[risk]

There was a contingent on FR that was doing a good job scaring me about Yushchenko's victory, with all the allegations that he's a puppet for Soros and the EU, etc.

The contingent has been here for years. They've been capitalizing on our frustrations with Clinton and our revulsion at having our troops commanded by the UN and NATO for years. I'd be amused if I hadn't seen so many decent Americans on FR falling for it.

The contingent is about as patriotic as a Nepalese Maoist.

It's a solemn reminder: think for yourself and always mistrust anyone who criticizes America for anything we've done in the name of peace and freedom. You always have to ask if there's some sinister motivation. Usually there is.

Soros? He's dangerous, but even he worked to bring down the Iron curtain. Tossing around the word "Soros" isn't enough, or it shouldn't be. Tailgunner Joe has been uncovering some evidence that the Soros connection is pretty much a red herring.

[anonymoussierra]

Good morning America good friend! THANK YOU!!!!
ping Ukraina

[MeekOneGOP]

From America With Love (Ukraine's new first lady
knows what freedom really means) (John Fund)

Excerpt:

All this adds up to a rare opportunity for Mr. Yushchenko. Since its independence in 1991, Ukraine's 48 million people have seesawed between forming greater ties with the West or lurching back into becoming a vassal state of Russia. One out of six people are ethnically Russian. Still, a clear majority of voters now want the corrupt, pro-Moscow clique surrounding outgoing President Kuchma out of the government. Yulia Timoshenko, a charismatic ally of Mr. Yushchenko, says their time is up. She told reporters: "I think the key word for them in Sunday's exit polls was 'exit.' "

The challenge will be to move Ukraine towards a free-market economy. Mrs. Yushchenko makes clear that her husband makes all of his own political decisions, but she will no doubt be a valuable asset to him. "She is one of the brightest, most dedicated conservatives I have ever known," says Bruce Bartlett, a former official in the Treasury Department under the first President Bush. "Anyone who met Kathy quickly discovered that creating a free, successful Ukraine was her primary mission in life, to the exclusion of almost everything else."

Now the challenge facing Ukraine is to make the leap towards becoming a democratic society truly governed by the rule of law. Mrs. Yushchenko is realistic about the obstacles facing her husband and his team. "[Some] people are making a lot of money off the current system," she told ABC News. "The last thing they want is for the system to change and for the economy to be a free market economy where the general population benefits rather than a small group of people at the top."

Cynics may say that since Ukraine has never been a true democracy, reforming it will be impossible. But those are the same people who never predicted that hundreds of thousands of people would fill the streets of Kiev and other cities and force a new election. Nonetheless it happened. What happens next is now up to Mr. Yushchenko.

Please let me know if you want ON or OFF my Yushchenko vs. Yanukovych/Ukraine election ping list!. . .don't be shy.

[Grampa Dave]

The contingent is about as patriotic as the John Kerry troll contingent.

It's a solemn reminder: think for yourself and always mistrust anyone who criticizes America for everything we've done in the name of peace and freedom. You always have to ask if there's some sinister motivation. Usually there is.

[jb6]

The contingent is about as patriotic as a Nepalese Maoist.

Yes people like you were saying the same thing when others said supporting Islam in anything would back fire and bombing the serbs would back fire and the first thing that scoundrels do is cloak themselves in "patriotism" and accuse their detractors of not having any. After all, only "patriots" think like you, right?

[1rudeboy]

A member here (whose name I don't care to mention) was going-on about Yushchenko, and how he is a World Bank/IMF/Soros/socialist puppet . . . I found it curious.

Two days later, I'm listening to NPR (NPR, of all places!), and it was playing tapes of some Ukrainian Socialist Party leader railing on Yuschenko. Go figure . . . some of our members here truly live in an alternate universe.