Zhirinovsky Rips Pugacheva (Tymoshenko/Prokhorov Endorser)

Celeb endorsers are a dime a dozen once he puts his two cents in.

Zhirinovsky: Why didn't you dislike Yeltsin back then? This half-drunk half-wit? Why did you all campaign for him back then? Why are you...
Pugacheva: You're a disgrace to our country!

Zhirinovsky: You keep quiet!
Pugacheva: You're a disgrace!

Zhirinovsky: Yeah, you keep quiet! You artists, like lowlife prostitutues, would go under any leader for money! You all went under Brezhnev, under Gorbachev, under Yeltsin, under Putin! Tomorrow I'll move into the Klemlin, Kremlin, and you all will be lying down, and I'll be spitting on you and wiping my feet on you! Shame on you! 22:55-23:27

Presidential debates can be so much when you have Zhirinovsky. You never get tired watching this guy. He's everything: a veteran jack-in-the-box, a convenient opposition figure, a patriot, a lover, a fighter, a rhetorical rocket.

At the end of the show, he puts Ukraine on his “friends of Russia” list, next to Iran and North Korea. Guess who’s on the “enemies of Russia” list? Now what did we do to deserve this? Didn’t we give away our nukes?

And what did we get in return? Oligarchs? Guys who, like Russia’s Prokhorov, are so admired in the free world? Admired when they're free to invest in London’s luxury. Admired when they're free to keep scores of Western gold-diggers around. But...not quite admired when they cut capers in Courchevel?

Does anyone remember Pugacheva’s singing endorsement of Tymoshenko in 2009? (After her gas deal had slated Ukraine to become Russia’s biggest and most profitable/punishable customer in 2010/11?)



Or Zhirinovsky “endorsement” of Obama in 2008?



Anyway, let’s see what sort of celebs will be endorsing Ukraine’s ruling Party of Regions and its opposition come this fall. Just don’t forget that the two seek coalitions, pass key bills together and trade talent.


Meet Oleksandr Volkov, of the KUCHMA Bloc. He's with Tymoshenko's BYuT now. What a major asset to the "Free Yulia!" campaign.

How about a Nobel Peace Prize? Hope Obama doesn't mind.



Zhirinovsky congratulates Putin. Not quite as loud, is he?

Sources:
http://russia.tv
http://censor.net.ua/video_news/199309/jirinovskiyi_pozvonil_putinu_ya_videl_kak_rastet_stopka_golosov_za_vas_video
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=285442778193064&set=a.103061273097883.4550.100001820318050&type=1&theater

FEMEN Slam 'Gas Gangsters' Outside Gazprom Moscow Office

If Tymoshenko were free, is that where she would be?

Femen Gazprom Protest Moscow, Russia 13.02.2012 from Moscow Bureau on Vimeo.

Some girls plant Gazprom's flag in Ukraine. Others play a different game.

Sources:
http://femen.livejournal.com/194313.html

Ukrainian Athlete Bubka in Whitney Houston's Video

R.I.P. Whitney. F**k drugs.



I was 8 at the time, watching the 1988 Olympics on my black-and-white TV.

Watch Ukraine's Serhiy Bubka win his gold at the end of the video.

Give me one moment in time
When I'm more than I thought I could be
When all of my dreams are a heartbeat away
And the answers are all up to me

Yeah, that's exactly what it felt like. Losing all that weight when I was 30.

Yatsenyuk: Free Tymoshenko as Ukraine Pays More than EU

It's all about freedom.



Government or opposition or grand coalition, they all need freedom. They need freedom — the freedom — to do whatever they want with this country.

Tymoshenko makes her gas ordeal with Putin, Yanukovych legitimizes it with his gas-for-fleet discount. Yatsenyuk wants Tymoshenko's vote, but not Yanukovych's verdict (in case he does what they did). That's the kind of freedom they all need.



Freedom from accountability. They play, we pay.



Decriminalize this DUI priest now! Priests and politicians must be free.

Sources:
http://blogs.pravda.com.ua/authors/pyshny/4f30eaaf00601/
http://censor.net.ua/video_news/196465
/oppozitsiya_blokiruet_vystuplenie_prezidenta_yanukovich_pytaetsya_perekrichat_deputatov_video
http://kiev.pravda.com.ua/news/4f33d0a7b3ff1/

FEMEN Crash Davos Oligarchfest

Hey Chelsea, wanna hang out with these girls?

Stop Davos! 1 from FEMEN Video on Vimeo.

Stop Davos! 2 from FEMEN Video on Vimeo.

Stop Davos! 3 from FEMEN Video on Vimeo.

It's the freezing boobs v. free borscht economy, stupid!

Sources:
http://femen.livejournal.com/192248.html

Few Books, Lots of Booze for Rural Teens

Try playing the $125/mo English teacher in rural Ukraine.



No castles, no showers, no bidets. No textbooks either.

Well, here’s the consolation prize: booze.



Some bright kids go for the books.



Others don’t. What a great supply of labor migrants for energy-rich Russia and englightened Europe.

The same Europe that pays less for Russia’s gas and values some of Ukraine’s elites so much. Talk about European values.

Luckily, those 45 Ukrainians on board the Costa Concordia have survived. Will the captain apply for asylum? In Russia or Mezhyhirya maybe?



Meanwhile, Tymoshenko’s tigress is expecting. Some French guy did this.




No, he’s not in the government and hasn’t picked up his Légion d'honneur yet:)

Sources:
http://life.pravda.com.ua/society/2012/01/13/92774/
http://tsn.ua/video/video-novini/navchannya-bez-pidruchnikiv.html
http://tsn.ua/video/video-novini/yake-dozvillya-vlashtovuyut-sobi-silski-uchni.html
http://tsn.ua/video/video-novini/angliyska-z-korovami-abo-yak-zaohotiti-vchitisya-progulnikiv.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYwLQDwqDCI
http://tsn.ua/video/video-novini/ulyublenicya-timoshenko-narodit-vid-francuza.html

Is This Tymoshenko’s Suite, Er, Cell?

Liberté, égalité, bidet!






Not quite as cool as her Koncha-Zaspa place or Yanukovych’s Mezhyhirya principality, huh?

Still pretty upscale by Ukrainian standards.

I mean, if we’re talking about Ukrainians who voted for Tymoshenko only to lose their jobs, homes and savings. They didn’t realize she’d be funneling billions of tax hryvnias into banks, signing scorched earth gas deals and vacationing bigtime.

And when they did, many of them chose not to vote for her again. Game over.

Sure King Yanukovych is making a show of this super-EU-style cell. No mistake about it.

But every time I hear the word torture applied to Queen Tymoshenko, I can’t help crying like North Korea.



Sources:
http://www.pravda.com.ua/photo-video/2012/01/3/6886292/
http://censor.net.ua/video_news/193151/za_timoshenko_24_chasa_v_sutki_vedetsya_videonablyudenie_svet_v_kamere_ne_gasyat_vlasenko_video

Yanukovych Ducks Unexplained Wealth Question

Now that she’s done working, he’s all work and no play.

Reporter Mustafa Nayem: I would like to ask you the following question. Today indeed you’ve stated many times that the country’s economy is bad and that indeed people haven’t yet experienced improvements in living standards and that we don’t have money in our budget for Chernobyl and Afghan vets and yet at the same time on a daily basis we all see the circumstances of how your own life in particular is being improved. We see how you’re renting a chopper for a million dollars from a firm that, according to an Ukrayinska Pravda report, belongs to, or is controlled by, your son. We know for a fact that at Mezhyhirya construction is in progress by firms that are controlled by your son. Tell us: Why the disconnect? What’s the secret of your success? Why is it that the country’s doing poorly and you’re doing so fine? Thank you.

President Viktor Yanukovych: Uh…[chuckles]…I’ll tell…I’ll tell you what…uh…what you’re spinning so passionately…uh…it absolutely doesn’t interest me to any great extent. And I’ll tell you the reason for that. Because…I…have very little time, you know, for pleasure. Very little time. Yesterday, for a example, I came home at about 3 a.m., and today I got up at 6 in the morning. Yep. The day before yesterday it was a bit earlier and so on. That’s why I don’t know what easy street you’re talking about, and then you’re discussing my family all the time. I want to tell you I don’t envy you. Hahaha!

Audience: Hahaha!

Yanukovych: Hahaha! You and I know and understand each other well.

Spokeswoman: Next question, please.

Yanukovych: You figure out the rest.

Sometimes his alarm clock goes all jealous on him.



Which is why he doesn’t show up for work until 11 a.m...

Sources:
http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2011/12/21/6854230/
http://blogs.pravda.com.ua/authors/leschenko/4eeb298c40a35/

Is This Tymoshenko’s Infirmary Cell?

If so, political prisoners have more fun.

Tymoshenko: [...] there have been torture prevention reports by the United Nations Organization that prior to this I was held in conditions that were unacceptable. And that’s why I don't want you putting on a show like this.

1:16-1:28

Student Ihor Indylo, who died in police custody overnight, didn’t have the same torture prevention coverage.



He fell from his bunk right to his death. Three times. It was his third fall that killed him, according to police reports.

What about political prisoner Blagojevich? Does he have a comfy place like Tymoshenko's?

Sources:
http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2011/12/14/6838233/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSYYNzhTFxY
http://censor.net.ua/video_news/183642/video_kamer_nablyudeniya_rayiotdela_militsii_v_kotorom_umer_igor_indylo_studenta_izbili_srazu_posle

FEMEN Crash Yatsenyuk’s Rent-a-Crowd Rally

No, they’re not pro-Tymoshenko. They’re against all.



All except the real grassroots protests. That would be the anti-tax code, Chernobyl and Afghan vets crowd.

Looks like the college kids out there were having fun with all the topless ladies around. "Go baby go," they shouted as FEMEN's Inna Shevchenko mounted the Princess Olha Monument. Yeah, what can be a more boring job than waiving those “Front for Change” flags? Unless the change comes with FEMEN!

Well, some people NEVER change.

January



December



Mezhyhirya English.


Why try harder?

Sources:
http://femen.livejournal.com/181253.html
http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2011/12/2/6808911/
http://durdom.in.ua/uk/main/photo/photo_id/28065/person_id/1.phtml

Donetsk Protesters Overpower Cops, Storm Govt Building

The foot in the door philosophy at work!



Way to go Donetsk! Vote them in, vote them out.

Sources:
http://censor.net.ua/video_news/189412/razgnevannye_donetchane_taki_vylomali_dver_oga_i_vorvalis_v_zdanie_video

5,000 Fans Rally Outside Lockup as Tymoshenko Turns 51

"Вітю на нари, Юлю на Канари!" (0:32-0:35)

Ukrainians celebrate opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko birthday from alexey solodunov on Vimeo.

"Put Viktor in jail and Yulia in a fairy tale!" (poetic translation:)

As if 2008-2009 wasn’t enough of a fairy tale. The economy drops 15%, the hryvnia loses 60% of its value. People lose their jobs, savings and homes.

And PM/presidential candidate Tymoshenko loses €100K on a Spain getaway?























Not to mention her gas deal that now has Ukraine (Gazprom’s biggest client ‘10) paying well above the EU spot rates: $414 v. $360-$380. We'd be paying $514 had Yanukovych not won that super-magic gas-for-fleet discount.

Not only have we joined the EU, we’ve gone the extra mile.



So where are we, ladies? Jamaica? Haiti?



Sources:
http://vimeo.com/32764239
http://censor.net.ua/video_news/189365/miting_u_sizo_5_tysyach_storonnikov_gory_tsvetov_i_horovoe_penie_gimna_video http://mignews.com.ua/ru/articles/93629.html
http://durdom.in.ua/uk/main/photo/photo_id/27664/person_id/1.phtml
http://focus.ua/

My Blogging Career

Why blog?


2007-2008: 24,797 visits


2008-2009: 38,626 visits


2009-2010: 45,394 visits


2010-2011: 87,487 visits

Incoming links: NYTimes News Blog Guardian News Blog Kyiv Post Global Voices

What else is there? To me, blogging felt like putting Ukraine on the map. In my own way. On my own time.

And what a time it was! Planting all those red dots in places like the

• White House, State Department, House of Representatives/Senate
  
• Parliament of Canada, Privy Council Office of Canada
• UN
  
• European Commission, European Parliament
• UK Parliament
  
• CIA, FBI, DHS, DOD, NATO, NORAD, NASA
• BBC, Bloomberg, Reuters, AFP, Fox News, Al Jazeera, RFERL, VOA
• World Bank, IFC, IMF
  
• Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Berkeley, Columbia, MIT, Duke, Oxford, Cambridge
• Cuba
• North Korea

Not to mention the world’s biggest banks and corporations (another 3K visits).

My YouTube account: 2,522,000 upload views since 2007, of which Gaddafi's 2008 visit to Kyiv has fetched 1,368,000. (I used to upload and translate rafts of news reports back then.)



As you can see, I tweet from time to time, but I don’t blog as much as I used to. Blogging doesn’t pay. Working out does. I lost about 90 pounds last year. Despite all the mess in my country, I feel and look better than ever before.

That’s freedom!

Former Assistant U.S. Attorney: Tymoshenko Was 'Unindicted Co-Conspirator'

We jail your former PM L = prosecution. You jail your former PM T = persecution.







So being an “unindicted co-conspirator” kind of grants immunity from U.S. prosecution, right?

If you’re one of those lucky “unindicted co-conspirators,” you don’t get 9 years in U.S. jail like your not-so-lucky partner does. You don't even get indicted. Instead, you get full White House and State Department democracy support. Let’s call it “But She's Our Unindicted Co-Conspirator” program. Gaddafi bad, Karimov good.

Well, some U.S. judges beg to differ. To them, blood is definitely thicker than gas.


As the West worships Tymoshenko, her parliamentary bloc sides with the ruling Party of Regions again. This time they pass an election bill that kills two other opposition blocs' chances. Business as usual. The West loves that!




Rozkazhyyyyyy...chomuuuuu....teeeeell me whyyyyyy...

Sources:
http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2011/11/19/6767463/
http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2011/11/19/6767482/

Yanukovych Scared, Tymoshenko Stoic as Protests Continue

Just to be clear: It's anti-Yanukovych protests, not pro-Tymoshenko ones.

Chernobyl vet: Screw them, screw them…they’re sitting up there and torturing these people, these Chernobyl folks. The Chernobyl folks were all there, no...nobody ran away from there, and those bastards up there are hiding their asses. [mumbled fragment] They’ve shipped their kids abroad. How long can they mistreat us like that? Yanukovych, come the fuck out, bitch!

He hears everyone.

Yanukovych: …and I’m being informed by law enforcement that…weapons are being procured inside the country…and an effort is under way to attack authorities. [ …] Already, people have lost everything: both fear and shame. So who’s organizing this? [ …] Not those who are struggling the most. Those who are struggling the most, they remain silent, patient and waiting.

No offense (or should we say no fence?), but do you see anyone waiting here?



















Well, there’s one lady who’s waiting.

Tymoshenko: Hold on!

She's not working, but she's definitely Ukraine now.

Sources:
http://censor.net.ua/video_news/186748/chernobyltsy_pod_kabminom_trebuyut_prezidenta_yanukovich_bld_vyhodi_ska_video
http://censor.net.ua/video_news/186760/yanukovich_lyudi_skupayut_orujie_chtoby_napadat_na_vlast_sovsem_strah_i_sovest_poteryali_video
http://censor.net.ua/video_news/186636/chernobyltsy_prolomili_zabor_i_voshli_na_territoriyu_vokrug_parlamenta_grajdane_bandity_sdaemsya_po
http://www.pravda.com.ua/photo-video/2011/11/1/6719710/
http://www.pravda.com.ua/photo-video/2011/11/3/6727110/
http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2011/11/4/6730871/

Kuchma Chides Yanukovych (2004)

Today’s lions can be yesterday’s lambs.

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?

Sources:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUyAguCD__I
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_TOX2r92N0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HaB2KWCIdo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPtSXDCPjz4
http://www.whatson-kiev.com/index.php?go=News&in=view&id=6695

Tymoshenko Gifts Gaddafi With Sabre (2008)

Freedom fighters?

Tymoshenko: I want you to be strong...and, as always...an armed person. Hahaha!

This was November '08. I was already done with Tymoshenko.

But the West wasn’t done with Gaddafi. Even John McCain, who now supports Tymoshenko, considered Gaddafi an “interesting man.”



Still, you have to admit that giving that man a sabre and wishing him to be “armed” looks a bit too intimate of Tymoshenko.

Wanna make a dictator happy? Forget the sabre. Buy him a bigger drainage pipe! (Or maybe a bigger gas pipeline?)


Hope Tymoshenko would agree.

Sources:
http://tsn.ua
http://1tv.com.ua
http://kanalukraina.tv

As Yanukovych Jails Tymoshenko for 7 Years, FEMEN Slam Both

Last October, they messed with Putin. Now they're messing with his partners.



“Switch on your mind!” “Tymoshenko and Yanukovych, same shit!”

That's all it takes for Tymoshenko fans to side with the police. The same police that used force to disperse their rally.









As Tymoshenko fans in the EU are going into police mode, Yanukovych has said that the final say rests with the Court of Appeals. Which probably means she'll let her go. Who doesn't need a safe retirement plan?

The EU will be fine with that. Who doesn't need low transit rates and stability?

But there's one problem. The Ukrainian people might feel a little different about this whole gas-stability thing.

Sources:
http://femen.livejournal.com/174237.html
http://www.pravda.com.ua/articles/2011/10/11/6654310/

Yanukovych Booed, FEMEN Chased as Stadium Reopens

I play, you pay.







If you think Ukraine’s richer Turkey, think again. We’re richer than Germany!

Olympic (Kyiv, 68,000 seats): €435M
Olympia (Berlin, 74,000 seats): €242M
Allianz Arena (Munich, 70,000 seats): €340M

That last one they built from scratch.

If you feel like scratching your head a little bit, wait until you see this.




Breathtaking, huh? That's Yanukovych’s Mezhyhirya principality.





Hey, EU, you want this *decriminalized* too? Done! Just make sure you hire Tymoshenko to negotiate your gas bills with Russia, OK?

You can then grant immunity to Yanukovych and hire him to run the ECB.

What do you say, Shakira?





Sources:
http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2011/10/8/6649137/
http://blogs.pravda.com.ua/authors/larin/4e90bed263e0a/
http://femen.livejournal.com/173971.html#cutid1
http://gallery.korrespondent.net/ukraine/3400-s-neba-na-zemlyu-eksklyuzivnye-snimki-mezhigorya-s-vysoty-ptichego-poleta?img=0
http://www.pravda.com.ua/articles/2011/10/6/6645004/

Ukraine in Geopolitical Cartoons

What do you make of Ukraine?

Spotted this street exhibit while walking down Khreshchatyk last Sunday.