This is now a clearly declared revolutionary effort.
A confrontation seems unavoidable now.¿¿¿¿¿¿
Posted on 11/23/2004 4:38:52 PM PST by ModelBreaker
From: Bob Schaffer
Sent: Tuesday, November 23, 2004 12:10 PM
Friends: some of you know I am in Ukraine as an election monitor. The presidential election was Sunday. There was rampant cheating and falsification reported throughout the country. I can't go into all details of election. I'm using a blackberry to communicate with lots of USA people, news agencies and Ukrainians. Please check news sources on the Ukrainian election background if you're not familiar. Also, I'll be regularly updating the Denver Post. They're setting their web site to post my updates.
Here's the latest:
Russian special forces dressed in Ukrainian Special forces uniforms are in Kyiv. Ukrainian militia have been instructed by the mayor to protect the people from the Russian troops. Ukrainian militia have established a hotline for Ukrainians to report any incidents with the Russians and pledged to protect Ukrainians. These Russians flew into Ukraine this morning. They're now surrounding the administration buildings they say "to protect Kuchma (the outgoing president and his PM Yanukovich). Following is a chain of email messages I've been sending by blackberry. Please pass along to others. Bob Schaffer
-------
PETER: PLEASE SEE UPDATES BELOW. GETTING QUITE SERIOUS NOW. OUR EMBASSY'S PHONES ARE DOWN AND WE'RE NOT SURE THEY'RE AWARE OF THE NEWS OF RUSSIANS (SEE BELOW). YES, PLEASE SEND INFO TO ANYONE YOU CAN, ESPECIALLY PRESS. BOB
---------- Dan: is there anything you can do to alert someone in the Denver media to look at news coming out of Ukraine? I know this isn't our normal "beat," but this seems quite serious here. I'll paste below a message I just sent to a ukrainian group. I've been updating several people by blackerrying them events from the street and from the local news. Bob
---------- Yes. I'm safe for now. Demonstrators are reassembling in Kyiv. They're coming back stronger than yesterday coming in from the rest of the country. The authorities are trying to stop them. Cars and busses are being stopped by police at the outskirts of the city. The authorities have scattered road spikes on inbound lanes to stop traffic/protesters. People are walking down the highways to protest. Trains into the city have been stopped.
The parliament is meeting now but without the president's supporters or the Communists. After several speeches, they called Yushchenko to the podium to swear him in as the new president (escorted to the podium with guards). The Rada Speaker Litvin walked out. Then the TV station (only one station covers anything about the election and it only covers 30% of the country) went off then cut to news and footage from earlier in the day. This is similar to the revolution in Georgia.
It seems the opposition has now claimed control of the parliament and most likely named Yushchenko as the president. He walked to the podium with a Bible and a copy of the oath in his hand. 300,000 pro-Yushchenko supporters are in the city square and watched what I described above on a jumbo TV. They're celebrating what they believe is their new president. Provocateurs are infiltrating the crowd. Special forces are said to be moving in to disband the crowd. This is now a clearly declared revolutionary effort. A confrontation seems unavoidable now.
It's very tense here. School has been cancled (again) for tomorrow. I'll report more as I learn it.
Now we hear Yushchenko is headed to the city center to address the masses. His lieutenants will be giving instructions to the people outside the Rada building on "what to do."
Telephones in the outlying towns have been shut off.
Now we hear there are Russians in Ukrainian special forces uniforms.
I'll report more as I learn it. May God bless and protect Ukraine and her people.
A representative of the Greek Catholic Church (a man who appeared to be a priest -- dressed as one) announced at the demonstration that he was speaking on behalf of the Greek Catholic Churchn the Kyiv Patriarchiat and several Protestant denominations (Lutheran was the only specific one I heard but there were several others). He said this coalition of churches recognizes Yushchenko as president.
Yuschenko is now leading 1 million people from the square and surrounding streets to the administration headquarters of the Ukrainian government. He is in front of the column and many fear he is vulnerable to getting shot. They should be at the steps in 15 mins. Keep in mind, this is where the Russian special forces are stationed, dresses in Ukrainian garb.
If violence comes to define this revolution it will likely be within minutes.
The Georgian President (surrounded by Orthodox priests) just appeared on Ukrainian TV congratulating and encouraging the opposition supporters and "President" Victor Yushchenko. He spoke in Ukrainian which is very significant.
The Russian special forces just stopped the crowd approaching the administration headquarters.
Bob
Sent via BlackBerry
You think it ALL about freedom... when it ALL about the EU and their slimey power grab.
Remember... hillary is Soros' EU gal in the USA. His son Jonathan is one of her BIGGEST $$$ supporters.
Read the Ukrainians take on it:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1287133/posts?page=86#86
They rebut some of what you all have been saying.
EU Threatens Consequences for Ukraine
The Guardian ^ | 11/24/04 | CONSTANT BRAND
Posted on 11/24/2004 7:48:21 AM CST by Valin
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1287478/posts
BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) - European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso warned Wednesday of ``consequences'' for the European Union's political and trade relations with neighboring Ukraine if the government there does not allow a full review of contested presidential election results.
``There will be consequences, if there is not a serious, objective review,'' Barroso told reporters. ``I hope there will be no consequences.''
Barroso said the 25-nation bloc was demanding a ``complete review of the electoral process'' after the second round of elections in Ukraine, which international election observers declared flawed.
``The report of the electoral observation mission indicates Ukraine did not meet international standards of democratic elections,'' Barroso said.
The new EU chief however did not go into specifics of what the consequences would be. At risk might be around $1.31 billion the bloc has given or committed to Ukraine since 1991, in development and economic aid and possible visa-bans on politicians and officials.
``We regret that the Ukrainian authorities have not taken the opportunity to demonstrate their commitment to democracy. This could affect our relations in the future,'' said Barroso. ``We hope that in the meantime, a political solution can be found and we call on restraint from all sides to achieve that goal.''
Barroso said the EU would ``make our position clear'' with Russian President Vladimir Putin at Thursday's EU-Russia summit in The Hague, the Netherlands.
``It is our duty to say we are not satisfied with the way the elections took place in Ukraine.''
The EU's threat, being used to put added pressure on Ukraine authorities to meet Western demands, came as the EU's top envoy said he would consider leading a high-level delegation to Ukraine to see if he could help resolve the tense political standoff following a charged presidential election.
EU foreign policy representative Javier Solana said, however, that he had ``doubts'' now was the time to go.
``There is not much you can do physically there, but we can reconsider that,'' he told the European Parliament's foreign affairs committee, which called a special debate on Ukraine amid fears the country could fall into civil conflict over the disputed election results.
Official results after the second round gave Kremlin-backed Viktor Yanukovych a narrow lead over Western-leaning opposition candidate Viktor Yushchenko, with almost all votes counted. But they were widely dismissed by EU and other observers as flawed.
The EU assembly's committee chairman, German conservative Elmar Brok, pushed Solana on behalf of his committee ``to consider'' sending a high-level mission to exert ``necessary pressure'' on Ukrainian authorities to resolve the crisis peacefully.
Polish Liberal Democrat Grazyna Staniszewska said if Solana did not go, the parliament should send its own team and consider pressing EU governments to impose sanctions.
``We must send a new observer mission to prevent a bloodbath,'' she said.
This is now a clearly declared revolutionary effort.
A confrontation seems unavoidable now.¿¿¿¿¿¿
The feeling I get is in this part of the world (like many otheres) it's really hard to find someone who doesn't have skeletons in their closet.
You just do not get it do you?
The EU wants its man in place. PERIOD.
The EU/Soros is NOT the friend of the USA nor of Russia.
EU = Soros, the kaiser, Hitler, Napolean= soviet union WEST with some fascism thrown it to spice up the mixture.
Yup. And if the guy from the opposition is backed by Soros... well, maybe Putin's guy ain't so bad. Putin at least works with us some of the time. Soros is implacably hostile to President Bush.
And the people all said "Amen"!
You forgot to add Poland Matthew.
No, you need to do some better searching. It was yanukovych's second in command and her party that started the bill in the Rada to remove the troops and the Our Ukraine party all voted for it. Thankfully they are not the majority. He has also stated flat out he will remove the troops.
Spoken like a true revolutianry, Soros would be proud. Oh, little reminder of history, every revolution eventually eats its own. Bon Appitite.
My president is George W. Bush, he supports Yushchenko. Your president is Putin, he supports Yanukovitch.
How many soldiers has Putin sent to Iraq? And the one's who removed Sadam's WMDs do not count.
Keep in mind, too, that Kuchma's sole reason for sending troops to Iraq was to make up for the fact that he sold radar jamming devices to Sadam so that he could line his pockets with the profits at the expense of dead American flyers.
Really, were you there watching over my shoulder when I voted? You must be psychic or something, because I'm pretty damn sure I voted straight Republican ticket, but hay, you're a power on to yourself.
First, that's up to Putin to decide. Second, that story was blown out of the water as 1. Kerry propaganda and 2. Gertz's typical blow hard hot air 3. DoD stated flat out that they used those explosives to destroy 400,000 tons of other explosives, or are you saying Bush and DoD are liars?
As for why Ukraine sent troops, I really don't care. As long as they are there, supporting our troops, killing Islamics, it doens't matter to me what political favors were called in. What matters is that the man YOU support has tried before and flatly stated those troops and that support will be gone, as he aims at appeasing Old Europe and the EU, just like a typical Soros placement would.
Did you vote for Soros' candidate here in the US too?
"Dear, the pro-western guy is NOT pro USA he is PRO EU.
You just do not get it do you?"
I did not say pro-USA. I said pro-Western. I referred you to an e-mail from a Ukrainian earlier in this thread saying why he voted for Yushchenko even though he was not perfect. With Yushchenko, there is a chance for continued reforms, for freedoms to progress. With Putin's guy, no chance.
I am trying to keep this discourse repectful. I appreciate that you have a different opinion and that you consider yourself an expert on the Ukraine. But how does a comment like "You just do not get it do you" advance the merit of your argument? Let's stick to discussing the merits and leave the disparaging comments out of the posts, okay?
when the entire community is against yanukovych and this election, when just about every country (with the exception of russia) are calling this a fraudulant election, why do you insist on claiming legitimacy for it? bush is supporting yushchenko as are the EU, all the american and foreign watchers, nato, un etc.
you are wrong and thankfully most realize it.
Thank you Matthew for keeping us up to date on this. God Bless Poland and the Ukraine.
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