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?
It is completely obvious. And as someone who is personally and deeply tied to the pre Soviet history of Ukraine, I must say that Yuschenko is the closest thing we've seen in this generation to a true Ukrainian patriot in the tradition of the old knightly and noble kings. Few are aware of just how tied to the West Ukraine was particularly prior to Russian expansionism after the 1750s. During the period 1500 - 1600, Ukraine had more in common with London, Paris, Rome, Vienna, Warsaw and Munich than with Moscow. This is a major big deal. And the increasing pan Slavic (in the old Kremlin bootlicking sense) climate here in Free Republic is appalling. Do any of these people realize what they are siding with, in the historical context? They are siding with barbarians.
Boy talk about a complex situation.
You obviously haven't seen Condi Rice's Stare of Death. (c8
Yes Soros is the EU's boy. He hates the power of a sovereign U.S.. On the other hand, Putin says he likes Bush.
Unfortunately, Putin actions don't support what he says and is a bigger enemy of freedom and he as more centralized power in Russia than Soros and Germany have in the almost as bad EU.
It's not a good choice. I still choose Yush in the Ukraine. Beside, I think Yanuk stole it.
Well, the Kremlin bootlicker brigade here (a number of whom are probably SVR plants) will attack those of us who state the truth thereby demonstrating their true colors. And the existence of a prominent 5th column in general here in the USA, who might as well be SVR agents themselves, does not help at all.
Vaclav Havel is a pompous, smug, hypocritical, politically correct flapdoodle.
Truth should be said and I have to bump it!
If the choice is Putin or Soros how the hell do you pick, they are both wrong for the US.
"Pootie-Poot has been doing some might unfriendly stuff."
Russia was walking arm-in-arm with Saddam until the very last:
"Russian special forces troops moved many of Saddam Hussein's weapons and related goods out of Iraq and into Syria in the weeks before the March 2003 U.S. military operation."
http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20041028-122637-6257r.htm
Germany doesn't dominate the EU as much as Putin dominates Russia...and apparently the Ukraine.
Yush is the lesser of two evils.
That may be what actually ends up happening.
So, many of those who disagree with you on FR are SVR agents, huh? Dude, I'd LOVE to see your MMPI results.
I also do not personally care for him. But is remains true that Ukraine has an important ancient link with the Czech people.
Ahem. To quote Deep Throat of Watergate fame, "Follow the Money."
Let me put it this way. Among the Putin cheerleading squad, some are here as a result of SVR orders. You? Probably not.
How f***ing generous of you.
I'd STILL love to see your MMPI results. They'd probably be about as much fun as Ter-RAY-zuh's.
Wonder why Dick Morris was so upset about the inaccurate exit polling in th US?
SVR? MMPI? Can someone explain what it means?
How bout dividing Poland and splitting Warsaw between East and West, just like it was way back?
You are back with your "Ukrainian Expertise"? Crawl back please.
You took the first part of my sentence and you removed it from the full context of my full sentence.
What I said: Germany doesn't dominate the EU as much as Putin dominates Russia.
HUGE BTTT!!!!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.