SOROS INTERFERING (In Ukraine) (March 2001)

Ukrainian News via Brama.com ^ | March 2, 2001 | Ukrainian News

[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

[PhillyGal]

Bless you for that -- I'm a 1st Generation Ukrainian w/parents brave enough to escape Stalinist Ukraine after WW2 -- obviously emotionally involved -- and we're all praying for Yuschenko -- we're scared of being sucked back into Russia's sphere -- -- we know Putin funded his puppet candidate and the outrageous manipulation of this election, despite brave international efforts and ours (Sen. Lugar)

Kuchma, sitting President, has been terrible for Ukraine -- he's a corrupt crook/

We want to go to the light -- to the West --- for dreams of hope and self-determination.

[Rome2000]

Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze was instrumental in the fall of the Soviet Union.

Soros toppled him too.

Soviet role

Mr Shevardnadze joined the Communist Party in 1946 and rose through party ranks to become Georgia's Communist leader in 1972.

As Soviet foreign minister between 1985 and 1990 when the Cold War began to thaw, he oversaw a transformation in Soviet foreign policy.



He resigned in December 1990, giving a stark warning of imminent dictatorship - and his predictions appeared well-founded when hardliners attempted a coup the following summer.

After this he returned briefly as foreign minister of a now doomed Soviet Union.

Mr Shevardnadze put a halt to the anarchy that threatened to engulf Georgia when he returned from Moscow and took over as leader in 1992.

He won huge respect for his bravery under fire during the conflict in the breakaway region of Abkhazia the following year, and came within a hair's breadth of being killed or captured.

He was elected president in 1995 and re-elected in 2000.

Georgia has the potential to offer a positive contrast to some of its southern or eastern neighbours.

It is seen as pro-Western and broadly democratic, with a parliament that does more than rubber stamp executive decisions, and the beginnings of a genuine civil society.

Attacks

But the country is still poor and divided and pervasive corruption remains the biggest problem - one that Mr Shevardnadze was unable to tackle.

The 75-year-old - who claims with some justification to have ended the Cold War, liberated central Europe, reunified Germany and democratised the USSR - once looked likely to die a martyr's death after two armed attempts on his life: one bomb, and one assault on his motorcade.

He had said he would not stand for a third term, in the next round of presidential elections due in 2005.

In the end, he never got the chance of a dignified exit.

[ermmt]

Soros is long on the Ukrainian $$(period) ~ If they have one :)

[cicero's_son]

God bless you and your family and the Ukraine.

I am confident that right will prevail over might there!

[FairOpinion]

Thanks for posting the links and info about Soros.

I think people have a hard time realizing how much influence can be wielded behind the scenes. Soros has indeed been working on this for many years.

[DaveTesla]

The Bush administration is supporting Yuschenko, for
crying out loud. Why do you suppose that is?

Lesser of two evils.
Me I haven't figured out which is worse, Soros or Putin.

[FairOpinion]

I can understand your hopes, but I am afraid you may be going from the frying pan right into the fire, with Yushchenko.

[WorkingClassFilth]

The Reds sent him to London to get a paid for doctorate in economics in 1945. From then on he's just been a busy beaver making money and supporting Leftist causes ever since. When the commies let him go, I'm sure they just wanted to see a little bird fly free...

[FairOpinion]

The Bush administration is NOT supporting Yushchenko.

People make that claim with ZERO basis.

[jwalsh07]

Me I haven't figured out which is worse, Soros or Putin.

Well, let me help you out a bit. Which one commands a huge nuclear arsenal coupled with a very large military buttressed by the KGB?

[DaveTesla]

I wonder what Soros's death toll is on the Ukrainian people.
Abortion, Aids, Drugs, Etc.?
Maybe he wants to be the next Stalin.

[cicero's_son]

but when I read on some threads last night that Soros is backing Yushchenko, some red flags went up.

As they should. One of the big mistakes we Americans tend to make is seeing every conflict as "good guys versus bad guys." More often, it's "very awful guys versus slightly less awful guys." The key is to figure out who is most awful.

In this case, it is Yanukovich. He has been backed (funded) by Putin, an ex(?) KGB officer who is turning back liberty in Russia and re-asserting Soviet claims on his neighbors. He is supporting Iran's nuclear ambitions with money and materials. He is opposing us in Iraq. He has already effectively installed a puppet government in Belarus. Where does he intend to stop? Don't know, but personally, I'd like to stop it for him...right here and right now.

Soros is bad news, no doubt. And I am sure that Yuschenko is no angel. But this is much bigger than personalities. It is about geopolitics, and we cannot afford to lose on that level.

[Rome2000]

The Bush administration is supporting Yuschenko, for crying out loud. Why do you suppose that is?.

It's just for domestic and EU consumption, W doesn't need a bunch of leftists in the press rabidly spewing out stories about how he supports "voter fraud" and opposes "free elections".

Bush could care less about Yuschenko, and probably wishes he could do to Soros what Putin will undoubtedly do in the not too distant future.

[cicero's_son]

Me I haven't figured out which is worse, Soros or Putin

Let me help you:

Soros doesn't have nukes, a massive standing army, a KGB background, or an appetite for swalling his neighbors whole.

[cicero's_son]

Tell that to Colin Powell.

[cicero's_son]

Right...

Are we to assume that the administration is lying about everything, then, or just this one thing?

[FreeReign]

It was back in February that billionaire financier George Soros began laying the brickwork for the toppling of Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze.

President George Bush and Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili meeting in the Oval Office recently. Here's what they had to say;

President Bush:Mr. President, welcome. We followed the revolution that took place in your country very closely. We appreciate your firm commitment to democracy and freedom. We've had a very interesting discussion. I know firsthand that the President will do everything he can to earn the confidence of the people of Georgia by representing their will, by fighting corruption, by working for a system based upon integrity and decency and human rights.

I'm impressed by this leader. I'm impressed by his vision, I'm impressed by his courage. I am heartened by the fact that we have such a strong friend, a friend with whom we share values. So Mr. President, welcome to the Oval Office. I appreciate the candid discussion we've had. And I'm proud to call you friend.

PRESIDENT SAAKASHVILI: It's a great honor for me and for the people of Georgia to be here in this Oval Office. It's not -- our cooperation is very deep. We consider ourselves as very close ally and friend of the United States. We are proud to be friend of the United States. I am speaking on behalf of every Georgian. I have to say that this cooperation and friendship -- the U.S. helped us when we needed it most, and would like peoples -- other peoples in Europe will never forget that. But our cooperation is -- that held friendship is not only about security, it's not only about economy, primarily it's about our shared values. And we are part of -- proud part of anti-terrorist coalition. We have forces in Iraq. We are cooperating on other issues.

Link

[FairOpinion]

Show me where Powell said he is supporting Yushchenko.

I posted the transcript of his entire statement and press conference.

[DaveTesla]

Soros had Clinton and Kerry in his pocket.
After what he got Clinton to do to the Balkans
and might have gotten Kerry to do in the middle east I
might say Soros. Especially after what Kerry did in Viet Nam.

[jwalsh07]

Well, then you'd be wrong. Putin is dangerous, Soros is a pain in the ass.