Tymoshenko Ducks Questions on Cooperation With Kremlin

Here's how the lady in white handled the hard questions in her interview on Inter.

PM Yulia Tymoshenko: Today, we absolutely can’t have snap elections.

Interviewer: You will contest the decree?
Tymoshenko: I am convinced that this should be done so that there will be no elections. We don’t want elections because it means more chaos, and what’s interesting is that the elections are almost scheduled for New Year’s Eve. That’s when people will be eating olivye and vinehret and will be counting the ballots. It’s insanity, it must be stopped.

Interviewer: You believe the elections won’t take place?
PM Yulia Tymoshenko: I know they won’t take place.

Interviewer: They say that the Kremlin made a bet on you as Ukraine’s next president.

Tymoshenko: Let’s skip this question because, first of all, it’s not yet clear who will make it to the presidential election, and, second, it seems to be that it’s not really appropriate to frame questions that way. Let’s move on to questions like…where it’s clear that…uh…that actually a constructive answer could be provided because [otherwise] I now would start responding to this with nasty things. That’s not necessary [giggles].

Interviewer: When did you last meet Viktor Volodymyrovych Medvedchuk?
Tymoshenko: [pause] I think time is up.

Interviewer: You don’t feel like talking about it?
Tymoshenko: I thank you very much, I thank you very much. It was a wonderful interview. I think we’ve discussed all the important subjects.

Interviewer: Thank you.

Who is Mr. Medvedchuk? Former President Kuchma’s chief of staff and a friend of Russian President Dmitri Medvedev. Cooperation between Medvedchuk and Tymoshenko has been widely reported by sources close to Medvechuk and by President Yushchenko.

Video uploaded from: http://censor.net.ua/go/offer/ResourceID/99096.html
Original source: http://inter.ua

Yanuk Blasts Oranges, Woos Voters, Promises Stabilnist

For Yanukovych new elections mean new opportunities. So there he goes again, wallowing in his voters’ pain, sugarcoating his stewardship of the economy, peddling the idea of his comeback.

Viktor Yanukovych, speaking in Russian: The bell tolls for the current government. The government has driven the country to the brink of bankruptcy. Determining which one of the Oranges is more guilty doesn’t make sense. The entire team is guilty. They are all guilty. In less than a year of the two Orange governments’ stay in power, the state has twice lost the high economic growth rate.

During the short-lived stay in power of the current government, citizens have also been twice fooled: First, they crashed the dollar, then they advised people to hold their savings in the national currency. After that, they crashed the hryvnia. Millions of ordinary Ukrainians suffered. Their hard-earned savings lost their value. People living in the countryside suffered most because crop problems added to the preexisting ones. The profiteers and murky dealers under the wing of the current government robbed the farmers, robbed the state, and the efforts of hundreds of thousands of people yielded paltry results. Having led the country into ruin, the current government, for a second time, has pushed society toward another pre-term parliamentary election. The Party of Regions stood against it. We do not agree with such policy and do not share such approaches.

We offered to reach consensus, not over positions but over improving the lives of people, developing the economy. However, the Oranges were only interested in seats. They need so many seats in government that a whole furniture factory can’t produce. As a responsible political power, we hereby state that we that we will unite society not around partisan colors but around a program of improving the lives of people. I repeat: The Party of Regions doesn’t care who is more guilty in the Orange coalition’s collapse. That question should be addressed to someone else. They took responsibility before the people, now let them report to the people. What we care about is how to improve people’s lives, build a strong state, and unite society. It is with this in mind that we — faced with the test of new elections — look into the future and ponder ways to improve the lives of citizens, to create a situation of stabilnost* and peace in the country, and to implement the kind of effective policy that would win the world’s respect for Ukraine.

We are confident of our ability, and we are ready to assume the task of rebuilding the country again — without any ultimatums to our potential partners, without empty promises to achieve the unachievable. There will be no empty talk. There will be order and stabilnost.* There will be work for the benefit of the state and the Ukrainian people. So help us God.

*Stabilnost (стабильность) is Russian for stabilnist (стабільність). In the vocabulary of Ukrainian politicians, stabilnist denotes stability, but connotes the status quo.

So, Mr. "Hemingway," if it hurts so bad to have new elections, why does it feel so good?

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Original Source: http://kanalukraina.tv

Yushchenko Dissolves Parliament, Blames Tymoshenko (Updated)

In a televised address at 9 p.m. local time Wednesday, President Viktor Yushchenko announced his decision to dissolve Ukraine's parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, due to what he described as "the ambition of one person" and the "prevalence of personal interests over national ones."

He also blamed PM Tymoshenko for inflation and populism.

His decision brings an end to a monthlong drama of rocky relations within the Orange coalition and following its demise, in which Tymoshenko's BYuT and Yushchenko's NUNS sought advantage over each other. Influenced by their leaders and power brokers, the two Orange coalition parties flirted with the Party of Regions with an eye toward the 2010 presidential election.

The situation deteriorated after the Russo-Georgian conflict. Unlike President Yushchenko, PM Yulia Tymoshenko showed little support for Georgia. In addition to that, the Presidential Secretariat accused Tymoshenko of treason, alleging that the PM had held secret meetings with the Russians.

On September 2, Tymoshenko's BYuT entered into an ad hoc alliance with the Party of Regions, voting to curtail Yushchenko's powers and make Russian a second official language for public servants.

Recently, BYuT reversed its decision in an apparent attempt to stem the fall of its approval ratings in western Ukraine. Nevertheless, attempts at resurrecting the Orange coalition have failed, giving the President the right to dissolve Parliament.

New elections will be held on December 7. Previous elections were held on March 26, 2006 and September 30, 2007.

Sources: President Yushchenko's address on Channel 5

Ukraine in the Second U.S. Presidential Debate

Last night at Belmont University, Obama and McCain reiterated their positions.

As always, the subject of Ukraine emerged in the Russian context. Watch the video.



McCain specifically addresses Ukraine 3:52 into the video, advocating for Ukraine’s admission into NATO.

Obama does not say “the Ukraine” again (nor does he say "Ukraine") and stresses a pro-active foreign policy.

Video embedded from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25DDzrI5vSo

Kosmos Explains His Nickname

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!

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Original source: http://kanalukraina.tv

Putin Jokingly Refers to Yushchenko as ‘Mazurik’

When President Yushchenko’s Lviv-bound jet experienced problems shortly after takeoff Thursday, the pilots decided to fly back to Kyiv for an emergency landing.

Meanwhile, Tymoshenko was about to fly off to Moscow for gas talks with Putin, her jet waiting on the runway.

Having landed, Yushchenko’s posse requisitioned Tymoshenko’s jet, forcing her to take a charter flight to Moscow. The story grabbed headlines and Putin picked it up in what was a rarely missed opportunity to get back at Yushchenko.

Referring to Yushchenko as mazurik (Rus. for pickpocket, corpse) became the opening joke in an otherwise emotionally charged press conference that featured Putin crying on Tymoshenko’s shoulder, bewailing Ukraine’s arms supplies to Georgia. Here’s the mazurik quote:

Putin: Some mazurk snatched the jet. Okay then…uh

Video uploaded from: http://censor.net.ua/go/offer/ResourceID/98390.html
Original source: http://5.ua

6 Miners Die in Luhansk Oblast

A methane blast at the Duvanna mine in Sukhodolsk, Luhansk oblast, claimed the lives of 6 miners at 00:45 local time on Saturday.

Sources:
http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2008/10/4/82285.htm

Tymoshenko Backtracks As Voters Flee in Panic

After her September fling with the Party of Regions shook her electoral base, the sweetness turned sour. The prodigal PM appears to have scurried back to the salt mines of Orange coalition-rebuilding, even if nothing gets rebuilt in the end.

Before flying off to Moscow yesterday to discuss gas supplies, she abandoned support for legislation that shook Yushchenko’s throne and made Russian a second official language for civil servants.

PM Yulia Tymoshenko: I just saw and I see…uh…here it says ‘spiraling into crisis,’ right? Here it is, with the portrait at the background, with the Premier’s interview at the background. I want to tell you, first of all, it’s an outright manipulation of your mind when the screen now says ‘spiraling into crisis.’ I’m just reading, there’s a display before my eyes. So I want to say that when the President…

Channel 5 host Svyatoslav Tseholko: That the crisis is spiraling into Ukraine, isn’t it true?
Yulia Tymoshenko: Not at all! Don’t push it. It’s absolutely not true.

Svyatoslav Tseholko: I can ask them to pull this subtitle.
Yulia Tymoshenko: Now you see how easy it is to put away the manipulation of people’s minds and scaremongering and certain psycho phenomena.

Svyatoslav Tseholko: The producers are telling me that they’ve changed the subtitle and put it this way:
Yulia Tymoshenko: ‘Ukrainian Renaissance,’ can you see that?
Svyatoslav Tseholko: With a question mark. Could this really be possible?

Yulia Tymoshenko: Well [giggles], it’s not every day that I can be in your studio changing subtitles. Only the chaos in politics is preventing the country from being remarkably successful.

Amen to that, my fair lady. Chaos is stabilnist without makeup.

Video uploaded from: http://censor.net.ua/go/offer/ResourceID/98041.html
Original source: http://5.ua

Lukashenka Likes Himself

Belarusian President Lukashenka: Heaven forbid us from Ukrainian scenarios. Democracy is when and where it’s the people that live decently, and not a bunch of those ‘great opposition activists’ whom you just mentioned. So one should take it easy — the way I take it easy. A dictator? Fine, a dictator. There’s a certain benefit to it, tough: the last one — can you imagine? — the last one! Had you not come here, where in your life would you have met him and talked to him?

Alyaksandar “Batska” (“Father”) Lukashenka has elected himself another opposition-free parliament.

What keeps him in power so long, aside from his authoritarian ways?

Lower energy costs and lower corruption. Compare Belarus’ GDP per capita of $10,900 (PPP, 2007 est.) to Ukraine’s $6,900.

There are no billionaires in Belarus.

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Original source: http://kanalukraina.tv

Who’s Who on Ukraine in the U.S. Presidential Debate

And What’s in It for Ukraine?

Obama comes from a state with a significant Ukrainian American community. McCain comes from a party that many Ukrainian Americans vote for. Both have visited Ukraine.

Still, there seem to be certain differences in how the two view Ukraine, as far as the debate can tell.



While Obama did not shortchange Ukraine on NATO membership prospects, he referred to us as “the Ukraine” and went on to discuss cooperation with Russia. (Obama mentions Ukraine 4:42 into the video.)

By contrast, McCain demonstrated a deeper grasp of our current affairs, emphasized the threat from Russia, and exhibited a warmer attitude toward Ukraine’s NATO track. (McCain mentions Ukraine 7:07 into the video.)

It’s up to the American people to decide who will be the next president of their country.

Whoever that will be, it’s important for Ukraine that the next U.S. president builds bipartisan consensus and ensures foreign policy continuity with regard to Ukraine.

Leaving Ukraine at the mercy of the Kremlin would encourage bully behavior and would effectively penalize Ukraine for relinquishing its nuclear arsenal, the world’s third-largest.

For the West, the outcome would be a flood of refugees, a natural gas shock, and a spike in defense spending.

Make no mistake: The costs of coping with the Kremlin’s adventure far outweigh the costs of preventing it.

BYuT MP: Rebuke Russia No, Prepare for Elections Yes

So here's how it goes:

MP Ivan Kyrylenko, leader of the BYuT parliamentary faction: A third party has emerged. Sign the same coalition agreement? We support it, we haven’t denounced it.

MP Roman Zvarych, NUNS: Are you ready, are you ready to condemn Russia over [the Georgian invasion]…
MP Ivan Kyrylenko: No way, no way!

Reporter: So your talks are just a façade for the fact that everybody’s gearing up for elections?
MP Ivan Kyrylenko: Absolutely right, absolutely right!

Reporter: Mr. Roman?
MP Roman Zvarych, NUNS: Well, based on what I’ve just heard, that’s right.
MP Ivan Kyrylenko: I stand by the words that everybody’s gearing up for elections.

Video uploaded from: http://censor.net.ua/go/offer/ResourceID/97511.html
Original source: http://5.ua

Tymo Thanks Paralymic Team for ‘Victory Over Russia’

She obviously doesn’t want to lose her western Ukrainian voters.

So she picks Ukraine’s Paralympic score — #4 in the world — and starts waving it in front of the Russian bear. At least, that’s how she wants to be perceived:

PM Yulia Tymoshenko: Ukraine was at her best, and the victory over Russia was also stellar. We thank you very much for your victory, guys!

Still, actions speak louder than words. BYuT recently co-sponsored a bill that requires civil servants to be proficient in Russian, thus cementing decades of Russification from which Ukraine has not yet fully recovered. Two BYuT dissenters, MPs Andriy Shevchenko and Yevhen Suslov, have made a motion to strike out the requirement.

Meanwhile, the Party of Regions has announced a temporary halt in its coalition talks with BYuT until former Orange coalition partners sort things out.

Video uploaded from: http://censor.net.ua/go/offer/ResourceID/96970.html
Original source: http://5.ua

Sources:
http://ua.proua.com/news/2008/09/25/125339.html
http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2008/9/25/81812.htm

The Birth of a PRU-BYuT Coalition, Sexually Speaking

Here’s a quote from a guy who couches the mechanics of coalition-building in obstetric and medieval terms.

MP Mykhailo Chechetov, PRU: There’s a…a fo-fo-folktale that if a woman is expecting, then, until she gives birth to a child, she doesn’t buy…she doesn’t even buy diapers, right? Once the child is born, only then does she start buying everything — not to spoil things. Here’s the same case: If we give birth to this healthy and good child — to the so-called “new coalition format” — then it will be possible to talk about how the negotiations went, write memoirs, and so on.

Are Chernomyrdin and Chechetov talking about the same woman?

Some pundits have already Christened the would-be coalition "ПРіБЮТ," which sounds like приб’ють (pry-byut’), meaning "they'll nail us."

Maybe we should buy those diapers right away, before the ПРіБЮТ lovechild is born?

Video uploaded from: http://censor.net.ua/go/offer/ResourceID/97108.html
(original source: http://inter.ua)

Yushchenko Talks Treason, Chernomyrdin Talks Sex

Yushchenko, who accused Tymoshenko of shedding crocodile tears, seems to be unaware of his own crocodile tears.

President Yushchenko: Talks between Tymoshenko, the Communists, and the Party of Regions are not going smoothly not because it’s hard for them to agree, but because there’s one problem: There’s no societal acceptance for such an alliance. That’s what ails them. And that’s why there are blueprints for how to split someone from Nasha Ukrayina, for how to split someone from [the] Lytvyn [Bloc]. In other words, there needs to be façade to show that the democratic process is not a lost cause.

Well, well, well, Mr. President. People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones. Is there enough societal acceptance for your PoRNUNS dreamboat and that dirty little United Center splinter group of yours?

Russian ambassador Viktor Chernomyrdin, a gas tsar-cum-PM-cum-diplomat, has perfected broken syntax into art, punctuating it with sexually suggestive humor. Here’s my attempt at translating his recent remarks:

Ambassador Chernomyrdin: Now, whatever the occasion, whatever the occasion, there’s always the "pro-Kremlin hand." Why are they messing with those hands? What’s bothering them? What is it they find missing? We’re not extending no hands nowhere. We’re extending them with good intentions only…and with help, including help for Ukraine. During hard times, we’ll always extend...what’s necessary, and will deliver.

We Russia are working with heads of state. Yushchenko got elected, we worked with Viktor Andreyevich* — we’re still working. Whoever gets elected in the next election, we’ll work with them. And as for who we hold dear to our hearts, or who we hold dear below our hearts, it’s a different story.


*patronymic transliterated from Russian

Is he talking about hands or some other private parts? I, for one, have detected phallic allusions in his humor.

With that hand-below-heart anatomy class, I think he did a great job at Kremlinizing some of our already well-PoRnified female presidential hopefuls. Russian diplomats can be so open-hearted!

Videos uploaded from:
http://censor.net.ua/go/offer/ResourceID/96625.html
(original source: http://www.kanalukraina.tv)
http://censor.net.ua/go/offer/ResourceID/96481.html
(original source: http://inter.ua)

Tymoshenko, Yatsenyuk Trade Barbs, Ponder Plans

PM Yulia Tymoshenko: The government and I as Prime Minister — we do not belong to a herd of sheep where there’s a custom that if one sheep jumps off the cliff, the rest will jump off the cliff, too. We will not jump off the cliff and instead will maintain the country’s stabilnist at a very high level.

Acting Speaker Arseniy Yatsenyuk: I’m not a big scholar of zoology, but as far as I know, sheep don’t jump off the cliff. If they are going somewhere, they follow the paths that the herd uses to pass and bypass one cliff or another. There’s a good proverb: They say that the halo looks very good on the Devil’s horns. I think it’s a principle that Ukrainians don’t share. We should be honest and candid. If a decision was made regarding the coalition’s disbandment, we should carry this issue to its logical conclusion, perhaps form a new coalition and follow a new process, including cabinet appointments.

When Yatsenyuk stepped down as Speaker in the aftermath of the Orange coalition’s collapse, he hardly expected a chain reaction of resignations.

The last person to resign is Tymoshenko. Faced with a dilemma, she sticks to her guns, unsure what to do: (a) Jump in bed with the Party of Regions (aka “abduction by aliens”) and lose many voters, or (b) agree to a snap election and lose her PM job.

So there she is: the champion of stabilnist, the enemy of the herd mentality — all dressed up and nowhere to go.

Meanwhile, Yatsenyuk reportedly had talks with Akhmetov over plans to launch his own party. (If true, that makes Yatsenyuk a very “honest and candid” guy.)

If any of you angels does business with the Party of Regions, you can shove your stabilnist where the sun don’t shine.

Videos uploaded from:
http://censor.net.ua/go/offer/ResourceID/96616.html
(original source: http://ictv.ua)
http://censor.net.ua/go/offer/ResourceID/96961.html
(original source: http://inter.ua)

Moscow-Based Western Reporters Sniff Around Sevastopol

Narrator: The crew at missile cruiser Moskva is paraded on deck for a roll call. It’s not the first time that the flag-raising ceremony is being by shot by TV cameras, but it’s the first time that the flagship has allowed aboard so many foreign reporters representing major news agencies, newspapers and broadcasters.

Kristof Wanner, DW: We’re interested in how dangerous the situation here in Crimea is. We just took a look at the way things are and want to understand how much…and what the sentiment and the situation is in general here in this city, and how the people feel.

Alexandra Shatzka, CBC: We saw here in Sevastopol that it is a Russian city — in Ukraine, of course. What happens next I don’t know. How will it be possible for Ukraine…uh…to join NATO when here is the chief port of the Russian Black See Fleet.

Commanding officer: Raise the flag!

What a relief this delegation of Moscow-based correspondents, so fluent in Russian, found no Hitler dolls in Sevastopol! Perhaps they should’ve been looking for Stalin dolls.

As for the Russian Black Sea Fleet, the lease expires in 2017. And by the way, one can find examples of even more complicated coexistence.

America operates a naval base in the Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. Cyprus has been an apple of discord between Greece and Turkey, both NATO countries. Both places have their problems, but the modus vivendi does work.

Video uploaded from: http://censor.net.ua/go/offer/ResourceID/96489.html (Original source: http://www.1tv.ru)

Crimea: Son of Lawmaker Kills Female Biker With Bentley

Quick facts
Date of crime: Sep. 16, 2008, 2:40 a.m.
Place of crime: Simferopol, Crimea, Ukraine
Victim: “Nikita,” female biker, 25, mother of 5-year-old girl
Crime: vehicular homicide at crossroads, bike smashed to smithereens
Suspect: Vitaliy Finegold, 24, son of local tycoon Yosyp Finegold (net worth: $68M), member of Soyuz Party
Vehicle speed, according to eyewitness (fellow biker): at least 160 kph
Blood alcohol test results: none taken
Case status: pending investigation
Preliminary police reports: not available

Are we gonna watch yet another “one law for all” travesty of justice, Mr. President? Or perhaps PM Tymoshenko will dispatch her son-in-law, the biker, to make sure “there is justice?”

Video uploaded from: http://tsn.ua/chorna-hronika/dtp-za-uchastyu-sina-deputata-u-krimu-zasekretili-video.html (1+1)

Orange Coalition Declared Dead

At today's session of the Verkhovna Rada, Speaker Arseniy Yatsenyuk said this: "I officially pronounce the disbandment of the coalition of democratic forces in the Verkhovna Rada, created by NUNS and BYuT on November 29, 2007, period."

"Anybody want to observe a moment of silence? Okay, let's skip this part," Yatsenyuk quipped. He then added:

Today is the day we turn a page of Ukraine's political history and open a new one. I wouldn't call this a political apocalypse. Yes, it's yet another challenge for democracy, but I hope that, together, we'll meet this challenge, too. It's not a case when they didn't let us. It's a case when we didn't make it and didn't succeed.

The end of the Orange Coalition marks the beginning of a 30-day interregnum during which the parties represented in Parliament should form a new coalition. Failure to form a coalition gives the President the right to disband Parliament

Sources:
http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2008/9/16/81299.htm

Adminresurs, Astroturfing Redux As Oranges Near Divorce

Sparks are flying in the Orange coalition endgame — sparks of Kuchmism.

With the nasty fight getting nastier and the country holding its breath in disgust, the Ukrainian media draws parallels between today’s crisis and pre-Orange Ukraine. Here's a small glossary:

Adminresurs refers to the autocratic use of government resources (local authorities, law enforcement, state-run media, etc) for campaign purposes;

Astroturfing refers to the public relations technique (popular in the USSR and the US) of imitating grassroots support for a political party/politician.

And here’s a short battlefield report:

Last week, United Center, the pro-Yushchenko loyalists, rounded up college students and public employees in Zakarpattya oblast for an anti-Tymoshenko human chain rally along the highway. Watch footage of the event.

Голова Перечинської РДА Михайло Данча 2

Скачать видео

The two videos feature Mykhailo Dancha, head of Perechynsky rayon (county), presidential appointee and “community organizer” who exudes self-confidence and swears profusely. (H/t Obkom)

Meanwhile, friends of Tymoshenko have plastered the Cabinet’s Web site with a plethora of rave reviews from "ordinary Ukrainians" containing boilerplate language from the Kuchma era. (H/t Ukrayinska Pravda)

According to some sources, the Lytvyn Bloc has agreed to join the coalition in a last bid to reunite the Orange camp and stave off a snap election that may throw the fence-sitting LB back to wilderness. The reports have yet to be confirmed.

Most experts believe that Tuesday’s session of the Verkhovna Rada will see the final collapse of the Orange tandem and the creation of a PRU-BYuT coalition.

Sources:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhHWMMlhxY4&e
http://obivu.net/play14332
http://obkom.net.ua/news/2008-09-13/1315.shtml
http://pravda.com.ua/news/2008/9/12/81204.htm
http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2008/9/15/81245.htm
http://www.zaxid.net/newsua/2008/9/13/130541

Palin: “Ukraine, Definitely, Yes.”

Liberals: Orange Revolution

Not that I’m a big fan of Republicans (or Democrats, for that matter), but I do like this one. Watch the most "uncut" version of Sarah Palin's ABC News interview, as it relates to Ukraine, with the full transcript below.

GIBSON: What insight into Russian actions, particularly in the last couple of weeks, does the proximity of the state give you?

PALIN: They're our next door neighbors and you can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska, from an island in Alaska.

GIBSON: What insight does that give you into what they're doing in Georgia?

PALIN: Well, I'm giving you that perspective of how small our world is and how important it is that we work with our allies to keep good relation with all of these countries, especially Russia. We will not repeat a Cold War. We must have good relationship with our allies, pressuring, also, helping us to remind Russia that it's in their benefit, also, a mutually beneficial relationship for us all to be getting along.

Sarah Palin on Russia:

We cannot repeat the Cold War. We are thankful that, under Reagan, we won the Cold War, without a shot fired, also. We've learned lessons from that in our relationship with Russia, previously the Soviet Union.

We will not repeat a Cold War. We must have good relationship with our allies, pressuring, also, helping us to remind Russia that it's in their benefit, also, a mutually beneficial relationship for us all to be getting along.

GIBSON: Would you favor putting Georgia and Ukraine in NATO?

PALIN: Ukraine, definitely, yes. Yes, and Georgia.

GIBSON: Because Putin has said he would not tolerate NATO incursion into the Caucasus.

PALIN: Well, you know, the Rose Revolution, the Orange Revolution, those actions have showed us that those democratic nations, I believe, deserve to be in NATO.

Putin thinks otherwise. Obviously, he thinks otherwise, but...

GIBSON: And under the NATO treaty, wouldn't we then have to go to war if Russia went into Georgia?

PALIN: Perhaps so. I mean, that is the agreement when you are a NATO ally, is if another country is attacked, you're going to be expected to be called upon and help.

But NATO, I think, should include Ukraine, definitely, at this point and I think that we need to -- especially with new leadership coming in on January 20, being sworn on, on either ticket, we have got to make sure that we strengthen our allies, our ties with each one of those NATO members.

We have got to make sure that that is the group that can be counted upon to defend one another in a very dangerous world today.

GIBSON: And you think it would be worth it to the United States, Georgia is worth it to the United States to go to war if Russia were to invade.

PALIN: What I think is that smaller democratic countries that are invaded by a larger power is something for us to be vigilant against. We have got to be cognizant of what the consequences are if a larger power is able to take over smaller democratic countries.

And we have got to be vigilant. We have got to show the support, in this case, for Georgia. The support that we can show is economic sanctions perhaps against Russia, if this is what it leads to.

It doesn't have to lead to war and it doesn't have to lead, as I said, to a Cold War, but economic sanctions, diplomatic pressure, again, counting on our allies to help us do that in this mission of keeping our eye on Russia and Putin and some of his desire to control and to control much more than smaller democratic countries.

His mission, if it is to control energy supplies, also, coming from and through Russia, that's a dangerous position for our world to be in, if we were to allow that to happen.

As a Ukrainian living next door to Russia, that’s the U.S. foreign policy I prefer, given the key role that the Clinton administration played in stripping my country of its nuclear deterrent.

Of course, I do know about the Christian fundamentalism of U.S. conservatives, just as I know about the Russophile pacifism of U.S. liberals. Both worldviews spell disaster. Now, isn't it funny how most YouTube videos omit the part where Palin emphasizes the need not to repeat the Cold War and mentions the Orange Revolution?

Could it be that Bush’s cowboy interventionism has slapped some childish isolationism into U.S. liberals, making democratic movements like the Orange Revolution an inconvenient truth? Oh, I forgot. It was all a “neocon CIA plot!”

With my country stuck between an expansionist Russia and a split West, I want a U.S. President who is neither too hard nor too soft on Russia.

As of today, most Ukrainians, and Russified Ukrainians especially, know little about NATO other than what they learned in Soviet history textbooks. Naturally, they do not want Ukraine to join NATO. Ironically, they do want Ukraine to join the EU.

Since the collapse of the Warsaw Pact, joining NATO has become a prerequisite — the prerequisite — for joining the EU. No Eastern European country has become an EU member without first becoming a NATO member.

I believe that Ukraine’s nonalignment puts us in the danger zone. I want Ukraine to join NATO and, ultimately, the EU while remaining a good neighbor of Russia, not a good banana republic of Russia.

Therefore, either Ukraine will join NATO, or the Kremlin will be tempted to repeat the Georgian scenario in eastern Ukraine. It’s as simple as that, Uncle Sam.

In the first case, you’ll get a 45-million country with a defense industry unmatched by any other fresh NATO member country. In the second case, you’ll get a conflict rivaling the war in Yugoslavia, plus millions of refugees and a major spike in your defense budget.

You decide.

Sources:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNPGnZurs1k
http://abcnews.go.com/print?id=5782924

EU-Ukraine Summit: Doors Wide Shut (Updated)

The EU-Ukraine summit in Paris must have left Le Petit Prince [read: Yushchenko] reading Les Misérables.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy: This association agreement [to be signed in 2009] does not close any paths, nor does it open any paths. That’s all we could give.

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko: We very much appreciate what we reached today.

Sure, Euro-beggars can’t be Euro-choosers. Especially if you come to the negotiation table in such a grotesque disarray.

In the meantime, let our oligarchs buy a little more of Monaco. Maybe then we’ll have our chance to join the EU?

Correction
It appears that the original Sarkozy quote,"Cet accord d'association ne ferme aucune piste, même il en ouvre," meant, "This association agreement does not close any route, it even opens some." (H/t Neeka, Genia)

Well, let's see what that means in practical terms.

Video embedded from: http://video.oboz.ua/movie.php?aWQ9MTc4ODAmdmE9NCZ2dD0w
Source: 1+1 http://tsn.ua/video/video-novini

Tymoshenko Trips Over, Cracks a Joke

Coal Miner's Day
Luhansk, Ukraine, August 31, 2008

PM Yulia Tymoshenko: Greetings, dear Luhansk! It goes to show, once again, that one cannot walk on high heels. They warned me many times, but what's done is done. Dear friends, I'm very glad to address you on this holiday. Half the cabinet came here today to thank you for what you...

Damn! That's no way to build a team! Couldn't she just be more fall-friendly?

Video uploaded from: http://video.oboz.ua/movie.php?aWQ9MTc3MTYmdnQ9MA

From Ukraine With Collage

Enjoy!


A funny take on a Soviet fitness poster ("Wanna be like that? Work out!")


She did her homework


Promises...


Doppelgängers


Nirvana


"Here's the ideal woman: naked, submissive, and no politics!"


Bohatyryova fires up the Democratic National Convention


The Kremlin's Swan Lake


Secretary-General, President of the Politburo of the Party of Regions, beloved comrade Leonid Ilyich Yanukovych

Sources:
http://durdom.in.ua/site/photo/id/2953.phtml
http://durdom.in.ua/site/photo/id/2564.phtml
http://eggs.net.ua/news.php?sid=1281
http://durdom.in.ua/site/photo/id/2491.phtml
http://durdom.in.ua/site/photo/id/1904.phtml
http://durdom.in.ua/site/photo/id/1903.phtml
http://eggs.net.ua/news.php?sid=1276
http://durdom.in.ua/site/photo/id/2221.phtml
http://durdom.in.ua/site/photo/id/2410.phtml

Back on the Billboard

As Ukraine verges on the brink of a snap parliamentary election, political advertising starts springing to life again. Well, in some cases, it never stopped.




In a bid to “keep up with the Yushchenkos,” stabilnist daddy Yanukovych courts Ukrainian youths with a verse from the Ukrainian national anthem: “Upon us, fellow Ukrainians, fate shall smile once more!”




So far, fate has smiled on the offspring of Yanukovych and Yushchenko more generously that it has smiled on ordinary Ukrainian youths.

Ironically, the copy's bucolic setting adds insult to injury because young Ukrainians living in the countryside grapple with the worst job market. Unless, of course, they take their chances with labor migration and find dangerous work in Russia or the EU, as millions of Ukrainians have done.

Finally, Yanukovych often rhetorically contrasts Ukraine’s “industrial East” with the “agricultural West.” In the latter, he sees "free riders and foes," in the former "friends and worker bees."

So where does this countryside idyllic posturing leave him?

Cheney Visits Ukraine

U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney on Thursday arrived to Kyiv on a cheerleading tour that has already taken him to Georgia and Azerbaijan and will end in Italy.

A staunch supporter of NATO membership for Ukraine and Georgia, Cheney enjoyed a warm reception from like-minded Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko. Security and energy dominated the meeting agenda.

Cheney also held talks with PM Yulia Tymoshenko, leader of BYuT, whose parliamentary coalition with Yushchenko’s NUNS appears to have collapsed after he accused her of pro-Russian conspiracy and she crossed coalition lines to pass legislation trimming his powers.

Undoubtedly, the outgoing Bush administration wants to send a welcome message to Kyiv.

But given the lame-duck status of both Cheney and Yushchenko, Ukraine’s accession into NATO hinges on the outcome of the presidential election in America no less than it does on Ukraine’s own presidential election in 2010.

Besides, the collapse of the ruling Orange coalition, unless reversed, will probably lead to snap parliamentary elections within weeks.

Video embedded from: http://rutube.ru/tracks/983963.html?v=0247e2c4dcf308ce0b948a7d2b83e24d

Oops!... She Did It Again

NUNS Vows to Quit Orange Coalition After BYuTney Sides With PRU, CPU

Allegations of Tymoshenko’s treason have materialized. At least, that’s how NUNS, the spurned party, may think. On Tuesday, the Orange Coalition failed to pass a resolution on Georgia, and instead saw an ad hoc alliance between BYuT, the Party of Regions, and the Communist Party. The three joined forces to simplify the impeachment procedure and strip President Yushchenko of key prerogatives.

Orchestrated by PM Tymoshenko of BYuT, the move may outbitch President Yushchenko’s own not-so-secret ambition: a grand coalition between his loyalists and a PRU splinter group — his reelection elixir.

If so, it marks the coming out of the closet for a love and hate triangle in which BYuT and NUNS, perpetually on the verge of divorce, always gave the Party of Regions the glad eye.

That gives us the following Kodak moment of the battleground: Tymoshenko, BYuT, Medvedchuk, and the majority of the PRU, and the Communists on one side, and Yushchenko, NUNS, Baloha, and Chernovetsky on the other. The angels must be weeping at the sight of such “pragmatic” matches made in…Hollywood!

In this divine comedy, Kuchma's chief of staff Medvedchuk plays the “missing link” role connecting Immaculate Tymoshenko and the infernal forces of the Kremlin, as many evolution theorists believe. Lyubov Sliska, Vice Speaker of the Russian Duma, has praised Tymoshenko’s evolution, saying that if she stays the course, she will become president. What a heartbreaker for silly fools like me who supported her in parliamentary elections.

BYuT claims it “sees no alternative to the Orange Coalition.” Echoing this love ballad, some optimists dismiss yesterday’s vote as a one-night stand, noting the fact that unholy alliances in the Rada featuring Tymoshenko have appeared before.

Meanwhile, that same night, NUNS held an emergency meeting and decided to pull out of the Orange Coalition. The decision will take effect 11 days after it was made.

With the notable exception of Interior Minister Lutsenko, Cabinet ministers representing NUNS did not attend the Wednesday meeting of the Cabinet. Lutsenko blames the crisis on Baloha’s brinkmanship and believes that the only way to save the Coalition is to fire Baloha, Yushchenko’s chief of staff.

As NUNS and BYuT exchanged recriminations, Yushchenko came to the Rada to announce that a de facto coalition has been formed between BYuT, the Party of Regions, and the Communist Party. He accused Tymoshenko of setting up a dictatorship and gave the Verkhovna Rada 30 days to finalize the freshly minted coalition or face dissolution.

In a UP article on the BYuT-PRU-CPU hookup, Serhiy Leshchenko and Mustafa Nayem quote a BYuT MP who calls it “safe sex.” Safe for whom? It may be safe for prima domina Tymoshenko, but is it safe for Ukraine?

Sources:
http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2008/9/3/80670.htm
http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2008/9/3/80701.htm
http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2008/9/3/80679.htm
http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2008/9/3/80700.htm
http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2008/9/3/80670.htm
http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2008/9/3/80699.htm
http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2008/9/3/80702.htm
http://trinixy.ru/2007/02/26/britni_atakuet_zontikom_18_fotografijj.html
http://www.tymoshenko.com.ua/ukr/export/#wallpapers

Fire Consumes Ammo Depot in Kharkiv Oblast

Watch a belated 1+1 video of a recent fire at an ammo depot in Lozova, Kharkiv oblast. The fire severely damaged neighboring homes, spraying them with shells and bullets.




In 2004, 2005, 2006 massive fires broke out at an ammo depot in Novobohdanivka, Zaporizhia oblast.

Video embedded from: http://censor.net.ua/go/offer/ResourceID/94179.html
Original source: http://www.1plus1.ua

Chernovetsky Confesses

Emboldened by his reelection in May, Kyiv Mayor Leonid “Kosmos” Chernovetky has authored a book titled Confessions of a Mayor.

Kyiv Mayor Chernovetsky: I’m a living history of everything that’s been going on in Ukraine. It’s not even a book, it’s just a foreword. And if the book sells well, I will sit down and, in a matter of a few days, will write another one. Actually, I’m quite prolific, I must tell you. My every deed — including the fact that I’m here and talking — is wise. I’m watching your eyes. You’re thoroughly impressed by what I’m saying, right?

Given Chernovetsky’s lack of verbal gravity, the masterpiece appears to have been ghostwritten by extraterrestrials. His attachment to President Yushchenko — who recently awarded him with the Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise of the Fifth Degree (for fending off Tymoshenko?) — has been the talk of town.

It has inspired a spoof themed in The Heart of a Dog, the famous 1925 sci-fi novel by Mikhail Bulgakov scathingly satirical of the Soviet system.


The "Wisest" Ukrainian, According to Yushchenko

Who knows what confessions may lurk inside the “Mayor of Ukraine,” as Chernovetsky once called himself in a Freudian slip indicative of his Napoleonic ambitions.

Video uploaded from: http://censor.net.ua/go/offer/ResourceID/93538.html (STB http://stb.ua)