Posted on 11/24/2004 9:34:43 PM PST by FairOpinion
KYIV, Mar. 2 (Ukrainian News) - Major international financier George Soros in a letter published by the Financial Times on Friday called on President Leonid Kuchma to step aside pending the outcome of an official investigation into the murder of journalist Georgy Gongadze.
State prosecutors ruled Gongadze’s death a murder this week after DNA tests showed a 99.9 percent probability that a headless body found in the outskirts of Kyiv last November belonged to the journalist.
The letter from Soros is the latest in high-profile appeals that Ukraine clean up its act with respect to democracy, the rule of law and press freedom.
U.S. President George W. Bush on Friday also sent a sharply-worded verbal message to Ukraine, delivered by United States ambassador to Ukraine Carlos Pasqual.
In the message, the U.S. warns Ukraine that the financial aid that the U.S. has been doling out to the economically-strained ex-Soviet state since it gained independence was at risk due to repressive measures by Ukrainian authorities against democratic processes.
In his letter, entitled "Step Aside, Mr. Kuchma," Soros calls on Kuchma to hand over his duties to Prime Minister Viktor Yushchenko while the investigation into Gongadze’s murder goes forward.
"If Mr. Kuchma cares about Ukraine's survival as an independent democratic state, he must take responsibility for his actions and hand over his duties to the Prime Minister ... pending the results of the investigation," Soros said in the letter.
According to Soros, an objective investigation into Gongadze’s murder and other crimes that Kuchma has been accused of was not realistic unless Kuchma stepped aside and allowed the investigation to go forward.
Audio recordings made secretly in Kuchma’s office appear to implicate the president in engineering Gongadze’s disappearance, in addition to other alleged criminal acts.
Soros also said that Kuchma's recent letter to the Financial Times showed that Kuchma "takes any opportunity to lash out at his opponents."
"If Mr. Kuchma remains recalcitrant, continues to harass political opponents and the media and drags his feet on the investigation, he risks relegating Ukraine to the same fate as neighboring Belarus..." Soros said.
In his letter Soros recalled his last meeting with Kuchma. Soros said he was "taken aback by the president's scathing, virulent remarks about Viktor Yushchenko, Ukraine's prime minister, and Yulia Tymoshenko, the former deputy prime minister."
"And later I found myself in the uncomfortable position of urging Mr. Yushchenko to accommodate the president," Soros wrote.
George Soros heads the Open Society Institute, which has held several philanthropic programs in Ukraine in the past few years.
Soros also pointed out in the letter that he had been deeply involved in Ukraine by trying to help it make the transition from a closed to an open society by creating the Ukrainian Renaissance Foundation and giving Ukraine more than $100 million in support.
Read the full text of Soros’s letter published by the Financial Times at http://navigation.helper.realnames.com/framer/1/1/default.asp?realname=Financial+Times&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Eft%2Ecom&frameid=1&providerid=1&uid=30013336
(The link to the FT doesn't work, because it's old)
PING -- thought you'd be interested.
What I want to know is "Where is Terry McAuliffe on all this?" 'Cause whatever that guy thinks, I'm against it!
He may have bitten off more than he can chew this time around.
What's the problem? Lech Walesa, Vaclav Havel, The Pope, the EU, our President -- are all supporting Ukraine here --- Yuschenko's Ukraine's last chance before Ukraine slides into the coming Soviet/totaliterian abyss.
Are we anti-Communists here, or not? for pete's sake!
There are tapes of Kuchma Sr. officials on how they'll rig the elections, for pete's sake (that's what Im hearing on Charlie Rose now)
Believe it or not, there will be instances in which Soros and our President are on the same side.
This is one of them. Yanukovich is a Putin/KGB plant.
"George Soros has said that the European security system is incomplete without Ukraine. The point is that should Ukraine join the Euro-Atlantic security system, it would create a buffer zone between Russia and the West from the Baltic to the Black Seas, and provide a direct outlet to the Caucasus region. Moreover, the Crimean peninsula is of particular military and strategic value as it has been an important naval stronghold since the Crimean War. "
What do you think? The Dems agree with Soros.
I think people are very naive, when they think this is fight for freedom.
I mean the Ukraine is better than the big old bad USA. He should feel very safe there.... I mean the people support him and would protect him.
Not all of us, apparently.
Putin has a small band of groupies who are spinning this as an "us against Soros" thing. It isn't. It's a "the entire world (except N Korea, China, Cuba, Iran, et al) against the KGB" thing.
This gloomy prediction is in line with the jealous mistrust of Bush's administration that is widespread among Ukraine's liberal and nationalist opposition. Many of those Ukrainians who oppose Kuchma's government believe that Bush tacitly agreed to overlook corruption and undemocratic practices in Kyiv in exchange for Kuchma' s support for the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq. "Ukraine's presence in Iraq will push it further away from Europe bringing it closer to America.
America's focus on Iraq will push Ukraine onto the sidelines of U.S. foreign policy," Ukrayinska pravda continued. "During Bush's first term, foreign aid to Ukraine shrunk by almost $100 million, and it will shrink further. This will mean fewer exchanges between students, teachers, military personnel, and parliamentarians," the opposition website warned.
Georgia revolt carried mark of Soros
By MARK MacKINNON From Wednesday's Globe and Mail
Wednesday, November 26, 2003
Tbilisi — It was back in February that billionaire financier George Soros began laying the brickwork for the toppling of Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze.
That month, funds from his Open Society Institute sent a 31-year-old Tbilisi activist named Giga Bokeria to Serbia to meet with members of the Otpor (Resistance) movement and learn how they used street demonstrations to topple dictator Slobodan Milosevic.....
I came into this without much knowledge and an open mind.
I thought Yushchenko is pro-West, from what the articles said. Upon getting more info from various FReepers and doing my own research, it turns out that Yushchenko is pro-socialist-EU, NOT pro-US. The current Ukrainian government supported the US in going into Iraq, they sent troops, which shows serious support and commitment, so I would say the current government is pro-US and the Soros-supported candidate is anti-US, pro-EU. Soros is supporting him, to strengthen the EU, as a force against the US.
All the screams about fraud are based on EXIT POLLS! Remember exit polls, in this election? Based on that, Bush won the presidency fraudulently, Kerry should be president, and the Democrats should be taking to the streets.
I saw this earlier tonight while browsing google.
Thanks for posting.
It is a fight for freedom, albeit in the narrow sense the the Putin-Kuchma-Yanukovich cartel is trying to steal the election.
Far more important, from my perpsective, is that it is also a fight for geopolitical influence. That is a zero-sum game that we cannot afford to lose.
The "entire world" is against both the US and Russia, because these are the two world powers.
I said this before, but the bottom line is that weasel countries would love to see US and Russia both reduced to rubble.
I suspect that Soros needs to shore up his cover. He is a commie, through and through. Backing the percieved bad guy in this tussle will only give him street cred after Putin crushes a few students under tank treads. Soros is all about influencing the West and propelling us to our own destruction in international socialism. He doesn't care about the Ukrainians any more than any other double agent cares about the ultimate goals of his cover story persona.
The Bush administration is supporting Yuschenko, for crying out loud. Why do you suppose that is?
I am glad you understand.
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