Medvedev Good-Cops Ukrainian Students

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.

Videos embedded from:
http://censor.net.ua/go/offer/ResourceID/159335.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8xZs0wAcqc
Original sources:
http://ictv.ua
http://novy.tv
Spoofs:
http://durdom.in.ua/uk/main/photo/photo_id/16028/person_id/119.phtml
http://durdom.in.ua/uk/main/photo/photo_id/16073/person_id/119.phtml

Yushchenko Appoints Kuchma to Shevchenko University Board of Trustees

President Yushchenko has appointed former Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma to the board of trustees at Taras Shevchenko National University, one of the country's top schools, Ukrayinska Pravda reports.

The decision adds to a catalogue of honors bestowed by the President on controversial figures deeply resented by his supporters and the media.

During the Orange Revolution, Yushchenko publicly accused the Kuchma-Yanukovych regime of poisoning him and rigging the ballot.

Today, he trusts Kuchma to keep an eye on an educational facility that shapes Ukraine's future.

Sources:
http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2008/5/5/75399.htm