Ohryzko Rejected Again

As expected, the Anticrisis-controlled parliament turned down Yushchenko’s pick for Foreign Affairs Minister. Word of advice for Ohryzko: If you really want this job, take a crash course in unlearning Ukrainian.

Rada Rejects Yushchenko’s MFA and SBU Picks

As expected, Volodymyr Ohryzko and Victor Korol, who vied for the position of Minister of Foreign Affairs and Director of the Security Service, respectively, failed to gather support from the Anticrisis Coalition.

It turns out acting MFA head Volodmyr Ohryzko has the nasty habit of speaking Ukrainian in conversations with Russian guests on Ukrainian soil.

And as for MP Viktor Korol, NSNU, the media link him to NSNU mogul Petro Poroshenko, Yushchenko’s chief campaign contributor and a de facto persona non grata in Russia.

The Kremlin can’t stomach these guys, and that’s not the kind of gas Yanukovych needs.

Frozen Affairs
Embattled Foreign Affairs Ministry Faces Funding Freeze

This winter may by the warmest the world has known in the last 500 years. Not for the Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Ministry. The Ministry, headed by the President’s protégé Borys Tarasyuk, remains the last stronghold of resistance to pro-Russia PM Victor Yanukovych in his war for complete control over the Cabinet.

Yanuk, emboldened by the viagracious cornucopia of power, knows no stopping. Even though it’s only been a week since the Treasury cut off funding, employees have already missed their paychecks. Beyond that, the conflict at hand could also disrupt timely payment of membership contributions owed by Ukraine to international organizations.

We should have seen it coming. Having spent the last few millennia chasing universals of national unity, Yushchenko crash-lands on what looks like the Planet of the Apes, or should we say Planet of the PRU?

Anyway, neither the funding freeze nor the EU’s cold-shoulder treatment of Ukraine’s aspirations has prevented Minister Tarasyuk from continuing on the job.

P.S. Rejoice! As of Tuesday, the Ministry’s funding has been renewed, with the only exception being Minister Tarasyuk himself. That ends the mystery of Yanukovych’s job title. It’s Partially Merciful!

No Such Thing as "Holodomor," Moscow Says

It means just that. On the eve of the commemoration of the Holodomor, the 1932-33 man-made famine that killed an estimated 6 to 10 million Ukrainians and is one the greatest yet only recently publicized genocides of the 20th century, the Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry offered its condolences, but no confessions.

The tragic famine in Ukraine, Moscow said, was the result of bad policy and crop failure that affected areas beyond Ukraine. Therefore, there is no conclusive evidence to suggest that Ukraine was singled out on ethnic grounds.

Unfortunately, the Russian diplomats forgot to submit weather reports that would support crop failure theory. Also, they chose not to go into great detail as to exact ethnic distribution patterns. (What was the famine’s ethnic breakdown, anyway?)

Nor did they give much voice to the role of the Red Army, which cordoned off Ukraine’s famine-stricken areas to prevent mass migration in search of food supplies needed to survive. (Was it a routine military exercise?)

Too bad Uncle Joe, who cut his teeth as People’s Commissar of Nationalities Affairs, cannot be reached for comments. What is certain, though, is that the Russian Federation has been recognized by the international community as the successor state to the Soviet Union. (What percentage of its monthly oil revenue would go to compensate the victims, if Russia admitted guilt?)

Eager to play mindgames of its own, the Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Ministry called the progress made by Russia laudatory. Talking the matter over with the Russians has not been a total waste of effort, Kyiv said, adding that the "UX-files" warrant further study by both countries.

Demographers believe that had it not been for Stalin’s Holodomor and repressions, Ukraine would have been a nation of some 100,000,000 people.