Ukraine's postmodern coup d'etat

[CHIMO]

Oranges can often be bitter, and the mass street protests now going on in Ukraine may not be quite as sweet as their supporters claim.
For one thing the demonstrators do not reflect nationwide sentiments. Ukraine is riven by deep historical, religious and linguistic divisions. The crowds in the street include a large contingent from western Ukraine, which has never felt comfortable with rule from Kiev, let alone from people associated with eastern Ukraine, the home-base of Viktor Yanukovich, the disputed president-elect.

Their traditions are not always pleasant. Some protesters have been chanting nationalistic and secessionist songs from the anti-semitic years of the second world war.

The EU must also make a public statement that it sees no value in Nato membership for Ukraine, and those EU members who belong to Nato will not support it. At a stroke this would calm Russia's legitimate fears and send a signal to Washington not to go on inflaming a purely European issue.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Columnists/Column/0,5673,1360296,00.html

[Briar]

1. American mischief

"In Ukraine, Yushchenko got the western nod, and floods of money poured in to groups which support him, ranging from the youth organisation, Pora, to various opposition websites. More provocatively, the US and other western embassies paid for exit polls, prompting Russia to do likewise, though apparently to a lesser extent."


"Intervening in foreign elections, under the guise of an impartial interest in helping civil society, has become the run-up to the postmodern coup d'etat, the CIA-sponsored third world uprising of cold war days adapted to post-Soviet conditions. Instruments of democracy are used selectively to topple unpopular dictators, once a successor candidate or regime has been groomed."


"Ukraine has been turned into a geostrategic matter not by Moscow but by the US, which refuses to abandon its cold war policy of encircling Russia and seeking to pull every former Soviet republic to its side. The EU should have none of this. Many Ukrainians certainly want a more democratic system. Putin is not inherently against this, however authoritarian he is in his own country. What concerns him is instability, the threat of anti-Russian regimes on his borders, and American mischief."

[Briar]

2. "Our Ukraine's" anti semitism

A letter in today's Guardian has more to say on this:

James Meek may be right that western intelligence services have tapes of outgoing Ukrainian president Leonid Kuchma being anti-semitic "in private" (Bold but bloodless, November 25). But what about the anti-semitic utterances of Viktor Yushchenko's supporters in public? One of their key targets is Kuchma's Jewish son-in-law, television boss Viktor Pinchuk. But pro-Nazi revisionism goes deep in the orange-uniformed ranks of Yushchenko's Our Ukraine.

When one of the party's main newspaper backers, Silski Visti, was prosecuted under race hate laws for declaring in 2003 that 400,000 Jews had invaded Ukraine along with the Nazi forces, Viktor Yushchenko and his key allies started a campaign "Hands off Silski Visti". Other pro-Yushchenko media in western Ukraine have blamed the Babi Yar massacre in 1941 on the Jews. Maybe the new European order which Tim Garton Ash sees Yushchenko's supporters striving to join isn't quite so new after all.
Mark Almond
(Election observer), Oriel College, Oxford

http://www.guardian.co.uk/letters/story/0,3604,1359865,00.html

[progressivedancer]

3. Briar

thank you for the article. I admit I am not to informed on Ukraine's past and current debacle. This is a good start and talking point. If any of you have anymore inputs or relevant facts to share in order to form a solid opinion (on my behalf) I would be very thankful.

By the way, Its hilarious how US officials depend on exit polls as a weapon to refute election outcomes. Should I ask, are US officials taking us for fools? Do they assume that we don't pay ANY attention to their broken foreign policies?

[Briar]

4. CHIMO deserves the thanks

for posting the article, but I agree this matter is way more complicated that our establishment-appeasing media machine (I include the BBC) is prepared to acknowledge! I don't know nearly enough, but my suspicions are always aroused when the free marketeers unite in quest of a new people to exploit.