Total Recall: TermiNATOr-2004
Ukrayinska Pravda has published a sizzling excerpt from a white paper titled A Strategy of Ukraine's Economic and Social Development for 2004-2015: Via European Integration. The treatise identifies then-PM and presidential candidate Viktor Yanukovych as the person who “generally oversaw the strategy’s preparation.”
Oleksiy Haran, a professor of history [with a single F] at Kyiv Mohyla Academy, took the liberty of supplying the public with some futuristic projections from Yanukovych’s strategy:
One of the major prerequisites for Ukraine's accession to NATO is public support of the idea by the Ukrainian people. Staying the Euro-Atlantic course requires consolidated efforts not only from authorities but also from representatives of civil society.
In order to coordinate the activities of different segments of Ukrainian society and to take into consideration the views held by Ukraine's partners, in her NATO accession strategy Ukraine may be guided by the following time frames:
I 2003-2004 Passage of legislation that reflects and reaffirms the course of Euro-Atlantic integration, namely a strategy of national security and military doctrine. 2004: adoption of the Membership Action Plan;
II 2004-2006 Establishment, with the help of experts, the media, and NGOs, of effective mechanisms to influence public opinion with the purpose of propagating the idea of Ukraine's accession to NATO; passage of reform in the armed forces and in the defense industry to fit NATO standards; passage of internal political reform required to fit NATO membership criteria; submission of Ukraine’s application for NATO membership; finalization of internal procedure required for joining NATO;
III 2007 NATO’s decision on Ukraine's accession and finalization of international procedure;
IV 2008 Ukraine’s accession to NATO
Ukraine fulfillment of the goals of Euro-Atlantic integration will create new favorable conditions, will facilitate cooperation with the EU, will boost the country's authority and will improve its image, will allow active pursuit of national interests in Europe and throughout the world. NATO membership will make Ukraine's development more stable, systemic, and predictable.
Reads like an open book, doesn’t it? As we can see, not only has presidential candidate Yanukovych failed in his strategy to become Ukraine’s president, but he has also become an accomplice in President Yushchenko’s sabotage of his strategy to bring the country to NATO.
Ironically, Ukraine’s MAP application letter, which falls behind Yanukovych’s schedule by a good two years, has coincided with his falling out of love with NATO.
By the time Ukraine was scheduled to gain membership, Yanukovych and his Party of Regions had gone AWOL on NATO. Today, one can hear them beating the war drums for a referendum.
Sources:
http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2008/2/5/71010.htm
4 comments:
The flip flop is odd for PoR because they truly were at the front detailing how Ukraine will become part of NATO and telling this to NATO people - who stated that there is really is no difference between Our Ukraine and PoR's attitude towards NATO other than PoR wants to take a "slower" approach. What a difference a letter makes!!!! Truth revealed!
Luida
The solemn vows in these scrolls date back to the ancient times when Yanukovych was busy prepping himself for the presidency.
He lived and breathed Papa Kuchma’s multivector craftsmanship. Papa Kuchma gave him pro-Western wings as he struggled to mend fences with Washington after Kolchuhagate.
To appease Washington, Papa Kuchma sent troops to Iraq, and Yanuk’s foreign policy job was to “tell 'em what they wanna to hear.”
It’s all downhill from here. Like in the story of Icarus and Daedalus, Yanuk didn’t get too far. His Euro-Atlantic drive vanished like Atlantis.
No longer airborne, Yanuk discovered the grassroots freedom to divorce himself from NATO.
The scrolls may date back to ancient times but their implementation was still going on as recent as 2007. PoR people have had meetings with NATO officials and European politicians where they stated that yes, PoR was in support of Ukraine's entrance into NATO but they stated that they wanted to process to be slow in order to be acceptable to Ukrainian public. (Way different story from their current blockade of Parliament.)The same for Euro-Atlantic integration - it was also used to blunt any differences between PoR and OU including in the last elections.
Sorry for being insistent on this but I really do think it is important because alot of people accepted the words of PoR which are being contradicted by their deeds.
Which may become really important, if there are pre-term Parliamentary elections again. How will PoR position themselves this time? pro-West and Euro-integration yet again? (that would be interesting.)
Luida
You’re kidding! They pretend these scrolls don’t exist. They consider them apocrypha.
If we had another parliamentary election, which the Constitution does not allow until one year after the last snap election, NATO would be a hot issue.
For Regionalists, resistance to NATO accession is the holy grail to crusade for and the fig leaf to cover their stable assess with.
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