Russia to Ukraine: No Demand for Ukrainian Schools Among 2.9M Ukrainians Living in Russia

In the excerpts below, Andrey Nesterenko, a Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry representative, explains the absence of Ukrainian-language schools in Russia:

It can probably be explained by the similarity of Eastern Slavic languages and cultures, by a common history (Kyivan Rus, the Moscow state, the Russian Empire, the USSR) and by the same Orthodox Christian faith.

Due to the causes mentioned, there are no schools in the Russian Federation where the entire curriculum is taught in the Ukrainian language.

Russian Federation citizens of the Ukrainian ethnicity and Russians with Ukrainian citizenship are in different ethnocultural situations.

Attempts at comparing their positions by merely counting, for instance, the number of Russian schools in Ukraine and Ukrainian schools in Russia are illegitimate.

Illegitimate? Really?

So the 2.9 million “Russian Federation citizens of the Ukrainian ethnicity” eagerly assimilate and simply don’t want to preserve their language and culture. By contrast, not only do the 8.3 million “Russians with Ukrainian citizenship” want to preserve their mother tongue, but many of them also want to never ever learn Ukrainian.

Why? Could it be that Russia’s big brotherly attitude toward Ukraine aims at perpetuating the centuries-long Russian superiority/Ukrainian inferiority complex?

Bottom line,

The policy Russia offers to Ukrainians living in Russia: melting pot
The policy Russia demands for Russians living in Ukraine: multiculturalism

Well, multicountryism would be more accurate.

Sources:
http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2009/4/29/94016.htm

Russian Pop Diva Helps Tymoshenko’s ‘Friend of Russia’ Image

Tymoshenko recalls dancing to Pugacheva’s songs. Pugacheva calls Tymoshenko a good politician, a smarty and a beauty.

In a smart public relations move, they’ve made good friends.

Alla Pugacheva is the Soviet pop legend of the ‘80s who recently celebrated her 60th anniversary. Yulia Tymoshenko is Ukraine’s PM who courts pro-Russian voters in this year’s presidential election.

Last Wednesday, Pugacheva threw a concert in Kyiv. Tymoshenko mounted the stage as a prominent guest, along with Russian Ambassador Viktor Chernomyrdin, the foot-in-mouth man who routinely meddles in Ukraine’s internal affairs.

The song Pugacheva did with Tymoshenko was some sort of East-West balancing act.

Tymoshenko: I wanted to do “Million alyh roz,” (“A Million Scarlet Roses”) but then I thought that a million Ukrainian hearts that sincerely love Alla Pugacheva would be better. And I think that every time a family celebrates a birthday — they have a birthday cake, candles — and then, after all this beauty is rolled out, everyone in the family cordially sings “Happy Birthday.” And I want us now to cordially sing to Alla Borisovna, on a count of three: one, two, three! Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday, dear Alla! Happy Birthday to you!

Pugacheva: Now, in Russian! S Dnem Rozhedeniya menya! [Happy Birthday to me!]
Audience: S Dnem Rozhedeniya tebya! S Dnem Rozhdeniya, nasha Alla. S Dnem Rozhdeniya, tebya! [Happy birthday, our Alla! Happy Birthday to you!]

Pugacheva: It’s an ode to happiness, an ode for a-l-l t-i-m-e-s! The ode of all odes! [giggles] I missed you. [kisses Chernomyrdin] How happy it is when goodness dwells with people and among people. You know, I have this boy — this smart boy, he’s 9 years old — and when asked about what makes a good politician (what can a 9-year-old kid say? who are they?), he responds: “Those are the big boys and girls who are doing everything to…keep people from q-u-a-r-r-e-l-i-n-g.
Tymoshenko: Hahaha!

Pugacheva: From the lips of a child, the t-r-u-t-h s-p-e-a-k-e-t-h! Thank you for the love!

I have no quarrel with Pugacheva’s ‘80s songs. I actually like them. I even recall this famous perestroika joke: “Q: Who are the three most popular women in the country? A: Katya Lycheva, Alla Pugacheva and Raya Gorbacheva.”

However, when it comes to the “good politician” issue, Ambassador Chernomyrdin and his friends in Tymoshenko’s BYuT give that title a bad name.

When a big group of people tries to control a smaller group of people — using the help of a big girl within that smaller group — all you get is quarreling.

Sources:
http://tabloid.pravda.com.ua/focus/49f03ce7b25a8/
http://tabloid.pravda.com.ua/news/49b0219336198/
http://tabloid.pravda.com.ua/focus/49cc997be120e/
http://tabloid.pravda.com.ua/images/doc/1-88301.jpg

Chernobyl Is 23

We remember.

Collecting Another Bagful of Trash

I made a cameo appearance at the Saturday cleanup on Trukhaniv Island. (HT: Elmer)



Moroz comin' thru














IMHO, the effort lacked coordination and field resources. There weren’t enough bags for everyone. Some people were promoting corporate brands, some where loafing, and some couldn’t find those bags. I only found one bag. Bagless people would ask me where I found it.




Under the Tree, or 10 Minutes X 10 Square Meters












Mine is the biggest:)!




The Green Party of Ukraine
Is that a hybrid car?




Oleh Skrypka thanks everyone. The next scheduled cleanup: May 16.






There's enough work for everyone...but not enough bags.


I'll be back.

Picture of Kyiv Mayor Gets Framed in Article on Polygraph Tests for Pedophiles

Anyone notice any similarities?

The picture featuring Kyiv mayor Leonid “Kosmos” Chernovetsky dates back to the 2006 mayoral campaign. As a mayoral candidate, Chernovetsky aggressively advocated polygraph testing for municipal officials but dropped the idea once facing corruption allegations as mayor.

Anyway, thank you for this funny perspective, Daily Mirror! You made me wanna play this song:




UPDATE
The Daily Mirror has pulled the article.

Sources:
http://tabloid.pravda.com.ua/scandal/49f035aca21f0/
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2009/04/06/paedophiles-to-face-lie-detector-tests-to-prevent-further-attacks-115875-21257204/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7942338.stm

Tymoshenko, the Mother Of All Miners 2

Last October, she said this: “The crisis is knocking, but we don’t have to open the door.” Welcome to another don’t-worry-be-happy fairy tale from the same old fairy:

Caption: THE GOVERNMENT'S ANTI-CRISIS PROGRAM

Voiceover: The world financial crisis has hit Ukraine’s coal mining industry hard. Coal demand has fallen severalfold. Will the government be able to save the industry from meltdown?

PM Yulia Tymoshenko: To combat the world crisis, we are carrying out a special program in the coal mining industry. First, we’ve created a state reserve of energy-use coal at power stations. This means that every ton of coal will be paid for. Second, we’ve allocated 4 billion hryvnias from the stabilization fund for the coal mining industry. This means that the industry will have investments and the coal miners will have pay. All miners will receive pay on a timely and complete basis. Should officials do something wrong, call the government using the number you see on the screen. Don’t worry. The crisis will be overcome. Ukraine is strong.

Strong enough to elect you president once you saddle it with every kind of I[nvesting] M[oney] in F[riends] debt possible? Or maybe you want to be elected in Parliament, by partnering with the Party of Regions and rewriting the Constitution?

Video uploaded from: http://censor.net.ua/go/offer/ResourceID/119668.html
Original source: http://www.1tv.com.ua/

Easter and the Environment

Economically, Ukrainians are doing better than Indians. Environmentally, it’s hard to tell.

Yesterday, Ukraine celebrated Easter. I took a walk through my riverside Obolon neighborhood in Kyiv.

So here's the beauty of my “Obolon Riviera.” Littered with broken glass. Paved with plastic. Crucified with carelessness.





10 minutes of my time



















What will this place be like when the baby grows up?
(All things being equal.)

















I even invented terms like бидлоболонці or picnic pigs. That's what I would call people who come here and leave behind a trail of trash. Tons of trash.

This recreation culture puts a whole new spin on “Don’t shit where you eat.”











I'm not a big believer, but I believe that churches should organize community service days and promote a culture of environmental stewardship.

The shit I've seen starts with the soul.

Clean souls, clean shores.

The Tymoshenko Cabinet: A Hydra in Your Pocket

Serhiy Leshchenko of Ukrayinska Pravda has written a short guide to the wheeling and dealing in the Tymoshenko cabinet.

For a better idea of Ukraine’s cost of government, try asking this question: How many deputies/undersecretaries do Ukrainian cabinet ministers have?

Here’s your answer:

Heorhiy Filipchuk, Minister of Health Care: 10
Yuriy Melnyk, Minister of Agriculture: 10
Yuriy Lutsenko, Minister of Internal Affairs: 9
Mykola Onishchuk, Minister of Justice: 8
Lyudmyla Denysova, Minister of Labor: 8
Yuriy Pavlenko, Minister of Youth Affairs: 8
Vasyl Vovkun, Minister of Culture, 7
Serhiy Buryak, Head of the State Tax Administration: 10
Viktor Ivchenko, Head of the State Innovation and Investment Agency: 6
Serhiy Lytvyn, Head of the State Border Guard Administration: 6
Oleh Dubyna, Chairman of Naftogaz: 8
Oleksandr Medvedko, Prosecutor General: 8
Valeriy Heletey, Head of the State Security Directorate: 7

"The Tymoshenko School of Management. Where every minister counts."

Sources: http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2009/4/15/93272.htm

Kuzhel on Death & Pensions for Zarobitchany

She confuses discounts with bribes. She wears a $40K watch. She’s such a fair lady.

Oleksandra Kuzhel: We’ll give them [migrant workers] their own right to legalize the money they earned so that they can safely repatriate, and, by the same token, they’ll have their years of work [abroad] count toward their pensions, which is...I believe, a fair policy. Besides, they’ll also have the opportunity to be insured. Now what does that mean? If a person comes to Ukraine and becomes ill, they have the right to a sick leave, they have the right to maternity benefits, and they have the right to have money for their burial.

How about they have the right to throw out the corrupt officials out of the country? How about they exercise that right before those officials depopulate and bury this country?

Kuzhel wants to lure back a few million Ukrainian zarobitchany (migrant workers) with a very interesting concept of fairness: Rob Peter to pay Paul. (So that Viktor can stage another Paul McCartney concert or show us some more of those lovely dead animals?)

I digress. Suppose I spent 10 years working hard and paying taxes as a live-in maid in Italy because I couldn't find a decent job in my corrupt country.

So if and when I go back to Ukraine, the poor folks there who don’t wear $40K watches should pay me for those 10 years when I retire? Is that fair?

How does that square with our defined benefit pension system?

Video uploaded from: http://censor.net.ua/go/offer/ResourceID/119392.html
Original source: http://inter.ua

Rich Lawless Kids Attack, Police Make No Arrests (Updated)

A group of four twenty-something men, two of them from an SUV, attacks two other men at a gas station at night for no particular reason. The attackers flash police badges and even Anti-corruption Committee IDs.



Not only do they attack the victims, but they also rob them.

A highway patrol arrives at the scene but, instead of arresting the attackers or requesting backup, simply tries to calm the situation.

On the day after, police reprimand the officers and promise to find the attackers. At the same time, police chiefs meet with the victims in private, promising to punish the officers, not the attackers, in exchange for the surveillance video.

As the story finds its way to Channel 1+1, the victims start getting calls from people who offer them money for refusal to press charges. The attackers hail from “noble families,” they add.

Later, the attackers, whom Ukrainians often refer to as mazhory (rich lawless kids), do the calling themselves. They issue threats of further violence and reassurances of zero jail time.

Channel 1+1 vows to assist the investigation.

P.S. A portrait of Yushchenko can be seen hanging on the police office wall, evoking memories of “The rich will help the poor” and “The bandits will sit in jail,” Yushchenko's 2004 campaign promises.

That's not to mention his party's 2007 parliamentary campaign slogan: “One law for all.”

Is it any coincidence that The Hon. Ihor Zvarych was having sex with a subordinate, one of the many victims of his sexual harassment, during a televised address by President Yushchenko?

So how long before Kyiv has its own gang of Dnipropetrovsk Maniacs?

UPDATE
Now that the whole country, including President Yushchenko, has seen that Channel 1+1 report, police have arrested two of the four attackers: “a student and a loader.”



The other two attackers, the ones who arrived in an SUV, remain at large.

The attackers' stories sound fishy. Attacker 1 says they wanted a “man-to-man fight” but “went a little too far.” Once the highway patrol arrived, they showed them gag-gift “Agent 007” IDs.

Attacker 2 says they wanted to protect a woman from being verbally abused, even though no woman can be seen on the surveillance video.

If convicted, the attackers face up to 5 years in prison. The big question is: Will they be convicted?


Videos uploaded from:
http://censor.net.ua/go/offer/ResourceID/119154.html
http://censor.net.ua/go/offer/ResourceID/119517.html
Original source: http://tsn.ua

Meat Mismanagement, Paid With Taxpayer Money

They buy meat and let it spoil. They buy cars and let them shine. Taxpayer money pays for both.



Enjoy another report on how Derzhkomrezerv operates.

In 2008, the Tymoshenko government imported various kinds of meat to push the overblown local prices down. To promote the policy, Mykhailo Pozhyvanov, then chief of Derzhkomrezerv, posed in front of the cameras, choking on fried chickens.

For some reason, some of that meat never made it to retail stores.

An STB crew pays a visit to a Derzhkomrezerv partner business that stores minced poultry imports in its refrigerator warehouse. The shipment stored there, worth about $250,000 in 2008 prices, had reached its expiry date last summer. Derzhkomrezerv then tried to resell it to a Donetsk company, despite a ruling by the center for disease control that the meat be destroyed.

Volodymyr Zakharenko, owner of the warehouse, notified the prosecutor's office. And guess what? Police and Derzhkomrezerv raided the warehouse looking for pork. Zakharenko confirmed storing a shipment of pork and even produced some unsavory pictures of it. Yet the man agreed to release the shipment based on an invoice, not a search warrant.

Derzhkomrezerv did not immediately respond to STB’s request for comment.

Videos uploaded from: http://censor.net.ua/go/offer/ResourceID/118985.html
Original source: http://stb.ua

Kyiv Sewage System on the Brink of Collapse

Half of Kyiv’s water supply system does not meet safety requirements. Roughly the same applies to the sewage system.



An Inter reporter descends to a collection point, built in 1976, whose reinforced concrete has been largely eroded and corroded by the methane from the sewage.

With funding at its historic lows, the whole thing is a disaster waiting to happen.

Video uploaded from: http://censor.net.ua/go/offer/ResourceID/118742.html
Original source: http://inter.ua

Shuster to Tymoshenko: ‘One Should Have You From Morning Till Night’

Enjoy a memorable moment from Tymoshenko’s political talk show-shopping last Friday night.

Savik Shuster, host: I, together with my colleagues, friends, decided, in July, that I no longer wanted any owners. And…do you like this studio?
PM Yulia Tymoshenko: You did it, but you…

Shuster: I did it all! Now, let me tell you…
Tymoshenko: We don’t have a lot of Saviks.

Shuster: No, no, no, no, no! Yulia Vladimirovna,* we took out loans in August…well, at the end of July, we took out loans, we invited the French — using Ukrainian know-how, French know-how — we built it, we did it, at the shortest time possible, we took pride it, and then…it crashed. We now have all our salaries slashed by 50 percent. We’re not firing anyone because we…then we’d have to turn off the lighting, turn off the cameras. You know we can’t do this, right? Nobody’s willing to lend, that’s it, right? And if they are willing, they charge such interest rates that, I don’t know, one should have you from morning till night — all the time, you understand, all the time — to have a high rating.

Tymoshenko [turns the linguistic lapse into laughter]: Who should do what? Hahaha!
Shuster [senses his faux pas]: Yes, that’s what I’m saying. What should we do?

Tymoshenko: Hahaha! What should you do, Savik?
Shuster: Yes.

Tymoshenko: You should make honest “Svoboda Slova” broadcasts, even for free, if that’s what the country needs.

*Patronymic transliterated from Russian

By the way, she took her shoes off during one of the commercial breaks.








She makes me wanna play these songs:






Video uploaded from: http://censor.net.ua/go/offer/ResourceID/118465.html
Original source: http://kanalukraina.tv/
Photos courtesy of: http://tabloid.pravda.com.ua/focus/49ddda01cafe9/

Obama: ‘I Don't Know What the Term Is in Austrian’

U.S. President Barack Obama continues making statements that raise questions about his foreign policy credentials.

While touring Europe, Obama, a former chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on European Affairs, had the misfortune of saying this:

It was also interesting to see that political interaction in Europe is not that different from the United States Senate. There's a lot of -- I don't know what the term is in Austrian -- wheeling and dealing -- and, you know, people are pursuing their interests, and everybody has their own particular issues and their own particular politics. [1:17-2:16]

Perhaps President Obama should appoint Arnold “The Governator” Schwarzenegger as his advisor on Sports and Austrian Affairs.

In the meantime, how about a “Sprechen Sie Austrian?” bumper sticker?

Sources:
http://globalvoicesonline.org/2009/04/07/europe-obamas-visit/
http://motls.blogspot.com/2009/04/barack-obama-in-prague.html
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/news/2009/04/news_conference_by_president_obama.php

Yanukovych, Party of Regions Hold Antigovt Rally

The economy is in a worse shape than during WW II; the Oranges wrecked the economy and must go.

Opposition leader Viktor Yanukovych said this at an antigovernment rally at Maidan last Friday.

While the first claim blows things out of proportion, there is some merit to the second claim. Whatever the merit, I wouldn’t trust Yanukovych to fix the cheap labor/commodity-cursed McDonbas economy that he had built with his mentor Kuchma.

A distinguished ProFFessor of Kuchamanomics, Yanukovych would be the last person to cure the economy that Yushchenko and Tymoshenko left without reform as they fought their turf wars.

Cautious and curious. That’s how I would describe Yanukovych supporters, be they students or seniors. Thousands of them travelled to Kyiv by bus or train as political tourists from eastern Ukraine, on a daily allowance of $10-20, in a throwback to spring 2007 pro-Yanukovych protests.

Some things have changed, though. In spring 2007, the Party of Regions travel agency educated its masses on how stabilnist (stability) brings dobrobut (prosperity), and how early elections ruin both.

Today, Yanukovych argues quite the opposite: that the only way to achieve stabilnist and dobrobut is to hold early parliamentary and presidential elections.

He gave the government until April 14 to work out an anticrisis strategy, or face stronger protests.












Approaching Maidan...




"Government, you're responsible for the crisis!"












Occasional Ukrainian banners spotted: an “I, too, am Ukraine” innovation at otherwise pro-Russian Party of Regions rallies






“Yulya, get out! We're all in the opposition!”
Note: Ironically, “Мы все в опозиции” (“We're all in the opposition!”) sounds rather uncommon in Russian, evoking cliches like “Мы все в жопе/дерьме!” (“We're all screwed!”)
















"Lyubi druzi (cronies) must go!"






Yanuk likes 'em young and old





Sign reads “Severodonetsk,” the city where the Party of Regions held a separatist convention in late 2004, amid the Orange Revolution.



Orthodox ladies, officers and gentlemen


Nice rally outfit!





Berezivsky rayon, Odesa oblast

















"Glory to the Party of Regions! Glory to the people of Ukraine!"





A family reunion...

Speaker, addressing Tmoshenko: "You're merely the mother-in-law of an Englishman, and not the Queen of England. And you should behave like you live in Ukraine, instead of flying around somewhere in the Europes and God knows where. Who would have believed that the price of gas would rise tenfold. When Viktor Fyodorovich Yanukovich* ran the government, we almost got it for free. And what do we have now?
[*Name and patronymic transliterated from Russian]

And I see your true colors shining through...

Despite Crisis, Govt Agency Stocks Up on Luxury Cars

Taxpayer money is a cheap commodity in Ukraine, as far as the government is concerned.

As Ukrainians struggle to make both ends meet, Obozrevatel tells another story of how much their government costs them.

At issue is the State Committee of Ukraine on the State Material Reserve, aka Derzhkomrezerv, the government agency that keeps a safety stock of food and fuel to be used in case of emergency.

Speaking of emergency, in late 2008 and early 2009, Derzhkomrezerv filled its reserves with durables other than those declared in its mission statement.

Derzhkomrezerv used state-owned company Resurspostach to buy/rent a splendid fleet of nine Toyotas, worth from $50,000 to $500,000.






Not bad for an organization deep in debt, and one that offers deep discounts by holding less-than-open bids to sell its inventory once it nears expiry date.

In an interview with Obozrevatel’s Tetyana Chornovil, the vice chairman of Derzhkomrezerv, Mykola Synkovsky, admitted no wrongdoing.

I bet he has a picture of Tymoshenko or Yushchenko hanging on his office wall. Well, maybe he keeps a Yanukovych somewhere in the back office.

What he really needs is The Judgment of Cambyses, the painting that every Ukrainian official must have.

Sources:
http://obozrevatel.com/news/2009/3/26/294011.htm

Presidential Election to Be Held Oct. 25, Rada Rules

In a long anticipated anti-Yushchenko vote, the Verkhovna Rada rescheduled the presidential election to October 25, 2009, almost three months earlier than the previous date, January 17, 2010.

The vote breakdown:

PRU, 174
BYuT, 155
NUNS, 26
CPU, 27
LyB, 19

Sources:
http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2009/4/1/92411.htm

Dugintalk: ‘Tanks on Kyiv!’ or the ‘Dismantlement of One Ukraine’

Watch a heart-to-heart discussion of Ukraine by a troika of Russian psychopundits, featuring Aleskandr Dugin.

The leader of the Eurasia Party, Dugin, shouts from the rooftops what Putin whispers between the sheets. He indulges in peripheral thinking, mangles sentence structure, and revels in imperial eschatology.

I translated the bloodiest portions of their lovely conversation on “Dva protiv odnogo” (“Two Against One”), a talk show hosted by Denis Litov.

Aleksandr Dugin, guest: After our success in Georgia, they [pro-Russian Ukrainians] will ever more consistently, with ever mor…more hope, choose our side. That’s why the battle of Ukraine — it’s certainly a completely different one from the battle of Georgia, but…uh…there’s something down there that we don’t have [in Georgia’s case]. Half the population of this country supports us. Those are our people. First of all, they are the same ethnically as the people living in Rostov oblast, in K...in Stavropol or in Krasnodar. It is the New-Russ...New...New-Russian ethnicity...subethnicity of the Russian people which consists of Cossacks, a very complex formation, one with a complex historical destiny. They’re all Orthodox people, definitely, having certain features that distinguish them both from western Ukrainians — mighty big ones — and from the Russians living in Orel oblast, for instance, up there in the North, especially up there in Yaroslavl oblast. That is, it’s a distinct pro...Eastern-Russian Orthodox people — those New Russians — and our Kubanians, what else, Rostovians and residents of Donetsk oblast or Dnepropetrovsk oblast or of the land of Kharkiv. Those are R-U-S-S-I-A-N-S. And this Russian half, the Russian half of Ukraine’s population — Russians in a broad sense, anti-NATO — this is the base for a categorical rejection of this ultra-Western sort of Saakashvilian-Yushchennnn-kite sss…scenario. Uh...in this regard, I think, well, Crimea is simply an exp...it’s a fuse, right? It’s a powder keg.

Denis Litov, host: As I was saying, it’s via Crimea that somehow we can pull it off, methinks.

Dugin: Via Crimea! Well, it’s just that things are getting hotter and rougher in Crimea, but, in fact, by raising this issue of Ukraine, we get a colossal tool for influencing the entire political system. Under a peaceful agenda, we couldn’t use it — via the Party of Regions, via Yanukovych — peacefully, electorally, what else, by way of bribery, parliamentary intrigues, government appointments, what else. This situation we d…haven’t been ab…haven’t finished for various reasons. It didn’t work. What’s left is the radical scenario. Now I think Ukraine will have four poles of power — we can already witness their formation. Four poles of force — force, not power yet, let’s put it that way. They are the “ultra-Americans,” who gather around NUNS and Yushchenko — it’s a kind of a Saakashvili scenario — and they will take this same path and will definitely sta...stage, in the near term, genocide of the Russian population, ethnic cleansing. They’ve come real close to it. They’ve formed Ukrainian Nazi groups such as the Patriot Ukrayiny movement. They’re providing them with special funding and are planting them into Crimea, for a purpose we all understand. That is, we’ll have to deal with this. [Video time: 4:02-6:22]

He then describes Yulia “Soft” Tymoshenko as the second pole. Moving on, he assigns Viktor “Neither Fish Nor Fowl” Yanukovych to the third pole. Finally, he hails the pro-Russian elements within the Party of Regions plus Vitrenko’s PSPU plus the Crimean Russian Bloc as the fourth pole.

Q: So Yushchenko will attack Crimea and follow Saakashvili into the political hell of having one’s country dismembered by Russia? Does that make any sense? Yushchenko is plotting genocide and ethnic cleansing in Crimea? How? What for?

Dugin: And here I think Russia will have to pass a real test — because the Americans, under the excuse of the capers we’re cutting in Georgia, at a time when our troops have yet to move in Ukraine, that’s where the speedy question of Kyiv’s speedy accession into MAP may arise. And should we fail to seize the moment to initiate, in effect, the DISMANTLING of one Ukraine — politically one — that is, unless we get to it right now — get to it WITHOUT DELAY — we may lose the time and considerably…and it may so happen that we...that they had sacrificed Georgia for us in order to get Ukraine. And Ukraine is a matter of principle. It’s more important than Georgia, much more important. Brzezinski wrote about this: that Ukraine is an opportunity for Russia to become a world empire again. If the Russians somehow make it in Ukraine, then we’ll actually… [incoherent]

Litov: What happens if we decide to move in with tanks there right now...
Dugin: Touché!
Litov: ...on their territory, as it was in Czechoslovakia…
Dugin: That’s right! Tanks on Kyiv!
Litov: ...and unabashedly tanks will go in…
Dugin: Yes.
Litov: ...tanks will simply roll by...
Dugin: Yes.
Litov: ...nobody will fight them...
Dugin: Nobody will.
Litov: So what? Russian tanks?
Dugin: With flowers.
Litov: With stars, with flowers they will greet us real nice.
Dugin: Yes.
Litov: Of course, some liberal journalists...
Dugin: ...will be a little stifled. [будут немножко удавлены?]
Litov: ...will, like, take pictures of some tearful granny who will be yelling in this Ukrainian language...
Dugin: I think SHE’S ALREADY...
Litov: “Okupinty!” [faux Ukrainian; the correct Ukrainian for occupiers is окупанти (okupanty)]
Dugin: SHE’S ALREADY BEEN PHOTOGRAPHED, this granny, in Hollywood!
Litov: Yes! “Okupinty!” You’re absolutely right!
Dugin: She’s probably already...they’re already showing her without us knowing about it.
Litov: That’s right! That’s right!
Dugin: ...because Western propaganda, it’s... [Video time: 8:45-10:00]

Dugin then launches into a diatribe against Western coverage of the Russian-Georgian war, a proxy war between Ukraine and Russia, he believes. Another guy weighs in. He suggests that the Pskov Airborne Division be dropped west of Kyiv, to cut the capital off from western Ukraine, the root of all evil in the USSR.

Hey guys, why don't you test the waters yourselves? You can bring your own flowers.

Well, most eastern Ukrainians indeed speak Russian or surzhyk and vote pro-Russian, having experienced the melting pot of Russification for generations. However, Russians remain a minority in all of Ukraine’s oblasts, except the Crimean Autonomous Republic.

In Ukraine, people who speak Russian do not always support Russian foreign policy. Suffice it to say that Kyiv, still largely a Russian-speaking city, voted overwhelmingly against Yanukovych, the pro-Russian candidate, in 2004.

I digress. So when do you guys start dismantling Ukraine? When should we expect your tanks? After Tymoshenko or Yanukovych gets elected?

At the end of the show, Dugin jokingly recollects walking in Moscow and bumping into a guy who asked him about the U.S. Embassy’s location. Dugin: “Do you want to blow it up?” Guy: “Yes! How did you know?”


P.S. As Obama and Medvedev meet for their first time Wednesday, it’s important that they don’t push any buttons before the U.S. Department of State learns Russian.

Video embedded from: http://video.oboz.ua/movie.php?aWQ9MjYxMDAmdnQ9MA
Original source: http://2-1.ru

Another Appeasement Article

Some U.S. foreign policy experts refuse to learn from Neville Chamberlain.

Russia wants to be part of the world but free to figure out how to modernize its own country. As long as it respects the full political sovereignty of neighbors such as Georgia and Ukraine -- that is, it doesn't try to control their internal affairs or dictate their regimes -- it shouldn't have to fear foreign military bases in countries that abut its territory.

The U.S.-Russian joint focus should be on actions that actually do make the world a safer place. If the cost of getting that genuine convergence of strategic interests and results on the ground is giving up radars in Poland and the Czech Republic, and being honest about the very unlikely prospects for Ukrainian or Georgian membership in NATO, I would say it’s a small price to pay.

That's from The Russia Opportunity, a Foreign Affairs article by Bill Bradley, a former U.S. senator and now a managing partner at Allen and Company.

Little does Bradley seem to know that Russia does NOT respect the full political sovereignty of neighbors such as Georgia and Ukraine. Russia DOES try to control their internal affairs and DOES try to dictate their regimes.

Last year, Russia partitioned Georgia. Russia believes that Ukraine has no right to modernize its own gas pipeline without somehow kowtowing to Russian interests.

The Kremlin maintains a high profile in Ukrainian elections and demands special treatment for Russians and Russified Ukrainians living in Ukraine. It grants no such treatment to Ukrainians living in Russia, having assimilated them for decades. It incites separatism in Crimea and shows no interest in withdrawing its Black Sea Fleet from Sevastopol once the lease agreement expires in 2017.

Aside from his blind quid-pro-Kremlin push, Bill Bradley does make a few sound points:

From 1993 to 1997, beyond supporting IMF infusions, the United States provided just $4.7 billion in direct assistance. Not only was American assistance to Russia long on rhetoric and short on impact, but hundreds of millions of those funds went into the pockets of American consultants, planners, and advisors who went up the learning curve over and over again even as billions more of IMF funds were stolen by the then ruling elite of Russia. Only pennies actually reached the Russian people.

The same thing happened to the Ukrainian people! Except that we gave up our nuclear arsenal — the world's third-largest — entirely.

So Bill Bradley thinks that, by disarming and disowning Ukraine, America will be a safer place?

I think he got it all wrong.

Well, for starters, we still have that long-range missile technology. We also have vast stockpiles of conventional weapons. Any idea where some of that stuff might end up once you kindly invite Uncle Vlad to Ukraine?

Bradley’s appeasement rhetoric culminates in the closing paragraph:

During the war in Georgia, Senator John McCain memorably proclaimed, “We are all Georgians.” To this I respond, “No, we are all Americans.” The sooner we recognize how central Russia is to American interests, the sooner we can form the basis of a meaningful partnership.

Mr. Bradley, how soon before you realize that the policy you advocate would actually encourage Russia to try to annex its neighbors? What effects would a Russian adventure in Ukraine have on regional and global security, not to mention humanitarian and energy issues?

Would American interests be well served?