Yanukovych Book Turns Ukrainian Flag Upside Down
Yanukovych's publishers have added a fresh dose of glamor to Yanukovych’s image as Proffessor. (In 2004, presidential candidate Yanukovych filed a handwritten application form riddled with mistakes, the word проффессор [proffessor] being the most outstanding.)
Ukrayinska Pravda posts the cover of his supposedly ghostwritten masterpiece. According to an earlier report, a copy was intended as a birthday present to the “author” himself. As you can see, the blue-yellow banner, which normally symbolizes the blue sky above yellow grain fields, is arranged a bit differently.
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. For a book titled After a Year in Power: From Crisis to Economic Growth, that expression rings so true. Undoubtedly, it’s the picture that gives meaning to the words.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
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16 comments:
The flag. Which way is up and what colors should it be and what does it really symbolize?
Actually there is discussion about the flag, its colors, and placement.
First what type of blue is it? skyblue or robinblue etc. Then is it yellow over blue or blue over yellow? There is actually a group which argues that it should be yellow over blue (historically accurate) and disputes the sky over grain definition (but that it is fire and water.) Perhaps Yanu has become a secret member of their group?
"Back in 1848 the flag was indeed yellow and blue, and it was later rotated to blue and yellow to be appealing to a common person."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Ukraine
It may be that Yanu has become such an ultra-nationalist that his book reflects the flag of 1848 Lviv. (Perhaps this is the real story behind why he did not attend the Donetsk city 75 yr anniversary.)
Luida
"The flag is based on an early Ukrainian flag, with blue and yellow as the national colors of Ukraine. These colors were derived from the coat-of-arms of the city of Lviv. The present image of the Ukraine flag is very similar to the original Ukraine flag that was flown for the first time in 1848. The only difference between the old flag and the new Ukraine flag is that the former featured the color yellow on top of the blue. It was in the year 1918 that the colors were reversed to its present state.
Although the current Ukraine flag has the blue band on top of the yellow, it is still identified by most Ukrainians as “yellow and blue”. In 1848, the flag was indeed yellow and blue, and Ukrainian nationalists had to turn the flag in order to explain its meaning to the common people. At such, the expression “blue sky above yellow field of wheat” was invented. And although it bears no historical significance to the choice of color, this easy-to-remember explanation formed the Ukraine flag as it is today.
Although the flag of Ukraine looks fairly simple, it does have an interesting history. It was first adopted in the year 1848, when a yellow and blue banner was flown during the Spring of the Nations over Lviv for the first time."
http://www.worldflaginfo.com/world-flags/ukraine-flag.html
found another source re: the flag issue.
Luida
more about the flag issue
"Для прихильників зміни кольорів нашого прапора"
http://www2.maidan.org.ua/news/index.php3?bn=maidan_free&key=1183579559&action=view
More about the flag.
http://focus.in.ua/Default.aspx?p=article&id=16838
Aha! I get it, create enough controversy about the cover that no one discusses what is actually written in the book :) Amazing no one has a review of the book itself. But the cover is sure getting alot of attention.
Luida
What a sad story! In his desperate search for publishers, Weird Al Yanukovych got coopted by a nationalist sleeper cell.
How about this one: “From Eggs to Flags: My Encounters with Ukrainian Nationalists”:)?
I bet the book and the pic are worth each other:)
Slava Ukrayini!:)
Actually, as one wag on Ukrainian Pravda put it, it's not the flag that's upside down, it's Weird Al Yanukovych that's upside down.
What's in the book? Lies. And more lies.
The title is a lie, it sounds like Mein Kampf
"My Year in Power"
"From crisis to economic growth"
You are kidding!
Economic growth for whom?
Yanuk and his buddies ship money out of Ukraine by the boatload, either giving sweetheart deals in rigged privatization bids to Russians, or buying Mercedes and Bentleys, or in Raisa Bohatyrova's case, a Porche. Pictures avaialable all over, including on Ukrainian Pravda.
How does that help or stimulate economic growth in Ukraine?
They can't even figure out how to put UkrTelecom on the market.
Yushchenko told them how, but "economic growth" in Donbass means something else.
It looks like PoR might come apart...
http://foreignnotes.blogspot.com/2007/07/por-not-happy-ship-at-moment.html
dlw
Elmer,
Like I said, we should look to the cover as a major spoiler. In the McDonbas economy’s division of labor, we take the crisis part, and they take the growth part:)
Stabilnist is out there.
David,
That there are factions at loggerheads with each other is hardly big news. Even so, I strongly doubt that the club will fall apart anytime soon. And, of course, changing horses in midstream — in the face of elections — is not an option.
Moreover, rumor has it they are getting ready to do the nasty thing with NUNS (Nasha Ukrayina-Narodna Samooborona).
I am skeptical of whether the PoR can handle inside dissent. Levko himself says that such dissent would have been unthinkable before.
I also don't see what's in it for the NUNS if they link themselves now with PoR. I'd rather wait and then be the one that plays PoR and BYuT off of each other. But it is your country and these people are dangerous...
keep me posted.
dlw
"nasty thing" meaning what?
Already, we see that the election commission does not know who the registered voters are - hmmm.
Which means that you don't exist, if you're not on the roll, so you don't get to vote.
As opposed to the dead coming back to vote in "silly Donbass", thus producing a 110% voter turnout.
What else?
David,
Let’s set the record straight: In this campaign, there will be no breakups in the Blue camp. Like I said, changing horses in midstream is not an option.
What happens after the election? Well, let’s wait and see:)
Elmer,
“Nasty thing” meaning the Coalition of National ImpUnity 2, or PoRNUNS, if you will:) That’s what it smells like, doesn’t it?
The PRU (I prefer the Ukrainian acronym) is waiting with open arms, and one can easily pick up signals of NUNS’ impending post-election seduction.
And yes, I too feel the dead will not be disenfranchised in this election.
it's your country.
I think Akhmetov's increased leadership in PoR will be an improvement and that a PoRNuNs could still bring about some important OR-style reforms.
But that may be the optimist in me.
dlw
David, I accept your caveat:)
I ought to give Arnie some credit. Did you know that he considers Leonid Zhabotynsky, the Ukrainian powerlifter, his life-changing role model? If my memory doesn't fail me, the Governator even issued a statement of support for the Orange Revolution. No kidding.
That said, finding a valid Ukrainian analogy for Arnie seems highly problematic.
I’m not sure the American people would accept a GOP-PRU swap — an unwillingness I would very much understand:)
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