"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"
"RATTLE THE SABERS, SOUND THE HORNS, FIRE THE
GUNS, POUND THE DRUMS, WAVE THE FLAGS...
DEMAND COMMON SENSE!!
Contact U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert Immediately
When will U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert issue the invitation to
Ukraine's President Viktor Yushchenko to address a joint meeting of
Congress when he is in Washington on Wednesday, April 6th. What
is holding up the invitation? Why is there a delay? This is a no-brainer.
As one of the most astute observers in Washington of U.S. policy
towards Ukraine said today, "......based upon the most elementary
political and diplomatic considerations an invitation should have
been issued weeks ago, this sadly is not the case.
"An invitation has not yet been extended and over the last week to
ten days we have all heard an array of excuses, fumbling deflections,
misstatements and other foolishness. The cause to get the invitation
issued must continue and accelerate.
"For President Yushchenko to arrive in Washington without having
received such an invitation would be an outrage and an
embarrassment to the United States, Congress and common
sense." [article one]
"THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT" - Number 443
morganw@patriot.net, ArtUkraine.com@starpower.net
Washington, D.C. and Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, March 18, 2005
-----INDEX OF ARTICLES-----
"Major International News Headlines and Articles"
1. "RATTLE THE SABERS, SOUND THE HORNS, FIRE THE
GUNS, POUND THE DRUMS, WAVE THE FLAG...
DEMAND COMMON SENSE!!
Contact U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert Immediately
OP-ED: The Action Ukraine Report
Washington, D.C., Friday, March 18, 2005
2. LETTER TO HOUSE SPEAKER DENNIS HASTERT
Request that Ukrainian President Victor Yushchenko be invited
to address a joint meeting Congress
Office of Congressman Christopher H. Smith
Office of Congressman Benjamin L. Cardin
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, D.C., Tuesday, March 8, 2005
3. INVITE UKRAINE PRESIDENT TO ADDRESS U.S. CONGRESS
ACTION ITEM - FOR YOUR IMMEDIATE ATTENTION & ACTION
U.S.-Ukraine Foundation (USUF) Update
Washington, D.C., Thursday, March 17, 2005
4. YUSHCHENKO'S VISIT TO WASHINGTON, D.C. IN EARLY APRIL
ACTION ALERT, The Action Ukraine Coalition
Ihor Gawdiak, Chair, Washington, D.C.
Tuesday, March 8, 2005
5. ABSOLVING PAST SINS....AND SOLVING PROBLEMS
Yushchenko's trip to the United States
Kyiv Weekly, Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, March 17, 2005
6. RICE HAILS "SPECIAL RELATIONS" BETWEEN US AND UKRAINE
Associated Press, Washington, D.C., Friday, March 11, 2005
7. UKRAINE'S PROSPECTS
THE U.S. COULD BE THE KEY TO LASTING FREEDOM
EDITORIAL: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Tue, March 15, 2005
8. THE KREMLIN'S SECRET WEAPON
If we cannot conquer Ukraine politically, then conquer Ukraine economically
Kyiv Weekly, Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, March 17, 2005
9. TOP RUSSIAN BUSINESSMEN POSITIVE AFTER MEETING
UKRAINE'S PRESIDENT VIKTOR YUSHCHENKO
Mosnews.com. Moscow, Russia, Tuesday,March 15, 2005
10. UKRAINE CAN BE THE MODEL FOR THE REGION
OP-ED: by Jim Slattery
Former U.S. Congressman from Kansas
The Hill, The Newspaper For and About the U.S. Congress
Washington, D.C., Wednesday, March 2, 2005
11. UKRAINE: VIKTOR YUSHCHENKO SHOULD NOT GO TO MOSCOW
TO CELEBRATE THE END OF WORLD WAR II ON MAY 9
Yushchenko's place on May 9 is on the Khreschatyk with the veterans.
Professor Serbyn's Seven Points
OP-ED: Professor Roman Serbyn, History Department
University of Quebec in Montreal
Montreal, Quebec, Canada, March, 2005
12. UKRAINIAN PARLIAMENT VOTES FOR VETERANS
TO MARCH IN WWII VICTORY DAY PARADE ON MAY 9
UT1, Kiev, in Ukrainian 1650 gmt 15 Mar 05
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, Wed, March 15, 2005
13. PRESIDENT YUSHCHENKO DIRECTS DP MINISTER TOMEMKO
TO ORGANIZE MAY 9 MILITARY PARADE
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Wed, March 16, 2005
14. KIEV ADMITS SENDING CRUISE MISSILES TO IRAN AND CHINA
By Tom Warner in Kiev
Financial Times, London, UK, Thu, March 17, 2005
15. THE GULAG: LEST WE FORGET
The more we are able to understand how various societies have transformed
their neighbors and fellow citizens from people into objects, and the more
we know of the specific circumstances that led to each episode of mass
torture and mass murder, the better we will understand the darker side of
our own human nature.
By Anne Applebaum, Writer, Columnist
Member of the Editorial Board of The Washington Post
History and Culture: The Hoover Digest, Winter Issue, 2005 No. 1
Research & Opinion on Public Policy, Hoover Institution
Stanford University, Stanford, California
==============================================================
1. "RATTLE THE SABERS, SOUND THE HORNS, FIRE THE
GUNS, POUND THE DRUMS, WAVE THE FLAGS...
DEMAND COMMON SENSE!!
Contact U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert Immediately
OP-ED: The Action Ukraine Report
Washington, D.C., Friday, March 18, 2005
WASHINGTON, D.C. - When will the invitation to Ukraine's President
Viktor Yushchenko to address a joint meeting of Congress when he
is in Washington on April 6th. What is holding up the invitation? This
is a no-brainer. This only takes common sense.
As one of the most astute and knowledgeable long-time observers in
Washington of U.S. policies towards Ukraine said today, "......based
upon the most elementary political and diplomatic considerations an
invitation should have been issued weeks ago, this sadly is not the
case."
"An invitation has not yet been extended and over the last week to
ten days we have all heard an array of excuses, fumbling deflections,
misstatements and other foolishness. The cause to get the invitation
issued must continue and accelerate.
"For President Yushchenko to arrive in Washington without having
received such an invitation would be an outrage and an
embarrassment to the United States, Congress and common sense.
"........someone in the Speaker's office has today suggested there is
insufficient interest in Yushchenko appearing before Congress by
saying that only one written request has been received.
"As you continue the effort know that the reference to one letter is not
true and simply beyond any realm of credibility.
"We know that Chairman Lugar sent a letter, the Congressional Ukraine
Caucus sent a letter, as did Chairman Hyde (co-signed I believe by
Ranking Member Congressman Lantos).
Other congressional offices have said they have sent letters and,
of course, we have been told repeatedly that the White House has
made it clear to the Speaker (though in my conversations they have
said "Speaker's office") that the Administration favors an invitation
being extended to President Yushchenko.
"The runaround and disingenuous deflections are most inappropriate.
Keep pressing for the invitation to be extended immediately.
"Rattle the sabers, sound the horns, fire the guns, pound the drums,
wave the flags."
We agree totally with the strong, clear and absolutely correct statement
above. We urge everyone to contact House Speaker Dennis Hastert
immediately about this urgent and critical issue. -30-
=============================================================
2. LETTER TO HOUSE SPEAKER DENNIS HASTERT
Request that Ukrainian President Victor Yushchenko be invited
to address a joint meeting Congress
Congressman Christopher H. Smith
Congressman Benjamin L. Cardin
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, D.C., Tuesday, March 8, 2005
The following letter to The Speaker of the House, Dennis Hastert, was sent
last week by Helsinki Commission Co-Chairman Rep. Christopher H. Smith
(R-NJ) and Ranking Member Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin (D-MD)
March 8, 2005
The Honorable Dennis Hastert
Speaker
U.S. House of Representatives
H-232, The Capitol
Dear Mr. Speaker:
Having recently been in Ukraine, we respectfully request that President
Victor Yushchenko be invited to address a Joint Session of Congress during
his visit to the United States scheduled for early April.
When President Bush met with President Yushchenko at the NATO summit in
Brussels, he commented on that "remarkable moment" to meet with a person
"who had just led a revolution, a peaceful revolution, based upon the same
values that we hold dear." President Yushchenko showed incredible personal
courage, persistence and dignity as he led the struggle for democracy and
freedom in Ukraine's Orange Revolution, despite the many attempts to keep
him from achieving his vision for that country's democratic future.
In our meetings with a number of cabinet ministers, we were deeply impressed
with their commitment to implement democratic and economic reforms.
President Yushchenko and his government are showing a strong determination
to confront corruption, improve respect for human rights and the rule of
law, and facilitate Ukraine's integration with the Euro-Atlantic community.
Congress has been supportive of Ukraine's efforts to develop as an
independent, democratic, stable and prosperous country and this new
leadership is positioned to realize these goals.
President Yushchenko's Orange Revolution has important implications beyond
Ukraine, including for Russia, Belarus and other post-Soviet countries.
Moreover, it has become an inspiration for people everywhere yearning for
liberty and democracy. The Joint Session with President Yushchenko would
send a strong signal of support not only for Ukraine, but for Congress'
commitment to freedom and democracy everywhere.
Thank you for your consideration of this request.
Sincerely,
/s/ /
Christopher H. Smith, M.C. Benjamin L Cardin, M.C.
Co-Chairman Ranking Member
==============================================================
3. INVITE UKRAINE PRESIDENT TO ADDRESS U.S. CONGRESS
ACTION ITEM - FOR YOUR IMMEDIATE ATTENTION & ACTION
U.S.-Ukraine Foundation (USUF) Update
Washington, D.C., Thursday, March 17, 2005
Dear Friends,
As you have heard, President Viktor Yushchenko will visit the United States
from April 4 - April 6, 2005 to meet with President Bush, U.S. Government
officials, and members of the Ukrainian-American community in Washington,
DC and Chicago.
We are very pleased that President Yushchenko has been invited to meet
with President Bush for 2.5 hours at the White House on April 4. However,
we remain concerned that the Speaker of the House J. Dennis Hastert has
not invited Pres. Yushchenko to speak at a Joint Session of Congress
during his stay here.
Since fall 2004, the world has watched the people of Ukraine and their
leader become modern heroes and examples of peace, courage,
persistence, and the victory of democracy over tyranny. Many peoples
in the region and around the world - as far as Beirut - are inspired by
the example of Ukraine's Orange Revolution as they forge out the futures
of their own countries.
The U.S. Government and many Members of Congress have expressed their
admiration of President Yushchenko's exciting agenda to target corruption,
rule of law, economic development, and integration with the Euro-Atlantic
community. Ukraine's achievements and dedication to democracy will render
it an invaluable partner and ally, standing shoulder to shoulder with the
United States and the West.
As the whole world has recognized the achievements of the Orange
Revolution, we believe that is fitting - and needful - for the U.S. Congress
to demonstrate its commitment to freedom and democracy everywhere
by inviting President Yushchenko to address a Joint Session in Congress.
President Yushchenko will join his colleagues and friends, President
Mikhail Sakaashvili of Georgia and President Karzai of Afghanistan who
also addressed Joint Sessions, to raise the bright light of democracy
to many around the world, well beyond the fall 2004 Orange Revolution.
We appeal to you to telephone Speaker Hastert immediately to urge
him to invite President Yushchenko to address Congress.
We also encourage you to call your senators and representatives
immediately to encourage them to contact Speaker Hastert.
Contact U. S. House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert at:
Phone: 202-225-2976
Fax: 202-225-0697
==============================================================
4. YUSHCHENKO'S VISIT TO WASHINGTON, D.C. IN EARLY APRIL
ACTION ALERT, The Action Ukraine Coalition
Ihor Gawdiak, Chair, Washington, D.C.
Tuesday, March 8, 2005
PLEASE IMMEDIATELY CONTACT, by phone or fax, MEMBERS OF
THE U.S. HOUSE AND SENATE to urge that:
1) Members appeal to Speaker Dennis Hastert to invite President Victor
Yushchenko to address a formal, joint session of Congress during his visit
in early April, as a signal of the legislature’s support of his courageous
achievement in saving Ukraine and creating a role model of opposition to
totalitarian rule, and
2) House Members reinstate the Administration’s original $60 million in
the Fiscal 05 Supplemental Appropriations bill for foreign assistance to
Ukraine to fulfill President Bush’s commitment to supporting freedom in
this vital area of the globe.
If you don’t know your state’s federal House and Senate members’ telephone
numbers and faxes (regular mail and emails take too long), call
202-225-3121 or online visit http://www.house.gov and http://www.senate.gov\
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Submitted by Action Ukraine Coalition. Further info: (410) 884-9025
===============================================================
5. ABSOLVING PAST SINS....AND SOLVING PROBLEMS
Yushchenko's trip to the United States
Kyiv Weekly, Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, March 17, 2005
KYIV - It is expected that the visit of President Viktor Yushchenko to the
U.S., planned for the beginning of April, will give a push towards the
resolution of almost all the problems between the two countries.
Even prior to the visit or right after it, the effect of the Jackson-Vanik
amendment should be canceled for Ukraine. The volume of American technical
assistance to Kyiv will be increased by US $60 mn to US $160 mn this year.
In addition, only one obstacle remains for Washington before giving Ukraine
the status of a country with a market economy and signing a protocol on
mutual access to markets of goods and services, which should become an
important step on Ukraine's path towards accession to the World Trade
Organization.
The talk is about fighting violations of intellectual property rights. U.S.
Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez, though pointing to concrete steps
of the Ukrainian authorities in this sphere, is calling for their support by
legislative acts. All of this was discovered in the course of the working
visit to Washington by Ukraine's Foreign Minister Borys Tarasyuk.
Furthermore, as US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice stated, bilateral
relations would not be affected by Ukraine's decision to pull its troops out
of Iraq. Rice said that the White House understood the obligations that the
new Ukrainian government has undertaken and called relations between the
government of the U.S. and Ukraine "special".
It seems that relations between Brussels and Kyiv are also becoming
special. Recently, the European Union opened its market for Ukrainian
textiles. Soon, Ukraine plans to cancel visa restrictions for the citizens
of EU countries entering the country.
In response, Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council Secretary
Petro Poroshenko hopes that by the end of 2005, EU countries will agree
on the liberalization of the visa regime for entering the EU for certain
categories of Ukrainian citizens, including diplomats, journalists,
businessmen and students.
However, it will only really become possible to assess the foreign policy
achievements of the new Ukrainian government, unburdened with the
mistakes of the previous administration, after Vladimir Putin's visit to
Kyiv.
Only then will it be clear whether or not Ukraine's policy on European
integration is on an economic collision course with Russia. -30-
===============================================================
6. RICE HAILS "SPECIAL RELATIONS" BETWEEN US AND UKRAINE
Associated Press, Washington, D.C., Friday, March 11, 2005
WASHINGTON - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Friday
hailed the "special relations" between the U.S. and Ukraine , brushing aside
concerns about Ukraine 's plan to withdraw its 1,650 troops from Iraq. Rice
met with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Borys Tarasyuk shortly after the White
House announced that Viktor Yushchenko, president of the former Soviet
republic, would meet with President George W. Bush on April 4 at the White
House.
Ukraine has been cited frequently by Bush administration officials as an
example of the movement toward greater democracy worldwide. In Ukraine 's
so-called "Orange Revolution," popular protests after a fraudulent election
led to a new vote, which Yushchenko won. Rice lauded Ukrainians for showing
"that freedom matters, that freedom can bring a new energy to a people."
Asked at a news conference with Tarasyuk about the withdrawal from Iraq,
Rice thanked Ukraine for its contribution to the war, expressed confidence
the withdrawal wouldn't be done in a way that endangered troops and said
Ukraine plans to offer technical assistance to Iraqis. "We understand the
commitment that the Ukrainian government has made to its own people,"
she said. "But it has been handled in a way that demonstrates that this is a
relationship that is based on partnership, based on values and where we
can work together on even the most difficult issues."
Tarasyuk also discussed Ukraine 's withdrawal from Iraq at a meeting earlier
Friday with Vice President Dick Cheney. At the State Department, Tarasyuk
said Yushchenko's meeting with Bush "will be a new beginning in the
Ukraine-U.S. relationship and giving a new feeling, a new content in the
strategic partnership between our countries."
White House spokesman Scott McClellan said the two leaders will hold a
working lunch to discuss Yushchenko's "efforts to implement reforms,
including strengthening rule of law, accelerating economic reforms and
integrating Ukraine with the global economy, and combatting corruption."
While a candidate for president, Yushchenko survived an apparent attempt
to poison him in September. On Friday, the State Department said that U.S.
doctors helped treat him. U.S. officials had kept the doctors' role secret
because they didn't want to appear to be interfering in the tumultuous
Ukrainian election. The Washington Post first reported about the team in its
Friday edition.
Michael Zimpfer, who heads the private Rudolfinerhaus clinic in Vienna where
Yushchenko was treated, said that by the time the U.S. doctors arrived in
December "everything had been settled already." Yushchenko recovered
from the poisoning, but it left his face badly disfigured. -30-
===============================================================
7. UKRAINE'S PROSPECTS
THE U.S. COULD BE THE KEY TO LASTING FREEDOM
EDITORIAL: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Tue, March 15, 2005
All the world watched and most people applauded as Ukraine went
through a long dark night of difficult elections last fall, finally
succeeding in electing as president Viktor Yushchenko.
But that victory, of course, left in place the hard question still to
answer: Where does Ukraine go from here?
The visit to Pittsburgh last week of a group of Ukrainian journalists who
had lived through that difficult period provided an opportunity to get a
fresh take on the question. The journalists' meetings here included a
session Thursday with representatives of the thousands of Pittsburghers
who are of Ukrainian origin.
After an event as cataclysmic as Mr. Yushchenko's victory, which was
preceded by apparently lost elections, an attempt to poison him, massive
demonstrations and the ultimate triumph of his Orange Revolution, it would
be tempting for him to rest on his laurels and not pursue the struggle that
made him run in the first place.
That temptation would be particularly poignant in the case of Ukraine, given
the depths of its problems. It faces serious economic issues, starting with
a high level of corruption. It continues to sit near the paws of the Russian
bear, never shy about trying to exercise dominance over Ukraine based on
relative size and power.
Ukraine's access to the West, achievable through possible membership
in NATO and the European Union, is not easy to get. It is, in part, the
problems that would be solved by membership that make the members
of NATO and the EU hesitant to allow Ukraine into the fold.
Mr. Yushchenko's victory kicked open the door to freedom and development
in Ukraine. But is it open now once and for all, or does the door risk being
slammed shut again? It is important for the United States, NATO and the EU
not to remain mere spectators on what happens now in Ukraine. Without
interfering, which could cause its people to swerve from the nationalist
ideal that carried them through the electoral period, it is important to
provide Mr. Yushchenko's government as much help as possible.
He has a visit to the United States coming up. The receptivity of the Bush
administration and Congress to helping Ukraine will be important. The
visiting Ukrainian journalists attach a great deal of importance to the
interest of U.S. companies, such as U.S. Steel, in Ukraine. That company,
as an example, is active now in Slovakia. The well-known high level of
corruption in Ukraine is a problem, but Mr. Yushchenko has vowed to tackle
that stubborn problem head-on. It can be done: Slovakia used to be the
Eastern European bad boy of corruption; it made substantial progress and
is now a member of the EU.
The new Ukrainian president has only until next March, when parliamentary
elections will be held, to show the voters results. Otherwise, the door
could be slammed shut again, by the voters. If that were to occur,
responsibility would lie on the shoulders of U.S. and other self-proclaimed
spreaders of freedom, as well as on him as a leader. And the administration
knows that also watching will be Vladimir Putin's Russia, which is not
averse to seeing the door to freedom in Ukraine swing closed.
In the end, the fate of Ukrainian democracy does not depend on the United
States. But American actions now can make a big difference in its prospects.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LINK: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05074/471420.stm
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FOOTNOTE: Our thanks to Debra Walenchok, President, Ukrainian
Technological Society, Pittsburgh, for alerting us to this editorial.
===============================================================
8. THE KREMLIN'S SECRET WEAPON
If we cannot conquer Ukraine politically, then conquer Ukraine economically
Kyiv Weekly, Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, March 17, 2005
Russian bankers have suddenly become attached to the Ukrainian financial
market. Experts explain this with several reasons, starting with political
ones. One of the Russian "money-bags" recently described a meeting of the
Russian President with Russia's oligarchs right after the victory of the
Orange Revolution in Ukraine.
An interesting offer was stated at that meeting: if we cannot conquer the
country politically, then it should be done economically, so to say that is
the direction that capital from Russia should take," a director of one of
the banks with foreign capital told KW.
The second reason is excess liquidity. Our northern neighbors, like the rest
of Europe, have a large supply of money. The banks are failing to invest all
these funds in their home countries. They say that Russia has more funds
than could be properly invested. That is why Russia has nothing better to do
than to try and use their capital on foreign territory. The placement of
funds in Western Europe is by far the best way for several reasons,
including lower prices for loans and stiff competition. Even the financial
giants of Russia would have a hard time competing with European banks.
The Ukrainian market is much closer for Russians for many reasons. Firstly,
it represents a familiar environment for Russians with adequate levels of
corruption and methods of operation. Investments into it are profitable from
the economic point of view, because Russian bankers have outgrown the
Ukrainians, having at their disposal cheaper and longer-term funds than we
have. While Ukrainians can more or less freely finance their clients under a
14-16% annual interest rate in hard currency for 1-3 years, their colleagues
from Russia could without problems lend money for 5-7 years at 7-9% per
year.
A similar situation can be found with the investment sector. While Ukrainian
banks are straining their "financial muscles", the Russians are investing
their capital. Here is one example: NRB-Ukraine, which has already invested
several million dollars in Alushta (the boarding house More, the
entertainment center with aqua park "Mindalnaya Roscha" (Almond Wood) and
other new constructions in the same area), recently invested another US $20
mn to acquire half of Kyiv's central hotel - "Ukraina" in order to later buy
it all out. Observers say that other Russian banks will take a similar path
in Ukraine. They will initially try to occupy a niche on the financial
market, and then will begin working on long-term investment projects.
According to various calculations, 4-5 Russian banks are planning to appear
on the Ukrainian financial market in one form or another. VneshTorgBank is
considered one of the most persistent. It recently received permission for
operation from the NBU. So far, its daughter - VneshTorgBank (Ukraine) has
not yet begun its operation in Kyiv; the process of acquiring the necessary
documents is still being completed.
As KW found out, the bank has well-trained staff. VTB (Ukraine) chairman
Yaroslav Knihnytskiy hired professionals from different banks. Employees of
large financial institutions were invited as well as employees of Allonge
bank, which went bankrupt. VTB does not intent to be content with operating
through its bank only, and intends to acquire some Ukrainian financial
institutions. To date, it has held corresponding talks with owners of nearly
all the largest banks of the country.
There is talk that the bank came to the best understanding with UkrSotsBank,
the son-in-law of the former Ukrainian president Viktor Pinchuk being
considered its secret owner. Knowing VTB's concept, it could be assumed
that in case the decision is made to invest into the Ukrainian bank, the
talk will be about the acquisition of a large package. VneshTorgBank will
not acquire a package smaller than 75% plus 1 share, because the bank
always prefers to fully control its property.
The plans of VneshEconomBank, also owned by the Russian state, are less
clear. Its representatives are so far talking only about opening an office
in Ukraine. There have been no clear commentaries about the registration of
a daughter bank. "We will work with companies and banks of Ukraine, before
opening our own bank here. Only growth of business can spur us to that,"
stated VneshEconomBank chairman Vladimir Dmitriyev in his comment for KW.
Smaller Russian financial institutions are also slowly but surely
implementing their ideas in Ukraine. The registration of the Bank of Moscow
continues. In addition, Renaissance Capital has announced its acquisition of
a young Ukrainian bank, Lider, which is believed to be in Privatbank group's
sphere of influence. The bank enticed director of NRB-Ukraine Vitaliy
Migashko to take the place of the bank's CEO.
He has worked in a subsidiary of a bank with 100% Russian capital since its
first days of operation and has the proper experience. Experts believe that
both banks will begin active operation on the Ukrainian market as early as
by the end of the first half of 2005, saying that the aforementioned banks
will not be last holders of the Russian bank capital to come to our market.
===============================================================
9. TOP RUSSIAN BUSINESSMEN POSITIVE AFTER MEETING
UKRAINE'S PRESIDENT VIKTOR YUSHCHENKO
Mosnews.com. Mowcow, Russia, Tuesday,March 15, 2005
On Tuesday, March 15, Russian papers quoted top Russian businessmen
as saying that Viktor Yushchenko, the new president of Ukraine, is a man
they can do business with. Yushchenko met with businessmen on Monday
and calmed fears that his government could re-nationalize their property.
"We heard what we wanted to hear. The regulators will treat market players
and government equally and this will only help our business," Kommersant
daily quoted Vasily Sidorov, head of Russia's top mobile operator Mobile
TeleSystems, as saying.
Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, whose fiery speeches helped whip up
crowds demanding the Kremlin-backed candidate's fraudulent election
win be overturned, caused panic by saying 3,000-4,000 privatizations
could be overturned.
Since Yushchenko's election in January, the Supreme Court has struck
own previous court rulings that the sell-off of Ukraine's biggest steel
plant Krivorozhstal to a group with close ties to the previous government
was legal.
But the Russian businessmen said Yushchenko moved to reassure them
that only 30-40 businesses could be targeted and only in cases where the
privatization was clearly fraudulent.
"Yushchenko fully explained the plans for developing the Ukrainian economy.
We asked a lot of questions and got answers to them all," Ilya Yurov,
chairman of the board of Russia's Trust bank, was quoted by the Vedomosti
business daily as saying. The paper said the meeting lasted three hours.
"We were assured that the grounds for re-visiting privatization deals will
only be if there were legal violations, that there will be no politics
involved," Yurov said.
His comments were backed by Andrei Kostin, head of state-owned bank
Vneshtorgbank. "Viktor Yushchenko spoke openly about how he welcomed
the involvement of Russian business in Ukraine," he said, according to
Kommersant. "Business, in my opinion, received very clear signals that
there will not be mass nationalization."
Vedomosti said the meeting was also attended by managers of energy
firms Lukoil, [Gazprom and TNK-BP. Other participants included aluminium
tycoon Oleg Deripaska and managers from the AFK Sistema holding
company, aviation firm Tupolev and carmaker Avtovaz. The paper said
Mikhail Fridman, head of the vast Alfa Group holding company, and
Alexei Mordashov, head of the Severstal steel giant, declined to attend.
===============================================================
10. UKRAINE CAN BE THE MODEL FOR THE REGION
OP-ED: by Jim Slattery
Former U.S. Congressman from Kansas
The Hill, The Newspaper For and About the U.S. Congress
Washington, D.C., Wednesday, March 2, 2005
Even before Viktor Yushchenko's election as president of Ukraine last Dec.
26, the world's attention was focused on Kiev, where thousands of Ukrainians
took to the streets to protest the attempt to steal the previous election
held a month earlier. As the "Orange Revolution" demonstrated the power of
peaceful mass protest, Ukraine became a role model for freedom lovers
around the world.
Since his December victory, a series of events, including the tsunami
disaster, Iraqi elections, continued violence in Iraq, President Bush's
inauguration, concern over the budget mess and renewed violence in Lebanon,
has relegated Ukraine to yesterday's news. Nevertheless, the Bush
administration and Congress must not lose their focus on the importance of
Ukraine's becoming an independent country in Central Europe.
With strong Western help, Ukraine can become a regional role model for
Belarus, Moldova and Russia itself. Having observed all three rounds of the
Ukrainian elections, I remain hopeful that there can be prompt and strong
bipartisan support for a package of measures to assist Ukraine.
. First, President Yushchenko should be invited to address a joint session
of Congress. He has earned this honor. Like Lech Walesa and Vaclav Havel
before him, Yushchenko has demonstrated remarkable courage. He survived
an attempt on his life and returned to campaign with a scarred face as a
reminder to the world of the price he was prepared to pay for democracy and
freedom in Ukraine.
Second, the Jackson-Vanik trade law should be repealed as it applies to
Ukraine.
Third, the United States should grant permanent normal trade relations to
Ukraine. If that can be done for China, it should be done for Ukraine.
Fourth, cultural and educational exchanges should be expanded. Thousands
of Ukraine's best and brightest young leaders should be invited and
financially encouraged to attend U.S. colleges and universities. U.S.
students could benefit from similar exchanges.
Fifth, Congress, in cooperation with the U.S. Association of Former
Members of Congress, should respond favorably to the Ukrainian parliament's
request for a joint study group with the U.S. Congress. Members of the
parliament want to learn how the Congress has operated over the past 200
years. Former members are an invaluable resource in this democracy-building
work, and many stand ready to assist.
Sixth, Ukraine has cooperated in the war on terrorism and the effort to
locate and control nuclear-weapon materials left over from the Soviet era.
There is much more to be done in this area, and the United States should
assist to make sure these urgent needs are not neglected as the new
Ukrainian government meets many pressing budget demands.
Seventh, President Bush's supplemental appropriations request for $60
million for FY 2005 should be approved and future assistance should be
increased to the $250 million level.
Eighth, given Ukraine's tremendous agricultural potential, U.S. land-grant
colleges with special agricultural expertise should be encouraged to
cooperate with universities in Ukraine to help Ukraine expand its
agricultural potential.
Ninth, parliamentary and local elections are scheduled in Ukraine for
2006. The United States and Western Europe must support efforts to
ensure that those elections are free and fair.
Finally, none of this should be conditioned on Ukraine's leaving its
troops in Iraq. To pressure President Yushchenko to break a campaign
promise to the Ukrainian people could make him look like a U.S. puppet,
which would be a tragic mistake. The United States must treat Yushchenko
with the respect he has earned as a courageous warrior for democracy d
and human rights. -30- [The Action Ukraine Report Monitoring Service]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.hillnews.com/thehill/export/TheHill/Comment/OpEd/030205_slattery.html
===============================================================
11. UKRAINE: VIKTOR YUSHCHENKO SHOULD NOT GO TO MOSCOW
TO CELEBRATE THE END OF WORLD WAR II ON MAY 9
Yushchenko's place on May 9 is on the Khreschatyk with the veterans.
Professor Serbyn's Seven Points
Professor Roman Serbyn, History Department
University of Quebec in Montreal
Montreal, Quebec, Canada, March, 2005
The president of Ukraine should commemorate the end of World War
II together with the people of Ukraine. He should not be part of the
commemorations planned in Moscow for the following reasons:
1. The presence of western leaders in Moscow should not set an example
for Ukraine. Western governments recognize the end of World War II on
May 8, the official end of hostilities, and can therefore attend the
proceedings on May 9 in Moscow. One should not forget that the Soviet
Army did not bring about the slavery of communism to these western
governments and thus, western leaders do not take issue with Moscow
in this regard.
2. Ukraine will be commemorating May 9 regardless, and it is incumbent
upon the head of state to remain in Ukraine with the citizens of Ukraine
during their commemorations. Moreover, the victory of the Red Army
did not bring about a national liberation for Ukraine on par with the Allied
powers' national liberation of France and other western countries.
3. It is naïve to think that Yushchenko would have an opportunity in Moscow
to "dot the i's" and inform Putin, Russia and the entire world about the
real history of the German-Soviet war on Ukrainian territories.
4. Yushchenko and his administration took the initiative to finally bring
about a peaceful understanding between the various veterans in Ukraine.
And only the president of Ukraine is capable of inculcating this
reconciliation. Therefore, Yushchenko's place on May 9 is on the
Khreschatyk with the veterans.
5. Regardless of one's politics, there were three military formations in
Ukraine during the war: a) the Red Army, b) the Galician Division and other
German military formations, and c) the Ukrainian Insurgent Army. The
Ukrainian veterans of these armies must be regarded as equal in veteran
affairs.
6. The most important meaning Berlin's capitulation has for the nations of
Europe is not in the Red Army's victory over the Wermacht, but rather, in
the end of hostilities and the return of PEACE to Europe. One must
realize that while the victory of Stalin's military machine saved the
Ukrainian
people from the total destruction planned by Nazi Germany, it also
subjected it to a gradual destruction by Communist Moscow. Such a
questionable "victory" is hardly worth celebrating.
7. For Ukraine, it is more virtuous to commemorate May 9 as a
"Remembrance Day." President Yushchenko has proposed to seat at the
tables of Khreschatyk veterans of the Red Army, the Ukrainian Insurgent
Army and the Galician Division. Only then, will Ukraine and Ukrainian
veterans show the world and their nation that Ukraine is a civilized
country, worthy of membership in the European Union, where the old
lines of division have long ago been mended.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Professor "Serbyn's Seven Points" originally appeared in Ukrainian
on Maidan.org.ua at http://www2.maidan.org.ua/n/free/1110694383 .)
Translated by M. Suprun. Our thanks to Professor Serbyn and to
Marko Suprun for sending us this important article.
===============================================================
12. UKRAINIAN PARLIAMENT VOTES FOR VETERANS
TO MARCH IN WWII VICTORY DAY PARADY ON MAY 9
UT1, Kiev, in Ukrainian 1650 gmt 15 Mar 05
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, Wed, March 15, 2005
KYIV - [Presenter] There will be a victory parade on Khreshchatyk on 9 May
[anniversary of defeat of Nazi Germany]. Veterans will march ceremonially
along the main street of Ukraine. Then they will be able to drink a symbolic
100 grammes [of vodka] at tables laid out along Khreshchatyk, where the
veterans will be able to talk with representatives of the authorities.
Parliament approved a resolution on the form of celebration after hearing a
report by the Cabinet of Ministers.
Earlier the government declined to hold a military parade, but agreed that
veterans rather than troops should march on Khreshchatyk. They will also
receive a one-off cash payment. Labour and Social Policy Minister
Vyacheslav Kyrylenko said that combat participants and 1st category
invalids will receive 400 hryvnyas [75 dollars]. Other categories will
receive 130-330 hryvnyas. dfs Kyrylenko said that the budget includes
425m hryvnyas for this purpose.
He also said that budget spending on privileges and benefits for war
veterans has been increased - in particular, this concerns travel on urban
and interurban transport, and utilities payments.
Kyrylenko said that the problem of providing special cars for war invalids
remains unresolved. More than 150,000 invalids of various categories are on
the waiting list, of whom almost a third are war invalids. This year, only
one in ten invalids will be able to receive a car.
[Kyrylenko] The government and parliament need to create the necessary
working bodies in order to speed up the process by which invalids receive
special vehicles under a debt offset programme with Avtozaz
[Zaporizhzhya-based car plant] and turn it into reality. -30-
===============================================================
13. PRESIDENT YUSHCHENKO DIRECTS DP MINISTER TOMEMKO
TO ORGANIZE MAY 9 MILITARY PARADE
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Wed, March 16, 2005 (19:59)
KYIV - President Viktor Yuschenko has directed Deputy Prime Minister
for Humanitarian Affairs Mykola Tomenko to organize a ceremonial march
of war veterans on May 9, the day of celebration of the sixtieth anniversary
of the victory the Great Patriotic War. The presidential press service
disclosed this to Ukrainian News.
According to the press service, Yuschenko directed Tomenko to organize
the parade during a meeting with members of the plenum of the Council of
Organizations of Ukrainian Veterans in Kyiv on March 16.
During the meeting, Yuschenko called on organizations of veterans to express
their wishes regarding events commemorating the sixtieth anniversary of
victory in the Great Patriotic War.
The Council of Organizations of Ukrainian Veterans' Chairman Ivan Herasymov
stressed that Ukrainian veterans wanted concerts and commemorative meetings
to be organized throughout Ukraine and medals awarded to them on May 8 and
for a commemorative march to take place on May 9.
'Many veterans would like to march in a parade on May 9 because for many it
will possibly be the last parade,' Herasymov said.
After directing to Tomenko to organize the parade, Yuschenko said that the
local authorities would determine the details of the local ceremonial events
that would be held on May 9.
As Ukrainian News earlier reported, the Communist Party has criticized the
idea of canceling the May 9 military parade.
Tomenko had earlier called for cancellation of the May 9 military parade and
proposed a plan of measures that would permit each veteran to feel the care
of the state.
The Social Democratic Party (united)'s leader Viktor Medvedchuk has also
criticized the idea of canceling the parade and Prime Minister Yulia
Tymoshenko also supported the idea of canceling the parade.
Tymoshenko said that Yuschenko and the Cabinet of Ministers plan to invite
all the participants in the war to sit at a table on Khreschatyk Street on
May 9 and treat them to a traditional soldier's porridge against the
backdrop of music from the battlefront. -30-
===============================================================
14. KIEV ADMITS SENDING CRUISE MISSILES TO IRAN AND CHINA
By Tom Warner in Kiev
Financial Times, London, UK, Thu, March 17, 2005
Ukraine has admitted that it exported 12 cruise missiles to Iran and six to
China amid mounting pressure from other countries to explain how the
sales occurred.
Svyatoslav Piskun, Ukraine's prosecutor- general, told the FT that 18 X-55
cruise missiles, also known as Kh-55s or AS-15s, were exported in 2001.
Although none of the missiles was exported with the nuclear warheads they
were designed to carry, Japan and the US say they are worried by what
appears to have been a significant leak of technology from the former
Soviet Union's nuclear arsenal.
The X-55 has a range of 3,000 km, enough to put Japan within striking
range of the Asian continent or to reach Israel from Iran.
The US embassy in Kiev said it was "closely monitoring" the investigation
and wanted the findings of a secret trial made public. The US is critical of
European diplomatic efforts to prevent Iran developing nuclear weapons.
Japan fears it could be vulnerable to a nuclear strike from the Asian
mainland if the Ukrainian missiles fall into Korean hands.
Kishichiro Amae, Japan's ambassador in Kiev, said he was hopeful that
the new Ukrainian government, which took over in January, would explain
the case but so far he had received no information.
Mr Amae said the new Ukrainian government had shown its readiness to
investigate the previous government's misdemeanours when it indicted
three high- ranking interior ministry officers this month for the murder in
2000 of journalist Georgy Gongadze. But he said the cruise missile
case was more serious. "If it is handled in secrecy, the new government
will lose the confidence of the world."
Mr Piskun's admission that Ukraine sold the missiles is the first
confirmation by a government official that the exports occurred. The
case was made public last month by a member of Ukraine's parliament,
whose account Mr Piskun largely confirmed.
The acquisition by Iran of cruise missiles, if proved, would heighten
concerns about its nuclear weapons programme.
Mr Piskun said he understood Japan was concerned that the missiles
delivered to China could have ended up in North Korea, although there
were no grounds to suspect such a transfer.
Ukraine had about 1,000 of the missiles in its arsenal after the break-up
of the Soviet Union. -30- [Action Ukraine Report Monitoring Service]
===============================================================
15. THE GULAG: LEST WE FORGET
The more we are able to understand how various societies have transformed
their neighbors and fellow citizens from people into objects, and the more
we know of the specific circumstances that led to each episode of mass
torture and mass murder, the better we will understand the darker side of
our own human nature.
By Anne Applebaum, Writer, Columnist
Member of the Editorial Board of The Washington Post
History and Culture: The Hoover Digest, Winter Issue, 2005 No. 1
Research & Opinion on Public Policy, Hoover Institution
Stanford University, Stanford, California
In the early autumn of 1998, I took a boat across the White Sea, from the
city of Arkhangelsk to the Solovetsky Islands, the distant archipelago that
was once home to the Soviet Union's first political prisons. The ship's
dining room buzzed with good cheer. There were many toasts, many jokes,
and hearty applause for the ship's captain. My assigned dining companions,
two middle-aged couples from a naval base down the coast, seemed
determined to have a good time.
At first, my presence only added to their general merriment. It is not every
day one meets a real American on a rickety ferry boat in the middle of the
White Sea, and the oddity amused them. When I told them what I was doing in
Russia, however, they grew less cheerful. An American on a pleasure cruise,
visiting the Solovetsky Islands to see the scenery and the beautiful old
monastery-that was one thing. An American visiting the Solovetsky Islands to
see the remains of the concentration camp-that was something else.
One of the men turned hostile. "Why do you foreigners only care about the
ugly things in our history?" he wanted to know. "Why write about the Gulag?
Why not write about our achievements? We were the first country to put a man
into space!" By "we" he meant "we Soviets." The Soviet Union had ceased to
exist seven years earlier, but he still identified himself as a Soviet
citizen, not as a Russian.
His wife attacked me as well. "The Gulag isn't relevant anymore," she told
me. "We have other troubles here. We have unemployment, we have crime.
Why don't you write about our real problems, instead of things that happened
a long time ago?"
While this unpleasant conversation continued, the other couple kept silent,
and the man never did offer his opinion on the subject of the Soviet past.
At one point, however, his wife expressed her support. "I understand why you
want to know about the camps," she said softly. "It is interesting to know
what happened. I wish I knew more."
In my subsequent travels around Russia, I encountered these four attitudes
about my project again and again. "It's none of your business" and "it's
irrelevant" were both common reactions. Silence-or an absence of opinion, as
evinced by a shrug of the shoulders-was probably the most frequent reaction.
But there were also people who understood why it was important to know
about the past and who wished it were easier to find out more.
MONUMENTS AND PUBLIC AWARENESS
In fact, with some effort, one can learn a great deal about the past in
contemporary Russia. Not all Russian archives are closed, and not all
Russian historians are preoccupied with other things. The story of the
Gulag has also become part of public debate in some of the former
Soviet republics andf ormer Soviet satellites. In a few nations (as a
rule, those who remember themselves as victims rather than
perpetrators of terror), the memorials and the debates are very
prominent indeed.
Dotted around Russia itself, there are also a handful of informal,
semi-official, and private monuments and museums, erected by a wide variety
of people and organizations. Strange, surprising, individual monuments can
sometimes be found in out-of-the-way places. An iron cross has been placed
on a barren hill outside the city of Ukhta commemorating the site of a mass
murder of prisoners. To see it, I had to drive down an almost impassable
muddy road, walk behind a building site, and clamber over a railway track.
Even then I was too far away to read the actual inscription. Still, the
local activists who had erected the cross a few years earlier beamed with
pride as they pointed it out to me.
A few hours north of Petrozavodsk, another ad hoc memorial has been set up
outside the village of Sandormokh, where prisoners from the Solovetsky
Islands were shot in 1937. Because there are no records stating who is
buried where, each family has chosen, at random, to commemorate a particular
pile of bones. Relatives of victims have pasted photographs of their
relatives, long dead, on wooden stakes, and some have carved epitaphs into
the sides. Ribbons, plastic flowers, and other funerary bric-a-brac are
strewn throughout the pine forest that has grown up over the killing field.
On the sunny August day that I visited (it was the anniversary of the
murder, and a delegation had come from St. Petersburg), an elderly woman
stood up to speak of her parents, both buried there, both shot when she was
seven years old. A whole lifetime had passed before she had been able to
visit their graves.
And yet in Russia, a country accustomed to grandiose war memorials and
vast, solemn state funerals, these local efforts and private initiatives
seem meager, scattered, and incomplete. The majority of Russians are
probably not even aware of them. And no wonder: Ten years after the
collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia-the country that has inherited the
Soviet Union's diplomatic and foreign policies, its embassies, its debts,
and its seat at the United Nations-continues to act as if it has not
inherited the Soviet Union's history. Russia does not have a national
museum dedicated to the history of repression. Neither does Russia
have a national place of mourning, a monument officially recognizing
the suffering of victims and their families.
More notable than the missing monuments, however, is the missing public
awareness. Sometimes it seems as if the enormous emotions and passions
raised by the wide-ranging discussions of the Gorbachev era simply vanished,
along with the Soviet Union itself. The bitter debate about justice for the
victims disappeared just as abruptly. Although there was much talk about it
at the end of the 1980s, the Russian government never did examine or try the
perpetrators of torture or mass murder, even those who were identifiable.
It is true, of course, that trials may not always be the best way to come to
terms with the past. But there are other methods, aside from trials, of
doing public justice to the crimes of the past. There are truth commissions,
for example, of the sort implemented in South Africa, which allow victims to
tell their stories in an official, public place and make the crimes of the
past a part of the public debate.
There are official investigations, like the British Parliament's 2002
inquiry into the Northern Irish "Bloody Sunday" massacre, which took place
30 years earlier. There are government inquiries, government commissions,
and public apologies. Yet the Russian government has never considered any
of these options. Other than the brief, inconclusive "trial" of the
Communist Party, there have in fact been no public truth-telling sessions in
Russia, no parliamentary hearings, no official investigations of any kind
into the murders or the massacres or the camps of the USSR.
The result: half a century after the end of World War II, the Germans still
conduct regular public disputes about victims' compensation, about
memorials, about new interpretations of Nazi history, even about whether a
younger generation of Germans ought to go on shouldering the burden of
guilt about the crimes of the Nazis. Half a century after Stalin's death,
there were no equivalent arguments taking place in Russia because
the memory of the past was not a living part of the public discourse.
The Russian rehabilitation process did continue, very quietly, throughout
the 1990s. By the end of 2001, about 4.5 million political prisoners had
been rehabilitated in Russia, and the national rehabilitation commission
estimated that it had a further half million cases to examine. But although
the commission itself is serious and well intentioned, and although it is
composed of camp survivors as well as bureaucrats, no one associated with
it really feels that the politicians who created it were motivated by a real
drive for "truth and reconciliation," in the words of the British historian
Catherine Merridale. Rather, the goal has been to end discussion of the
past, to pacify the victims by throwing them a few extra rubles and free bus
tickets, and to avoid any deeper examination of the causes of Stalinism or
of its legacy.
THE MORE THINGS CHANGE, THE MORE THEY STAY THE SAME
There are some good, or at least forgivable, explanations for this public
silence. Most Russians really do spend all their time coping with the
complete transformation of their economy and society. The Stalinist era
was a long time ago, and a great deal has happened since it ended.
Post-communist Russia is not postwar Germany, where the memories of
the worst atrocities were still fresh in people's minds. In the early
twenty-first century, the events of the middle of the twentieth century seem
like ancient history to much of the population.
Perhaps more to the point, many Russians also feel that they have had their
discussion of the past already and that it produced very little. When one
asks older Russians, at least, why the subject of the Gulag is so rarely
mentioned nowadays, they wave away the issue: "In the 1990s that was all
we could talk about, now we don't need to talk about it anymore."
But there are other reasons, less forgivable, for the profound silence. Many
Russians experienced the collapse of the Soviet Union as a profound blow to
their personal pride. Perhaps the old system was bad, they now feel-but at
least we were powerful. And now that we are not powerful, we do not want to
hear that it was bad. It is too painful, like speaking ill of the dead.
Some still also fear what they might find out about the past if they were to
inquire too closely. Aleksandr Yakovlev, chairman of the Russian
rehabilitation commission, put this problem bluntly. "Society is indifferent
to the crimes of the past," he told me, "because so many people participated
in them." The Soviet system dragged millions and millions of its citizens
into many forms of collaboration and compromise. Although many willingly
participated, otherwise decent people were also forced to do terrible
things. They, their children, and their grandchildren do not always want to
remember that now.
But the most important explanation for the lack of public debate does not
involve the fears of the younger generation or the inferiority complexes and
leftover guilt of their parents. The most important issue is rather the
power and prestige of those now ruling not only Russia but also most of the
other former Soviet states and satellite states. In December 2001, on the
10th anniversary of the dissolution of the Soviet Union, 13 of the 15 former
Soviet republics were run by former Communists, as were many of the
former satellite states. Even in those countries not actually run by the
direct ideological descendants of the Communist Party, former Communists
and their children or fellow travelers continued to figure largely in the
intellectual, media, and business elites. The president of Russia, Vladimir
Putin, was a former KGB agent who proudly identified himself as a Chekist,
a word used to describe Lenin's political police at the time of the
revolution.
The dominance of former Communists and the insufficient discussion of the
past in the post-communist world is not coincidental. To put it bluntly,
former Communists have a clear interest in concealing the past: it tarnishes
them, undermines them, hurts their claims to be carrying out "reforms," even
when they personally had nothing to do with past crimes. Many, many excuses
have been given for Russia's failure to build a national monument to its
millions of victims, but Aleksandr Yakovlev, again, gave me the most
succinct explanation. "The monument will be built," he said, "when we-the
older generation-are all dead."
This matters because the failure to acknowledge or repent or discuss the
history of the communist past weighs like a stone on many of the nations of
post-communist Europe. Whispered rumors about the contents of old "secret
files" continue to disrupt contemporary politics, destabilizing at least one
Polish and one Hungarian prime minister. Deals done in the past, between
fraternal communist parties, continue to have ramifications in the present.
In many places, the secret police apparatus-the cadres, the equipment, the
offices-remains virtually unchanged. The occasional discovery of fresh
caches of bones can suddenly spark controversy and anger.
This past weighs on Russia most heavily of all. Russia inherited the
trappings of Soviet power-and also the Soviet Union's great power complex,
its military establishment, and its imperial goals. As a result, the
political consequences of absent memory in Russia have been much more
damaging than they have in other former communist countries. Acting in the
name of the Soviet motherland, Stalin deported the Chechen nation to the
wastes of Kazakhstan, where half of them died and the rest were meant to
disappear, along with their language and culture. Fifty years later, in a
repeat performance, the Russian Federation obliterated the Chechen capital,
Grozny, and murdered tens of thousands of Chechen civilians in the course of
two wars.
If the Russian people and the Russian elite remembered-viscerally,
emotionally remembered-what Stalin did to the Chechens, they could not have
invaded Chechnya in the 1990s, not once and not twice. To do so was the
moral equivalent of postwar Germany invading western Poland. Very few
Russians saw it that way-which is itself evidence of how little they know
about their own history.
There have also been consequences for the formation of Russian civil society
and for the development of the rule of law. To put it bluntly, if scoundrels
of the old regime go unpunished, good will in no way have been seen to
triumph over evil. This may sound apocalyptic, but it is not politically
irrelevant. The police do not need to catch all the criminals all of the
time for most people to submit to public order, but they need to catch a
significant proportion. Nothing encourages lawlessness more than the sight
of villains getting away with it, living off their spoils, and laughing in
the public's face.
The secret police kept their apartments, their dachas, and their large
pensions. Their victims remained poor and marginal. To most Russians, it
now seems as if the more you collaborated in the past, the wiser you were.
By analogy, the more you cheat and lie in the present, the wiser you are.
In a very deep sense, some of the ideology of the Gulag also survives in the
attitudes and worldview of the new Russian elite. The old Stalinist division
between categories of humanity, between the all-powerful elite and the
worthless "enemies," lives on in the new Russian elite's arrogant contempt
for its fellow citizens. Unless that elite soon comes to recognize the value
and the importance of all of Russia's citizens, to honor both their civil
and their human rights, Russia is ultimately fated to become today's
northern Zaire, a land populated by impoverished peasants and billionaire
politicians who keep their assets in Swiss bank vaults and their private
jets on runways, engines running.
Tragically, Russia's lack of interest in its past has deprived the Russians
of heroes, as well as villains. The names of those who secretly opposed
Stalin, however ineffectively, ought to be as widely known in Russia as are,
in Germany, the names of the participants in the plot to kill Hitler. The
incredibly rich body of Russian survivors' literature-tales of people whose
humanity triumphed over the horrifying conditions of the Soviet
concentration camps-should be better read, better known, more frequently
quoted. If schoolchildren knew these heroes and their stories better, they
would find something to be proud of even in Russia's Soviet past, aside
from imperial and military triumphs.
Yet the failure to remember has more mundane, practical consequences too.
It can be argued, for example, that Russia's failure to delve properly into
the past also explains its insensitivity to certain kinds of censorship and
to the continued, heavy presence of secret police, now renamed the
Federalnaya Sluzhba Bezopasnosti, or FSB. Most Russians are not
especially bothered by the FSB's ability to open mail, tap telephones,
and enter private residences without a court order.
Insensitivity to the past also helps explain the absence of judicial and
prison reform. In 1998, I paid a visit to the central prison in the city of
Arkhangelsk, once one of the capital cities of the Gulag. The city prison,
which dated back to before Stalin's time, seemed hardly to have changed
since then. As I walked the halls of the stone building, accompanied by a
silent warder, it seemed as if we had stepped back into one of the many
Gulag memoirs I had read. The cells were crowded and airless; the walls were
damp; the hygiene was primitive. The prison boss shrugged. It all came down
to money, he said: The hallways were dark because electricity was expensive,
the prisoners waited weeks for their trials because judges were badly paid.
I was not convinced.
Money is a problem, but it is not the whole story. If Russia's prisons still
look as they did in Stalin's era, if Russia's courts and criminal
investigations are a sham, that is partly because the Soviet legacy does
not hang like a bad conscience on the shoulders of those who run Russia's
criminal justice system. The past does not haunt Russia's secret police,
Russia's judges, Russia's politicians, or Russia's business elite.
But then, very few people in contemporary Russia feel the past to be a
burden, or an obligation, at all. The past is a bad dream to be forgotten or
a whispered rumor to be ignored. Like a great, unopened Pandora's box, it
lies in wait for the next generation.
WESTERN AMNESIA
Our failure in the West to understand the magnitude of what happened in the
Soviet Union and Central Europe does not, of course, have the same profound
implications for our way of life as it does for theirs. Our tolerance for
the odd "Gulag denier" in our universities will not destroy the moral fabric
of our society. The Cold War is over, after all, and there is no real
intellectual or political force left in the communist parties of the West.
Nevertheless, if we do not start trying harder to remember, there will be
consequences for us too. For one, our understanding of what is happening
now in the former Soviet Union will go on being distorted by our
misunderstanding of history. Again, if we really knew what Stalin did to the
Chechens, and if we felt that it was a terrible crime against the Chechen
nation, it is not only Vladimir Putin who would be unable to do the same
things to them now, but also we who would be unable to sit back and watch
with any equa-nimity. Neither did the Soviet Union's collapse inspire the
same mobilization of Western forces as did the end of the Second World War.
When Nazi Germany finally fell, the rest of the West created both NATO and
the European Community-in part to prevent Germany from ever breaking away
from civilized "normality" again. By contrast, it was not until September
11, 2001, that the nations of the West seriously began rethinking their
post-Cold War security policies, and then there were other motivations
stronger than the need to bring Russia back into the civilization of the
West.
But in the end, the foreign policy consequences are not the most important.
For if we forget the Gulag, sooner or later we will find it hard to
understand our own history too. Why did we fight the Cold War, after all?
Was it because crazed right-wing politicians, in cahoots with the
military-industrial complex and the CIA, invented the whole thing and forced
two generations of Americans and West Europeans to go along with it? Or
was there something more important happening? Confusion is already rife.
In 2002, an article in the conservative British Spectator magazine opined
that the Cold War was "one of the most unnecessary conflicts of all time."
The American writer Gore Vidal has also described the battles of the Cold
War as "forty years of mindless wars which created a debt of $5 trillion."
Thus we are forgetting what it was that mobilized us, what inspired us, what
held the civilization of "the West" together for so long; we are forgetting
what it was that we were fighting against. If we do not try harder to
remember the history of the other half of the European continent, the
history of the other twentieth-century totalitarian regime, in the end it is
we in the West who will not understand our past, we who will not know how
our world came to be the way it is.
And not only our own particular past, for if we go on forgetting half of
Europe's history, some of what we know about mankind itself will be
distorted. Every one of the twentieth-century's mass tragedies was unique:
the Gulag, the Holocaust, the Armenian massacre, the Nanking massacre, the
Cultural Revolution, the Cambodian revolution, the Bosnian wars, among many
others. Every one of these events had different historical, philosophical,
and cultural origins; every one arose in particular local circumstances that
will never be repeated.
Only our ability to debase and destroy and dehumanize our fellow men has
been-and will be-repeated again and again: our transformation of our
neighbors into "enemies," our reduction of our opponents to lice or vermin
or poisonous weeds, our reinvention of our victims as lower, lesser, or evil
beings, worthy only of incarceration or expulsion or death.
The more we are able to understand how different societies have transformed
their neighbors and fellow citizens from people into objects, the more we
know of the specific circumstances that led to each episode of mass torture
and mass murder, the better we will understand the darker side of our own
human nature. Totalitarian philosophies have had, and will continue to have,
a profound appeal to many millions of people.
Destruction of the "objective enemy," as Hannah Arendt once put it, remains
a fundamental object of many dictatorships. We need to know why-and each
story, each memoir, each document in the history of the Gulag is a piece of
the puzzle, a part of the explanation. Without them, we will wake up one day
and realize that we do not know who we are. -30-
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Material from pages 178-91 adapted from the book Gulag, by Anne
Applebaum, published by Doubleday, a division of Random House, Inc.
© 2003 by Anne Applebaum. Reprinted with permission. Anne Applebaum
is a columnist and member of the editorial board of the Washington Post.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LINK: http://www.hooverdigest.org/051/applebaum.html
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