Posted on 11/23/2004 5:56:02 PM PST by wagglebee
Would-be Czar Vladimir Putin has taken a giant step toward reasserting the regional hegemony of the former Soviet Union by stealing the election in the Ukraine right under our noses.
As an unpaid, volunteer adviser to Viktor Yushchenko, the democratic candidate for president, I have seen, first hand, how Viktor Yanukovich, the Putin candidate backed by a rogue coalition of Russian Mafia, oil barons, former KGB officials and Communists, stole the election and thwarted the obvious will of the voters.
While the former Soviet Union was composed of many smaller nations, now independent, the key was the combination of Russia and the Ukraine. Russia’s 145 million people and the Ukraine’s 45 million are the core of what was the Soviet Empire. Reuniting them has to be the primary goal of any aspiring Russian czar.
But the people of the Ukraine don’t want Russian domination. The election contest pitted Viktor Yushchenko, who got the virtually solid support of the 60 percent of the population that is Ukrainian by ethnicity against Yanukovich, who won equally united backing from the 40 percent that is ethnically Russian.
The result was obvious: Exit polls (more accurate in Ukraine than when our own TV networks do them) showed Yushchenko winning by more than 10 points. But the final results announced by the government, which supported Yanukovich, showed a small margin in favor of the Russian-backed candidate.
Putin regarded the contest as so important that he personally visited the Ukraine in the weeks before the election to campaign for his candidate, a clear violation of the most elementary standards of independence and protocol. His former KGB henchmen – and once and future Communists – combined with Russian organized crime figures and oil barons to pump money into the race and to intimidate voters on the ground.
Yushchenko, a pro-Western former prime minister, survived two assassination attempts to make the race. At the start of the contest, he was run off the road while driving in the Ukraine. When he walked away from the wreck, the opposition poisoned him. Hospitalized in Vienna, his doctors diagnosed the poison, which mimicked a stroke in its symptoms, and nursed him to a full recovery.
If they couldn’t commit murder, Putin’s boys decided to commit larceny and did all they could to stack the election. Their totally controlled print and television media – all the information outlets in the nation – refused to give any favorable coverage to Yushchenko and biased all their news toward Yanukovich. We couldn’t even buy advertising space in any mass media outlet.
But, undaunted, Yushchenko’s supporters got their message out by hand, ditributing leaflets and flyers to every single household in the nation several times each week.
When, finally, the forces of freedom won the election, Putin’s operatives rigged the count and released totally phony results showing their stooge to be the winner.
The stakes could not be higher. If the Ukraine and Russia combine, as Putin clearly wants, the old Soviet Union will be back on the road to regional domination and the old ambitions of global power will return. And 45 million people will be cheated of the right to determine their own future.
We in the West are at best distracted and at worst willing to cede to Putin regional control in return for his assistance in the war on terror. This is a mistake of the same order of magnitude the allies made in the 1930s in dealing with Hitler.
The theft of the Ukrainian election is parallel to Germany’s decision to march into the Rhineland. And our refusal to notice or act is akin to the French and British policy of turning the other way.
Freedom may be on the march in the Middle East, but it is in full retreat in Eastern Europe.
So, again, the echo of the Nixonian question about China: Who lost the Ukraine?
And this is exactly what our "friend" Putin aspires to.
Uh... John Kerry?
Its still there. Right where you left it.
It's got to be GW's fault?
Wow, I actually find myself agreeing the Dick Morris. I sure hope this gets solved without a lot of bloodshed, but what happened in the Ukraine should be all over our news instead of that basketbrawl.
A good post; a good find.
It is frustrating to see those areas that we thought were working their way towards freedom...suddenly threatened with a return to the past. But it's their fight, for all that we might hope for them.
PING
As strange as it sounds, I've always admired Dick Morris (though I've only recently begun to agree with him). He may have been BJ Klintoon's spinmeister, but he was damn good at it.
Ukraine includes the Crimean Peninsula, which is a strategic maritime element that Nato, the EU, and Putin's "New Russia" would like to influence. Well, the new Russian Federation would probably like to do more than just influence Ukraine, as it could also serve as the beachhead to access the greater Caucasus.
From the CIA factbook: (http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/up.html)
After Russia, the Ukrainian republic was far and away the most important economic component of the former Soviet Union, producing about four times the output of the next-ranking republic. Its fertile black soil generated more than one-fourth of Soviet agricultural output, and its farms provided substantial quantities of meat, milk, grain, and vegetables to other republics.
I agree. They should be covering the election instead of these overpaid crybabies
He should be worrying about Chechnyans instead of Ukrainians.
Saying that I still back Putin with the war in Chechnya - as that's a war against Moon God Cultists
I would prefer Russian hegemony over the area than EU hegemony. The new president will not govern for long. I am not too worried.
Odd isn't it... Bush won despite MOVEON and the anti-Soros Ukrainian lost.
Well, Soros probably is thinking now... one out or two...not bad... NEXT time the USA WILL GO MY WAY!
He adores Hillary, you know.
As bad as the EU is, Putin's Russia is worse.
George Soros is it's prince of darkness.
At least Putin LIKES George Bush... cannot say that for George Soros and his MOVEON group.
Dick Morris will no longer be providing services for the Clintons. Not since Bill beat him up:
http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/comment-morris061203.asp
There is a reason that Bill Clinton had a habit of hiring shorter men -- they are easier to physically intimidate.
Ukraine is an East Slav country that is majority Orthodox just like Russia. I dont see why its so unusual Russia would want to have great influence there. I just dont see the danger of Russia trying for global domination anytime soon. There are way too many economic and demographic problems to sort out. It may become a regional power once again which is ok as long as it brings stability.
The fair and just solution would be a peaceful DIVORCE. Russian/pro-Russian/Russian speaking/pro-Yanukovich parts, of the Ukraine which are located in the east and the south should join Russia (whether they are 51% or 40%). Western parts should join EU as the Ukraine proper. Kiev could be divided or shared.
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