Kumy Yushchenka

Свита короля. Часть 1: Кумовья-соратники президента
http://www.podrobnosti.ua/analytics/2005/07/07/225274.html
07 июля 2005 14:50
Алексей Сахно
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Короля делает свита. Кто сегодня делает Ющенко?

Скоро уже полгода как Виктор Андреевич, взойдя на Олимп украинской власти, обустраивает жизнь страны. На протяжении всего этого времени неоднократно можно было услышать, прочитать и даже увидеть, что "Ющенко пытается, но его окружение ему не дает". И это при том, что Ющенко уже первыми своими кадровыми назначениями вроде бы сломал стереотип о своей мягкотелости и подверженности практически любому влиянию. Поэтому меня, например, все это время занимали следующие вопросы: как могла сложиться такая ситуация? На кого опирается Виктор Андреевич в своей нелегкой работе и кто же в новой власти может противопоставить свое влияние инициативам президента?

В окружении Ющенко и на принятие им каких-либо решений видную роль играют люди, так или иначе связанные с ним родственными узами - ситуация, свойственная для украинской власти всех времен. На этом постоянно акцентирует внимание нынешняя оппозиция - а недавно клановая власть, - утверждая, что Ющенко не выполняет свои предвыборные обещания и вообще мало чем отличается от нелюбимого сегодня никем Леонида Кучмы.

С одной стороны, ничего плохого, а тем более хорошего в привлечении родственников во власть нет - надо признать факт, что в Украине это уже давно сложившая и часто применяемая практика. С другой стороны, этого никогда не поймут и не одобрят (но могут смириться) в западных демократиях. Исключение, пожалуй, могут составить разве что США в сегодняшний период их истории (а ведь еще при Клинтоне Конгресс посчитал невозможным назначение на пост шефа ЦРУ отличного профессионала, настоящего знатока своего дела - не припомню, к сожалению, сейчас его имени - только потому, что они когда-то были одноклассниками).

Итак, самый видный деятель, естественно, - Петр Порошенко. Отношения между кумовьями всегда были очень близкими и продуктивными, но нельзя сказать - безоблачными и предельно откровенными. И не последнее тому доказательство - опубликованные вчера пресловутым майором Мельниченко записи разговоров Петра Алексеевича и Леонида Даниловича. Самому Мыколе у меня уже давно веры нет, а вот такое долгое отсутствие реакции Порошенко на публикацию записей (на момент выхода статьи - 14.50 7.07.2005) начинает вызывать серьезные подозрения в их подлинности. Учитывая и так сомнительную репутацию секретаря СНБО в народе, молчание в данном случае - смерти подобно. Однако вряд ли Порошенко сильно волнует его рейтинг в обществе. Намного для него страшнее потерять какое-никакое доверие кума Ющенко. Ведь в записях речь идет не только и не столько о делах политических, сколько о личных - о жене Виктора Андреевича, Екатерине. И если политические "ошибки" президент наверняка сможет куму простить (сам он тоже не ангел), то поддакивание Кучме в оскорблениях самого родного человека - маловероятно (по крайней мере, в личных отношениях).

Кроме недавно открывшихся аспектов, немало омрачали совместную жизнь и работу президента и секретаря СНБО и вражда последнего с Юлией Тимошенко - хоть и не родственником, но стратегически важным и незаменимым союзником Ющенко. Навредила Порошенко и то, что он демонстративно надолго стал в позу (очень, кстати, неудобную для Ющенко) после указа президента о назначении и.о. премьера Юлии Владимировны. А связи и интересы Петра Алексеевича в России, его эсдэкское прошлое, а также его сотрудничество с Борисом Березовским давно уже стали притчей во языцех. В общем, рискнем предположить, что отношения Ющенко и Порошенко потеряли былую крепость и сегодня сохраняются лишь в силу необходимости и очевидной невозможности безболезненно умалить роль секретаря СНБО в современных политических процессах.

И напоследок хотелось бы напомнить, что в период "премьериады" Ольга Дмитричева писала в "Зеркале недели": кто из окружения Ющенко первым обратится к услугам Пиховшека, тот и слабое звено. Первым оказался Порошенко...

Теряя позицию "первого среди равноприближенных", Петр Порошенко уступает это место Екатерине Ющенко. Сама первая леди страны не афиширует своего воздействия на Виктора Ющенко, утверждая, что "влиять на моего мужа невозможно", но эксперты утверждают, что оно - колоссальное. Она вряд ли непосредственно влияет на внутриполитические процессы, зато ее мнение далеко не последнее в вопросе формирования личных симпатий президента. Политолог Кость Бондаренко в одной из своих статей заметил, что влияние Екатерины Ющенко на мужа более сильное, чем влияние Раисы Горбачёвой на президента СССР. Кроме того, считается, что именно благодаря супруге, Виктор Андреевич имеет неплохие выходы на американский истеблишмент.

Важное место в окружении Екатерины Ющенко занимает Оксана Билозир - известная украинская эстрадная певица и по совместительству министр культуры и туризма Украины. Говорят, Екатерина Михайловна - настоящая фанатка творчества Оксаны Владимировны; они также являются кумами. Кумом супруги президента является еще один министр - по делам молодежи и спорта Юрий Павленко.

В отличие от Петра Порошенко, ни Билозир, ни Павленко пока не были и вряд ли будут замечены в стане тех, кто досаждает президенту - уж слишком они не самостоятельны. А отношения с Ющенко супругой могли бы послужить хорошим примером для многих украинских семей.

Ну и наконец не могу я не сказать несколько слов о Петре и Ярославе Ющенко, отце и сыне, брате и племяннике президента. Петр Андреевич - известный харьковский предприниматель, народный депутат и руководителем депутатской группы "Разом". Она известна тем, что в ее состав входят в основном депутаты-предприниматели, которых называют главными финансистами избирательной кампании Виктора Ющенко.

Присутствие Петра Андреевича во власти давало оппозиции достаточно поводов для нападок на новое руководство Украины, в основном в связи с его предпринимательской деятельностью. Но я не об этом. А о том, что можно предположить наличие определенных связей между братом-политиком и братом-бизнесменом, которые не ограничиваются чисто семейными интересами, хотя веских доказательств этого нет. Тем не менее, есть связь - есть влияние, однако о его степени доподлинно ничего не известно. При всем при этом наивно было бы думать, что Петр Ющенко, принимая непосредственное участие в координации всех организационных вопросов блока "Наша Украина" и хотя бы частично курируя его финансы, не принимает активного участия в выработке политических решений. Наверное, он просто выбрал для себя нишу "серого кардинала" при публичном политике Викторе Ющенко.

Что же насчет Ярослава Петровича Ющенко, то этот молодой человек самый удаленный из самых близких к президенту. Скорее всего, это его сознательный выбор, поскольку "президентская" фамилия и так делала, делает и будет делать свое дело. Свое назначение на пост заместителя главы Харьковской облгосадминистрации он воспринимает как шанс, "чтобы прожить жизнь не племянником президента, а какой-то такой самостоятельной боевой единицей". Очевидно, что влияния на Виктора Андреевича он не имеет и иметь не может.

Вот вроде бы и все о кумах-соратниках Ющенко, точнее об их влиянии на президента и принятие им решений. Хотя нет, не все. Вопреки сложившемуся стереотипу, старательно поддерживаемом противниками власти, не каждый кум автоматически попадает в орбиту Ющенко. Яркий тому пример - председатель правления банка "Ажио", Станислав Аржевитин. Он - также кум Ющенко, однако далек от президента как Украина от вступления в ЕС. Видимо, ему хватает забот в бизнесе, и он не заинтересован вступать в конфликты за место в свите короля.

Читайте продолжение статьи "Свита короля. Часть 2: Друзья-помощники президента"

Yuschenko to sign Russian as Official Lang?

Ющенко на днях підпише указ про введення ділової російської мови у східних регіонах України?
http://www.sprotiv.kiev.ua/ [27.03.2005 17:47]
Ющенко на днях підпише указ про введення ділової російської мови у регіонах України, де переважає російськомовне населення?

Джерелом цієї інформації стали повідомлення співробітників деяких міністерства, де проект Указу Президента України начебто лежить на столі.

Надання російській мові офіційного статусу - це і є загострення мовної проблеми, якої де факто не існує.
Зараз на сході України не чутно ніяких нарікань місцевого російськомовного населення на примусову українізацію.

Але схоже новій владі хочеться штучно створити мовну проблему і тут же штучно вирішити на користь російськомовного населення, щоб заробити зайві очки серед цього населення.
Якому насправді завжди було мовне питання байдуже - до того моменту, поки йому не починали нав'язувати думку, що йому потрібен якийсь там "статус російської мови".

* RUSSIA * UKRAINE * POPULATION * POLL * DEMOCRATIC INSTITUTIONS

2004-12-24 13:21

http://en.rian.ru/rian/index.cfm?prd_id=160&msg_id=5248501&startrow=1&date=2004-12-24&do_alert=0

MOSCOW, December 24 (RIA Novosti) - Opinion polls show that there are fewer supporters of democracy in Russia than in Ukraine. Ukrainians and Russians agree that Russians will not become more politically motivated in the foreseeable future, reported Vremya Novostei.

According to the opinion poll conducted by the Russian Public Opinion Center (VTsIOM) in November, 40% of respondents believe democracy is the best form of government in any circumstances. Less people (24%) believe dictatorship can be more effective than democracy in certain circumstances. And a rather large portion (27%) take a relativistic approach saying that "for individuals like me there is not difference between a dictatorship and democracy." The majority of respondents (56%) are not happy with the performance of Russia's democratic institutions.

A survey conducted by DIAS, showed that 64% of Ukrainians prefer the democratic form of government. About the same number (61%) of respondents said they were not satisfied with democratic institutes in their country. Ukrainians did not believe in the effectiveness of the majority of democratic institutes from the beginning and therefore resorted to protests.

According to VTsIOM's December survey, Russians are skeptical about the possibility of a "revolutionary" upturn in Russia.

The sections and groups of society which "propelled" mass protests in Ukraine are the least politically motivated in Russia. The most capable sections of Russian society (middle class, the youth, residents of large industrial cities, above all Moscow and St. Petersburg) apply their energy in areas besides the public and political spheres.

A sharp deterioration of the economic situation accompanied by a decline in living standards for the majority of people could prompt Russians to protest in the streets, 32% of respondents said.

However, the 1998 financial crisis did not lead to mass protests in Russia.

The Orange Revolution Through the Eyes of Kateryna Yuschenko (in Ukrainian)

Dec 23, 2004 Interview with Kateryna Yuschenko published in Vechirni Visti
Ukrainian text follows

Оранжева Україна очима Катерини Ющенко

Ілона Богуш
12:51, 23 грудня 2004 // "Вечірні вісті"

Дружина народного Президента збирається і надалі оздоровлювати дітей, опікуватися дитячими будинками, музеями і театрами

Катерина Ющенко першою з дружин вітчизняних політиків вийшла з тіні свого відомого чоловіка і стала самодостатньою публічною персоною. І відбулося це не тільки і не стільки через її бажання, а в силу різних обставин. Родина Віктора Ющенка стала об’єктом політичного переслідування відтоді, як він – тодішній голова Нацбанку очолив Кабінет Міністрів. Впливові опоненти (Ющенко навіть після отруєння уникає слова вороги) розпочали неоголошену війну проти нього та його родини. Дісталося всім: Ющенку, вихідцю східної Сумщини – за «печерний націоналізм», а самій Катерині Михайлівні, чиї батьки народилися на Київщині та Донбасі, – за «співпрацю» з американським ЦРУ, ізраїльською розвідкою Мосад та Бен Ладеном разом узятими. Всі випробування, а також жахливе отруєння Віктора Ющенка загартували цю жінку. І тепер після відомого шоу з «наколотими апельсинами» та «американськими валянками» ні в кого не має сумнівів, що статус першої леді пасує саме пані Катерині.



«Віктор відчув серцем, що люди готові боротися за свою свободу до кінця»

– Катерино Михайлівно, як змінилося ваше уявлення про Україну за останній час, зокрема після оранжевої революції?

– Думаю, Україна стала прикладом для багатьох країн та націй, які ще не здобули свободи. Ми довели всім, що свободу можна здобути без крові, за допомогою слова, пісні й молитви. Ще кілька тижнів тому я не знала, як саме розвиватимуться події, мала певні сумніви щодо такої рішучості наших людей. Адже українці не завжди у своїй історії могли перебороти у собі традиційний принцип: моя хата з краю. Однак, Віктор відчував серцем, що цього разу люди готові до кінця боротися за свою свободу. Вже наступного ранку після другого туру він запевнив мене, що вся сила в руках у людей і що вони це відчувають.

– Мільйони громадян вважають вашого чоловіка символом нації. Що при цьому ви відчуваєте ви, як дружина?

– Дуже приємно, що цих людей так багато і що вони такі різні. Коли стоїш і чуєш, як сотні тисяч громадян виголошують ім’я твого чоловіка, розумієш, що ці миті закарбуються в пам’яті назавжди. Для мене це надзвичайно зворушливо і відповідально. Ці події особливі і для нашої родини, і для історії усієї країни. Колись я розказуватиму про цю щасливу мить нашого життя своїм внукам. Ви тільки подивіться, який сплеск народного фольклору відбувся за останній місяць! Чого тільки варті хоча б ті «дикі барабанщики», за висловом Руслани, які без усіляких репетицій на морозі вправно вибивали ритм, захищаючи свої права та свободу.

– Одним із основних аргументів прихильників Ющенка є те, що їхній обранець, передусім, моральний. Що, у вашу розумінні, мораль у політиці?

– І в політиці, і в житті мораль має єдині ознаки. Аби бути моральним політиком не потрібно робити щось надзвичайне. Передусім, треба бути чистим перед собою, законом і людьми. Моральний політик має працювати на добробут країни і поважати її громадян.

– Пані Катерино, знаю ви колекціонуєте зображення Божої Матері. Напевно в останні місяці ви особливо до неї зверталися?

– Це справді так. До речі, напередодні останніх подій мені привезли одне з таких зображень із Португалії. Зараз я ношу його на ланцюжку біля серця.

Мені здається українці вже відчули на собі Божу благодать, ставши свідками міжконфесійного миру на Майдані, коли представники багатьох конфесій відстоювали спільну правду. А ще ми з чоловіком щиро раділи за хлопців та дівчат, які поєднали свої долі під час помаранчевої революції на очах всього Майдану Незалежності. Ми обов’язково подаруємо цим подружжям ікони й рушники на згадку від своєї родини.



«Я щодня виходила на площу, спілкувалася з людьми, дізнавалася якої допомоги вони потребують»

– Якою ви особисто побачили помаранчеву революцію? Що вам найбільше запам’яталося?

– Я щодня виходила на площу, спілкувалася з людьми, приносила їжу, дізнавалася якої ще допомоги вони потребують. Пам’ятаю, підходжу до хлопців, цікавлюся, чи не холодно їм на морозі стояти, а вони кажуть, що власну свободу готові виборювати хоч до Нового року. У їдальні, де готували їжу для людей на Майдані, я цікавилася, які продукти треба купити. Але мені говорили, що кухня завалена продуктами і пропонували самій взяти щось додому.

Людей дуже згуртували останні події. Вони щиро допомагали один одному. Мене щиро вразило, коли комендант наметового містечка, якому я запропонувала теплий одяг, протягнув мені у відповідь пакунок зі шкарпетками, який, від імені наметового містечка, попросив передати «польовим командирам» Тимошенко, Томенку і Луценку.

Кожен виявляв свої таланти і робив те, чим міг бути корисним. Музиканти підтримували людей піснями. Політики – влучним словом. 600 лікарів безоплатно працювали в медичних пунктах, розгорнутих на Майдані та навколишніх будівлях. Кияни зігрівали у своїх квартирах приїжджих, причому стояли для цього у чергах. Розказували, як до одного з пунктів розселення прийшли 70-річні чоловік з дружиною і сказали, що у них в однокімнатній квартирі вже живуть шестеро хлопців, але вони готові взяти ще двох.

– Якою була психологічна атмосфера у вашій родині під час останніх подій? Як їх оцінили ваші діти?

– Ми з Віктором просили дітей запам’ятовувати все це, аби колись вони розказували про це своїм дітям. Однак, маленькі сприймають світ інакше, аніж дорослі. Їм, скажімо, дуже сподобалися і запам’яталися слова народного гімну помаранчевої революції. Якось я прокинулася вдома від ритмічного маршу. Відкриваю очі і бачу, як дівчатка навколо мене крокують одна за одною, виспівуючи: „Разом нас багато, нас не подолати!»

Ще одного разу, коли до нас завітала лікарка, Софійка підбігла і запиталася, чи можна їй розказати новий вірш?». Звісно, жіночка дозволила і Софійка почала: „Ми – не бидло, ми – не козли, ми – України доньки і сини!» Мені навіть якось незручно стало, але це було дуже весело і всім сподобалося.

– Як сприйняла революцію на Майдані ваша свекруха Варвара Тимофіївна?

– Вона дуже переживає за свого сина, за нашу родину. Вже четвертий місяць Варвара Тимофіївна знаходиться в лікарні, де відновлюється після інсульту. Телевізор вона не дивиться, адже будь-які емоції можуть зашкодити її здоров’ю, тож про останні події дізнається від нас. До речі, нещодавно у свекрухи був день народження, і до неї приходило багато друзів, знайомих, зокрема, односельчан з Хоружівки, які підтримували Віктора на Майдані.



«Ми з 1992 року разом допомагаємо дитбудинкам. Щороку оздоровлюємо дітей в Карпатах»

– Пані Катерино, якщо Віктор Андрійович переможе, ви отримаєте статус першої леді. Чим на вашу думку має займатися дружина Президента?

– Перша леді, передусім, має займатися корисними для суспільства справами.

Я обов’язково буду продовжувати разом із Всесвітньою благодійною організацією „Приятелі дітей» підтримувати дітей, які потребують допомоги. Ми з 1995 року допомагаємо дитячим будинкам України ліками, одягом тощо. Щороку оздоровлюємо дітей в Карпатах, найбільш талановитим допомагаємо з подальшим вступом до університетів.

Вважаю важливим напрямком діяльності дружини президента підтримку української культури, зокрема музеїв та театрів. Крім того, я намагаюся сприяти дослідженню голодомору, який особисто пережили мої батьки. Чимало моїх рідних загинули в цей трагічний період української історії. Наразі ми започаткували програму, пов’язану з дослідженням цієї теми. Ми хочемо охопити якомога більше людей, свідків голодомору. Звісно, багато часу мені доведеться приділяти і родині, оскільки в нас підростає троє маленьких дітей. Найменшому Тарасику виповнилося лише дев’ять місяців.

– У пресі активно обговорюють питання вашої участі в теледебатах з Людмилою Янукович. Чи готові ви взяти в них участь?

– Мені здається, що погляди дружини президента не є надто важливими для громадян, оскільки вони голосують за певних кандидатів, а не за їхніх жінок.

– Для багатьох людей помаранчева революція залишиться гарним спогадом, який означатиме початок кращої долі. Проте, для вашого чоловіка, після 26 грудня, розпочнеться дуже відповідальний період...

– Як сказав під час свого останнього інтерв’ю Вацлав Гавел: „Розчарування після виборів є неминучим». Громадяни, які вийшли на вулицю вірять у швидкі зміни. І вони безперечно відбудуться. Щоправда, не так швидко, як всім нам хотілося б. Але зобов’язання, які поклала на себе команда мого чоловіка, будуть неодмінно виконані. Новому уряду доведеться дуже багато працювати тільки, щоб вивести економіку з нинішньої кризи і довести, принаймні, до показників 2001-го року.



«У день, коли Віктора отруїли, я відчула на його губах незвичний медичний присмак»

– Вважається, що близькі люди інтуїтивно відчувають небезпеку заздалегідь. Якось ви говорили, що першою зрозуміли, що Віктора Андрійовича отруїли...

– Це дійсно так. Я усвідомлюю, які небезпечні та цинічні люди протистоять моєму чоловіку. Тож мимоволі відчувала, що щось має трапитися.

Я дуже добре пам’ятаю той вечір. В ніч на 6 вересня Віктор повернувся додому з поїздки до Чернігова дуже пізно. Як завжди, я поцілувала його і відчула на губах якийсь незвичний медичний присмак. Навіть запитала чоловіка, чи не приймав він якісь ліки. Віктор відповів, що ні і сказав, що дуже не хотів їхати на цю останню зустріч.

Мені чомусь дуже запам’яталася та розмова і той присмак на його губах. Перші симптоми, що непокоїли чоловіка, не викликали в мене серйозного побоювання. І навіть, коли Віктор занедужав, я свідомо відганяла думки про політичну розправу. Більше того, допоки українські лікарі не сказали, що у Віктора звичайне побутове отруєння та шлунковий грип, вважала, що його недуга викликана перевтомою.

– Багато хто відзначає, що Віктор Ющенко після останніх подій став більш жорстким політиком. Чи помітили ви якісь зміни у своєму чоловікові?

– Мій чоловік завжди був сильною людиною. Але його вихованість не дозволяла йому виставляти це напоказ. До того ж, особливої потреби в цьому Віктор раніше не відчував. Йому властиве бажання бачити в людях лише позитивне. Проте, сьогодні він зрозумів, на що реально здатні його опоненти.

– У вас ніколи не виникало бажання виїхати з дітьми з країни хоча б на час виборів, аби уберегти родину від небезпеки?

– Звісно, нам радили не ризикувати здоров’ям дітей, на адресу яких надходили погрози. Але ми не могли залишити Віктора у такий складний відповідальний момент. Ми – його надійна підтримка та опора. До того ж, багато українців з усього світу мріяли стати учасниками помаранчевої революції, і разом зі своїми земляками захищати спільну свободу. Я пишаюся, що наша родина разом із мільйонами українців брала у ній участь.

– Існує думка, що громадяни, які перемогли у помаранчевій революції, матимуть тепер значно вищі вимоги до новообраного Президента...

– Дай Боже, щоб так сталося. Адже бути президентом вільних свідомих людей набагато почесніше, ніж тих, які відчувають себе рабами.

Переконана, що у людей, які 17 днів відстоювали власні свободи на зимовому Майдані вимоги справді будуть високими. Мені здається, що нова влада має провести курс економічних реформ, завдяки яким всі громадяни, зокрема і зі Сходу, які не настільки активно підтримали Майдан, могли відчути покращення життя, отримали нові робочі місця та високі соціальні гарантії. Тоді вони швидко усвідомлять, що шлях для України один – бути заможною європейською державою.



«Чоловікову я подарувала помаранчевий светр та краватку. А маленькому Тарасику – оранжеву соску»

– Сьогодні вся Україна вбралася в апельсиновий колір. Ви особисто встигли оновили гардероб своєї родини?

– Хочу зізнатися, що спочатку не сприймала цей колір. Більше того, вважала, що він не дуже гармонує зі стилем мого чоловіка. Однак, тепер я цей колір просто обожнюю. Мода на оранжевий поширилася всім світом. Цей колір став символічним не лише для нашої родини. Ви ж бачили, що навіть у Румунії опозиція, яка також перемогла команду чинного прем’єра, йшла під помаранчевими прапорами. Це дуже зворушливо для мене. Сьогодні в крамницях мій погляд підсвідомо зупиняється на оранжевих речах.

Коли Віктор знаходився у лікарні, я завжди приходила до нього з маленьким подаруночком, аби хоч трохи підняти йому настрій. Я подарувала чоловікові оранжевий светр, оранжеву краватку, купувала сувеніри із зображенням бджілки, які нагадували йому улюблену пасіку.

До речі, наші маленькі модники теж віддають данину помаранчевій моді... Віднедавна у маленького Тарасика з’явилася помаранчева соска, а Софійка з Христинкою і Домінічкою взагалі відмовляються вдягати речі іншого кольору. До речі, за кілька днів ми прикрашатимемо родинну новорічну ялинку. Завжди була прихильницею традиційної зеленої ялинки, але цього року, напевно, оберемо оранжеву.

– Які книжки ви читаєте останнім часом?

– Нещодавно придбала всі книжки Оксани Забужко, які знайшла на полицях книжкової крамниці. Подобається проза Юрія Андруховича. Знову перечитала біографію Василя Стуса. Хотілося б, звісно, читати більше. Щоправда, робити це вдається лише перед сном, коли засинає Тарасик. Попри прохання чоловіка вимкнути світло, принаймні двадцять хвилин приділяю українській літературі. Читаю книжки і англійською, особливо романи та історичні повісті. До речі, коли ми їдемо з родиною на відпочинок, половина моєї валізи наповнена книжками. Коли чоловік катається на лижах, я дістаю книжки і в мене починається відпустка...

– До речі, цієї зими ви плануєте відпочивати?

Взимку без Карпат ми вже не можемо. Тому кілька днів обов’язково виділимо для гірського відпочинку. Торік Софія вперше стала на лижі і відтоді щодня запитує, коли ми знову поїдемо кататися. Віктор також любить гори. Коли ми разом побачили, як на Говерлі замайорів помаранчевий прапор, у мене навіть з’явилися сльози.

Vote monitors deploy in Ukraine, Putin sees 'double standards'

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20041223/wl_afp/ukrainevote.041223184813

KIEV (AFP) - Western observers deployed in Ukraine to monitor a presidential vote rerun this weekend as Russian President Vladimir Putin (news - web sites) again attacked the West's role and motives in the former Soviet republic.


The candidate Putin supported in an earlier and now-discredited attempt to elect a new leader of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovich, meanwhile attacked his pro-Western opponent, Viktor Yushchenko, saying he and his supporters were paid by the West to "sell out their homeland."


Election observers from a range of Western institutions and governments including the European parliament, the NATO (news - web sites) parliamentary assembly, the Organization for Security and Cooperation (news - web sites) in Europe, the United States and others were huddling in Kiev preparing to fan out across the country.


Ukrainian officials have said that more than 12,000 people have been registered to monitor the election Sunday, a repeat of a November 21 election that sparked mass street protests, enflamed tensions between Russia and the West and was subsequently invalidated due to widespread fraud.


Laws have been changed, top election officials replaced and mass media coverage that largely favored Yanukovich in the earlier vote has now become balanced, but there were nonetheless concerns that the repeat vote could be tainted by irregularities or violence.


"There's been very, very little time to implement those changes," said Patrick Merloe, director of electoral programs for the US-based National Democratic Institute, who is in Ukraine to observe the vote.


"This country has gone through an amazing process to have an election invalidated," he said, but "at the same time, to be able to implement the reforms is not something that's easily done."


One of the changes limited home voting only to the seriously disabled. "We have a concern that these changes may well disenfranchise some legitimate voters," Merloe said.


Speaking Friday after a campaign rally in the southwest city of Vinnitsya, Yanukovich said he could "not control" talk among some of his supporters of protesting Sunday's election should Yushchenko win as many pundits forecast.


"This is not a question for me," said the 54-year-old Yanukovich, who has taken leave from his post of prime minister during the campaign.


He renewed accusations that Yushchenko and his "orange" opposition movement -- named after the theme color chosen by the candidate's campaign -- had been funded by Western governments through programs and organizations to promote democracy.


"We saw how the oranges have shown their true face," Yanukovich said. "We see how they can fight for power using foreign funds and under orders to sell out their homeland."


Western governments and institutions, the United States and the European Union (news - web sites) in particular, have denied directly funding Yushchenko. Two US congressmen however have called for an investigation into how US foreign aid funds have been used in Ukraine.


The European Union cautioned that the future of its relations with Ukraine would be determined by the conduct of the repeat election.


"The way the electoral process is conducted will set the framework for future relations between Ukraine and the EU," the bloc's foreign affairs chief, Javier Solana, said in a statement released in Brussels.


"I am confident that all sides will work to ensure that these elections are free, fair and transparent," Solana added. "The population of the country has been calling clearly and loudly for this in the past few weeks."


Russian President Vladimir Putin bridled at US and European involvement in the political situation in Ukraine, saying it smacked of hypocrisy and bias and was destabilizing there and elsewhere in the former Soviet Union.





"If you have permanent revolutions you risk plunging the post-Soviet space into endless conflict," Putin said at his annual news conference in Moscow, referring also to the so-called "rose revolution" in neighbouring Georgia in late 2003 that brought US-educated President Mikhail Saakashvili to power.

"I am worried about these double standards," Putin said.

Putin again slammed US-led plans to press ahead with elections next month in Iraq (news - web sites) and said it was the height of hypocrisy for Western governments to criticise Russia for pursuing its interests in neighbouring former Soviet republics.

"Today according to our estimates there are nine cities in Iraq where there are hostilities but they still want to carry out elections," he said, condemning European elections monitors' plans to observe the poll from Jordan as a "farce".

"We do not understand how there can be an election in a country under conditions of total occupation... It's absurd. It's a farce. Everything is upside down."

The Russian leader said it was "complete nonsense" to accuse Moscow of trying to "devour" its smaller neighbours in the former Soviet sphere of influence, referring to countries such as Georgia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan during a wide-ranging annual press conference.

He said "permanent revolutions" such as the so-called "orange revolution" of West-leaning Ukrainian opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko risked plunging the region into "endless conflict".

Even so Putin said Moscow would "respect the will of the Ukrainian people" in Sunday's election.

"We hope that the national interests triumph over the political expediency of some," he said.

"We will work with any leader in Ukraine, but we expect that in the entourage of Viktor Yushchenko there will not be people who build their political ambitions on anti-Russian slogans."

Putin has previously accused the West of pursuing neo-colonialist objectives in eastern Europe and his latest comments mark an escalation in Moscow's rhetoric against perceived Western meddling in traditional Russian affairs.

He said he would raise concerns that the United States is trying to "isolate" Russia when he meets US President George W. Bush (news - web sites) early next year.

But the Russian president otherwise praised the strength of US-Russian relations, especially in the fight against terrorism.

"The United States is one of our high priority partners. We happen to be natural partners in resolving several acute problems these days, especially combating terrorism," he said.

"I would describe our relations not as a partnership but as an alliance."

Major scandal evolves around e-voting machines in Russia

12/22/2004 14:21
http://english.pravda.ru/main/18/88/353/14750_.html
This seems to be the first time Russian electronic system for counting paper ballots has had such major glitch.

On December 19th Russia's Arkhangelsky region hosted local Legislative Assembly elections. Several other major coastal towns were also electing new leaders of administration as well as local delegates at around the same time. The results shocked not only the actual candidates and voters but many members of the elections committee as well.

Apparently, what the electronic system for counting paper ballots had displayed had little to do with reality! Distrustful observers from the majority of candidates preferred to stand in close proximity to the electronic counting devices and counted each ballot manually. Hours later, the elections results were announced.and as it turned out, the results did not match at all! In fact, they weren't even close! Nonetheless, representatives of the elections committee refuse to conduct hand recount of the ballots. "This isn"t America!" they claim in unison.

Here is a real paradox: electronic machine manual FORBIDS hand recount of paper ballots. The situation resembles events in Abkhazia, Georgia and Ukraine. Rumor has it that supporters of the northern electorate intend to go on strike. Members of one of the opposition blocs in Arkhangelsk plan to the piquet local elections committee building. In the Russian town of Severodvinsk, crowds are already gathering by the city hall. Nearly two hundred complaints have been filed to the administration pointing to the severe violations of the elections process. The fact that the elections have been falsified appears clear as day. Usually calm coastal region of Russia is now furious.

The most authoritative regional newspaper "Pravda Severa" has published an interesting article entitled "The power of falsifications" prior to the elections. "In it the author states the following: "Elections scandals connected to the falsification of the final count tend to gain popularity across the globe: in America, Georgia, Abkhazia, Ukraine. Each one of these scandals is caused by strong desire of those at power to keep their power. In this situation the end justifies the means, indeed. Whereas the end symbolizes ultimate power and means - falsification of elections results. In case in 2000 American scandal has lead to a mere hand recount of paper ballots, in 2003, during Georgian elections, opposition forces have first seized the parliament and then the power itself. Ukraine is the most recent and most painful example of such falsification."

"Scandal that has evolved around the elections in Severodvinsk (Arkhangelsk region) is destined to evolve into a major all-Russian issue. According to a reporter from Regions.Ru, on December 19th at approximately 11:00 pm at the polling station #835 noticed that the ballots were removed from the electronic machines taken some place in unsealed containers. The observers followed members of the committee to find out what was happening. As it turned out, the basement of Severodvinsk City Hall had an entire collection filled with voting ballots from all the polling stations. The ballots were left there practically unattended. Nearly fifteen individuals including candidates, members of their pre-elections campaigns have gathered in the basement. Law enforcement authorities were also present. Police soon sealed up the basement. Representatives of the Severodvinsk City hall have not commented the incident yet."

Our special correspondent has got a hold of a copy of the elections protocol at one of the polling stations in Severodvinsk. 980 voting ballots have been distributed among voters at the polling station #858. Only 701 of those ballots ended up inside the machines. Such mismatch occurred at almost every single polling station across the region. Interestingly, all the ballots still remain in the basement of Severodvinsk City Hall.

It has just come to our knowledge that local elections committee has decided to count the ballots by hand at one of the polling stations. The recount is scheduled to take place this Saturday.

This situation in Severodvinsk closely resembles the US elections of 2000 and 2004. Perhaps, on a slightly smaller scale though. In any case however voters" rights have been violated. In 2000 George Bush managed to win the elections after a hand recount.



Read the original in Russian:
http://www.pravda.ru/politics/2004/1/6/204/18715_Pomopie.html
(Translated by: Anna Ossipova)

Living in the Dead Zone

December 22, 2004
OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR
By MARTIN CRUZ SMITH
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/22/opinion/22cruzsmith.html

OUTSIDE, a hard winter's afternoon settles on the village, but inside their cottage Nikolai and Nastia lay out a spread: apples from their orchard, pickles from their garden, mushrooms from the woods around and full glasses of samogon, otherwise known as Ukrainian moonshine. Samogon, the locals say, offers protection from radioactivity, a consideration since we are in a "black village" written off for human occupation in 1986 after the explosion of Reactor 4 at the Chernobyl nuclear power station a mere dozen miles away.

"You grow your own food?" a guest asks.

"All of it," Nastia says.

The guest takes a discreet glance at his dosimeter.

The village is called "black" as in abandoned. But as if to make the name literally true, the neighboring houses have turned black and tilted into a slow slide into the earth. Trees reach in and out the windows. The yards are littered with bureaus, picture frames, chairs. At the beginning of the cleanup, the authorities buried the most radioactive houses, until it dawned on them that they were doing an excellent job of poisoning the groundwater. So the contaminated houses stand. For how long? According to an ecologist at the power station: "In 250 years everything is back to normal. Except for plutonium - that will take 25,000 years."

Nikolai and Nastia's cottage is basically one room around an oven with a built-in shelf to sleep on during the coldest nights.

"It's home," Nastia says. She wears a sweater and shawl permanently. Her smile is bright steel and her blue eyes shine with delight and a certain sense of collusion. Visitors are rare in the 19-mile-radius Zone of Exclusion around the reactors and, of course, she is not supposed to be there at all. Nastia and Nikolai were evacuated like everyone else, but sneaked like partisans back to their cottage in the woods. So much for zone security.

Since then, the authorities have largely let Nastia and Nikolai alone among the zone's phantom population of returnees, scavengers and poachers. Almost perversely, the wildlife there is flourishing; poachers hunt wild boar, served later in the finest restaurants of Kiev and Moscow. Scavengers cut up abandoned radioactive cars and trucks are to sell as parts in the chop shops of Russia.

Nikolai and Nastia aren't on the run, they've just become invisible. They didn't vote in the recent presidential runoff election; there were no polling booths in the black villages. (To vote, they would have had to be bused out of the zone to cast a ballot bearing the address they had been assigned to and escaped from.) Doctors warned Nastia that if she remains in her village, radioactivity will give her cancer in 25 years. Nastia is 75 now. She says she'll take her chances.

Nastia sings a traditional harvest song in a young, birdlike voice. The samogon has brought out a fine sweat on every brow.

What amazes me is not that two elderly peasants have become invisible, but that Chernobyl itself has, as if it were a subject too awful to contemplate. In the rain, the sarcophagus, the 10-story steel-and-concrete box heroically constructed over Reactor 4, leaks like a radioactive sieve into groundwater that drains in the Pripyat River, which feeds the Dnepr, which is the drinking water for Kiev. Ninety percent of the core is still in the reactor, breaking down and heating up, and the station's managers say that the sarcophagus itself could collapse at any time.

How dangerous would that be? Estimates of deaths from the explosion range from 41 to more than 300,000. The Zone of Exclusion is not an area of containment, no more than a circle drawn on the dirt would stop an airborne stream of plutonium, strontium, cesium-137. Seven million people live on contaminated land in Ukraine, Belarus and Russia. People around the world carry in their chromosomes the mark of Chernobyl.

We search in Iraq for weapons of mass destruction, while a more likely danger is another explosion at Chernobyl. It may not be a meltdown, but it will be the mother of all dirty bombs. (A better sarcophagus is promised in five years, but at the site there is little sign of activity, let alone urgency.)

And in all the drama of the recent election, the inspiring rallies in Independence Square, the spirited presidential debate on Monday and the apparent triumph of good over evil, the subject of another nuclear disaster rarely came up, and then mostly in nationalist rhetoric: it is an article of faith that the West forced Ukraine in 2000 to close the perfectly good reactors that remained at Chernobyl. The truth is that you have to sympathize with Viktor Yushchenko, the likely winner in the rerun of the presidential runoff on Sunday, because he will have to deal with Chernobyl.

Or not.

So, no wonder we're drinking samogon. The air is yeasty with it. Nastia sings and I picture her and Nikolai plucking apples off their poisoned tree, digging potatoes from their poisoned earth, fishing in their poisoned stream.


Martin Cruz Smith is the author, most recently, of "Wolves Eat Dogs."

Washington keeps close eye on Ukraine vote

Dec 22 '04
http://www.keepmedia.com/pubs/AFP/2004/12/22/689341

WASHINGTON (AFP) — The United States will keep a close eye on Ukraine's rerun of its disputed presidential runoff election on Sunday, as Washington silently wishes for a victory of Western-leaning candidate Viktor Yushchenko in the former Soviet republic, analysts say.

The United States has maintained the same position since the November 21 runoff was contested as plagued with fraud, saying it wanted democracy to prevail amid an honest and transparent election.

Pro-Russia Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich had been declared the winner of the vote, which was annulled by the Supreme Court following huge street protests led by the opposition.

The disputed election also drove a wedge between Russia and the West.

"As far as the long-term progress of Ukraine toward the Euro-Atlantic community, obviously having a free and stable democracy is a major step in that direction," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher told AFP this week.

Former top US presidential adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski said the success of democracy would affect both Ukraine and Russia.

"The issue in Ukraine is not a Russia versus the West issue, it is rather an issue of democracy, both in Ukraine and in Russia, versus no democracy," said Brzezinski, who was President Jimmy Carter's national security adviser.

A westward move in Ukraine -- the second-largest European nation geographically after Russia -- is in the United States' interest, analysts say.

"Of course, the US would have preferred Yushchenko to Yanukovich," said Anders Aslund, director of the Russian and Eurasian Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Aslund noted that Yushchenko met with US Vice President Dick Cheney in February 2003.

But Washington has treaded carefully in Ukraine to avoid angering Russia and creating a new source of international tension, and to ensure it would keep Kiev's support in the war in Iraq, where it has sent 1,600 troops, analysts say.

President George W. Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin have good relations, but the Ukrainian crisis sparked mutual accusations of interference in Kiev's national affairs.

On December 9, US Secretary of State Colin Powell rejected Russian claims that the US-based democracy group Freedom House -- which runs education programs for political parties and promotes voter rights in newly democratic states -- had done anything "inappropriate" in Ukraine.

He also denied that the US government or Freedom House had taken sides in Ukraine's election.

The non-governmental organization, which has an office in Kiev and most Eastern European capitals, is headed by former CIA director James Woolsey.

US officials also fear seeing a new conflict in Eastern Europe.

"Instability there would create problems that would make the Balkans look like nothing," a State Department official, who asked not to be named, said late last month.

© 2004 AFP

A poisoned election

THE JERUSALEM POST Dec. 22, 2004
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1103685619986&p=1006953079865

On December 26, the people of Ukraine will again go to the polls, in an election of vital international interest whose impact reaches far beyond that nation's borders.

Ukraine is a nuclear power of 48 million people that occupies a key strategic position between Russia and Europe. Its 300,000 Jews also make it home to one of the largest Diaspora communities, making it of special interest to Israel and the Jewish world.

Its presidential contest features two candidates who espouse and embody radically different political views. Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, like his mentor current President Leonid Kuchma, favors a foreign policy strongly aligned to Russia, and a domestic governing style with noted authoritarian tendencies. Opposition leader Victor Yushchenko espouses democratic reforms, and would prefer to see Ukraine more strongly linked to Europe and the West.

Even under normal circumstances this race would be of global interest - and so far its circumstances have been far from normal, even shockingly so.

During the campaign, Russian President Vladimir Putin offered outspoken support for Yanukovych to the degree that it constituted inappropriate partisan interference in the internal politics of a neighboring country. The first round of balloting last month, in which Yanukovych emerged victorious, was so marked by ballot box intimidation and corruption that it triggered international condemnation (with the notable exception of Putin) and widespread internal protest, so much so that the results were eventually disqualified by the Ukrainian Supreme Court.

Worse still was the subsequent revelation that a dioxin-based poison was the cause of the mysterious disfiguring illness that struck Yushchenko earlier this year. Even before that diagnosis made by Austrian doctors though, there were strong suspicions that he had fallen victim to foul play.

Although no one knows yet who poisoned Yushchenko and how, heavy suspicion has fallen on the security services of Ukraine and Russia. Poisoning of political dissidents was a common KGB practice - and since Putin, that agency's former head, came to power in the Kremlin, its use seems to have reemerged in several mysterious incidents involving politicians, reporters and business figures critical of his government and those of other FSU republics allied to it.

All these factors will undoubtedly play a role when Ukrainians go to the polls on Saturday. It is also worth noting here that in the past month Yushchenko has taken steps to reassure Ukrainian Jews who have been wary over his ties to nationalistic groups, visiting a Kiev synagogue to light Hanukka candles, and talking of strengthening ties to Israel. Still, some Jews are said to be favoring Yanukovych, seeing in him a vote for stability over uncertainty.

It is their choice to make, like the rest of Ukraine. But it is the responsibility of the free world to be vigilant and ensure there is no repeat of last month's travesty of the democratic process. If Yushchenko should emerge victorious, it must also move quickly to provide him with the support he will need to bring reforms to Ukraine and move it closer into the Western sphere.

This should include immediate inclusion in the European Union "action plan" that provides free access of goods, services, people, and capital for countries who want to reach EU membership standards. Consideration should also be given to military linkage with NATO, which would send a strong message to Putin in support of Ukraine's right to a foreign policy independent of the Kremlin.

When Putin came to power, Western governments strained to give him the benefit of the doubt, on the understanding that he inherited a country beset by crime, corruption and confusion, badly in need of strong leadership. In recent years, though, he has gone too far in the direction of authoritarian rule, and a more independent and democratic Ukraine would provide a boost to the greatly diminished and struggling supporters of reform in neighboring Russia.

It is the poison-scarred face of Yushchenko that has been the dominant image of the campaign now reaching its climax in Ukraine. But the most lasting impact of this extraordinary race may be whether or not it has exposed to the world the real face of the leader who sits in the Kremlin.

Tens of thousands rally in Ukraine to demand fair vote rerun

Updated 05:06am (Mla time) Dec 23, 2004
By Agence France-Presse
http://news.inq7.net/world/index.php?index=1&story_id=22099

Tens of thousands of supporters of Ukraine's opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko massed Wednesday in the center of the capital in a fresh show of force to press demands that a repeat presidential election be conducted fairly unlike a discredited poll last month.

"In the past 17 days, we have changed Ukraine peacefully, beautifully, elegantly and without a single drop of blood being shed," Yushchenko, flanked by family and well-known supporters including Ukraine's world heavyweight boxing champ Vitali Klitschko, said in an address to the crowd.

"We have two roads before us: one of corruption and humiliation ... the other, a wider one, the road of truth and justice. We have already set foot down this road," the opposition leader said before the crowd broke into thunderous chants of "Yu-shchen-ko! Yu-shchen-ko!"

The 50-year-old opposition leader, whose face was disfigured during the election campaign earlier this autumn by what experts have said was a poisoning, vowed to work to unite his country badly split over an earlier election ruled fraudulent and thrown out by the supreme court.

"I will be the president of all Ukraine. I will do everything for the unity of Ukraine," he said.

He repeated earlier pledges to pull Ukrainian troops out of Iraq if elected.

He also called on his supporters to return to the square on the day of the vote and remain there "until we celebrate our victory".

Giant television screens were set up on three sides of Kiev's Independence Square which was packed with tens of thousands of demonstrators facing a massive, rock-concert-like stage framed by towering loudspeakers set up on one side of a street that bisects the square.

"I came to defend freedom, to defend my right to choose," said 65-year-old pensioner Nikolai Shevchenko, one of the protesters who braved the freezing nighttime air to attend the rally. "This was a real revolution for real freedom."

Another pro-Yushchenko demonstrator, Tatiana Lysenko, a 45-year-old kindergarten teacher, predicted a victory for the opposition leader.

"If they don't falsify again, he will definitely win on Sunday. It was a revolution for justice, the people wanted to choose a president for a better life," she said.

The protest came four days before voters in this strategic nation of 48 million people return to the polls in a repeat of a presidential vote held November 21 and rekindled the political passions that resulted in the previous election being declared invalid by the supreme court due to fraud.

The rally also marked exactly one month since the start of mass street protests against the official results of the earlier vote which awarded victory to Yushchenko's pro-Moscow opponent, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich, who was openly backed by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The rematch Sunday between Yushchenko and Yanukovich "will be a moment of truth for Ukraine," the opposition leader said.

Speaking to Ukrainian journalists Tuesday, Yushchenko sought to allay Moscow's concerns over the prospect that he will soon be running his country, but said that while Russia was of core interest to Ukraine he would nonetheless focus on building stronger bonds with western Europe.

"Emotion comes and goes. It is more important to understand one thing: Russia is of strategic interest to Ukraine. So we will always have a strategic policy and a political strategy in relations with Russia," Yushchenko said in remarks reported by Interfax.

He told state radio separately that, if elected, his first official visit would be to Russia. And he said the questions of whether to make Russian a second official language and to introduce dual Ukrainian-Russian citizenship, both ideas backed by his rival, warranted discussion.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who openly backed Yanukovich during the campaign, said Tuesday while on a visit to Germany that he would have "no problem" working with either Yushchenko or Yanukovich as Ukraine's leader.

The upcoming rerun election in Ukraine has assumed a major geopolitical significance as the country sits on the East-West fault line between former Soviet republics still dominated by Russia and long-established European and US democracies.

While Yushchenko is strongly backed by the West, and has vowed to build closer bonds between Ukraine and western Europe, Yanukovich favors maintaining deep historical and cultural bonds with Russia and he has as a result been supported by Moscow.

In neighboring Belarus, whose hardline regime also recognised Yanukovich's disputed victory, police on Wednesday detained some 100 independent observers hours before they were due to leave for Ukraine to monitor the presidential poll, human rights defenders said.

Ales Bialiatsky, head of the banned human rights group Viasna, told AFP that special forces detained the observers as they met in a hotel in the capital Minsk, officially to "check their identity documents".



©2004 www.inq7.net all rights reserved

Build on interests, if not on values

Editorial comment

Published: December 23 2004 02:00 Last updated: December 23 2004 02:00
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/348bb902-5487-11d9-8280-00000e2511c8.html

How Russia and the west react to Sunday's rerun presidential election in Ukraine - whichever way it goes - will set the tone for their wider relationship. Both Russia and the west should want at all costs to keep Ukraine together. Neither should want to exercise any exclusive sway over it. And each should want it to have good relations with the other.

These maxims will be harder for Russia, which has centuries-old links to Ukraine, to follow. But President Vladimir Putin now appears to be adjusting to the likelihood that his favoured candidate, Viktor Yanukovich, will lose the rerun to Viktor Yushchenko, whom the Russian leader said he would have no problem working with. After talks with Chancellor Gerhard Schr?der this week, Mr Putin made other conciliatory noises. He said he was ready to accept a dialogue with Germany and its European Union partners on Chechnya, and promised to speed up debt repayment to Germany and other creditor governments.

But the fact that the Russian president chooses to make these concessions to the German chancellor illustrates a hang-up that mars the Kremlin's general relations with the EU. For Russian leaders tend to be power snobs. As the world's biggest country, and nuclear-armed at that, they dislike the EU's post-modernism that stresses the equality of states. If they are to have a relationship with the EU, they want it to be a special one. Leaders of bigger EU states have generally been delighted to reciprocate Russia's cultivation of them.

Fortunately, Ukraine has been a wake-up call in Europe and in the US - where Mr Putin's anti-democratic moves and interference along Russia's borders had seemed to slip below the radar screen of an administration pre-occupied with the Middle East. For Mr Putin's use as an ally in Washington's war on terror is undermined if his policies destabilise Russia's neighbours. This should be especially obvious to Condoleezza Rice, who next month gets the chance to put her extensive academic study of Russia into practice as secretary of state.

The west cannot avoid engaging Russia, but for reasons that are also in Moscow's interest. Europe needs Russia's gas and oil but is so far Russia's only outlet for its pipelines. The west is helping Russia mop up its atomic waste and surplus nuclear weapons, but Russia does not want to be an environmental mess or a nuclear arms bazaar either. The Europeans need Russian support in their diplomatic efforts to prevent Iran going nuclear, but Moscow does not want another proliferator on its southern border.

If Mr Putin can see Russia's interest in co-operating with the west in these areas, he should also realise that the idea of an exclusive Russian sphere of influence no longer serves Moscow's interests, if it ever did. Both Russia and the west will benefit if Ukraine prospers through better relations with east and west.

Record scrutiny of Ukrainian poll

Nick Paton Walsh in Kiev
Thursday December 23, 2004
The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/ukraine/story/0,15569,1378902,00.html


More than 12,000 foreign election observers have been registered to monitor the Ukrainian presidential run-off on Boxing Day, the central election committee said yesterday.
"These are all foreigners who will work on monitoring the vote according to their own plans," Tatyana Zaturanova of the committee's international relations department said. The total of 12,271, thought to be a record, does not include the candidates' own observers.

The opposition candidate, Viktor Yushchenko, rejected a proposal by his opponent, the prime minister, Viktor Yanukovich, for a compromise by which he might remain prime minister if Mr Yushchenko wins the presidency.

He told journalists: "We are not considering the possibility of his participation [in government] under any circumstances. That would not be becoming for a man. If you lose, you have to leave," Interfax news agency reported.

Last night, accompanied by the Ukrainian boxing champions Vitaliy and Vladimir Klitschko, he addressed tens of thousands of supporters gathered in Kiev to mark a month since the protests began.

"We peacefully, beautifully, elegantly and without any drops of blood changed Ukraine," he told them.

Meanwhile, a few hundred supporters of Mr Yanukovich who arrived in Kiev on Tuesday could be seen yesterday roaming the city, waving their blue and white flags in protest on Independence Square.

Mr Yanukovich has been trying to portray himself as a man of compromise, keen to prevent the country from breaking up into separate east- and west-inclined states. One fear is that Donetsk, the eastern stronghold of Mr Yanukovich, may refuse to recognise the election and not cast its ballots, causing another legal crisis.

The opposition held out the possibility of giving Mr Yanukovich's business backers an amnesty if they do not try to "interfere" in the election.

Oleg Ribachuk, Mr Yushchenko's chief of staff, said: "I have been asked by [Yushchenko] to look into schemes for capital flight amnesties used in other countries. We have a message for these guys: we are prepared to have an amnesty, to proclaim a new life [in which they pay more taxes] ...but it depends on how the election goes."

He said Mr Yushchenko's first state visit as president would be to the Russian president, Vladimir Putin. He added that the foreign policy priority would be "full EU membership within two years".

Ukraine's poisonous politics

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/geted.pl5?ed20041223a1.htm

EDITORIAL

How far will the old order in Ukraine go to safeguard its privileges? News that opposition residential candidate Viktor Yushchenko was poisoned suggests that it is desperate indeed. Three months after the alleged poisoning, questions continue to mount about how Mr. Yushchenko ingested what should have been a fatal dose of dioxin and who was responsible. The incident underlines the stakes in Ukraine's presidential ballot, which will be repeated in the days ahead after the original outcome was contested.

On Sept. 5, Mr. Yushchenko and his campaign manager dined with the head of Ukraine's security service. Within hours, he became gravely ill, but prompt treatment saved his life. While poison was suspected -- he accused the government of masterminding the act to prevent him from campaigning -- proof was not available until this month when doctors confirmed that Mr. Yushchenko had dioxin levels in his blood 6,000 times higher than normal.

With this evidence, Mr. Yushchenko has been able to force the security services to reopen an investigation into the incident, but it will not go forward until after the Dec. 26
ballot.

The list of suspects is long; topping it are his Sept. 5 dinner hosts. They have denied any connection with the attempt, arguing, among other things, that it would make no sense for them to do anything so blatant as to poison a candidate in their own home. Moreover, specialists note that dioxin poisoning usually takes two weeks to have an effect; the onset of symptoms so soon after the meal is unlikely. It suggests that the poisoning occurred some time before.

The Sept. 5 meal itself was intended to discuss death threats received by Mr. Yushchenko. The stakes in the Ukrainian election are extremely high. Mr. Yushchenko and his opponent, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, have vastly different views of their country's future; the challenger wants to align Ukraine more closely with the West, while the prime minister would deepen its integration with Russia. Those decisions will have profound implications for business in Ukraine. In other words, there are many people with a reason to take action against Mr. Yushchenko.

The possibility of Russian involvement gives the tale a twist. The Soviet Union's security services used poison against "enemies." In one notorious case, a Bulgarian dissident in London was killed when injected with ricin, another deadly poison, with the tip of an umbrella supplied by the KGB. There have been other suspected cases since the collapse of the Soviet Union. One, a few months ago, suggests that poison is still a weapon to be used against those who cross Moscow.

While Mr. Yushchenko has survived the attack, it has left him disfigured. Once noted for his movie star looks, the candidate's face is now pockmarked, discolored and swollen. He is racked with pain. While expressing sympathy, Mr. Yanukovych now argues that his opponent is too weak and in too much pain to govern, a charge Mr. Yushchenko denies.

Whoever wins the Dec. 26 ballot will need all his strength. Ukraine was divided before the Nov. 21 election, and the events that followed that vote have deepened the divisions. Mr. Yanukovych won that vote, but the results were condemned internationally and hundreds of thousands of Mr. Yushchenko's supporters took to the streets to demand a new ballot. The country's Supreme Court agreed. But Mr. Yanukovych has said his supporters might not tolerate defeat, warning that they could take to the streets as well "to prevent a coup."

Emotions are running high. Last weekend, a religious procession turned violent when supporters of the two men started taunting each other. There have been reports of assaults on each candidate's supporters and on journalists throughout the country. When the two men squared off in a final televised debate earlier this week, Mr. Yanukovych accused his opponent and outgoing President Leonid Kuchma of selling Ukraine out to foreign interests. He went on to say that foreigners had interfered in the November ballot by funding demonstrations. Finally, he ominously warned that even if Mr. Yushchenko wins the vote "he would be president of only part of Ukraine."

The heat that has been generated will ensure that this election is closely watched at home and abroad. That is unlikely to ensure that the results are not contested, no matter who wins. Ukraine is torn between the authoritarianism of its past and democratic hopes for the future. It is leaning toward Europe, but it is closely tied to Russia. It is a difficult balancing act -- and a potentially deadly one, as Mr. Yushchenko has learned.

The Japan Times: Dec. 23, 2004
(C) All rights reserved

UKRAINE'S YUSHCHENKO NEEDS TO BALANCE RUSSIA, EU

ANALYSIS: By Ron Popeski, Reuters, Kiev, Ukraine, Dec 20, 2004

KIEV - Ukraine's Viktor Yushchenko may be the toast of Western capitals but he will have a tricky balance to maintain between the West and big neighbour Russia if, as expected, he wins the re-run of a rigged election next Sunday.

The would-be president's call of "let's not miss the train for Europe" -- moving Ukraine into the European mainstream and possibly joining the European Union and NATO -- has met with resounding endorsement from many supporters at street rallies.

But the 50-year-old liberal former prime minister, often labelled Western- leaning, has cautiously emphasised that Russia, the former imperial master, remains a "strategic partner."

All the same, Ukraine, long Russia's closest ally in former Soviet territory, seems likely to shift -- however gradually -- towards Brussels and Washington if Yushchenko beats Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich in the Dec. 26 repeat vote.

Moscow openly backed the prime minister in the Nov. 21 run-off between the two men that gave victory to Yanukovich but was later annulled by the Supreme Court on grounds of fraud.

The EU, to which three of Ukraine's neighbours belong, came down heavily in favour of a re-run of the poll, some time before the Supreme Court ruling. And diplomats in NATO have said informally that the U.S.-led alliance is ready to speed Ukraine towards closer ties and membership if Yushchenko wins the new vote.

"UNIQUE PLACE"
All this could be a bitter pill for Russia to swallow after centuries of seeing Ukraine as a "younger brother" -- a role some analysts say Yushchenko would end forever.

Doubts remain over Moscow's likely reaction, with memories fresh of a spat this year in which Russian nationalists refused to accept Ukraine's sovereignty over a Black Sea island. "With Yushchenko, there will be no younger or older brother," said analyst Oleksander Dergachyov.

"There remains the real problem of Russia's irrational position in the construction of Europe. But I believe that Russia will quickly learn that Yushchenko is a far better option as leader of the country next door than Yanukovich."

Yushchenko says much remains to be done before his country of 47 million people, where the average monthly salary is $100, can dream of joining the EU, whose wealth and democracy have been a beacon for the ex-communist states of eastern Europe.

"I personally believe Ukraine has a unique geopolitical place in Europe. A comfortable European home will depend on Ukraine's position and role," Yushchenko has said.

"The European Union should set up a project for Ukraine which will offer a clear road to join the European Union provided proper measures and reforms are undertaken."

Yushchenko, whose power base is mainly in the capital Kiev and in western regions of the country, conspicuously reserves his warmest words about Russia for when he is in his opponent's eastern strongholds.

"If you think in normal terms about Ukraine, Russia will always be our northern neighbour, our strategic partner. This can be a secret for no one," he said while campaigning in the last election.

PRACTICAL TIES
But he also seeks better, more practical ties with Russia, which provides Ukraine with much of its oil imports and gives it gas in payment for transit of Russian energy deliveries across Ukraine territory.

"We will tackle issues still unresolved -- economic policy, trade, customs, jobs, capital," he said. "The main thing is that these issues should not block Ukraine's road to the EU."

Any quick move towards expanding Ukraine's special relationship with NATO into membership would have to manoeuvre carefully around sympathy for Russia in eastern regions as well as take account of the poor state of Ukraine's military.

Ukrainian analysts say a Yushchenko victory offers the EU, and the West at large, a chance to review its policies towards the former Soviet Union.

"The West has a dilemma. Either it keeps seeing Russia as the key actor in the ex-Soviet Union or it makes use of events in Ukraine," said independent analyst Volodymyr Polokhalo.

"A Yushchenko win would give Europe and the West a chance to revise their approach and see Ukraine not as a buffer but as an area in which to extend Western influence in the region."

Yanukovich is irritated by the notion that voters are choosing a pro-European or a pro-Russian option. He tells rallies that he, too, favours a "European choice."

But the premier also derides the "foreign financing" of his rival's campaign. He rails against "interference" by mediators who helped set up the framework for the new vote, singling out President Aleksander Kwasniewski of new EU member Poland.

FIERY OPPOSITION LEADER KEEPS THE HEAT ON UKRAINE'S REGIME

Former millionaire businesswoman Yulia Tymoshenko has a talent for
confrontation.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-tymoshenko20dec20,1,5236336.story?coll=la-headlines-world

By David Holley, Times Staff Writer, Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles, California, Monday, December 20, 2004

KIEV, Ukraine — Tensions over disputed presidential balloting were at a peak when Yulia Tymoshenko, the fiery second-in-command of Ukraine's opposition movement, stepped to the microphone of an outdoor stage during a rally early this month.

The crowd of about 150,000 had gathered to back opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko's bid for the presidency. Tymoshenko's job was to keep the protesters' spirits up and their determination strong after the declaration of Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich as winner of the November election.

Speaking to the crowd, she warned President Leonid D. Kuchma that if he did not yield to opposition demands, his activities would be viewed as "a crime against his own people." She called for protesters to mass the next day outside the Supreme Court as it considered the opposition's allegation that fraud had invalidated Yanukovich's victory — a position the court later accepted, setting a rematch for the day after Christmas.

In this battle for Ukraine's future, Yushchenko and Tymoshenko are playing a good-cop, bad-cop routine. Yushchenko, 50, often appears the calm statesman, accepting compromise when it furthers his goals and speaking in recent days about details of the economic policy he would implement.

Tymoshenko, 44, her hair usually braided and wound in a bun on her head in a traditional Ukrainian peasant style, focuses more on emotions. Issuing threats to authorities and warning against complacency, she reminds supporters that a lot can still go wrong for the opposition and fires up the troops. At the same time, she makes no secret of her hope to be prime minister under Yushchenko.

Early in the crisis, television footage showed a telling episode. Tymoshenko was seen conferring with Yushchenko in parliament, then dashing outside, where she helped a demonstrator climb over a barrier. A number of protesters

then tried to storm into parliament, a few making it through the door and into the lobby. There, opposition leaders, including Yushchenko, urged them to retreat. Security guards were then able to push the doors back shut again.

It was never clear in that incident whether Tymoshenko and Yushchenko disagreed over what to do or were staging a show of confrontation and then compromise. But the effect was to display Yushchenko in the peacemaker's role.

The differences between Tymoshenko and Yushchenko sometimes appear very real, although in the nature of disputes between friends. When parliament agreed Dec. 8 to a compromise package of laws strengthening safeguards against electoral fraud while weakening presidential powers, Yushchenko treated it as a major victory that virtually guaranteed him the
presidency.

But Tymoshenko grumbled for days that the opposition had been in such a strong position, there had been no need to trade away the future president's powers in order to ensure an honest election. She warned that members of the political elite associated with Kuchma could remain dominant by bribing members of parliament to do their bidding.

"This is not the kind of political reform that the people of Ukraine need," she declared at a news conference. "Imagine April 1945, when Hitler had lost his campaign. Some people were preparing drugs to kill themselves. Hitler was preparing a gun. Then [imagine if] Churchill and Stalin came and said: 'You'll keep everything you have. You have guarantees and amnesty. Just fix your Nazi legislation a bit.' This isn't the way it should be done."

Although critical of Yushchenko's willingness to compromise, her scenario creates a contrast with Kuchma's faction that is favorable to the opposition leader. A few years ago, Yushchenko and Tymoshenko had a very different partnership:

He was prime minister from 1999 to 2001, and she served as a deputy prime minister responsible for energy issues. She fell out with Kuchma sooner than Yushchenko did, and thus has spent more time than him as an opposition leader.

Tymoshenko first gained prominence as the "gas princess," a businesswoman who maneuvered skillfully in Ukraine's chaotic, corrupt business world after the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union. Her company, United Energy Systems, became one of the largest corporations in mid-1990s Ukraine. Her supporters say that as deputy prime minister, she used her knowledge of scams common in the energy business to crack down on corruption and boost tax collection.

Kuchma ordered her fired from that post in January 2001, shortly after her indictment on charges of smuggling, forgery and tax evasion dating to 1996, when she headed UES. She charged that the accusations were inspired by powerful supporters of Kuchma to end her efforts to root out corruption.

She was briefly detained in 2001, and prosecutors continue to investigate her and her husband, Oleksandr Tymoshenko, who was an officer with the company. Estimates of her personal worth at the time ran into the hundreds of millions of dollars, but she says all her wealth is now gone. Her website says her company was destroyed and "political" charges were pressed against
its officers "by order of President Kuchma, who was maniacally afraid of anything that he could not take under his control."

She also has faced legal charges in Russia, which has strongly backed Yanukovich and long supported the Kuchma government. This year, Russian prosecutors demanded her extradition on charges of bribing Russian defense officials. The Chief Military Prosecutor's Office announced Dec. 8 that it will soon send to court a criminal case involving two officers of the Defense Ministry's Central Logistics Directorate accused of receiving bribes from her.

Tymoshenko and Yushchenko are seen as pro-Western politicians who favor strengthening Ukraine's ties with the European Union and the United States, which raises questions about whether the Russian charges were politically motivated.

After Russian authorities issued a warrant, Tymoshenko was briefly listed as wanted on an Interpol website early this month, but her photo was removed the same day. Interpol reportedly asked for more information on the case. Asked about the Russian allegations at a news conference, Tymoshenko responded with humor.

"As snow melts in the spring, all these charges will disappear as soon as the presidential campaign is over," she said. "I was especially entertained by the international search warrant. If this were true, we'd have to meet at a spy apartment. We'd have to bring the journalists blindfolded. I'd have to come in a long, black coat with a hat, sunglasses and a false mustache.
"Russia uses this to fight the politicians it's afraid of. This actually flatters me, that Russia believes I can stand up for the national interests of Ukraine."

YUSHCHENKO'S FORMIDABLE CHALLENGE

Ukraine 's Opposition Leader Needs to Win Converts In
Russian-Speaking Regions

By Yaroslav Trofimov, Staff Reporter
The Wall Street Journal, New York, NY, Mon, Dec 20, 2004

YALTA, Ukraine -- Pro-Western opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko has a comfortable lead in the opinion polls ahead of Ukraine 's presidential election. But he still faces a formidable task even if he wins on Dec. 26: reassuring the country's Russian speakers that he isn't as bad as they fear.

Confronting fervent anti-Yushchenko sentiment in Ukraine 's Russian-speaking eastern and southern regions -- the base of support of his opponent, Moscow-backed Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych -- has emerged as a central goal of the Yushchenko campaign now that election-law changes have substantially reduced the chance of fraud that marred the Nov. 21 vote, since annulled by the nation's supreme court. If he fails to win at least some support here, Mr. Yushchenko may face big obstacles governing a bitterly divided country, including the prospect of a renewed separatist
movement.

Knowing that the key to success lies in the east, Mr. Yushchenko Friday relaunched the campaign by visiting Harkiv, the biggest city of eastern Ukraine -- the same day Mr. Yanukovych also arrived in town. Mr. Yushchenko used the occasion to pledge during a visit to a Harkiv tank factory that he won't make any moves to restrict the use of Russian language in Ukraine and that he will seek good relations with Moscow.

Mr. Yanukovych had been crisscrossing eastern and southern Ukraine all last week, painting himself as the leader of the real opposition and the only true patriot determined to defend Ukraine from a specter of American domination.

The difficulty of winning converts to Mr. Yushchenko's so-called orange revolution is apparent in the Crimea peninsula city of Yalta, a balmy resort long synonymous with Europe's Cold War divide, sealed at a 1945 conference when U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Joseph Stalin agreed to Soviet domination of eastern Europe. Crimea, which Soviet rulers transferred from Russia to Ukraine in 1954, is the only Ukrainian region where ethnic Russians make up a majority of the population -- and where many view a likely Yushchenko victory as a sellout to the still-hated U.S.

At a recent rally on Yalta's beachfront promenade, pro-Yanukovych protester Alla Danchenko shouted, "We want to live in friendship with Russia, and America is paying Yushchenko to break us apart." While Mr. Yanukovych was said to have beaten Mr. Yushchenko by three percentage points nationwide last month, according to now-overturned results, he carried Crimea with 82% of the vote, an edge that even local opposition leaders say was only marginally inflated by falsification.

Mr. Yushchenko's supporters have reasons to be optimistic about the new election. Opinion polls predict he is likely to beat Mr. Yanukovych by a margin of between five and 10 percentage points. The opposition leader has said that he aims to win at least 60% of the nationwide vote -- a landslide that would render irrelevant the precinct-by-precinct legal challenges that Mr. Yanukovych's campaign is preparing.

Ukraine 's Parliament has severely curtailed the two most widespread methods of fraud: the use of absentee ballots and the voting at home, rather than at a precinct. Local election commissions were revamped to provide equal representation for both candidates, and the Central Election Commission member who publicly opposed falsification in the Nov. 21 vote now supervises the body. Also, national TV stations no longer slant their news coverage against Mr. Yushchenko.

Still, in Mr. Yanukovych's strongholds, residents have been subjected for months to a barrage of negative propaganda that distorted Mr. Yushchenko's views. Just a few weeks ago, official newspapers in Crimea published what they described as Mr. Yushchenko's electoral program -- topped by a pledge to turn the country into an American military base. And almost every household in Crimea has received a forged electoral leaflet in which Mr. Yushchenko purportedly promised to expel all ethnic Russians from the peninsula. "I will never get Russian votes, and Russians have no place in our country," the leaflet says. Mr. Yanukovych, by contrast, pledged to make
Russian the second official language and to allow dual citizenship with Russia.

To counter the anti-Yushchenko feeling, last week his campaign launched a motor rally by pop stars and TV personalities who plan to travel across eastern and southern Ukraine , and who reached Crimea during the weekend, after an hours-long standoff with Mr. Yanukovych's supporters who blocked the highway into the peninsula. Mr. Yushchenko recorded some of his latest campaign commercials in Russian.

And in Yalta, Mr. Yushchenko's local campaign chief, Oleg Zubkov, is trying an unorthodox approach. He has turned the local zoo that he owns into a center of the outreach effort, bedecking the cages with orange ribbons, allowing free entry and distributing campaign literature between stunts with lions and tigers.

Seeing a group of visitors to the zoo on a recent morning, he lost no chance to proselytize: "About this election...you are being lied to. Don't believe all these rumors about Yushchenko."

Too polite to argue, the visitors smiled silently. Later, one of them, a retiree named Appolinaria Yakovleva, confided that the free trip to the zoo hasn't quite swayed her views. "I am still for Yanukovych," she said. "I have seen so many nice things about him in newspapers and on TV."

As Mr. Zubkov organized a Yushchenko demonstration under a huge Lenin monument that still dominates Yalta's main square, a counter-demonstration of similar size immediately coalesced nearby, mostly by elderly women outraged that a Yushchenko event could occur in this city at all.

"Americans have a toxic-waste problem," said one of the counter-demonstrators, Vladimir Kostenko. "If Yushchenko wins, they will shut down all our mines, making our people jobless, and will use the mines to store the American toxic waste instead."

Protected by a row of police, Mr. Zubkov concluded the rally after a half-hour of speeches and led his supporters on a march through Yalta's main street, where hostile glares greatly outnumbered welcoming waves. Back under the Lenin monument, local teenagers lined up to pick up Mr. Yushchenko's campaign newsletters at the orange tent -- only to burn them a few feet away.

Mr. Zubkov, himself an ethnic Russian who immigrated to Ukraine only in the 1980s, concedes that efforts to portray Mr. Yushchenko as an enemy of Russian-speaking Ukraine have been effective. "For the government, it was easy to shape people's opinions with all this outlandish lunacy," he says. "And once an opinion is formed, we need 10 times the effort to change it."

"REVOLUTION REDUX"

Watching the uprising in Kiev takes me back to Tehran

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A12532-2004Dec19.html

COMMENTARY: By Roya Hakakian
The Washington Post, Washington, D.C.
Monday, December 20, 2004; Page A23

Everyone is serenading Kiev these days. "Magical" and "most valorous" were the words on the morning news. But in my mind, Kiev has never looked more like Tehran -- my capital in 1978. Theirs is an orange revolution. But though I still can't discern the shade of our revolution, the similarities are striking.

Rock stars converged on Independence Square in Kiev. In my time it was poetry, poetry, poetry. Revolutions are ignited by politics, but the fuel that sustains their fire is hardly just that. All of Iran's literati and artistic elite got together that year to stage "Ten Nights of Poetry" at Tehran's Goethe Institute. It rained every night. But, what rain? Thousands gathered to hear the flaming speeches of their beloved authors! Our revolution, too, reached its climax in December. Yet we roamed the streets, unfazed. (Never had the Celsius been so gravely insulted!) On milder days we boasted that it was a sign that God was on our side.

We had no tent cities, but the streets were home. And by January 1979, the revolution had transcended the headlines. It had become something visceral: a paradoxical feeling of drowning in a sea of hundreds, yet never breathing better. Caught in those tides, we became the heroes that the quotidian nature of our days had never permitted us to be. With schools, offices and factories shut down, life and time had come to a halt. Six a.m. was the same as six p.m. Nowhere to be but here. Nothing to do but this. We stood idly like the unemployed, though we'd never been so gainfully occupied. (Imagine my quandary when I was asked, in a college interview after my arrival in the United States, if I'd ever been a cheerleader in high school!) The rest of the world had not vanished, but it had gone from being a place we previously dreamed of discovering to a place that we now demanded discover our dream.

Nearly everything was more than met the eye. A tree was an observation post; the stoops, the place for the ad hoc organizing committee to convene. Even the garbage strewn on the sidewalks -- fliers, bandannas, a bloody sock, a tire on fire -- were the venerable reminders of something grand in the making. And the unknown person who raised his middle and index fingers in the shape of a V was unknown no more.

All the lessons our parents and our civic and religious leaders had been teaching us all our lives sank in overnight. Strangers on the streets seemed familiar, like long-lost family members. The sick or the wounded never made it to the stretchers. They levitated in the air, their bodies passing over the crowds' hands. Drivers yielded to pedestrians. Children, watching the screaming adults, stopped their petulance. Mothers distributed sweets among passersby. Patrons in phone booths cut their conversations short to let others make calls. Even love felt greater on the streets that year. There was more to a kiss, to an embrace amid the throngs. The soldiers lurked about us with apprehension. In Kiev, they send the most beautiful female
protesters to negotiate with them. We put carnations in the barrels of their rifles. Despite the chaos, the value of aesthetics is never lost on revolutionaries.

As vivid as these words are on my monitor, so are the details of those memories in my mind. Everything but the color of our revolution. Perhaps it's because history is black. It absorbs all shades into its oblivion, till the victors paint it as they wish. We were the secular, urban youth who wanted, as do our successors even today, a democratic future. We lost. Our grief turned us against ourselves, even against our own memories.

Now we're remembered as the Don Quixotes who chased a sham. Once, we'd been commended for our vision. Soon we were taunted for not having recognized the "realities." (Warning: The popular wisdom that "The journey is more important than the destination" does not apply to revolutions.) And so our brilliant shade of 25 years ago now conjures only darkness. Today, from a corner of the world where I never thought I'd live, suburbs of Connecticut, USA, I, an Iranian exile, with an ear fixed to the radio, root for Ukraine, and hope that the glory of their revolution will not fade in time but remain as it is today: orange and vibrant.

The writer is co-founder of the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center
and the author of "Journey From the Land of No: A Girlhood Caught in
Revolutionary Iran."

EUROPE'S THIRD WAVE OF LIBERATION

The world should be alert on December 26, when Ukraine re-runs
its election, and in the years to follow as the enemies of freedom
try to undermine Ukraine's progress

COMMENTARY: By Mikheil Saakashvili, President of Georgia
Financial Times, London, UK, Monday, December 20 2004

For those of us who remained behind the iron curtain during Europe's first great wave of liberation after the demise of Nazi Germany, western European states served as the standard bearers of freedom and liberty, generated by the power and promise of democracy. Growing up, the only contact I had with that distant world was by listening secretly to my shortwave radio.

I belong to the generation whose adulthood coincided with the second wave of European liberation, with Solidarity's triumph in Poland, the Velvet Revolution in Prague and the fall of the Berlin wall. I remember very well the moment I heard on Radio Liberty that the Berlin wall had collapsed. I had tears in my eyes. I was 22 at the time and knew instantly that nothing would ever be the same again and that a new and better life was starting for all of us.

As it turned out, the democratic wave of the early 1990s was limited to eastern Europe and the Baltic states. Although Georgia fought alongside the Balts for independence from Soviet rule, only the Baltic states succeeded in freeing their societies. Freedom, combined with democracy, is what made them successful.

Unfortunately, the other states of the former Soviet Union did not make it and independence for these peoples became synonymous with authoritarianism, kleptocracy and civil war. Instead of real democracy, these coun tries experienced a distorted perversion where elections were held but the rulers never changed, where wealth was intercepted by kleptocratic elites and where average people felt their voice and interests mattered least of all. Power in these regimes did not come from the people - it came at the expense of people, and for many of us these regimes seemed eternal.

Then, late last year, the Georgian people rose up to challenge the legitimacy of an authoritarian regime after my predecessor's government stole the elections. In reaction to overwhelming fraud, we took to the streets in weeks of non-violent protest. Our efforts forced Eduard Shevardnadze, the president, to resign. Since then we have held three sets of elections - presidential, parliamentary and regional, all acknowledged by international observers as "free and fair", a first in the Commonwealth of Independent States.

Following our peaceful revolution, many in the Russian media sought to portray Georgia as a dangerous exception - as impulsive, unpredictable and bound to fail. They explained our revolution away as a strange aberration with roots in the extravagant, perhaps theatrical, nature of Georgian society. Certainly, the detractors claimed, nothing like this could happen in any other CIS country.

Then the Ukrainian presidential elections approached. My education began in Ukraine and there I received my first college degree. Living in Kiev, I learnt Ukrainian and fell in love with the people and I continue to care deeply about what happens in Ukraine. In the months before the elections, I spoke to many national leaders, including Leonid Kuchma, Ukraine's president. I cautioned them that if democracy there was once again defaced, developments similar to those in Georgia could unfold.

Some of my interlocutors openly doubted my concerns, citing the superior state of the Ukrainian economy over Georgia's under Mr Shevardnadze, or stronger Ukrainian government control of the media and law-enforcement agencies. I disagreed. My message was simple: the struggle would be not about the economy or the strength of government but rather about democracy and the fundamental right of citizens freely to choose their future. No matter how strong a grip one might have over the media, a blackout of the truth was not possible.

Subsequent events in Ukraine validated my prognosis. The Ukrainian people stood up peacefully to defend their right to democracy. Like many Georgians, I admired their courage and was proud to see Georgian flags alongside Ukrainian national flags in Kiev's Independence Square. I also enjoyed hearing leaders of the "Orange Revolution" make frequent reference to the Georgian example.

Yet, just as over Georgia, commentators in Russia and elsewhere have started to cry conspiracy, suggesting that mysterious, even shadowy, forces engineered events in both Georgia and Ukraine. As a leader of one of those revolutions and a great fan of the other, I can say that those inventing such theories do not understand the essentials of human nature. No money, tricks or publicity can bring millions out into the streets. Nothing can force the people to brave the cold and risk their lives other than their ultimate instinct to be free.

The citizens of Georgia were not inspired to defend their future by political consultants or other outside influences. Rather, our heroes are people such as Vaclav Havel and Lech Walesa. We Georgians believe we are Europeans because our values and culture are deeply European - so too are those of Ukrainians and other post-Soviet citizens. There is no reason why Poles, Germans and Estonians should be free while other Europeans are not. The call initiated by Georgia's Rose Revolution and multiplied by Ukraine's Orange Revolution will spread - as demonstrators chanted in Kiev, freedom cannot be stopped.

Today, events are unfolding rapidly. The world should be alert on December 26, when Ukraine re-runs its election, and in the years to follow as the enemies of freedom will try to undermine Ukraine's progress just as they try in my own country. Ultimately, I believe that revanchist attempts will fail. Reforms can be expected throughout the whole post-Soviet region and they will lead to completion of the third and final wave of the European liberation.

"ORANGE AND AUSCHWITZ"

OP-ED By Bohdan Koczor, Chicago Tribune
Chicago, Illinois, Tue, 21 December 2004

I have a name. I also have a number. My parents gave me my name. It's a good Ukrainian name, and I have always been proud of it, and of my people. It wasn't always good to be a Ukrainian, however.

I was just a teenager in western Ukraine when World War II broke out. The Soviets came claiming they would liberate us. Instead they began liquidating us. The Germans drove them out. They also said they had come to free us from the Bolsheviks.

Then they began to execute us, to exploit us, even to export us as slave laborers to the Third Reich. Too many people still bury Ukraine's losses among those of the Soviet Union or Poland. They pretend Ukrainians did not exist. We proved otherwise. We resisted. Ukraine's anti-Nazi and anti-Soviet movement would carry on an armed struggle for our people's freedom well into the 1950s.

People forget all that. When they speak of Ukrainians and the war, they refer to us only as collaborators or camp guards. I was in a camp, in fact several. But I wasn't there as a guard. In fact, that's where I got my number. It's 154754. The Nazis gave it to me.

They made it easy for me to remember, by tattooing it on my forearm. I was 19 years old when they did that to me at Auschwitz. They brought me there because I was a member of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists. I know it has become politically correct to label Ukrainian nationalists as anti-Semitic Nazi collaborators. That is not true.

We fought for a free Ukraine against all those who tried to extinguish our kind. Another Ukrainian there was Andriy Yushchenko, the father of Viktor Yushchenko, Ukraine's next president, I hope.

Yes, there were some Ukrainians who collaborated, out of fear, out of greed, out of prejudice. But I saw such scum among every nation represented among those at Auschwitz. I also saw them in the other concentration camps the Nazis carted me off to, including Mathausen, Melk and Ebensee. Many Ukrainian patriots, men and women, perished at the hands of the Nazis. Only a few were lucky enough to survive and to find a new life in the West, even as our homeland fell under Soviet occupation, again.

In 1991 I celebrated the collapse of the Soviet empire and Ukraine's independence. I believed that, finally, Ukraine would rejoin Europe, become a normal country. That did not happen. Ukraine remained under the grip of former communists whose corrupt rule wreaked havoc on the land.

Like many others in our diaspora, I began to despair. Would Ukraine ever be free? And then came our "Orange Revolution." In the last few weeks hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians have marched and mobilized to demonstrate that they will have their freedom. I am proud to see my people stand up for liberty, unmistakably showing the whole world that they will not tolerate more of what they have endured in the 13 years since independence supposedly came.

Last month Ukrainians watched in horror as the old guard tried to steal the election from the people. The nation made sure that didn't happen. On Sunday another election will confirm that Ukra ine's people want to be in Europe, not sequestered in some post-Soviet reserve on the margins of civilization. There are some who fear this resurgence of Ukrainian nationalism, who already have begun to slur this movement by pulling out the oldest and dirtiest canard in the book, claiming Ukrainian nationalists are intrinsically anti-Semitic.

We weren't, and the Orange Revolution isn't. I affirm that as a Holocaust survivor imprisoned at Auschwitz because I was a Ukrainian nationalist. Tomorrow's democratic Ukraine will be a home to all who contribute to Ukrainian freedom today.