It's the endgame for NATO. And that's why it is also the endgame for Moscow.
Forget about negotiated splitting. What NATO wants, starting with Sevatopol, is located in the wrong half.
Posted on 11/23/2004 9:03:00 AM PST by Grzegorz 246
KIEV, Ukraine - Opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko declared victory in Ukraine's presidential election and took a symbolic oath of office Tuesday, warning that the country was on the verge of civil conflict. About 200,000 supporters gathered in the capital to protest alleged election fraud.
Yushchenko accused authorities of rigging Sunday's vote in favor of Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych and announced a campaign of civil disobedience.
"Ukraine is on the threshold of a civil conflict," Yushchenko told lawmakers gathered for an emergency session of parliament to consider an opposition request to annul the election results. "We have two choices: either the answer will be given by the parliament, or the streets will give an answer."
The parliamentary session ended without making any decision, since only 191 lawmakers — less than the 226 required to have a quorum — attended.
After the session ended, Yushchenko swore an oath on a 300-year-old Bible. The Ukrainian constitution, however, stipulates that the president swears allegiance on a copy of the constitution. Lawmakers chanted "Bravo, Mr. President!"
Earlier, Yushchenko and his allies had released a statement appealing "to the parliaments and nations of the world to bolster the will of the Ukrainian people, to support their aspiration to return to democracy."
The opposition will conduct "a campaign of civil disobedience" and "a nonviolent struggle for recognition of the true results of the election."
The Election Commission's announcement that the Kremlin-backed Yanukovych was ahead of the Western-leaning Yushchenko has galvanized anger among many of the former Soviet republic's 48 million people. Official results, with more than 99.48 percent of precincts counted, showed Yanukovych leading with 49.39 percent to his challenger's 46.71 percent. But several exit polls had found Yushchenko the winner.
More than 100,000 people marched behind Yushchenko to the parliament building and waited behind metal barriers, waving orange flags — Yushchenko's campaign color — and holding a giant orange ribbon over their heads, chanting "Criminals go away!" But many began leaving after parliament failed to reach quorum and temperatures dropped as evening approached.
In parliament, pro-Yushchenko lawmakers — wearing orange handkerchiefs in their pockets — took turns at the podium.
"All political forces should negotiate and solve the situation without blood," said parliament speaker Volodymyr Litvyn.
"The activities of politicians and the government ... have divided society and brought people into to the streets," Litvyn said. "Today there is a danger of activities moving beyond control."
A no-confidence vote in parliament would have carried political significance, but it would not have been binding. According to the Ukrainian constitution, a no-confidence vote must be initiated by the president — and outgoing President Leonid Kuchma has staunchly backed Yanukovych.
Opposition leader and Yushchenko ally Yulia Tymoshenko, wearing an orange ribbon around her neck, called on lawmakers "not to go to into any negotiations" with the government. Instead, Tymoshenko said, they should "announce a new government, a new president, a new Ukraine."
Yushchenko supporters set up tents awash with orange on Kiev's main avenue and in Independence Square, pledging to stay despite freezing temperatures until he is declared president. People continued to arrive in minibuses and on foot, raising fears of civil unrest in this nation of 48 million.
The tent city even generated its own one-page newspaper, which was being handed out to supporters.
Mykola Tomenko, a lawmaker and Yushchenko ally, said some police had joined the opposition, although the claim was impossible to independently verify. One police officer, wearing an orange ribbon in his uniform, ordered a group of police outside a government building to retreat inside, defusing tension between them and Yushchenko supporters.
Kiev's city council and the administrations of four other sizable cities — Lviv, Ternopil, Vinnytsia and Ivano-Frankivsk — have refused to recognize the official results and they back Yushchenko.
Russian President Vladimir Putin (news - web sites), who strongly praised Yanukovych during the election, sent his congratulations to the prime minister, but observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation (news - web sites) in Europe and other international organizations pointed to extensive indications of voting fraud.
The European Union (news - web sites) called for an urgent review of the results, and Senator Richard Lugar, chairman of the U.S. Senate's Foreign Relations Committee, spoke of "a concerted and forceful program of election-day fraud and abuse."
In televised comments, Yanukovych called for national unity, saying: "I categorically will not accept the actions of certain politicians who are now calling people to the barricades. This small group of radicals has taken upon itself the goal of splitting Ukraine."
"What evidence (if any) is there that Yuschenko is a Moscow plant?"
First, for Moscow/KGB this is standard operating procedure (controlling both sides of the debate/revolution/election so that their side wins no matter what). Second, Yuschenko's priveledged past before the "fall" of the Soviet Bloc makes him extremely suspect. Also, see link I posted above.
PS Plenty more links where link on post #59 came from.
In the meantime, what do you think the US can/should be doing with regard to the Ukraine elections?
"In the meantime, what do you think the US can/should be doing with regard to the Ukraine elections?"
You should read Golitsyn's New Lies For Old first IMO.
The US needs to expose the phony collapse of the Soviet Union, that the Red Chinese are in on it and working together with the Soviets...solution, cut off all aid and trade with both, watch them both crumble like a house of cards. Ukraine is a side issue...but our intel. services should approach it with a mind to expose all secret structures connecting the current political leadership (to include elements of the oppositions) to Moscow.
BTW, here is an excellent backgrounder on the book(s) you are about to read.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1224848/posts
BTW, here is an excellent backgrounder on the book(s) you are about to read.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1224848/posts
Well, one side or the other could request intervention. Voila! There's the right, or even responsibility.
Grzegorz 246 is Polish. He's talking about Poland jumping in, not us in America.
"He's talking about Poland jumping in, not us in America."
Yes, it took me a minute to figure that out. You can't tell where folks are from without a scorecard any more.
Let freedom ring!
anyone know history? Dmitry Samozvanets comes to mind you know the one who was installed by poles & west in Russia and then got shot back by cannon?
Ukraine has the same history when it comes to self proclamed leaders.
this election was between 2 major candidates, in US equivalent it would have been John Kerry (Yushchenko, with Soros backing) vs Hillary Clinton (Yanukovich, with communist backing).
that is the "choice" the Ukrainians had... scary...
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