40 years of work leaves you with $100/month, not enough to pay for utilities.
The rest goes to first-class citizens who worship all things Soviet.
Woman 3: I, Valentyna Volodymirivna, want to particularly address Lukyanov and Chechetov: What do I have to do — how should I get down on my knees before you — so I’LL NEVER SEE YOU AGAIN HERE? HOW CAN YOU SAY THAT, HUH? YOU SHAMELESS ONES! I’ve worked for 40 years, I’m disabled due to cancer, and my father died during the first days there, in the war. He wants to see your flag? He doesn’t want to see this humiliation that you cause us! And you think he has interest in your flag! You can put it wherever you want, put it on, go out, have fun, get drunk in your palaces! But don’t touch us. And you [opposition] keep fighting. As sick as we are, we’ll help you. Trust us. And our grandchildren stand ready to help you. So that we’ll never have to see and hear these “wand wavers” [imitates Chechetov] — illiterate “wand wavers”— because all they have is their big mouths, down to their knees! I’m sorry, I’m sorry.
5:37-6:42
Signing the Soviet flag into law
Shut up, you crazy old Untermenschen! Go dig a grave and wait for the go-ahead from the AMF!
Woman: Yatsenko Lyudmyla Stepanivna here. Mr. Yanukovych, I’m that woman who, 5 years ago, came showing you a League of Bila Tserkva Entrepreneurs pin and was asking for sound legislation. For that pin, your teammates at the time — when you lost in the first round — would pound me with their feet. They [later] switched to a different party...
Yanukovych: I’d like to ask you — I’d very much like to ask you — to name publicly the names of those who dared touch a woman — those fellow party members of mine, as you put it. Please name them. I really want...the names of the specific people who laid a finger on you.
Woman: I don’t know how I’m going to live in Bila Tserkva [if I name them]. [applause]
Yanukovych: Well, in that...in that case...in that case, leave your number and address. As early as tomorrow morning — tomorrow morning — you’ll have my...[nods his head]...people come to you...who...to whom...who will hook you up with me on the phone. And please supply all the papers. We will deal with it. On these issues, I’m telling you, I’m a man of principle...OK? There will be a definite response — a definite one — you can count on it. I don’t know any tough guys in Bila Tserkva whom we won’t find. [applause]
Original: имена, людей, которые вас конкретно тронул пальцем My translation: the names of the people who specifically laid a finger on you Comment: конкретно (konkretno), as in чисто конкретно can be translated as absotively posilutely, no shit, etc
Original: которые свяжут вас со мной My translation: who will hook you up with me Comment: связать (svyazat) also means to tie somebody up
Meet another man of principle from the Party of Regions: MP Oleh Kalashnikov (no pun intended). This man, a then-MP, attacked reporters in 2006.
After a 3-year exile, he now appears to have been pardoned by the Party of Regions top brass, not to mention the Office of the Prosecutor General.
The self-styled Kyiv-based activist group has been around for a while, professing feminism and protesting against sex tourism, human trafficking, prostitution, flu mask-mania and sexual harassment.
Actually, when it comes to FEMEN, I prefer the term shocktivist.
One of their latest public protests had them acting out near-pornographic scenes: scantily dressed female college students harassed by sex-for-grades college professors.
Naturally, the pornified event didn’t go unnoticed. Outside the Ministry of Education building, in front of the cameras, the deputy minister promised them to look into the problem.
They have a busy schedule. Their latest television appearance saw them on “Shuster Live,” a popular political talk show.
Watch the vinok-clad FEMEN shocktivist steal the show.
“Don’t believe these liars!” shouts the lady and hastily wraps up her sign out of everyone's sight. “Ukraine is not a brothel!” reads her T-shirt.
Unlike Michaele Salahi, this lady doesn’t look like she came uninvited. It’s amazing how Savik Shuster grabs her by the waist and doesn’t get slapped in the face.
MP Nestor Shufrych (PRU) had a lot of nerve parking his sorry ass on “Shuster Live” — with a suitcase full of broken promises. Namely, he forgot to follow through on his Oct. 2 promise to pass legislation “on Tuesday” [Oct. 6] that would have criminalized pimps and clients.
Frankly, I don’t see a single civilized country that has managed to ban prostitution (as opposed to having reduced or regulated it). Nor do I always see FEMEN acting in protest-oriented (as opposed to publicity-oriented) ways. But I do support their drive for accountability.
Holding politicians to their promises is what we must do. Love that “Fucking Hell” T-shirt (0:58-1:00)!
It’s about time we gave them the fucking hell they deserve.
MP Hanna Herman (PRU): When you’re standing, you feel some sort of movement. And we here are ready to take the first steps. MP Serhiy Kivalov (PRU): People were saying really sincerely that the only candidacy from the Party of Regions is Viktor Fedorovych Yanukovych. MP Oleksandr Kuzmuk (PRU): There will be order in the country. Reporter Mustafa Nayem: What happens if Yanukovych doesn’t win? MP Nestor Shufrych (PRU): No way! MP Vladyslav Lukyanko (PRU): What? It’s unrealistic! You know, I think Ukraine will lose everything. Kharkiv Mayor Mykhailo Dobkin (PRU): Yanukovych will definitely win. It’s just a question of how much he scores in the first round and how much in the second one. Singer-supporter Taisiya Povaliy: But he will win! Dobkin: It’s a situation when Yanukovych will be competing with himself. Producer-supporter Ihor Likhuta [Povaliy’s husband]: All the candidates are decent people, but ours is the most decent one.
Vice Premier Oleksandr Turchuynov (BYuT): It’s a very serious event, one on which our country’s future depends. Singer-supporter Pavlo Zibrov: I’m a grown-up person and I made a choice, and those kids running back and forth are just making money, I think. Reporter Mustafa Nayem: Many are saying it’s a Maidan [protests] rehearsal in case Yulia Tymoshenko doesn’t become president. Turchuynov: You know, Maidan cannot be rehearsed, it cannot be arranged technologically. Either you have it or not. Our Maidan is in our hearts. MP Andriy Shevchenko (BYuT): Yulya is cute? Daughter: Yes! Turchuynov: [Welcome] Yulia Tymoshenko! Reporter: Don’t you have the reflex to shout “Yushchenko?” Shevchenko: Hahaha! Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko: No, [incoherent]. In 2004, Yushchenko was the only way for the country not to roll back. Uh...but it’s only idiots and corpses who don’t change their points of views. Reporter: What happens if Tymoshenko loses? MP Serhiy Sobolev (BYuT): I can’t even imagine.
Forget about Sen. Larry Craig. In Ukraine, sex offender suspects don’t get busted.
Even when it comes to child sexual abuse.
The lawlessness of our lawmakers knows no bounds. In June, MP Viktor Lozynsky (BYuT) hunted and killed an unarmed man. He then posed before the cameras and came close to being awarded for his party called assisting in the “capture of an armed criminal.” As a sign of goodwill, Lozynsky even filed a motion that his parliamentary immunity be lifted pending investigation. But once details of the shocking murder emerged, he ran away and remains on the run.
On top of this comes the case at hand: two kids, a boy and a girl, ages 12 and 9, sexually abused for three years by a number of people whom they may or may not have identified.
Those people are:
Three BYuT MPs: Serhiy Teryokhin, Ruslan Bohdan, Viktor Ukolov; Four Artek youth camp workers: Borys Novozhylov, Genrikh Ratt, Dmytro Lepeshev, Volodymyr Dunayev; An Orthodox priest: Vadym Payevsky; and The kids’ adoptive father: Dmytro Polyukhovych.
Some of the evidence presented so far appears to be incomplete or inconclusive. Claims regarding the MPs originated from the father, the prime suspect, while under arrest, as cited by the mother in the criminal charges. According to lawyer Tetyana Montyan, the kids corroborated these claims in a private conversation with her.
As of this writing, no charges have been officially made against the MPs, all of whom deny wrongdoing.
The videotaped orgies took place at two locations and may have involved other children:
At Artek, the famous Crimean youth camp. (The victims mentioned other children, in “old-fashioned clothes,” who came to Artek from orphanages and may have been involved.)
At a Kyiv apartment, which, upon examination, fit the victims’ description, according to earlier reports. (A more recent report, however, states that during a crime scene reconstruction on Saturday the boy neither denied nor confirmed being raped there.)
With 98% probability, polygraph tests confirm the kids’ abuse claims, as do child psychologists and medical examiners.Ukrayinska Pravda offers a transcript of the polygraph tests.
The mother, Olena Polyukhovych, in her own words, had noticed her kids’ depressed behavior sometime ago and even consulted psychologists but they, she says, weren’t able to determine the cause.
A psychologist consulted by Ukrayinska Pravda disputes this claim, arguing that the cause would have been all too apparent to a mother, let alone to a psychologist.
She filed the charges in Kyiv on April 16 but ended up sabotaged and, according to her claims, even threatened. Ukrayinska Pravda offers a copies of the medical examiner’s opinion and “no corpus delicti found” rejection letters from the police.
There's also a copy of the “seek help elsewhere” letter from the Secretariat of the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights.
At that time, the mother was having an affair, trying to get a divorce and going through a custody battle of sorts.
According to conflicting claims, either she or her husband or her boyfriend told the kids about their adoption.
Finally, the story found its way to the public, leaked to various outlets and exploited by renegade BYuT MP Hryhoriy Omelchenko, a retired colonel, and by the Party of Regions. Viktor Yanukovych, leader of the Party of Regions, will be the main rival to PM Yulia Tymoshenko in the January 2010 presidential election.
Interestingly, MP Viktor Ukolov happens to be a Tymoshenko strategist, apparently responsible for her ubiquitous and heavily spoofed “They’re interfering. She’s working” ad campaign. Facing public scrutiny, he now has stepped down. In his latest blog on Ukrayinska Pravda, he described himself as a misled, disappointed and self-exiled friend of the stepfather, and one who wishes him justice.
Prominent Ukrainian lawyer and activist Tetyana Montyan talked to the kids and their mother. Speaking at a press conference Thursday, she said the kids have intimate knowledge of the abusers’ anatomy. And, as we all know, some of the suspects have parliamentary immunity.
Lawyer Tetyana Montyan: On July 7, this woman, having understood that, despite all this, nobody cares that her children were raped, writes petitions to the President, to the Prime Minister and to Commissioner for Human Rights Karpachova. Let me quote the reply from Karpachova’s office. The mother gets a letter from some employee Tarhulova from the secretat…secretariat of the Ombudswoman of the Verkhovna Rada (she acts as an adviser to the Ombudswoman): Tarhulova Iryna Herasymivna [family name, first name, patronymic]. “Dear Olena Valentynivna, your petition to the Commissioner for Human Rights has been reviewed. Let us inform you that your petition concerns inadequate pretrial investigation by an investigator of the investigation department of the Dniprovsk department of the Ministry of the Interior in the city of Kyiv, whereas oversight of the legality of pretrial investigations is the prerogative of prosecutorial authorities. Therefore, we’re forwarding your petition accordingly to the prosecutor of the Dniprovsk district of the city of Kyiv.” This woman Karpachova gets a petition, which you all have read online, citing all the possible facts pertaining to this case. That’s the reply of our Commissioner for Human Rights.
On Friday’s “Shuster Live,” Montyan shared her knowledge of the case, saying that the girl had confessed to being “touched” on April 16, 2009. Upon hearing this, the mother filed the charges immediately but criminal proceedings were not opened until August 14. Ukrayinska Pravda provides a copy of the criminal proceedings.
Montyan describes the mother as naïve, easily manipulated and sexually inexperienced — a perfect match for a husband-father-pedophile. He mentioned the three BYuT MPs while under arrest. The kids identified them based on photographs from the Verkhovna Rada website. In a private conversation with her, Montyan says, the kids referred to the three as “Uncle Seryozha,” “Uncle Vitya,” “Uncle Ruslan” and described their sexual behavior in detail. [diminutives for Serhiy, Viktor, Ruslan]
The kids’ identity, leaked to the public, will make their lives unbearable in Ukraine, Montyan legitimately concludes.After questioning the kids intensely, Montyan became convinced that their statements could not be the product of brainwashing.
An expert in child molestation cases, she would practically stake her professional reputation on the veracity of the kids’ claims.
Speaking with a trembling voice, Iryna Bohdan, wife of MP Ruslan Bohdan (BYuT), made a case for her husband’s innocence. She emphatically refuted the accusations, calling them “a strictly political game,” and expressed her and her husbands’ readiness to take a polygraph test.
In an interview with Ukrayinska Pravda, MP Sehiy Teryokhin went as far as to volunteer for a live broadcast polygraph test, provided so does the kids’ mother. He has also appealed to the Prosecutor General to open criminal proceedings against what he called the mother’s perjury.
How much of this accounts for a smear campaign and how much portrays a shocking case of child sexual abuse remains to be seen.
From Gas Princess to Queen of Populism to Dictatress. She's coming home!
At a recent Shuster Live studio poll, 53% of respondents viewed a Tymoshenko presidency as dictatorship and 47% as order (or 64%-to-36% in the 18-25 audience). Instead of drawing the line between order and dictatorship, Tymoshenko blurred the line.
PM Yulia Tymoshenko: Savik, what makes you think that after all the chaos that grips politics, after all this disorder, irresponsibility — this whole, if you’ll excuse my non-parliamentary language, barking — people don’t want dictatorship? I already do want the country to have order, regimentation, and perhaps a sufficiently strong system of government, and not what we have today. [applause] Savik Shuster, host: This…this here…wait, I have a little...I have...I have...I have...I too have...
Tymoshenko: And you absolutely have no idea: whether people want dictatorship or not — because they’re tired of it. MP Iryna Akimova (PRU) [chimes in]: You saw it! Yulia Volodymyrivna wants dictatorship in our mass media!
Shuster: No, people probably… Akimova: And she makes it happen, Savik. Or does she?
Shuster: I can’t hear you, sorry. Akimova: You didn’t hear me? Yulia Volodymyrivna does want dictatorship. She just said it.
Shuster: I... Akimova: And unfortunately, she wants it in the mass media.
Shuster: Excuse me, Iryna, I’m having a strict commercial break here, and after that Mykola Azarov will take the microphone. Akimova [continues]: Because she doesn’t allow commentary to the interesting footage that we’ve seen on the screen. It’s called dictatorship, Savik. [show closes for commercial break]
Tymoshenko’s usage of the noun стрункість (stroon-kist) strikes me as particularly dictatorship-driven.
Literally, стрункість means slimness. In the above context, however, it sounds like a derivative of “Струнко!” (stroon-koh), which roughly equals “Parade rest!” In Russian, they say “Смирно!”(smeer-noh). The Russian expression по стойке смирно refers to regimentation. Tymoshenko’s recent mega-Freudian slip, “I want, on behalf of Russia...sorry, on behalf of Ukraine” carries the point further.
If Tymoshenko wins, will we have “one law for all” or “one lady above all laws?” The same goes for the other lady: Yanukovych.
Kyiv Mayor Leonid Chernovetsky did not earn the nickname "Космос" ("Kosmos") for his spaced-out public appearances alone. He earned it for his lack of gravity toward the public good in the avalanche of land decisions and zoning polices sponsored by his office.
On "Shuster Live," the man presented his side of the story:
Kyiv Mayor Leonid “Kosmos” Chernovetsky: It’s like a… Talk show guest: From space, coming from space! Chernovetsky: Uh…exactly! It’s a cosmic policy and it has nothing to do whatsoever with reality.
Savik Shuster, host: Listen, it’s interesting, why do they call you ‘Kosmos?’ Chernovetsky: First of all, let me tell you…
Savik Shuster: He’s just, he’s just…I-I-I got the notion from him, he didn’t just say ‘from space’ for nothing. Talk show guest: I said it accidentally, almost accidentally.
Chernovetsky: Savik, it’s an honor for me, because many of the decisions that my administration makes along with the Kyiv City Council which I have the honor to preside over — they are completely unusual for Ukraine. These are completely novel approaches that the ministries and the Cabinet may view as ‘cosmic’ and may present them as such. But I’m proud that they are unlike anything that has happened before in Ukraine.
He’s right. No other mayor in Ukraine has made so many decisions in such a short period of time — land decisions, that is.
Bolstered by the buckwits who sell their votes for a pack of buckwheat, he and his party are running for parliament. Fasten your seat belts. This is just the beginning!
