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Judicial Supervision of the Election Process Yushchenko v. CEC: The Historic Decision of the Supreme Court of Ukraine Comments by Judge Bohdan A. Futey (1) Conference on the 2004 Presidential Election The Central Election Commission of Ukraine Kyiv, Ukraine, June 9-10 2005 I. Yushchenko v. CEC The most visible election dispute in Ukraine took place during the 2004 presidential elections. Despite the allegations of widespread fraud, (2) the Central Election Commission (CEC), on November 24, 2004, nevertheless voted to declare Mr. Viktor Yanukovych, the Prime Minister, the winner of the run-off election against Mr. Yushchenko, the opposition candidate. On November...

So the road West is long - but it is open for Ukraine. Stabilisation of investor confidence and inflows of new foreign direct investment (FDI) will hinge decisively on the EU's reaction to the new political era in Kiev. By Moritz Schularick, Current Issue Deutsche Bank Research, Deutsche Bank Frankfurt, Germany, 27 May 2005 o The "orange revolution" has put Ukraine back on the European map. The country's prospects for economic development have improved visibly. This report looks at Ukraine's economic outlook after its political rebirth and presentsscenarios for its medium-term growth prospects. o With a population of 50 million,...

Hers was the other face of Ukraine's 'Orange Revolution', and her impassioned public eloquence was crucial in helping Viktor Yushchenko - his features ravaged by assassins' poison - become the country's first freely elected President. Six months on from the euphoric scenes in Kiev's Independence Square, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko's status as a national heroine still rivals that of Yushchenko in the former Soviet state. Street vendors in the square sell individual pictures of both President and Prime Minister - the former's once handsome features preserved. Among the novelties on sale is a matrioshka nesting doll where the head of...

Ukraine played an important role in life of the famous Viennese doctor and founder of psychoanalysis Sigmund Freud. As a matter of fact, the family roots bound him to Halychyna in Western Ukraine, while his professional contacts were mainly in Odesa Solomon Freud, grandfather of the renowned psychiatrist, was born in the western Ukrainian town of Buchach in the Ternopil oblast, where his family had been living for several generations. Dreaming of getting an education, he went to the town of Tysmenytsia, which was known for its Yeshiva, Jewish school for studying the Talmud. Having married a local girl, the...

Freak walks and joins likes of OJ. Another chapter in American unJustice! Screw the kids, give them alcohol and you are free American "hero".

Written By Borys Hrinchenko in 1892 Excerpts from Chapter Six of B. Hrinchenko, 'Lysty z Ukrainy naddniprianskoi,' in "Bukovyna" Chernivtsi, 1892-1893 ...........Shevchenko never renounced his past; he correctly perceived the standpoint from which our past should be regarded. He branded as infamous those who were 'the scum of Moscow' and 'the refuse of Warsaw.' He censured individuals, but strongly supported the popular national movement, whose aims were freedom for all peoples and national freedom for Ukraine. He did not barter these sacred things for the 'scrap of rotten meat' that some regarded as 'a higher culture.' He voiced the will...

Ukraine's Patriotic War: A Historian's Perspective In researching and presenting the Ukrainian nation's struggle against the German occupiers, it is essential to focus on the tried-and-true principles of objectivity, truthfulness, impartiality, and neutrality. Clearly, our knowledge of historical processes is far from absolute or established for all time. Yet this knowledge should evolve independently of individual scholars' preferences or the current political situation, and must be expanded with previously unknown facts. This is especially true when dealing with such a complex, multifaceted, and contradictory phenomenon as war. We must bear in mind the fact that numerous documents relating to the...

LONDON — The Seventh Framework Program (FP7), the European Union's next collaborative research plan scheduled to run from 2007 to 2013, is expected cost about $86 billion. It would create nearly 1 million jobs, according to an impact assessment by the European Commission. The report attempts to compare the impact of the proposed plan over the next 25 years with a baseline of moderate growth in European Union research funding and with a "do-nothing" approach. A key part of FP7 is the European Commission's proposal to double the level of spending to an average of 9.6 billion euros (about $12.3...

Opponents of the Belarussian president look to George Bush to step up pressure on the regime in a tour of the region this weekend "Today Ukraine - tomorrow Belarus," cried Igor Guz as he marched with hundreds of protesters in Minsk, the Belarussian capital, on last month's 19th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. It wasn't much of an outburst by the Ukrainian town councillor, but it led to his arrest by riot police. Yesterday he was still in jail and on hunger strike with 12 others, including four of his countrymen. "They were not the first such arrests in...

POLAND: Former Solidarity leader Lech Walesa said yesterday that Ukraine's security forces were poised to crush last year's "orange revolution" until he intervened. Mr Walesa claimed that he convinced Viktor Yanukovich, who had declared victory in recent presidential elections, to revoke an order for the police and military to crack down on tens of thousands of people who had gathered in Kiev's main square to protest against irregularities in the poll. At the time, fears were rife that any violence could spark civil war in Ukraine, where the mostly Russian-speaking east backed Mr Yanukovich, while Kiev and the west hosted...

Russian President Vladimir Putin's plans to purchase Leonid Brezhnev's residence in the Crimea have collapsed. USSR Dacha No.1, "Hlitsyniya," is among the Ukrainian properties excluded from privatization. Nevertheless, Putin attempted to acquire it from Ukrainian president Leonid Kuchma as a token of gratitude for supporting Kuchma's designated successor, Viktor Yanukovych, in the 2004 presidential elections. The dacha is an apt symbol for Moscow's apparent need to maintain a presence in Ukraine. Subsequently, Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko said that Kyiv is considering an alternative residence for Putin. This comment is itself unusual, as world leaders normally do not have official residences...

Hundreds of Belarusian opposition activists and youth-movement activists from Russia and Ukraine held a demonstration in downtown Minsk, Belarus on 26 April, the 19th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, in order to threaten Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka. His government has been described as "the last true dictatorship in Europe". Riot police dispersed the demonstration and arrested some young protestors and two journalists. The incident in Minsk, which caused an international crisis, brought Ukraine and Belarus "in the revolution list" face to face. While Ukraine wants Belarus to release those arrested immediately, the Russian opposition harshly criticized the Kremlin. Moscow...

1. CHORNOBYL: A DISASTER THAT HAS BECOME A MORAL CATEGORY "The nuclear lighting of Chornobyl has struck...." For Whom The Bell Tolls ESSAY: By Myroslava Barchuk Welcome to Ukraine magazine Kyiv, Ukraine, Issue Number One, 2004 In 1986 the Ukrainian poet Ivan Drach came up with a stunning metaphor — “the nuclear lightning of Chornobyl has struck right into the genotype of the Ukrainian nation.” Back in 1986, we in Ukraine, could not grasp the full extent of the disastrous consequences of the Chornobyl "nuclear lightning." The Chornobyl disaster was to become a moral category. Like a chain reaction, it...

By Jeffrey Donovan, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) Prague, Czech Republic A key ambition of Pope John Paul II, especially in the years just before his death, was to reunite Christianity’s divided churches. As the first Slavic pope, John Paul was concerned above all with the Orthodox -- the Eastern churches that split with Roman Catholicism in 1054. But while progress was made in Catholic-Orthodox relations, the Russian Orthodox Church never allowed Pope John Paul to fulfill his cherished dream of visiting Russia. Today, relations between Catholicism and Russian Orthodoxy remain strained, with Moscow accusing Rome of aggressively proselytizing in...

Potapenko witnesses Ukrainian president's visit to joint session of Congress By Chad Selweski, Macomb Daily Staff Writer, The Macomb Daily Mount Clemens, Michigan, Thursday, April 7, 2005 Borys Potapenko's joy at seeing Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko's triumphant greeting Wednesday at a rare joint session of Congress was an emotional experience shared by 200,000 Ukrainian-Americans in metropolitan Detroit. Potapenko had a prime balcony seat in the House chambers as Yushchenko was embraced with a standing ovation, cheers of "Yush-chen-ko" and the waving of orange scarves and hats by members of Congress -- much like the over-whelming response his democratic "Orange Revolution"...

It would probably be an understatement to say that the Kremlin was likely not pleased with the unprecedented number of standing ovations with which American lawmakers welcomed Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko to Capitol Hill. For the Russian politicians and strategists who still see the world primarily through the geopolitical lens, the success of Yushchenko's April 4-6 visit to the United States served as yet another confirmation of Moscow's defeat in one of the most decisive battles in the war of "Russian imperial succession." The Kremlin's general attitude toward the new U.S.-Ukrainian rapprochement was best encapsulated in one commentary that bluntly...

By Boris Volodarsky, Wall Street Journal (Europe) Brussels, Belgium, Friday, April 7, 2005, Pg. A.10 Viktor Yushchenko was intentionally poisoned during Ukraine's presidential election campaign last year. By now that fact can hardly be disputed. Yuri Lutsenko, newly appointed Ukrainian interior minister, publicly announced in February that he knew precisely "who brought the poison across the Ukrainian border, which official took it to the scene of the crime, and who personally put it into Yushchenko's food." Officials also suspect that Mr. Yushchenko, now the country's president, imbibed the poison during a Sept. 5 dinner with the then- chairman of Ukraine's...

Security chief Yevhen Chervonenko still worries that he could have done more to prevent the attempted assassination of Ukraine's new President, Viktor Yushchenko. By Jeremy Page, The Times, London, UK, Friday, April 01, 2005 YEVHEN CHERVONENKO'S instincts told him something was wrong as soon as he saw the two black Mercedes-Benz 4WDs waiting in Podil, the old quarter of Kiev. He could tell by the number plates that the cars were from the SBU, Ukrainian state security. Moments later, a senior SBU officer climbed out of one of the 4WDs and told him to call off his team of bodyguards....

<p>Strange suicides and car crashes among foes of the former regime bring calls for investigations.</p> <p>KIEV, Ukraine -­ By all official accounts, Yuri Kravchenko died by his own hand. The former Ukrainian interior minister, scheduled to meet in just a few hours with prosecutors to give testimony in a high-profile case of political murder, aimed a gun at his chin and fired, sending a bullet ripping through his cheek and out his upper jaw. Then he aimed it at his temple and fired again.</p>

OP-ED: Faced with an ever-increasing terrorist threat in the wake of September 11, the United States and its allies had to go to war with Iraq. Back in 2003, a quick and effective strike was needed to foil Saddam Hussein's assertive plans. It would have taken years, if the US and its allies opted at the time to get a UN blessing for the operation. Needless to say, the varying, and often conflicting, interests of major international payers, France, Germany, Russia, China and many more, would have protracted a UN-supported operation for years. Feelings in Ukraine were mixed when the...