triumph for democracy and for the Ukrainians' desire to live in a normal
country, free of corruption and cronyism. He survived fraud, massive abuse
of government resources by his opponent and a poison attack to win an ugly
electoral contest. Now comes the hard part: succeeding as president.
Yushchenko's vision for Ukraine -- a democratic country with a prosperous
market economy and strong links to European institutions -- closely matches
Washington's. Here's how to help him make that vision a reality:
• The White House should send an early signal of political support.
Yushchenko has said that Russian President Vladimir Putin will be the first
foreign leader he meets. President Bush should invite Yushchenko to visit
Washington shortly thereafter or stop to meet with Yushchenko in Kiev
during his February trip to Europe.
• The United States for years has had to work with a Ukrainian government
that was at best ambivalent about reform. Yushchenko will bring to office a
commitment to genuine transformation. As he defines his reform priorities,
the United States should recalibrate its assistance programs to help him
make early, visible progress.
Washington should also increase assistance for Ukraine, as it did for
Georgia after the "rose revolution." The administration's aid request for
Ukraine for fiscal 2005 is less than $80 million. That compares with $225
million per year in the late 1990s, when the opportunity to promote change
was not as real as it is now.
• Investment and trade will do more than assistance to consolidate a growing
economy and improve the lives of Ukrainians. Washington should quickly
engage Kiev on measures to improve Ukraine's business climate. Fair,
transparent rules of the road would increase foreign investment in Ukraine
from its current level of $7 billion, a paltry figure when compared with the
more than $65 billion invested in neighboring Poland. U.S. and Ukrainian
officials can also define a road map to bring Ukraine into the World Trade
Organization this year and improve market access for Ukrainian products.
• Congress should swiftly enact legislation to graduate Ukraine from the
provisions of the Jackson-Vanik amendment. Congress passed Jackson-Vanik in
1974 to increase emigration for Soviet Jews and enhance religious freedom in
the Soviet Union. Ukraine meets the requirements on both counts. Graduation
would confer permanent most-favored-nation trading status and erase a stigma
that is grating to Ukrainians.
• The United States should, in consultation with Yushchenko, design an
approach to draw Ukraine closer to European institutions. We can ask allied
leaders at NATO's February summit to affirm their readiness to strengthen
links with Ukraine. It is not the alliance's place to press countries to
launch membership bids. But Washington ought to reiterate what it has said
in the past: If Ukraine wants to join NATO, the United States will be
supportive, provided that Ukraine does what is necessary to meet the
criteria for membership. Most of all, that means developing a political and
economic system that reflects the values of the alliance.
The European Union can exert a powerful attraction, and relations with the
European Union will be less controversial in Ukraine than relations with
NATO would be. The United States and the European Union have worked
closely to promote a democratic outcome to the Ukrainian election.
Washington now should ask its European partners to reach out energetically
to Kiev and state that a Ukraine that meets the democratic and economic
standards of Europe can one day aspire to E.U. membership.
• Finally, one issue could pose an early problem on the U.S.-Ukraine agenda:
the Ukrainian military contingent in Iraq. Yushchenko has called for its
withdrawal, which Ukrainians overwhelmingly favor. While sustaining
coalition support in Iraq understandably matters to Washington, it would be
a mistake to let that question dominate the bilateral agenda.
Ukraine has elected a president committed to reform. The country now has a
real prospect of following the reform path taken by Poland and other Central
European states to become a normal European state. Successfully traversing
that road depends foremost on actions the Ukrainians themselves take. But
we can help, and a successful Ukraine will mean a more stable and secure
Europe. We don't want to let this opportunity slip by. -30-
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
The writer, a retired Foreign Service officer, was ambassador to Ukraine
from 1998 to 2000.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A40035-2004Dec31.html
=========================================================
7 "STARS 'N STRIPES OVER KYIV'S MAIDAN"
LETTER FROM LVIV: By Volodymyr Hrytsutenko
Teacher of English, translator and occasional op-ed
contributor to The Action Ukraine Report
The Action Ukraine Report, Kyiv, Ukraine, Sat, Jan 1, 2005
Since times immemorial the hoax of some external threat has been a favorite
trick with dictators. Not the least intellectually-challenged among them,
Viktor Yanukovych was quick to grab at it for his campaign purposes. Result:
Cold War-like anti-American hysteria in Donbas so vividly demonstrated by
the wannabe first lady when she described US-made felt boots and
drug-injected oranges she saw on Kyiv's central square, Maidan. The Hate of
things American came again during Yulia Tymoshenko's courageous visit to
Donetsk - when docile television showed faces distorted with rage, mouths
hurling insults at Lady Yu and accusations of US meddling.
I first met an American when back in the 60's a symphony orchestra came
from Philadelphia to perform in Lviv. We, a group of nosey students of
English eager to speak this great language, talked with one of the
musicians, Mr Portnoi. Next day, we gave him a tour of the city and were
invited to dinner. At dinner, we talked about many things, politics
included. Being well-brainwashed Soviet citizens, we exposed western
ploys in the way we were taught to do during our classes.
Mr Portnoi argued that we knew only one side of the story while there were
others - and insisted on sending me a number of US newspapers presenting
versatile opinion on the same issue. He did send the package. But I,
following the advice of my overcautious Dad, didn't pick it up at the post
office. The package returned to the musician unclaimed. But now I know Mr
Portnoi didn't lie.
When Ukraine broke away from the Soviet Union and the United States saw
its financial assistance lining the pockets of greedy former communist
officials repackaged as democrats, assistance programs were changed.
Instead, Americans offered educational programs to thousands of Ukrainians
in the US and sent hundreds of Peace Corps volunteers to work in Ukraine as
educators, engineers, experts, managers, etc. Time has shown it was a very
smart investment - right in the future of Ukraine.
Those were wonderful days, when Americans worked with us to draft new
laws, modernize education and business practices, sow the seeds of a civic
society. Trail-blazers Barbara and Richard Shriver, business consultants and
coordinators of numerous civic society projects all over Ukraine, spent in
Ukraine more than their share of a life full of hardships and risks, eight
years. Erik Ekroth, a Peace Corps volunteer from New York, spent a winter
in a small village in a room without heating. As an extra voluntary work, he
taught English to my students at Lviv Franko university, coming to Lviv rain
or shine.
A glamorous couple, Nikki and Thomas Lemley, left their unforgettable mark
on community's life in Lviv. They, and many more, generously shared their
expertise with Ukrainians - so how can it be described as foreign meddling
which Mr Yanukovych supporters are so vociferous about?
Incidentally, under the Constitution, one of Pres. Kuchma's immediate duties
is promoting the creation of a civic society in Ukraine, something Kuchma
has spurned all the ten years of his gruesome tenure. In all fairness, the
Americans can send Kuchma the bill - for doing his work for him!
At home I have a portable Stars and Stripes which I put on the desk when my
US friends come to my classes or visit my home. Now I can see a bigger Stars
and Stripes flying over Kyiv's central square, Maidan, at opposition
rallies. It rightfully belongs there, no matter what Yanukovych-brainwashed
Donbas coalminers are saying now. Were it not for Uncle Sam and Old Granny
Europe, Ukraine's way to democracy would have taken longer and at a greater
cost to ourselves. -30- [The Action Ukraine Report Monitoring Service]
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contact Volodymyr Hrytsutenko: vhryts@lviv.farlep.net
=========================================================
8. ITALIAN EDITORIAL: "IN THE EAST PROOF OF DEMOCRACY"
EDITORIAL: Il Sole 24, Ore, Milan, Italy, in Italian, 30 Dec 04 p 12
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Fri, Dec 31, 2004
There is a will for democracy in the East. After having got out of the
Soviet yoke and the so-called people's democracies in '89, the nations of
the ex-Iron Curtain are speeding ahead to a completed democracy. The
governments of East Europe are alternating in office, and now we are
witnessing the victory of executive branches with a liberal and free-trade
stamp in domestic politics, a pro-Western one in foreign policy.
Exemplary is the case of Poland, the leading nation of this region with its
40 million inhabitants, which in the past years has served as a bulldozer
for the passage from a planned economy to a market one and from the
dictatorship of the proletariat to parliamentary representation.
In this process of rapprochement with the West, most recently Romania and
Ukraine have sprung to the top of the news. Since yesterday, Bucharest has
a liberal government, the first in the post-Soviet era after 15 years of
social-democratic government. On Tuesday [28 December], the prime
minister, Calin Tariceanu, received the confidence of Parliament in
presenting a free-trade programme on the march towards membership in
the European Union in 2007.
"This is the first Romanian government of the post-transition," the prime
minister said in Parliament. "I have come to assure you that the transition
from communism to democracy and the market economy is completed. From
this moment, the executive branch will have three objectives: accession to
the EU, the well-being of the population, and the modernization of the
nation," he concluded.
In Ukraine, the will for democracy led to the victory of the pro-Western
Viktor Yushchenko over his pro-Russian rival, Viktor Yanukovych, thanks
to the popular mobilization that rebelled against the regime's election
rigging. A positive shock that could extend to Great Mother Russia, the
nation where the Kremlin is trying to restore the old balances of power.
Certainly, the march of the East towards a finished parliamentary democracy
will not be easy, and the dramatic hours that passed in Ukraine are witness
to that: but the train of freedom is running in the right direction. -30-
=========================================================
9. CZECH: "NO IDYLL AWAITS YUSHCHENKO"
COMMENTARY: Excerpt from commentary by Jiri Roskot
Czech newspaper Pravo web site, in Czech, 28 December 04
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Fri, Dec 31, 2004
The repeated second round of the presidential election on Sunday [26
December] has undoubtedly cleared the air in Ukraine. [passage omitted]
The "Oranges" are now celebrating a great victory and sincerely believe
that their leader will bring Ukraine closer to the West and to economic
prosperity and extricate it from the gravitational field of its big Russian
neighbour in the east - whose favourite was outgoing Prime Minister
Viktor Yanukovych.
However, once the celebrations are over and the ordinary days start, no
idyll awaits [Ukrainian President-elect Viktor] Yushchenko. In spite of his
clear victory, he remains the favourite of only half the country. [passage
omitted] Moreover, Yushchenko faces the pivotal task of persuading the
east of the country that he will also be its president. [passage omitted]
In addition to keeping the country together and implementing his economic
ideas, Yushchenko will also have to find a reasonable method of co-existence
in the complicated relations with the Kremlin on the one hand, and with the
West, primarily with Washington, on the other. Its Russian neighbour is an
important partner for the prosperity of Ukraine. The USA no less so, given
its financial and business resources and its ability to provide
technological aid and political support. [passage omitted]
After a certain pause, which the end of the tiring electoral marathon will
perhaps bring about, numerous points of stress will necessarily appear in
the Ukrainian politics. [passage omitted] For Yushchenko the time of really
tough tests is thus about to start. -30- [Action Ukraine Monitoring]
=========================================================
10. TURKMENISTAN CUTS OFF GAS SUPPLIES TO RUSSIA, UKRAINE
Turkmen Foreign Ministry press release, Asgabat, in Russian 1 Jan 05
BBC Monitoring Service,UK, in English, Saturday, Jan 01, 2005
ASGABAT - Turkmenistan has suspended the flow of Turkmen natural gas to
gas transportation networks of Russia and Ukraine starting from 2400 [1900
gmt] 31 December 2004. In this connection, the volumes and pressure of gas
at Deryalyk compressing station of Central Asia-Centre export pipelines on
the Turkmen-Uzbek border were reduced to zero.
At the same time, talks were held on 31 December 2004 in Moscow between a
Turkmen delegation headed by Yolly Gurbanmyradow, deputy chairman of the
Cabinet of Ministers of Turkmenistan, and a Russian delegation headed by
[Aleksey] Miller, chairman of the governing board of Gazprom joint-stock
company.
In the course of the talks, issues of pricing Turkmen gas supplies have been
discussed. The sides agreed that the Turkmen side's proposals [on higher
prices for gas] will be studied and a Russian delegation will visit Asgabat
at the start of January 2005 to agree new prices for gas supplies.
Concerning Turkmen gas supplies to Ukraine, as it has already been pointed
out, the Ukrainian side has not held any relevant talks with representatives
of the Turkmen side. For this reason, gas flows to this country have been
suspended starting from 2400 [1900 gmt] 31 December 2004. The Turkmen
side, however, is ready to hold talks with Ukraine's new leadership after
agreeing to new prices for gas. -30- [Action Ukraine Monitoring Service]
=========================================================
11. "NEW YEAR'S IN THE NEW UKRAINE"
From: Masha Gesson
Subject: Fireworks in Independence Square
SLATE.MSN, Dispatches, Friday, December 31, 2004
KIEV, Ukraine-A little over a month ago, my best friend called me from
Kiev, where he was on assignment. "I have never been happier in my life," he
screamed into the phone. "You can't imagine what I've seen and what I've
felt!" I could, actually: I've covered revolutions before. It really is one
of the best things in a journalist's life.
This is why I am here today. I came to cover the revote in the presidential
election. After the sitting president and prime minister tried to falsify
the results in November's election, millions of people flooded city squares
across the country. They also blocked access to all the government buildings
in Kiev, the capital. For a while, it looked like there may be bloodshed,
but then the Supreme Court ordered a revote: The revolution won, peacefully.
Victor Yushchenko, the candidate of the revolution, won last Sunday's
re-vote by more than 8 percent, though the loser still refuses to concede
defeat.
I've stuck around in case something goes awry-though it certainly doesn't
look like it will-but also so I can be around for the ultimate celebration:
New Year's in a country that believes it is entering a new era. New Year's
is the most important holiday on the calendar in this part of the world, so
my family has come from Moscow to join me. I want my 7-year-old son to
remember this revolution.
Giving his victory speech in Independence Square two days ago, the
president-elect said: "This year we are not going to celebrate New Year's on
the couch at home. We are going to celebrate it in the square." He promises
to be there just before midnight.
His speech was not yet over when the most spectacular fireworks display
began right over the square. It was a perfect metaphor for the revolution:
The fireworks exploding overhead would have been too close for comfort if
the people standing there hadn't felt invincible. But they had come right up
against confrontation, they had faced down violence-and won. So it was right
that what sounded like artillery fire was merely a show.
A man standing next to me trained his videophone on the fireworks display.
The picture on his little screen reminded me of Soviet-era postcards of
fireworks at the Kremlin and Red Square. This was when I finally felt what
I'd expected would hit me sooner or later: an acute pang of jealousy. A
display like this in Moscow would inevitably occur against the backdrop of
symbols of the Soviet past. Same with the language of revolution: In
Russian, it's the discredited language of Soviet ideology; in Ukrainian, it
is the rhetoric of liberation.
"We have rehabilitated the word we," says Oksana Zabuzhko, a best-selling
Ukrainian-language author and one of Kiev's most prominent intellectuals.
And I think the reason Ukrainians were able to do that is that their
revolution spoke Ukrainian, a language that was, in a sense, lucky to have
been suppressed rather than hijacked during the Soviet period. So now
Yushchenko and his coalition partners can say words like we, the people, or
our future-and sound like they are talking about the Ukrainian people and
their future rather than recycling the long-discredited symbols and promises
of the past.
This is the advantage of politicians in former colonies: Nationalism, which
is always the easiest and most obvious choice of ideology for uniting people
behind you, actually has a chance of being progressive and even enlightened
in these places. The trick is to recognize how briefly that can be true.
Russian-speakers in Ukraine (these can include ethnic Ukrainians, especially
those living in the east or the Crimea, while in the western part of the
country, ethnic Russians are likely to speak Ukrainian as their first
language) are already on guard, wary of becoming marginalized in their own
country.
The revolutionary politicians are aware of these fears and have tried to
calm them, but so far they clearly lack the sensitivity to finesse the many
cultural, social, and linguistic pitfalls in a country where a large
minority-the Russian speakers-are all the more afraid of being trodden upon
precisely because they used to be the privileged part of the population.
Following Yushchenko's speech, for example, the organizers of the rally,
which has been going on for more than a month, played the Ukrainian national
anthem followed by an Orthodox hymn called "God Save Ukraine." Nearly 2
million Ukrainians are Muslims (mostly ethnic Tartars)-one of the largest
Muslim populations in any European country-and another half a million or so
are Jews; the number of Catholics in Ukraine is the subject of endless
debate, but 7 percent of the population seems a reasonable guess. For now,
the Orthodox Ukrainians at the helm of the revolution are happy to include
all-comers in the celebration, and the minorities feel generous enough to
accept, but, with issues of national, ethnic, and language identity on
everyone's mind, it may turn out to be a very short honeymoon.
But for now this always-hospitable city is bursting with a welcoming sort of
joy. A few weeks ago, when I e-mailed a colleague-an opposition journalist
here who has gone through hell in the last few years-with a question, she
answered my query and added, "Just come. It's unforgettable. The mood of the
people has changed completely. They are so proud, they all feel that they
are individuals, a people. I am so proud that I live in Ukraine. I dreamed
of being proud of my country."
I think it's going to be a great party. -30-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Masha Gessen is in Kiev for U.S. News & World Report.
LINK: http://slate.msn.com/id/2111636/entry/0/
=========================================================
12. UKRAINE: INTERVIEW WITH BORYS TARASIUK:
Yushchenko's Foreign Policy Adviser
By Askold Krushelnycky, RFE/RL
Prague, Czech Republic, Fri, December 30, 2004
The man responsible for foreign relations in the Ukrainian opposition,
Borys Tarasiuk, has told RFE/RL his country intends to reorient itself
toward the West. The man set to be declared Ukraine's new president, Viktor
Yushchenko, has said Moscow will be his first destination as head of state.
But Tarasiuk says while Russia will remain important, the EU, NATO, and
the United States will become the country's priorities.
KYIV - 30 December 2004 (RFE/RL) - Ukraine's former Foreign Minister
Borys Tarasiuk is the man tipped to return to the post once Yushchenko is
confirmed the winner.
Tarasiuk gave an insight into how Ukraine, with a population of some 50
million, could upset the balance of power on the continent if it flexes its
economic potential and, as Yushchenko has promised, breaks free of
Moscow's orbit.
Tarasiuk, his country's foreign minister between 1998 and 2000 and
dismissed because he was regarded as too pro-Western by outgoing President
Leonid Kuchma, said Ukraine will now deal with Moscow as an equal partner.
"I see it as an urgent priority, which needs to be paid special and
immediate attention -- that is Russia. So many problems have accumulated,
so many mistakes have been done, especially against the leader of the
Ukrainian people, Viktor Yushchenko, that we have to pay adequate attention
to turn this page and begin a new page in Ukrainian-Russian relations,"
Tarasiuk said.
He and Yushchenko have agreed that Moscow will be the first foreign visit
for Yushchenko. But Tarasiuk is keen to stress that Ukraine and Russia this
time will be equal partners.
"This will be the position of the new democratic authorities to extend the
hand of cooperativeness, not of subordination, not of an acceptance of a
domination or any kind of superiority. This will be the step of an equal
partner with the proposal to establish a new kind of relationship between
new equal countries, new equal partners," Tarasiuk said.
Ukraine's opposition drew Moscow's anger because it stated repeatedly it
wants Ukraine to join the EU, NATO, and the World Trade Organization.
The outgoing Ukrainian government had agreed to become part of a new
Moscow-led union comprising Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Russia,
called the Single Economic Space. The future of that project is now in
doubt.
Some observers have suggested a displeased Kremlin might try to punish
Ukraine by exerting economic pressure, particularly by threatening to cut
energy pipelines delivering oil and gas.
But Tarasiuk said that's not likely. He points out Ukraine is the biggest
customer of Russian gas and that Russia is just as interested in selling
gas to Ukraine as Ukraine is in buying it.
Tarasiuk thinks Russia has already lost plenty of international prestige by
its intrusion into the Ukrainian elections -- something Moscow has been
chastised for by the United States and EU. He believes Moscow does not
want to further alienate itself from the international community.
"So this is the choice for Russia. I think that we may expect that Russia
will choose the constructive beneficial relationship with the European
Union and with the United States because this is in Russia's interests to
build a constructive relationship with these most powerful politically,
economically, and militarily entities. So that is why it will be contrary
to Russia's interests, the way I see it, to behave in a manner which will
be deemed unacceptable by the European Union and by the United States.
So in this kind of interrelationship, interdependence and interests, we may
find a kind of safeguard," Tarasiuk said.
Tarasiuk was the head of Ukraine's parliamentary committee on integration
with the EU and has made it clear he believes Ukraine's membership in the
new Single Economic Space is incompatible with Western economic and
military bodies. But he says the Single Economic Space agreement should
only be abandoned after it has been examined by Ukraine's legal experts.
Under its previous governments, Ukraine tried to gain advantages without
angering Moscow by walking a tightrope between East and West. Tarasiuk
said the country earlier declared its desire to join the EU, NATO, and the
World Trade Organization, without making an effort to meet the democratic
and transparency criteria required. Now, he said, Ukraine will have to
overcome what he called the country's negative heritage from the Kuchma
years by demonstrating its sincerity.
"Our first steps of a new administration, of a new government, [will be] to
demonstrate to the European Union that it is now dealing with another
kind of Ukraine, a democratic Ukraine, with a new nation, with a highly
developed civil society, and a nation ready for consistent efforts,
concrete efforts, in the direction of meeting the criteria for EU
membership," Tarasiuk said. Euro-Atlantic integration will be the priority,
he said.
"I see the future [foreign policy] priorities more or less the same as they
used to be declared by the outgoing authorities, but with absolutely
different substance. There will be no lack of trust, there will be real
trust toward the Ukrainian president and Ukrainian authorities because they
will do what they are going to declare. That is the major difference. The
priorities will be the same -- that is European and Euro-Atlantic
integration, meaning European Union, NATO. Certainly we will continue to
pay adequate attention to our neighbors and, among neighbors to strategic
partners, that is Russia and Poland, and certainly the United States,"
Tarasiuk said.
He said that on recent visits to Brussels and other Western capitals to
lobby for support for the pro-democracy opposition, he was struck by
the warmth and goodwill shown by politicians and officials he met.
"After a new administration has been formed, and a new government, and the
first steps of the new government will demonstrate that indeed the European
Union has a new type of partner in Ukraine, I think that very shortly we
will have positive signals from Brussels. Already the European Union has
instructed the commission and the council to prepare a new strategy for
Ukraine," Tarasiuk said.
Tarasiuk hopes the EU will make clear that Ukraine's membership in the EU,
while perhaps many years away, will now clearly be stated as a possibility.
=========================================================
13. "LETTER FROM KIEV"
VIEWPOINT: Alex Shprintsen
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC): News Analysis
Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Thu, Dec. 30, 2004
So there probably won't be a fourth round – Viktor Yushchenko will soon
become Ukraine's new president and will be responsible for carrying out the
high hopes of those who voted for him at home and of those who supported
him in the West. But is the Orange Revolution likely to bear any fruit (no
pun intended)?
For me, airports are always the first barometer. They tell you a lot about
countries – about their mentality, their social development, their attitude
to foreign ideas. As a journalist for the last 15 years, I've spent a lot of
time in airports, particularly in Russia and Ukraine. That's because I grew
up in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkov until age 12 when my parents
and I immigrated to Canada.
When my plane landed at the Kiev Borispol International Airport recently,
things seemed grim: it was midnight and they'd lost my baggage. Here we go
back to the U.S.S.R., I thought. Bureaucracy, corruption, scowls.
But then, a miracle. The luggage lady smiled at me, offered the use of her
office phone to alert those meeting me, and punched a few keys in the very
unSoviet computer, quickly locating my two missing suitcases. They'd be
delivered the next morning – and they were. And not only that, seven cases
of my cameraman's expensive equipment were waved through without the
usual bribe-seeking hassles.
That night when we arrived in downtown Kiev around 1 a.m., I felt I'd landed
in a medieval carnival. There was music, as well as balloons and smiles, in
the midst of a tent city on a cold night, featuring campfires, flaming
barrels and smoke everywhere. I saw verbal duals, all resolved in civilized
fashion. Someone had even dubbed this scene "revolutionary tourism," what
with out-of-towners posing for snapshots in the midst of all the chaos.
The place was bursting with happiness and euphoria and strangers came up and
high-fived me simply for being a Canadian journalist. But remember, you can
take the boy out of the Soviet Union, but you can't take the Sovietness out
of the boy. I was born here and know too much to be swept away by this so
easily.
Kiev's downtown is majestic, European and opulent, even by post-Soviet
standards. But a few kilometres across the river, it's a different story.
Suddenly you're back in the U.S.S.R. in what the Soviets used to give a very
Parisian-sounding name: "micro-rayon," or a small neighbourhood with its
decaying, monolithic apartment blocks, muddy, unpaved sidewalks and grim
faces. An enduring image from my childhood in the 1970s was of old babushkas
selling sunflower seeds by the glass. And they were still there now in that
very un-Parisian Rive Gauche.
But even closer to the heart of the Revolution, the dingy Soviet reality had
been replaced by a new kind of post-Soviet hardship. A few hundred metres
from the tent city is an old farmers market in a grandiose
pre-revolutionary – 1917 Revolution, that is – building.
It's open 24 hours, and one night, we dropped in around midnight. Only a few
stalls were open, and we wanted to buy one of those old Soviet delicacies:
canned herring. The vendor suddenly launched into a lecture about the health
benefits of herring, pointing out that even if you didn't like the taste, it
would still raise your hemoglobin.
Something told me, I wasn't dealing with your run-of-the-mill fishmonger.
After a bit of prying, he fessed up – it was a moonlighting gig. By day, he
was a doctor in the intensive care ward of the prestigious Red October
Hospital.
And yet, while the drab Soviet and post-Soviet backdrop was still there,
what had changed was the action on stage. And what a drama it was! For
the first time in Ukraine's history, the people had rebelled en masse
against their government's lies and fraud. With words and not fists or
bullets. And best of all, with humour.
Earlier in the campaign, opposition supporters threw an egg at the
pro-government candidate, Prime Minister Victor Yanukovych. The egg might
not have stuck, but the image did. I haven't laughed so hard as when I
caught sight of a huge white chicken perched on a table in the headquarters
of the tent city leaders. Living and breathing. Chicken Kiev has taken on a
whole new meaning for me.
But the change wasn't just in Kiev. I had talked to a few of my relatives
and friends in Kharkov, that eastern, pro-Russian city where the Revolution
wasn't very popular. And yet one of them, my ex-classmate Valera, seemed
reconciled, even relieved by what had transpired.
He said that despite Mr. Yushchenko's victory, there would now exist real
opposition in Ukrainian politics and with it, government accountability. And
isn't this the most fundamental facet of democracy – the belief by the
electorate that their votes count and that the party in government would
give up power peacefully if it lost to the opposition?
Whoever heads that opposition now – whatever the posturing, it's hard to
imagine Mr. Yanukovych hanging around too much longer – Viktor Yushchenko
has to deal with something more menacing than its alliance with Russia or
its periodic calls for separatism in the East. Money and the oligarchs,
those dubiously rich businessmen, will make certain that Ukraine stays
stable and united. The bigger problem is that in the cauldron of the Orange
Revolution, the colour red – Ukraine's past and its Soviet mindset – is
still just below the surface.
Back at the airport, at the check-in counter, another smiling and polite
agent greeted us on the way out. Justifiably, she wanted to hit us with a
large bill for our massive excess baggage. Without any legitimate legal
recourse, I pleaded with her to waive this fee. Thinking I wouldn't
understand, in Russian she turned to her boss.
"Don't charge them," said the boss. "These fellows are doing a good thing
for our country." The revolution has happened at the airport. How quickly
will it spread? -30- [The Action Ukraine Report Monitoring Service]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alex Shprintsen is a producer with the National. He has been making
documentaries in the former Soviet Union for the last 10 years and is
working on one about the Orange Revolution right now. He also has personal
reasons to go back there - Alex was born in Ukraine and lived there until
age 12 when he and his parents immigrated to Canada.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
LINK: http://www.cbc.ca/news/viewpoint/vp_shprintsen/20041230.html
=========================================================
14. "UKRAINE -- COUNTRY OF THE YEAR"
By Peter Lavelle for UPI - United Press International
Moscow, Russia, Saturday, January 01, 2005
MOSCOW, Dec. 31 -- Ukraine ends the year a changed country. The
election of opposition candidate Viktor Yushchenko as president, after
three intensely fought ballots sets Ukraine on a new course -- full of
opportunities and new difficulties.
It is the country of the year.
At the start of 2004, a very corrupt political elite poorly ruled Ukraine.
The European Union had little interest in Ukraine's fate. Russia too didn't
think much about Ukraine, seeing the country as an extension of itself.
Ukrainians surprised the world and most likely themselves with their "Orange
Revolution." Long marginalized on the international stage, Ukraine ends the
year as a country of importance.
Rejecting outgoing President Leonid Kuchma's "operation successor" to have
his handpicked candidate Viktor Yanukovych inherit the presidency by means
of tainted elections, the majority of Ukrainians have taken their country's
fate into their own hands. However, the intense scenes of civic activism
played out in the street in Kiev and elsewhere in the country have exposed
some of the deep divisions among Ukrainians and controversy concerning
Ukraine's geopolitical positioning.
Domestically and internationally, Ukraine's presidential campaigns and
elections have been about divisions. Eastern and southern Ukraine, with
large Russian minorities, continue to look to Russia as more than just a
neighbor. More prosperous and industrialized than western Ukraine, the east
and the south are very reliant on trade with Russia. With the economy
controlled by a small group of "oligarchs," the "Orange Revolution" failed
to make much of an impression on voters in these regions. Overcoming this
division will be at the top of Yushchenko's domestic agenda.
Ukraine's domestic divisions were magnified many fold internationally.
Charges of outside meddling in Ukraine's elections stressed Russia's
relations with the West. Vladimir Putin openly supported and even campaigned
for Yanukovych. Kremlin spin-doctors with enormous sums of cash worked as
advisers to Yanukovych campaign efforts. The West also did its share of
meddling. Also with no shortage of cash, Western non-governmental
organizations and other foreign organizations such as PORA! (It's Time!)
supported Yushchenko's candidacy.
Foreign interest in Ukraine's domestic politics turned into an international
war of words when the Nov. 21 runoff election was declared invalid by the
country's Supreme Court, citing massive vote fraud and other election
irregularities. Russia was instantly branded as a neo-imperialist attempting
return Ukraine to the Kremlin's fold. Russia retorted that Western inspired
"rent-a-crowd for revolution" is undemocratic.
Counter-intuitively, both perceptions contain an element of truth. Russia's
interest in Ukraine's election was defensive in nature. Russia's foreign
policy is attempting to limit the loss of influence on its borders, not
expand influence. The charge that Russia is in an aggressive expansionary
mode under Putin is simply nonsensical. Western support of democratic
change in the world is perfectly reasonable. However, inciting regime
changes on Russia's borders creates instability that the Kremlin has a
legitimate interest in wishing to avoid.
The international tensions that erupted over Ukraine's election have started
to subside. This is as it should be -- Ukraine under a Yushchenko presidency
will not move west or east. Located between Europe and Russia, Ukraine
will pursue strong relations with both. In a move to mend fences with
Russia, Yushchenko has announced his first state visit will be to meet
Putin.
However, international relations will not be on the top of Yushchenko's
agenda as he assumes office. How to rule effectively at home is what
probably concerns him most. To get the presidency through a fair vote,
Yushchenko and his close political allies agreed to a significantly
watered-down prize.
Many of the powers of the presidency will be transferred to Parliament.
Constitutional amendments passed in early December award the president
control over the military, security forces and foreign policy. The position
of prime minister will be decided by Parliament. The presidency will have
the right to veto passed legislation and can be overridden by a parliament
with a two-thirds parliamentary vote. At present, Yushchenko's supporters
control about a third of the seats in Parliament.
With limited powers, Yushchenko will have to be an extremely adroit
politician to push through his reform agenda. With Parliament the nexus of
political power and very susceptible to the enormous financial power
Ukraine's oligarchs weld, completing the "Orange Revolution" will not be
an easy task.
The election of Viktor Yushchenko is an important first step for Ukraine and
those desiring change after a decade of misrule under Kuchma. He has the
majority of Ukrainians behind him and he will have to continue to tap into
that support to succeed. Yushchenko has no other choice. The presidency he
will assume was designed by Kuchma and his people with the sole intent of
limiting Yushchenko's plans for change. -30-
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
LINK: http://www.untimely-thoughts.com/?art=1232
=========================================================
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Senior Advisor; Ukrainian Federation of America (UFA)
Coordinator, The Action Ukraine Coalition (AUC)
Senior Advisor, U.S.-Ukraine Foundation (USUF)
Advisor, Ukraine-U.S. Business Council, Washington, D.C.
Publisher and Editor, www.ArtUkraine.com Information Website
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