OSCE observer approves Ukrainian elections commission' work
Interfax. Monday, Dec. 27, 2004, 4:11 AM Moscow Time
MOSCOW. Dec 27 (Interfax) - Head of the OSCE observers' mission Gert Arens approved the work of Ukraine's elections commissions on all levels during the Ukrainian presidential elections.
Arens especially commended the work of the country's Central Elections Commission, the Ekho Moskvy radio station reported
Yushchenko declares he won elections
Interfax. Monday, Dec. 27, 2004, 4:01 AM Moscow Time
KYIV. Dec 27 (Interfax) - Viktor Yushchenko declared that he has won the Ukrainian presidential elections and called on his supporters to go out onto the Independence Square in the center of Kyiv.
"The first news is - it is done," Yushchenko said in his HQ on Monday morning. "It is a victory of the Ukrainian people, the Ukrainian nation," he added.
Yushchenko noted that a new political year is beginning in Ukraine. "The era of Kuchma, Medvedchuk and Yanukovych is going away, a new era of great democracy is beginning. Dozens of millions of Ukrainians dreamed about it. Today it is fashionable, stylish and beautiful to be a Ukrainian," Yushchenko said.
Yushchenko thanked "free journalists for letting the whole world talk about Ukraine."
President Lashes Out at the West
[..] In his criticism of the West, Putin mostly focused on the European Union and particularly Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski, who said in a recent newspaper interview that "Russia without Ukraine is better than Russia with Ukraine" for the United States.
[..] "If we interpret this [statement by Kwasniewski] as striving to limit Russia's ability to develop relations with its neighbors, then it means a desire to isolate the Russian Federation," Putin said.
"If that is the case, then the [Western] policy toward Chechnya becomes more understandable ... [as] a policy aimed at establishing elements that would destabilize the Russian Federation," he said.
[..] Hard-liners in Russia have accused Kwasniewski -- who helped mediate talks between Yushchenko and Yanukovych -- of being Washington's proxy in a covert battle being fought over Ukraine. The two candidates square off in a repeat vote Sunday.
[..] Putin denounced "dangerous attempts to solve political issues through nonlegitimate means," in a reference to Ukraine's so-called Orange Revolution -- the well-organized opposition street protests that helped lead to the repeat vote -- and the Rose Revolution in Georgia last year that brought a U.S.-trained lawyer to power.
The president said revolutions in those former Soviet republics had been planned "in other places" and noted that U.S. billionaire philanthropist George Soros is now bankrolling the salaries of senior officials in the Georgian government.
[..] He asserted Russia's right to pursue policies to bring neighboring countries closer to Moscow and said the Kremlin will continue to push forward on a pact to create a common economic space between Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and Kazakhstan.
He also made it clear that Moscow will continue to maintain contacts with separatist regimes in neighboring countries. Asked by a Georgian TV reporter whether trips by Russian officials to mediate talks between rival presidential candidates in separatist Abkhazia was also a case of double standards, Putin said Russia supports Georgia's territorial integrity, but only if Tbilisi accommodates the wishes of ethnic groups.
[..] Most of Putin's domestic policy answers, however, were a reiteration of what he has said before, including his assertion that the elimination of gubernatorial elections will not turn Russia into a unitary state and that there is no crackdown under way on media freedoms. "A decent girl must resist, while a true man must keep insisting," he said, resorting to a phrase he has used before to explain why the authorities keep insisting that some restrictions must be placed on the media.
the refusal of OSCE observers to recognize the results of Ukraine's runoff on Nov. 21, combined with their willingness to endorse elections in Afghanistan and Kosovo, show that the West is pursuing a policy of double standards. Those double standards are also applied to human rights issues, he said, pointing out that the EU has pressured Macedonia to set aside a quota for ethnic Albanians in the legislative and executive branches of power but spurned Moscow's requests for a similar quota for the sizable Russian diaspora in the Latvian capital, Riga.
SerSo
It is your take on Moldova/Transnistria that exemplifies as well as any how biased information can indeed, to lend your phrase, "simplify and misinterpret complex and dangerous situations".
It is rife with misinformation, but as such I assume it merely represents the take that was generally presented on the situation in Russian media. Yet that lends a certain irony to your off-hand dismissal that takes from outside Russia that you don't agree with (about a country that's as close to Austria as it is to Russia), must just be "biased".[..]
[..]Basically, you are here blaming a democratically elected government that, in the wake of independence, decided that the majority language rather than that of the erstwhile occupiers should be the language of government, for a violent, separatist insurrection, facilitated by the Russian army's covert support.
You are blaming the "hotheads" who dared want to realise the political programme they were elected in on by a persuasive majority for what, on the Dnyestr's left bank, rapidly devolved into a insurrectionist gangster's paradise.[..]
Lash wrote:I think one of the major news sources (Reuters'...AP?) has called it.
I'll have a look.
Oh , I thought my source was rather "major", too, Lash. :wink:
Boris Yeltsin was never looked upon too gladly here in Western Europe actually ... the media and most of the politicians here were firmly on the side of much-loved "Gorby". Gorby brought us peace and disarmament, after all, he let Eastern Europe go free. Gorbachev's subsequent drift to the right (ie, towards ever more orthodox communist allies) after 1989 was mostly blinked at and apologized for.
As Gorbachev's challenger, Yeltsin was seen as the irresponsible "elephant in the china cabinet", much too bold. He gained at most a grudging respect after the failed August 1991 coup, but remained portrayed mostly as a bit of a loose cannon, a drinker and of course oh so far removed from the refined intellectuality of Gorbachev. Never mind that Yeltsin at least had the guts to let the Baltic states and other breakaway Soviet republics go and actually call nation-wide free elections; two things Gorbachev ("I am the center") had always refused to do.
Of course, many of the fears about Yeltsin turned out to be well-founded; he was a bit of a loose cannon, and handled his newly acquired power irresponsibly. Still, he was an effective "destroyer" of what needed to be destroyed - the Soviet system; a system Gorbachev (who to the end called himself a communist) could not decisively cut loose from.
But, re: your point - I don't think Yushchenko evokes in anyone here the kind of idealist fervour a Castro once rallied. There is no starry-eyed, ideologically inspired fellow-travellerdom here. In fact, he'll get a honeymoon of at most a few months before the EU will show him the same "shopping list" of convergence criteria they presented to Kuchma and Kravchuk: economic liberalisation, human rights ... The analysis here is that the EU is actually in a bit of a bind; they obviously want Yushchenko to win and feel that he should - but they're afraid of the imminent hope of EU accession his victory will evoke among Ukrainians, when the EU itself is not at all ready to grant yet another large, poor country on its eastern borders an accession date. At most, the Christian-Democrats want the Ukraine in as counterweight to Turkey - but probably not much sooner ...
Public opinion here is, as you can imagine, quite suspicious right now of yet more poor newcomers at the door of our prosperous Fortress.
The analogy you hint at is thus a false one. There is no fellow-travellerdom. The "Orange" people in the streets command our sympathy of course, but the movement lacks a clear political "hook" into our own debate. The far left is distrustful of the Ukrainian democrats because they're supported by the Americans, the far right resents the implied future EU enlargement. And middle-of-the-road liberals, christian- and social-democrats, whom the Ukrainian democrats have the most affinity with, by rule ain't so starry-eyed.
Yushchenko was a compromise candidate from the start. It was about being fed up with a President who bribed, fooled, repressed and conspired, a degeneration of the country's chances of proper modernisation that culminated in massive election fraud and, as it happens, the actual poisoning of the opposition candidate. When people rebel against that, it's not hard to choose sides, even if you do not necessarily have much illusions about the virginal purity of its leader.
georgeob1 wrote:It would be unfortunate if the European movement now underway ends up alienating both the United States and Russia.
I would submit that the common American-European support and sympathy for the "Orange" uprising is something that in part re-emphasises our common bonds again, that helps bring Europe and the US together again a bit. With Poland, America's new favourite son in Europe, in a star mediator role
nimh wrote:I would submit that the common American-European support and sympathy for the "Orange" uprising is something that in part re-emphasises our common bonds again, that helps bring Europe and the US together again a bit. With Poland, America's new favourite son in Europe, in a star mediator role
I hope this is true, but frankly I doubt it. It has taken a long time for it to develop, but the old viewpoints that prevailed during the past century here have been replaced by something new. There is no longer the prevailing notion that we and the Western European states share the same goals and ambitions. Now the implicit assumption is that we are opponents on the world scene.
I would submit that the common American-European support and sympathy for the "Orange" uprising is something that in part re-emphasises our common bonds again, that helps bring Europe and the US together again a bit. With Poland, America's new favourite son in Europe, in a star mediator role
A liberal Russian MP, Boris Nemtsov, wearing an orange scarf to signify his support for Mr Yushchenko, said: "It does not matter who wins today, but that Ukraine is now a democratic country. The people have shown they are stronger than corruption and falsification."
He said the impact of the crisis would be keenly felt in Russia.
"Putin is in a state of shock," he said, adding that Ukraine's experience belied Mr Putin's contention that Russia was not ready for true democracy. "Ukraine has shown that a Slavic country can be a democracy. It is now the pioneer."
But the latest report Mr Yanukovich promised to mount a legal challenge against the results which would mean another twist in the protracted battle for the divided former Soviet country's presidency.
Refusing to concede, he told reporters in Kiev: "I will never recognise such a defeat, because the constitution and human rights were violated in our country and people died."
Ukraine's latest threat: blue and white rebellion
David Crouch in Yenakievo
Monday December 27, 2004
The Guardian
Voters in eastern Ukraine warned yesterday that they might mount a challenge to the country's new leadership if, as expected, their favourite son, Viktor Yanukovich, is defeated in the run-off presidential election.
A month after orange-clad opposition protesters forced a repeat vote because of fraud in the first ballot, the eastern industrial heartland signalled that it would not accept defeat lying down, amid ominous murmurs of a blue-and-white "revolution" of its own.
With members of Mr Yanukovich's camp already talking about legal challenges to the result before it came in, the contender's campaign slogan "We will defend our choice" was starting to take on a new significance.
The town of Yenakievo, 40km from the mining city of Donetsk, is where Mr Yanukovich grew up and worked in the vast metalworks whose fuming smokestacks tower above a jumble of coalmines and shabby homes.
Outside polling station number 37, a group of miners is discussing the tumultuous events of the past five weeks, which saw Mr Yanukovich declare electoral victory only to be forced into a rerun against Viktor Yushchenko because of widespread fraud.
Rumours catch on quickly here, and few are favourable towards the pro-western opposition leader. The latest word is that one of his local campaign officers has supposedly been caught offering bribes. The miners aren't surprised - it fits with the picture they already have of Mr Yushchenko.
"He destroyed the mines," says Sasha, 36. "When he was prime minister [1999-2001] we didn't get our wages or pensions; Yanukovich has raised both.
"If Yushchenko wins he'll crush us. He wants to import Polish coal. We'll end up selling chickens."
Igor, 29, is no more impressed. "When miners demonstrated in Kiev in 1998, where was Yushchenko then? Where were the free food and free blankets?" He said Mr Yushchenko's second-in-command, Yuliya Timoshenko, had "said she'll surround Donetsk with barbed wire, she told us to hang ourselves from our blue-and-white scarves. There's no way we'll accept a Yushchenko government."
Throughout the region Yushchenko supporters are a rarity, but in Yenakievo they are scared to come out. Local people have declined to fill the positions reserved for the opposition on the local electoral commissions, so Mr Yushchenko has had to bus in hundreds of people from western Ukraine to take their places.
Vera Kobilyanskaya, 46, a doctor from Rivno, is head of the Yushchenko campaign team in the town. She hasn't slept much: at 4am yesterday a large group of Yanukovich supporters held a meeting outside her hotel window, shouting "Yushchenko out!"
"At the second round of voting in November there were a great many falsifications in Yenakievo," she says. "The prosecutor is investigating." At one polling station the voting figures were dictated and handed out in advance; the electoral commission simply signed a blank piece of paper on which the results were then inscribed. At another, the turnout was 105%; at a third, 15 dead people turned up on the electoral roll.
"It's the same Yanukovich people in the electoral commissions from the second round," Ms Kobilyanskaya says. "But we are going to stick it out, there are more of us this time and we are tough. I will never forgive what the government has done to this country."
In Donetsk, Yanukovich supporters are defiant. The street protests in Kiev and western cities have set an example to the east. But political leaders in Donetsk have reacted angrily to accusations from the Yushchenko camp that Donetsk is arming itself to repel the new government.
"This is pure lies, it is simply stoking up tension," says the Donetsk mayor, Oleksandr Lukianchenko. "Before the second round they said Russian spetsnaz [special forces troops] were defending the government; this turned out to be false. Now they have shown once again what methods the opposition are using to sow fear and confusion."
On Lenin Square in the city centre, young people enjoying the unseasonably mild weather are united in their support for Mr Yanukovich. "If Yushchenko wins, there will be war," says Katya, 19, a student at Donetsk University of Economics.
Anton, 27, a rail worker, says: "There will be mass demonstrations. Yushchenko's people are mafiosi. But no one will have to pay us to come out and demonstrate, we will come of our own accord."
Too early to say Ukraine has overcome serious crisis
27.12.2004, 20.39
MOSCOW, December 27 (Itar-Tass) - The presidential election in Ukraine is over, but it is yet too early to say that Ukraine has overcome the most serious crisis of the past months, Konstantin Kosachev, the chairman of the committee for international affairs of the State Duma lower house of Russian parliament, said on Monday.
"This result is a necessary stage for Ukraine on the way of overcoming the crisis with which it has not yet fully coped," he said.
"The pace of settling the crisis," Kosachev said, "will wholly depend on the actions of Ukraine's new leadership. If Yushchenko is unable to overcome the inertia of the election campaign when he spoke from obviously radical positions of the refusal to accept the existing authorities and objected to plans of coming closer to Russia, then Ukraine is in for a serious split and opposition of one part of society to the other."
"If Yushchenko is able to be above sentiments and emotions of the election campaign, if he succeeds in working out a programme of actions of president of all Ukrainians and in the interests of all regions, both Eastern and Western, then Ukraine will have a chance to overcome the crisis".
The chairman of the Duma committee pointed with satisfaction to "some positive elements" in Yushchenko's positions. This refers to his intention to visit Russia first of all in his capacity as president, and also to sign the decree to withdraw the Ukrainian contingent from Iraq.
"I regard this as the indication of Yushchenko's striving to pursue the foreign policy independent of the United States and Europe and oriented at Ukraine's national interests." "This is a good omen, if not a mere declaration," Kosachev said.
Kosachev believes Ukraine "has chances to overcome the crisis if it is oriented at its own national interests and at the development of non-political and most pragmatic relations with all its neighbours, Russia, naturally, included," Kosachev said.
Winning is a second victory, IMO. What the people of the Ukraine have already done--gather together and stand against corruption--and refuse to leave-- this is an incredible victory to me.
It's the sheer courage, the brave refusal to accept oppression, corruption quietly. Something was more important to them than their own personal safety or comfort. When that happens on a large scale, its almost miraculous to me. That's one victory for them, for everyone, I think.
Ukraine minister found shot dead
Ukrainian Transport Minister Heorhiy Kyrpa has been found dead at his holiday home near the capital Kiev.
The minister is reported to have gun-shot wounds and officials said a gun was found near his body.
Mr Kyrpa, 58, appointed in 2002, was a staunch supporter of Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych.
There are no reports the death is linked to Mr Yanukovych's defeat by opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko in Sunday's presidential poll re-run.
I agree that it would be both unfortunate and unwise for us to abandon our long-standing commitment to the liberated states of Central and Eastern Europe. How this situation unfolds depends on the choices both they and we will make in the months and years ahead. However, for those in U.S. Strategy analysis circles who take seriously Chirac's frequent expressions of an intent to lead the EU to a position from which it can challenge an America (in his view) badly in need of such challenge, and who see it as representing an enduring segment of European views, the choice in this area is for those Central and Eastern European states to make. If they adopt this EU strategic view, then the matter is already lost and we would have abandoned nothing of enduring value.
Russia and the United States present certain similarities, particularly in their posture towards Europe. During the long Cold War the principal antagonists developed a certain interest and respect for one another. It is very easy for me to see a growing accommodation between the United States and Russia if the EU "grand strategy" begins to unfold.
But isn't foreign policy more than strategic interests? I know that, asked of you, that risks being a rhetorical question, since you have long and articulately argued the case that no, it isn't. But you share your own political "camp" now with a new generation of neoconservatives that does, indeed, see the foreign policy arena as one to achieve more than loyal states and allied interests with - to better the world, in their own way.
