U.S. Embassy Performs ‘Chervona Ruta’ Ahead of Independence Day

Call it extreme makeover or soft power, it’s here and it’s long overdue.
 

 
Tough U.S. visa policies have long alienated many Ukrainians. Add in those endless flirtations with Ukraine’s ruling elites and you get a U.S. foreign policy that’s a bit out of touch with reality. Without some sort of grassroots engagement/cultural dialogue going on, behind-the-scenes/business-as-usual diplomacy only takes you so far. Especially, when you have leakers like Edward Snowden and troublemakers like the Bloodhound Gang on your hands.

Apparently, Geoffrey Pyatt, the new U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine, is trying to fix things. Just a few weeks on the job, he’s already been to many places and embraced social media. His Twitter will keep you updated, augmented by the U.S. Embassy’s presence on Facebook and YouTube. Actually, we're friends on Twitter!

You can even hear the new U.S. Ambassador learning to speak Ukrainian. Which automatically propels him above and beyond most Western ambassadors...just as it puts some of our not-so-Ukrainian-friendly officials to shame.
 
With Ukraine at a crossroads and Yanukovych between a rock (Russia) and a hard place (EU), the U.S. has a role to play.
 
Keep up the good work, guys!
 

Yushchenko Wants You to Be Happy!

Very happy. Watch a public service announcement geared for Yushchenko’s re-election bid.

Voiceover: August 23, 9:30 a.m.
Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square)
Flag Day

President Viktor Yushchenko will lift the national flag of Ukraine at the main square of the capital.

August 24, 10:00 a.m.
Maidan Nezalezhnosti
The Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, President Viktor Yushchenko, will be hosting the military parade.

August 23-24
Maidan Nezalezhnosti
Join the celebration! Let’s celebrate together! Every one of us is a part of an independent and free Ukraine.

Text: Happy Independence Day!

I greet every Ukrainian with Independence Day!

Sincerely,
Viktor Yushchenko
Signature

There’s nothing unusual about camouflaging political ads as social ads or public service announcements. But who did the “happy faces” at the end of this one? And who put them on bill boards all over Kyiv?

To many people, the dilated eyeballs of the ecstatic young duo may symbolize drug use, outshining Komsomol posters. (View here, here, here, here, and here)

Besides, many young people (except Yushchenko’s kids) may resent such a glowing portrayal of a “free and independent” Ukraine that scores low on economic freedom and depends on the oligarchs’ mercy.

Don’t they have any focus groups in their creative departments?

Video uploaded from: http://censor.net.ua/go/offer/ResourceID/93673.html

The Ukrainian flag makes its way to the floor of the Verkhovna Rada. Interestingly, it then “cohabited” for several days with the Ukrainian Socialist Republic’s blue-red banner until completely replacing it.

З Днем Незалежності, Україно! Happy Independence Day, Ukraine!

Today, Ukraine celebrates her Sweet Sixteen, still full of adolescent insecurity as she reaches adulthood.

I’m proud to recall that on August 24, 1991 — the day our country declared her independence — my dad and I were rallying outside the Verkhovna Rada, among thousands of other Ukrainians young and old.

We saw history in the making. We consigned the USSR to the dustbin of history, finalizing Ukraine’s centuries-long struggle for independence.

Great links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Declaration_of_Independence_of_Ukraine
http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2007/8/24/63019.htm
http://photo.unian.net/ukr/themes/13 http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Chicken_Kiev_speech http://www.ukrweekly.com/Archive/TOC_files/91/TOC_090191_3516.shtml http://www.ukrweekly.com/Archive/TOC_files/91/TOC_120891_4916.shtml http://www.ukrweekly.com/Archive/TOC_files/91/TOC_122991_5216.shtml