Mazepa, regarding funding and Yushenko - You're right, I have no idea who pays his bills, but after reading on the net about the amount of support he allegedly received from far right groups in Western Ukraine, it seemed logical to assume he received financial help from them. It'd be interesting to see. And, I don't think receiving funding from Berezovsky or Soros is anything to be happy about either. Having said that, I think Putin's intrusion into the election was one of the biggest mistakes he's made in his presidency. If anything, in my opinion, this Russian incursion into domestic politics probably gained Yushenko votes.
Didn't know you were not posting from America and should not have included you on the spanalot list! Having said that, while it's your country (Ukraine) and you have every right to be proud of it, support it, etc., Western Ukraine has some serious problems connected to nationalism. As an "outsider" I have to shake my head when I see the venom exchanged between Russians and Ukrainians. To me, you're the same people, not cousins, but brothers, as someone else mentioned on here. I can't swing a dead cat in Moscow without hitting someone of Ukrainian heritage. A lot of the "Russian" officials I deal with have Ukrainian last names. I lot of the "Ukrainian" officials I deal with have Russian last names. Two of the most popular rock groups in Moscow are Ukrainian (Vopli Vidoplasova and Okean Elzy). Why should anyone on either side allow themselves to be used by nationalists out to sow hatred?
And while we're on the subject, there's nothing wrong with being a patriot, but a nationalist is a weak-minded individual. A great man once said a patriot is a man who loves his country and respects other countries, a nationalist is a man who loves his country and hates others. Which would you rather see representing your country?
"a nationalist is a man who loves his country and hates others."
What do you call Putin when he has a tantrum and shuts off the gas to Europe in the middle of a record freeze.
By the way, you seem to have a lot of free time considering you are finishing a 25 year stint in the Army (or was it the Air Force) - and you never answered which assigned you to "spend six years" of your life interviewing Russians who fought in Viet Nam
Even General Lebed was Ukrainian, while the present PM in Ukraine is Russian. The Lvov hatred is a venom straight from Satan.
I've been pondering for some time now about the two (nationalist and patriotic), and the only difference, as I understand, is in the degree, but basically it's the same phenomena. In Ukrainian case, "nationalist" term is an overused misnomer because Soviets branded ANY show of Ukrainian patriotism and independence movements as "nationalist".