PM Yanukovych [mumbles on]: ...renovating the production and technology base of the facilities and developing their infrastructure, revamping the means...
President Kuchma [loses patience]: Bang! Let...let me stop you right there. That’s it. For starters...we heard this...at the national security council meeting...you and I...after [the ammo depot blaze at] Artyomovsk. I just requested [this handout] — too bad it’s not available — I could’ve come forward and read it out right next to you. Why must you read out what we’ve already heard? It’s already been said! Why did you [staff] have to prepare what’s already been said?
Conversely, today’s prisoners can be yesterday’s princesses. Take this fair lady/Gazprom partner, the one who brushed off gas supplies from places cheaper than Russia. Oh, we’re talking ‘97, not ‘09, here.
Her other partner served as Ukraine's PM at the time [1:53].
They called their party Hromada (Community), but soon went their separate ways.
She went on to become Ukraine's PM. And he went to jail. To US jail, that is. Not Gitmo, but anyway… How can you persecute opposition leaders like that?
What if he, too, wants to run for president? For US president maybe?
Can't you guys decriminalize a thing or two and give him a chance?
If they do a remake of “See No Evil, Hear No Evil,” Bill Clinton should be in it!
In 1995, Clinton told Ukrainians that “The toil is bitter, but the harvest is sweet.” “In the pursuit of peace and prosperity, you have been well-served by President Kuchma and his government's bold and farsighted leadership,” he added.
At that point, Kuchma made a bold and farsighted decision. He traded the world’s third-largest nuclear arsenal for what would become a billion-dollar fortune in one of Europe’s poorest countries.
Clinton? He keeps coming back to what’s now the land of opportunity for the oligarchs and their friends.
Let’s hear what he has to say, shall we?
Bill Clinton: After the election, nobody was put in jail, nobody was poisoned...
Well, one reporter went missing, some got beaten, and the Constitution got raped. But that’s OK with you, right?
Kuchma: I think it’s nonsense. He [Kravchenko] couldn’t have any motives, and I’m convinced that under no circumstances would he have given such an order — and he didn’t.
I agree with you, Papi!
The order must have come from someone above, right?
Papi thinks it’s the CIA!
Kuchma: They did it to Gongadze — it was a provocation, an international one...to degrade Ukraine and the president as well...for...[clears throat]...his views...and using this, for 5 years, so to speak, they would let go neither of me, nor...nor of Ukraine. It’s a p-p-pure real provocation, one that had, I’m convinced, foreign intelligence services behind it. I won’t name the country — you know very well. When, during the [Orange Revolution] demonstrations in Kyiv...on inter...chan...on these...on television they showed CIA operatives among the demonstrators, what business did they have there?
Ihor Indylo died one night shy of his 20th anniversary.
He and a friend had a little drink at the dorm in the evening. As the two parted, Ihor had an argument with an on-campus police officer and ended up escorted to the Shevchenko rayon police precinct.
Later in the evening, the faculty pleaded with the officer to let him out for the night. The officer declined, saying Ihor was misbehaving at the precinct and would be detained for three days.
As Channel 1+1 found out, ambulances had rushed to the precinct four times during the night but had refused to hospitalize Ihor. In the morning, the faculty called Ihor’s parents to tell them they could take their son’s body home.
The police side of the story: Dead-drunk and unruly, Ihor fell and hurt himself. Three times.
However, the autopsy report somewhat contradicts that account, Channel 1+1 says.
Shockingly, the autopsy had been performed before the parents learned of their son’s death. The pathologist wouldn’t allow them to fully examine his body.
Ihor’s relatives thought he had choked. “All this time we had this version that he choked,” says Ihor's mother as she fights back tears.She then reads from the autopsy report: “Brain hemorrhage, skull fracture, damage done as a result of impact with a blunt object.”
Police are now putting pressure on students to testify that Ihor had started a brawl and arrived at the precinct with his skull already fractured. (That’s what the students told Channel 1+1 in phone calls.)
The faculty says Ihor didn’t have drinking problems. An eye witness says Ihor looked fine as he stepped into the police car.
Yanukovych says he wants to know what happened as Shevchenko rayon police chiefs have been suspended in the ongoing probe.
I’ll tell you what happened, Mr. President. It’s “Ukraine for the People,” remember?
As long as the people of Ukraine don’t act like the people of France, Greece and Romania, you can sleep well.
A few more facts and figures. Ukraine employs a police force of 302,000 for a population of 45,905,300 (2010). By comparison, the U.S. employs a police force of 883,600 for a population of 305,529,237 (2009).
The SBU, our security service, totals 33,000. That’s the size of the FBI.
Size means security? Wrong. It means corruption, mismanagement and brutality.
This law enforcement culture had flourished under Kuchma and Yushchenko. (Anatoliy Mohyliov, the current minister of the interior, served as the Crimean police chief under Yushchenko. And boy did he police those Crimean Tatars.)
Upholding the law of the jungle requires a lot of people skills.
If every guest speaker meant what he or she said, we’d be a G20 country. May 1995. Speaking at the Taras Shevchenko National University, Bill Clinton said this:
But your efforts will not be in vain, because the course is right, even if the path is difficult. The toil is bitter, but the harvest is sweet, as the old proverb says. In time, your transformation will deliver better, more prosperous lives and the chance for you and your children to realize your God-given potential. You and your children will reap the harvest of today's sacrifices.
In the pursuit of peace and prosperity, you have been well served by President Kuchma and his government's bold and farsighted leadership. You should know this: As you build your future, the United States will stand with you.
15 years later. The Children of the Sweet Harvest meet another guest speaker: Dmitry Medvedev, President of Russia.
“They brought me this iPad. I don't know if you have it,” he tells them teasingly, answering a question about his reading preferences. (Ukrainian students live on a God-given monthly stipend of $50.)
On a lighter note, he promised them that Russia wouldn’t use its Black Sea Fleet against neighbors.
Student: How do you see the strategic importance of preserving this base in Sevastopol for...
Medvedev: Let’s have a straight talk: Will Russia use its Black Sea Fleet to attack neighboring states? No, it won’t. Hahaha! We’re a peaceful country.
One of the students turned out to have a name that’s hard to forget: Ihor Yushchenko.
That didn't spoil the party. Medvedev got high marks from the audience.
Among other things, he recalled attending a conference at the University two decades ago as a postgraduate from Leningrad.
An easygoing democratic type, he now reads Gogol on his iPad.
You care about your country. You care about denuclearizing everyone but yourself and your allies. You made it happen in Ukraine.
When my country gave up its nukes — the world’s third-largest arsenal — it didn’t happen in a referendum. It didn’t happen in a classroom. It happened in Kuchma’s bedroom.
You treasured my country’s ability to trade its national interests for nothing but IMF loans and some aid.
As you know, the loans did us no good and the aid fell short of delivering the results it did in Eastern Europe. After all, from your Moscowcentric point of view, Ukraine’s “fledgling democracy” didn’t belong in Europe. The State Department pigeonholed us into “Eurasia” (Non-West/Little Russia), a class from which we never really graduated.
Bottom line, you took advantage of Ukraine at a tender age.
In an ideal world, you should have kept your IMF loans/aid, and we should have kept some of our nukes. We should have developed in a different way politically, economically and militarily.
Hindsight is always 20/20. Now what about foresight?
By continuing to take advantage of Ukraine whenever you can, you’re turning friends of America into a scarce commodity here.
The more Ukraine gets raped at home and abroad, the more we Ukrainians will remember it. The more you support our corrupt leaders, the more we’ll resist it. And once the pendulum swings in our favor — in the Ukraine-first favor — we’ll try to do it right. We’ll try not to repeat the mistakes of the Orange era.
From the frontman of Tartak, one of the bands that cheered the crowds during the Orange Revolution...
Enjoy this hit single by Sashko Polozhynsky, the guy who puts the reality of our presidential race into rhymes.
Even if you don’t understand Ukrainian, you’ll find the video and the Limp Bizkit-style music entertaining.
The video opens with a comic scene of former president Kravchuk endorsing Yanukovych in the 2004 presidential campaign. In this campaign, Kravchuk endorses Yanukovych’s main rival: Tymoshenko.
Poetically translated, the song’s refrain goes like this:
My fellow Ukrainians, here’s the deal Make me the president of your dreams And if you want protection from treason Let me run a dictatorship for a reason
Adding fuel to the fire was information, leaked to the [Presidential] Secretariat, that Lady Y was “putting the charms” on Viktor Pinchuk with an eye toward having him engage in “lobbyism,” that is, in the well-placed choreography of her less-than-humble persona in Washington.
It’s no secret that Pinchuk is an old friend of the Clinton family, a sponsor of their foundation. In 2008, he was awarded the great honor of rendering financial assistance to the Obama campaign. Today, having won the laurels of a philanthropist and charity giver, Kuchma’s son-in-law has a lot of authority in the West. One can hardly call him the “leader of opinion,” but Viktor Mykhailovych’s* word still carries a lot of weight. [Viktor Mykhailovych Pinchuk (Pinchuk’s full name)]
In Europe, Tymoshenko’s “goodwill envoy” is Vice Premier Nemyrya; in Russia, it’s Viktor Medvedchuk; in Washington, she would like to have this role filled by Pinchuk. Now that he’s passed her “test of loyalty” in Davos with flying colors, literally laying it at YVT’s* feet, it’s even more apparent. [Yulia Volodymyrivna Tymoshenko (Tymoshenko’s full name)]
The question is, does Pinchuk himself want it? Especially, given his longstanding Dnipropetrovsk-era antagonism with Yulia Volodymyrivna — a blood feud, to be precise. [Both Pinchuk and Tymoshenko launched their careers in the heavily inudstrialized city of Dnipropetrovsk, which became a battleground of their disputes.]
In the Tymoshenko-Pinchuk affair, there can be only one motive: securing “protection” for his family and business, so that, for him, 2010 will not be a repeat of 2005.
Besides, no oligarch can avoid “self-determination” in the context of the presidential election. Everyone has their own way of “giving.” Some will “help” using money, some will “help” using other resources, and Pinchuk will “help” using connections and…air time. [Pinchuk reportedly controls ICTV, STB, Novy Kanal and M1.]
Actually, it was on this that Viktor Mykhailovych and Yulia Volodymyrivna agreed in the course of their latest and rather lengthy tête-à-tête meeting. The fact that at least one such “tryst” has occurred was gleaned by Oboz from credible sources in the government. Speakers from the Premier’s inner circle claim there have been several meetings.
Meet Blue Noses, the Russian art duo of Alexander Shaburov and Vyacheslav Mizin.
Enjoy more of their works.
Click here for the rest, featuring Hillary Clinton, Condoleezza Rice, George Bush and others. It's unclear whether PinchukArtCentre actually displayed the above two masterpieces. If they did, they certainly injected a dose of self-deprecation into the traditionally decadent environment there.
PuttingBill Clintonin the mix would be an asset to the collection.
Obozrevatel: Did Tymoshenko really have other coalition options?
Melnychenko: In all objectivity, my argument is with Yushchenko, too. How could the President use one hand to appoint the PM and use the other hand to put spokes in her wheels??? Unfortunately, as of today, I don’t see in what role Yushchenko can go down in Ukraine’s history. As a reformer? No. As a person who did something outstanding? No. He only has one chance left: He can be remembered as the ruler who took the Kuchma case to its logical conclusion. It’s not just the journalist’s murder. The Gongadze case and the Melnychenko recordings is a wide range of crimes committed by Kuchma and his team.
It is necessary that the Kuchma family repay its debt to the people, give back the stolen billions. As of 2000, this family had a net worth of $8 billion dollars. At that time, Kyiv’s entire housing market was worth that much. Now, using the money stolen from the people, Pinchuk [Kuchma's son-in-law] buys Bill Clinton from the U.S., wholesale with his wife Hillary, the current U.S. Secretary of State. What kind of policy will the States now frame toward Ukraine? Do we need a U.S. foreign policy toward Ukraine edited by Viktor Pinchuk? I’m sure we don’t. Therefore, the Melnychenko recordings provide the legal mechanism not only for confiscating the Kuchma family’s illegal possessions, but also for reducing the international pressure on our country.
However, one should seize the moment. Eight years is quite a bit of procrastination.
By the way, tests of the recordings began as late as the end of last year through no fault of our Genprokuratura [short for Generalna Prokuratura, Office of the Prosecutor General]. In the past, the stalling was done by…the FBI. The thing is, in 2007, when the Genprokuratura agreed to an international test, the FBI agreed to conduct it. They did agree, but it didn’t go any further.
Obozrevatel: You mean, it was Pinchuk’s American lobby, the Clintons, who pulled the strings?
Melnychenko: Definitely, yes. In summer 2008, it appeared as if the FBI finally agreed and, in July, I was to give them the recordings. However, an interesting thing happened: The FBI suddenly refused to conduct the test. So, I can’t blame our Genprokuratura for procrastinating since 2007. They spent more than a year in talks with the FBI, and we ended up being led around by our noses. When the FBI refused, the Genprokuratura found new experts and finally progress was made. Let me emphasize that it was by pure coincidence that the test’s beginning came with the appointment of Volodymyr Lytvyn as speaker.
Mykola Melnychenko is the mysterious man who served on Kuchma’s security detail in the rank of major and claims to have bugged his office. The resulting recordings, first made public in fall 2000, possibly implicate Kuchma in the Gongadze murder and countless other crimes.
In his recent stream of allegations, Melnychenko alleges that, in 2004, Lytvyn had a role in a quid pro quo deal pondered by Putin and Kuchma, key backers of Yanukovych. Once it became apparent that Yushchenko would win the election, the two tried to work out an exit strategy.
The would-be deal, Melnychenko says, would have guaranteed Kuchma’s safe retirement and immunity from prosecution had Kuchma not interfered in the election process.
After Yushchenko became president — catapulted to power by the Orange Revolution — his administration chose not to pursue Kuchma. Nor did it choose to pursue Kuchma-era crimes whatsoever, thus breaking Yushchenko’s key campaign promise: “The bandits will sit in prison.”
This, along with other broken promises, deeply alienated Yushchenko supporters, not to mention Maj. Melnychenko. “Only recently did I become convinced that Yushchenko’s entourage was playing its own dirty game,” the Major added.
Obviously, not all of Melnychenko’s allegations add up. Theories abound on his agenda.
But your efforts will not be in vain, because the course is right, even if the path is difficult. The toil is bitter, but the harvest is sweet, as the old Proverb says. In time, your transformation will deliver better, more prosperous lives and the chance for you and your children to realize your God-given potential. You and your children will reap the harvest of today's sacrifices.
In the pursuit of peace and prosperity, you have been well-served by President Kuchma and his government's bold and farsighted leadership. You should know this: As you build your future, the United States will stand with you.
For America, support for an independent Ukraine secure in its recognized borders is not only a matter of sympathy, it is a matter of our national interest as well. We look to the day when a democratic and prosperous Ukraine is America's full political and economic partner in a bulwark of stability in Europe.
Yesterday, All my troubles seemed so far away, Now it looks as though they're here to stay, Oh, I believe in yesterday.
Generations of Ukrainians love this song, and so do billions of people all over the world. But who loves the scenario?
Billionaire Viktor Pinchuk, the man who brought Paul McCartney to Kyiv, is certainly not one of them. He wants no trouble. His bring-a-star-for-PR program aims at generating positive publicity and securing a bright tomorrow for himself and his family. In other words, PR = McCartneyPinchuk.
But does their bright tomorrow strike a high note with the “bright tomorrows” of millions of his fellow Ukrainians and their families? That’s the billion dollar question that reverberated through my brain as I stood in the pouring rain at Independence Square in Kyiv, the capital of one of Europe’s poorest countries, yet home to a dozen billionaires.
Here, at Maidan Nezalezhnosti, as we Ukrainians call it, the Orange Revolution took place in November 2004-January 2005. The goal of the Orange Revolution was to amend the social contract from a zero-sum game to a win-win game. That goal remains unmet.
It was here that on Saturday, June 14, 2008, at 9 p.m. EEST, we Ukrainians would meet Sir Paul McCartney, who came to Ukraine to perform his Independence Concert. (Proceeds from the sales of VIP tickets would go to help children with cancer.)
Actually, aside from Gen-Xers like me, the audience included scores of Soviet-born baby boomers, in their 50s and 60s, some of whom came from all over the former Soviet Union to worship the idol of their youth.
Long before glasnost and perestroika, The Beatles had become a legend in the USSR during the Khrushchev thaw of the mid 50s-early 60s. Despite this quasi-liberal post-Stalinist interlude, the Iron Curtain remained intact. The watchdogs of communism gnashed their teeth at the counter-cultural dimension of Western music, viewing it as “capitalist propaganda” and therefore a threat to the Soviet way of life. (I touched on this phenomenon in my previous post.)
I made a big mistake by not bringing an umbrella. Drenched to the bone, I had to desert my perch near the entrance to Fan Zone 3, and run for cover under the canopy of the Trade Unions building, the one with the red clock tower.
Before the concert began, they ran a telethon with major Ukrainian cities, Chas buty razom (Time to Be Together), along with a warm-up feature film about the local impact of The Beatles.
One of the interviewees shared his memories of how, back in the 60s and 70s, The Beatles records could only be purchased on the black market, at several times the monthly salary of a Soviet yuppie. At that time, a Soviet citizen’s love affair with Western civilization could cost them their career.
And guess what? All of a sudden, they put Kuchma in the memoirs mix! That’s no accident. Former President Kuchma, the autocratic leader whom the Orange Revolution cursed with "Kuchmu het!" ("Down with Kuchma!"), happens to be Pinchuk’s father-in-law.
I failed to catch Kuchma’s recollections of The Beatles era due to poor sound, but I instantly recalled the guitar gigs he pulled on television during his first presidential campaign in summer 1994. (I was 14 at the time.)
Kuchma’s unexpected two cents created cognitive dissonance for the Independence Concert, given Kuchma’s controversial role in Ukraine’s independence. Understandably, the event sponsors had a more favorable opinion of their extended family member. Later on, some other domestic policy issues would also pop up, adding to Kuchma's ever-present aura. (Tabloid has a few snapshots of the Kuchma family present at the concert.)
Anyway, the countdown finally reaches zero and Paul McCartney mounts the stage. He screams, “Pryvit druzi!” (Ukr. hello friends!) and sends ripples of joy throughout the rain-bedraggled Independence Square. His opening song: “Drive My Car.”
After a while, the rain almost subsided and I made it closer to the stage, finding my way through thousands of ecstatic folks of all ages. (An estimated 350,000 people attended the Independence Concert.)
It was a great pleasure to hear Paul McCartney cheer up his audience in Ukrainian. Naturally, I felt a little uncomfortable when I heard “the Ukraine.” Apparently, the event planners failed to instruct Paul, in the most polite manner, that we no longer live in “the Ukraine.”
“The Ukraine,” as in “the Ukraine girls really knock me out,” defined our country as a Soviet republic — as a province of Russia — not as an independent country. Since Ukraine became independent, we say Ukraine, without the definite article. And, of course, when we talk about theUkraine, we say Kyiv, not Kiev. Well, because many Ukrainians speak little English and often converse in Russian, the outdated usage did not register with the audience.
A few more caustic observations. The telethon kicked off with two hosts: Ani Lorak, who spoke Ukrainian, and this other guy, a member of Comedy Club Ukraine (can’t recall his name), who spoke Russian. Here comes politics. On the one hand, this bilingual commercial approach traditionally serves to attract Russophone audiences. On the other hand, it provides a disincentive for Russified Ukrainians to learn or relearn Ukrainian.
Paul McCartney punctuated some of his songs with a playful combination of spasibo-dyakuyu/dyakuyu-spasibo, or thank you in Russian and Ukrainian, respectively. While I certainly don’t believe that he meant to upset non-Russified Ukrainians like me, I suspect that this learned meme reflects the event planners’ segmentation of Ukraine’s linguistic landscape.
In the 2004 presidential election, which sparked the Orange Revolution, Mr. Pinchuk favored Viktor Yanukovych of the Party of Regions. The PRU owes much of its popularity to being the driving force behind the bid to make Russian a second official language in Ukraine. If approved, the measure would effectively kill the Ukrainian government’s modest efforts at reviving the Ukrainian language. That, in turn, would preserve the linguicidal legacy of Russification in eastern Ukraine.
So here’s my question: Does making Paul McCartney a party to this intimate policy issue — no matter how subtly — promote Ukraine’s independence?
One can study Russification on a family basis. Judging by their public appearances, neither Viktor Pinchuk nor his wife, Olena Franchuk, former President Kuchma’s daughter, speaks Ukrainian.
Ironically, Kuchma does speak Ukrainian. A native of Kostobobrovo, a small village in Chernihiv oblast, Kuchma spent most of his pre-political life in Baikonur and Dnipropetrovsk, where he learned Russian and unlearned Ukrainian. After becoming President of Ukraine in 1994, Kuchma relearned Ukrainian without unlearning Russian.
His linguistic success story — one of his few presidential achievements of which Ukraine can be proud of — begs the question of why his daughter and son-in-law can’t master Ukrainian. After all, they want to be perceived as supporters of Ukraine’s independence, correct?
That said, the show was terrific, a time travel experience from a true legend. Ageless Paul McCartney rocked the rain away and received the warmest reception from the people who were having the happiest time of their lives.
As the concert drew to a close, they begged him to perform “Yesterday,” and he did it! It was midnight, but the people walked away with their eyes shining. Thank you for coming to Kyiv, Paul!
As the concert drew to a close, they begged him to perform “Yesterday,” and he did it! His valedictory song brought tears to many eyes. It was midnight, and the people walked away with their eyes shining bright. Thank you for coming to Kyiv, Paul!
My advice for Mr. Pinchuk: Put the people first and do more for Ukraine!
Maidan under heavy clouds
Crossing police cordons
In half an hour, I'd be taking a shower
Taking a shower
Damn, I should have brought my own umbrella!
The last shot I made before deserting my position and running for cover
My "drydock" vantage point
Ani Lorak and (dunno his name), hosting the Chas buty razom (time to be together) telethon
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome Leeeeooooniiiid Kuuuuchmaaaa!
