Posted on 11/25/2004 6:49:45 PM PST by Pikamax
Ukraine's postmodern coup d'etat Yushchenko got the US nod, and money flooded in to his supporters
Jonathan Steele Friday November 26, 2004
The Guardian
Oranges can often be bitter, and the mass street protests now going on in Ukraine may not be quite as sweet as their supporters claim. For one thing the demonstrators do not reflect nationwide sentiments. Ukraine is riven by deep historical, religious and linguistic divisions. The crowds in the street include a large contingent from western Ukraine, which has never felt comfortable with rule from Kiev, let alone from people associated with eastern Ukraine, the home-base of Viktor Yanukovich, the disputed president-elect.
Their traditions are not always pleasant. Some protesters have been chanting nationalistic and secessionist songs from the anti-semitic years of the second world war.
Nor are we watching a struggle between freedom and authoritarianism as is romantically alleged. Viktor Yushchenko, who claims to have won Sunday's election, served as prime minister under the outgoing president, Leonid Kuchma, and some of his backers are also linked to the brutal industrial clans who manipulated Ukraine's post-Soviet privatisation.
On some issues Yushchenko may be a better potential president than Yanukovich, but to suggest he would provide a sea-change in Ukrainian politics and economic management is naive. Nor is there much evidence to imagine that, were he the incumbent president facing a severe challenge, he would not have tried to falsify the poll.
Countless elections in the post-Soviet space have been manipulated to a degree which probably reversed the result, usually by unfair use of state television, and sometimes by direct ballot rigging. Boris Yeltsin's constitutional referendum in Russia in 1993 and his re-election in 1996 were early cases. Azerbaijan's presidential vote last year was also highly suspicious.
Yet after none of those polls did the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the main international observer body, or the US and other western governments, make the furious noise they are producing today. The decision to protest appears to depend mainly on realpolitik and whether the challengers or the incumbent are considered more "pro-western" or "pro-market".
In Ukraine, Yushchenko got the western nod, and floods of money poured in to groups which support him, ranging from the youth organisation, Pora, to various opposition websites. More provocatively, the US and other western embassies paid for exit polls, prompting Russia to do likewise, though apparently to a lesser extent.
The US's own election this month showed how wrong exit polls can be. But they provide a powerful mobilising effect, making it easier to persuade people to mount civil disobedience or seize public buildings on the grounds the election must have been stolen if the official results diverge.
Intervening in foreign elections, under the guise of an impartial interest in helping civil society, has become the run-up to the postmodern coup d'etat, the CIA-sponsored third world uprising of cold war days adapted to post-Soviet conditions. Instruments of democracy are used selectively to topple unpopular dictators, once a successor candidate or regime has been groomed.
In Ukraine's case this is playing with fire. Not only is the country geographically and culturally divided - a recipe for partition or even civil war - it is also an important neighbour to Russia. Putin has been clumsy, but to accuse Russia of imperialism because it shows close interest in adjoining states and the Russian-speaking minorities who live there is a wild exaggeration.
Ukraine has been turned into a geostrategic matter not by Moscow but by the US, which refuses to abandon its cold war policy of encircling Russia and seeking to pull every former Soviet republic to its side. The EU should have none of this. Many Ukrainians certainly want a more democratic system. Putin is not inherently against this, however authoritarian he is in his own country. What concerns him is instability, the threat of anti-Russian regimes on his borders, and American mischief.
The EU should therefore press for a compromise in Kiev, which might include power-sharing. More importantly, it should give Ukraine the option of future membership rather than the feeble "action plan" of cooperation currently on offer. This would set Ukraine on a surer path to irreversible reform than anything that either Yushchenko or Yanukovich may promise.
Sceptics wonder where the EU's enlargement will end, but Ukraine is undoubtedly a European nation in a way that the states of the Caucasus, of central Asia and of north Africa are not.
The EU must also make a public statement that it sees no value in Nato membership for Ukraine, and those EU members who belong to Nato will not support it. At a stroke this would calm Russia's legitimate fears and send a signal to Washington not to go on inflaming a purely European issue.
From The Congressional Ukrainian Caucus
U.S. Congress, Washington, D.C., Wed, Nov. 24, 2004
The Congressional Ukrainian Caucus, led by Representative Curt
Weldon (Republican of Pennsylvania) and Representative Marcy
Kaptur (Democrat of Ohio) issued the following statement this
morning about the political crisis in Ukraine:
Congress of the United States
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515
November 24, 2004
The Congressional Ukrainian Caucus (CUC) joins the European Union
in urging a full and fair counting of the results of Ukraine's presidential
election. The number of abuses reported during the pre-election campaign
and on Election Day indicates that the officially declared results may not
be accurate.
As Members of the U.S. Congress, we call on our colleagues in Ukraine
and urge them to keep the interests of their people in mind. The government
is created for the people and their will is the law to civil servants. We
urge you to investigate fully all claims of election fraud. We stand with
the people of Ukraine and will provide all the support in our power to
help them defend their civic rights.
As representatives of the American people we send our greetings to the
people of Ukraine and remain humbled by their strength and unity in these
difficult and critical times. On behalf of our nation, we would like to
express extreme pleasure in seeing that the civic community of Ukraine is
very active and that the people of Ukraine conduct their protest in a calm
and civilized manner and do not resort to violence. The American people
side with the people of Ukraine and support their demands for protection
of the basic right to elect leadership in a free and fair manner. You have
shown the world that you are a truly democratic nation.
Signed,
CURT WELDON
MARCY KAPTUR
Members of Congress
RUSSIAN DUMA ISSUES STATEMENT ON UKRAINE
Russia Journal, Moscow, Russia, Wed, Nov. 24, 2004
MOSCOW - The State Duma of the Russian Federation called on
Ukraine to solve its political problems in accordance with the Ukrainian
Constitution and election laws.
In their statement, State Duma deputies expressed deep concern about
the unlawful actions of Ukraine's radical opposition forces, which
could lead to tragic consequences for the Ukrainian people. "Only the
Central Election Commission of Ukraine, in accordance with Ukrainian
laws, has the right to announce election results, and any pressure on
the Central Election Commission should be ruled out," the statement says.
Though competition was tough, the election took place, State Duma
deputies said, and Russia was very much concerned with the results.
The members of the State Duma respected the will of the Ukrainian
people, expressed through voting, and hoped that the situation would
stabilize in Ukraine, and the country's authorities, political and
public figures, together with the Ukrainian people, would themselves
settle the crisis, without being dictated by outside forces, the
statement said.
"Any actions aimed at seizing power are seen as crime in any country
of the world," the State Duma stressed in its statement.
The Russian parliamentarians appealed to their Ukrainian colleagues to
show political wisdom and responsibility and make everything possible
to solve the crisis. The State Duma also expressed readiness to
further develop friendship and ties between Russia and Ukraine.
The statement was passed by a vote of 423 to 0, with 6 abstentions.
Meanwhile, the Central Election Commission of Ukraine is going to
announce the final results of Sunday's presidential election at 17:00
Moscow time on Wednesday. According to unofficial reports, Viktor
Yanukovich gathered 49.52 percent of the vote, and Viktor Yushchenko
had 46.66 percent, Echo of Moscow radio reported.
I'm sorry, but I can't resist. This sentence just sort of reaches up and smacks you in the head.
Wonder if the Guardian printed a similar editorial concerning Hitler and the Sudetenland?
Hitler had a legitimate interest in the Sudetenland and the large German super-majority there that had voted to remain part of a united Germany-Austria after WWI.
Perhaps, if the west hadn't been so hasty to always attempt to impose its own will on foreign peoples in volatile situations following WWI, things might have gone differently.
On some issues Yushchenko may be a better potential president than Yanukovich, but to suggest he would provide a sea-change in Ukrainian politics and economic management is naive
Perhaps, but perhaps not, but there is a development that is promising
........ http://www.kyivpost.com/top/21909/
The Russians see it as a Soros velvet revolution.
http://english.pravda.ru/world/20/92/370/12396_Ukraine.html
Now I have hopes that whatever happens n Ukraine it's bloodless and if Yushchenko does win I hope he turns Ukraine towards a free press, a more transparent Government,and individual rights and investment in growing the economy.
For the Guardian to suggest that the America is playing with fire in formenting this explosion against the Russians is a LIE and they should look no further than their good buddy George Soros. The USA has no option but to play the hand it's been dealt, and did not deal.We now have NO Option but to see that whatever happens it happens bloodlessly and as LEGAL as possible. The Guardian should learn a lesson from it's backing of Soros.And it's OWN involment in buying elections, even through the proxy of Soros.
Coulda, shoulda, woulda. Hindsight is 20/20. It will be interesting to see how history judges Putin's actions in this decade.
I was simply making a point that this could have been written in the 1930s.
But I must say that I particularly enjoyed the comment by the author that Washington "not to go on inflaming a purely European issue".
The difference is that in the 1930's, Germans were seperated from Germany by a punative peace treaty forced down their throats after a supposed "peace with honor" armistice.
Today, the Russians are seperated from Russia by the mysterious collapse of the Soviet Union as a unitary state.
Thank you. Still laughing over the tanks.....
Actually they are correct. They are referring here to Ziggy Brzezinski who wrote this scenario out many years ago as a means to destroy Russia.
Ping
ping to my number 10 above, which I just posted minutes before reading your reply on the other thread.
If America was backing Yanukovich, Steele (and al-Ghardiyan) would be on Yushchenko's side.
What you expect from British White Man, Chief?
But that kind of thinking smacks of interference to me. I don't like the unseemlyness of Americans getting involved in overseas elections just like I don't like foreign powers influencing American ones.
"We now have NO Option but to see that whatever happens it happens bloodlessly and as LEGAL as possible."
That is about all we should be doing.
Yes thats right... also these are the Guardian's friends, if the Guardian was so concerned about America's involvement in Ukrainian Election perhaps they should come clean on who's money is, and has been flowing into the Ukraine. But no they won't, they were helping and hoping Soros would win the USA's Election for Kerry, thats why Just my opinion
Bump
Bush might be getting suckered in to the same bias, but in the long (and not so long) run, we'll be paying for this short sighted move.
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