Posted on 11/24/2004 8:51:10 PM PST by FairOpinion
After the intense stand-off on the streets of Kiev on Tuesday, both sides, and their foreign supporters, appeared yesterday to be edging towards a compromise. Viktor Yushchenko, the opposition leader, having tried to force the government's hand by taking the presidential oath of office in parliament, expressed willingness to accept a re-run of Sunday's poll, provided the honesty of the Central Election Commission could be guaranteed.
Viktor Yanukovich, the prime minister, said he was not interested in a "fictitious" victory and that "no position of authority, no matter how important, is worth a single human life". Leonid Kuchma, the outgoing president, ruled out the use of force. From outside, President Aleksander Kwasniewski of Poland said he had been asked to mediate, while Vladimir Putin and Gerhard Schröder, having spoken by telephone, urged that the crisis be solved by legal means.
The receding prospect of violent confrontation is welcome news in a country whose eastern and western regions have been deeply split electorally over the past decade. Add to this growing secessionist tendencies in Crimea, which was given to Ukraine by Khrushchev in 1954, and you have the potential for national disintegration.
Mr Yushchenko, who yesterday was officially declared the loser in Sunday's poll, has proved both brave and canny, restraining his supporters from violence that would have played into the government's hand. Against their massive, peaceful and persistent protest, the authorities have wisely decided not to employ strongarm tactics. Thus, after three days of demonstrations, the way has opened towards a negotiated solution.
If a new poll is held, the problem will be to ensure fairness in a political system that has been steadily debauched under Mr Kuchma's rule. It will require a new head of the discredited election commission and even more foreign monitors than during the previous two rounds. Even then, there is no guarantee that disaffected supporters of the losing candidate will not again take to the streets.
For the moment, the crowds behind Mr Yushchenko are to be congratulated for challenging a corrupt system within Ukraine and Mr Putin's blatant attempt to influence the result from without. They have yet to achieve the Czechs' Velvet Revolution of 1989 or the Georgian Rose Revolution of last year.
But their "orange people power" has rocked a corrupt, devious and retrograde establishment without the fatal consequences visited on rebels against Soviet rule during the Cold War or on democracy demonstrators in Tiananmen Square 15 years ago. Thanks to them, Ukraine now has a chance of fulfilling the democratic promise offered by independence in 1991.
The media has been milking this for all the sensationalism, it could get.
Tanks and takeovers abound. It has been most amusing.
I think Rome2000's post did a very good job in pointing out some facts about Yushchenko, a socialist, supported by Soros -- whose "pro-West" leanings are pro-socialist-EU leanings and most likely wouldn't support Bush and the US.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1288077/posts?page=22#22
Precisely. The Ukrainians can do anything they want, as long, as they are not about to attack us. The point is that some people are practically rooting for a civil war and a confrontation between the US and Russia, because some exit polls ( yes, exit polls!) show that the guy who lost should have won.
Sounds familiar?
They (the "Ukes") are really about 1/3 Polish, 1/3 Russki, and 1/3 real ethnic Ukrainians. Ever see a lame 1962 movie called "TARAS BULBA"?
It is either an artificial nation or an interesting Old World melting pot. Probably more of them in Chicago than in Lvov.
In any case, I feel that the more the Russkis are divided, the better off we are.
And you consider Soros our friend?
Putin can be trusted within reason, Soros can't.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.