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Saturday, September 22, 2007


Photo courtesy of Ukrayinska Pravda

The Iron Ladies


During her brief visit to London, former — and perhaps even future — Ukrainian PM Yulia Tymoshenko lunched with former British PM Margaret Thatcher.

One of the most popular politicians in the Soviet Union of the late 80s, Maggie could have easily unseated Gorby in a free election. With her charisma and polished manners, she had commanded more respect than the leader of the economically stagnant Soviet state, slapped with severe food supply shortages.


In Ukraine, the Iron Lady franchise belongs to Tymo, who has reveled in the brand, despite casual zig-zags between left and right in her international political orientation. (Last year, her party subscribed to an ideology of solidarism and reportedly sought membership in the Socialist International. This year, in the runup to the French presidential election, Tymoshenko surprised experts when she made overtures to Nicolas Sarkozy.)


Thatcher signed a book of memoirs, The Downing Street Years, for her Ukrainian follower.
Hanna Herman of Yanukovych’s Party of Regions speculates that Tymoshenko’s visit may have included a secret meeting with Berezovsky.

According to Tymoshenko, she was “impressed by the woman whom everyone called the Iron Lady, who was loved and feared, but despised by no one.” She added that “It’s hard to imagine the history of 20th-century politics without a person like Margaret Thatcher.” Former British PM, in turn, said she was ready to visit Kyiv to help her counterpart defend Ukraine’s independence.


If Tymo becomes PM again, let us hope that she will fight stabilnist as fiercely as Thatcher fought the Falklands War.

Sources: http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2007/9/21/64234.htm

8 comments:

DLW said...

nice remixing...

I am heartened somewhat by the other taras' analysis...
http://jamestown.org/edm/article.php?article_id=2372426

Though, this does seem to threaten the super-close election that could turn into extensive turmoil.

Remembering your country and you...
dlw

Taras said...

“Don’t count your chickens before they’re hatched,” as the saying goes:)

We hear a lot of election fraud recriminations these days, which I consider an important rite of passage that promotes deterrence. We’ll see what happens at H-hour next Sunday.

The lessons of 2004 must not be repeated.

david santos said...

Hello, Taras!
Very good work, thank you.
have a good day

Taras said...

Muito obrigado, David:)!

Anonymous said...

..."but despised by no one"

There is many a Brit who would vehemently argue that point. Maggie was very much despised for her reforms in GB. Anyone remember the Poll Tax riots?

It is really interesting for me to see the attempted re-creation of the "Gas Princess" into a Maggie-clone, etc. The attempt to reformulate Yulia is fascinating but a Thatcherite, she is most certainly not in political or economic ideology. (I wonder what would happen if the two of them discussed NATO?) So imho it is more a 'show' than anything else and I feel really bad for Maggie being so ill used.

(The funny thing is that actually Yushchenko is closer to Thatcher in politics and policy (i.e. both are\were for the closing of coal mines and free market, etc.)

Luida

Taras said...

Maggie has her share of supporters and critics, and so does Tymo.

The only difference is that Tymo often blurs distinctions between left and right as she tries to generate more applause at home and abroad.

Anonymous said...

Based on the drop of the US dollar - should not the hv rate have changed considerably more than this?
"On Monday, the interbank hryvnia rate remained stable at 5.0150 UAH/USD after remaining stable on Friday.

At the beginning of the trading quotations fluctuated within 5.0120-5.0220 UAH/USD, then fell to 5.0050-5.0150 UAH/USD, and by the end of the trading session fell to 5.0030-5.0100 UAH/USD. "

ukranews.com

The US $ is trading 1/2 of the British pound, equal to Canadian dollar - this is very low and still it is 5 hv to $1. This is not right. Why is the hv not getting way stronger?

Luida

Taras said...

Stabilnist is the answer:)!

I'm sure you remember my McDonbas post;)