Democracy Wins in Ukraine, Russia Loses!

Filed under: Ukraine

Three cheers for our side! Viktor Yushchenko, and the forces of democracy led by his ally Julia Timoshenko, have emerged the winners in Ukraine! When pro-Russian forces sought to form illegal coalitions and block Yushchenko's pro-West administration from moving Ukraine into the fold of democratic nations (hence, away from Russia), Yushchenko boldly called their bluff and demanded immediate elections. The pro-Russians took to the streets seeking to block the move, and now they've capitulated. Blogger Mark MacKinnon, journalist, Ukraine expert and author of the upcoming book The New Cold War, reports:

The standoff is over for now, and Viktor Yushchenko appears to have won the test of nerves against his arch-rival, Viktor Yanukovich. The two men announced today that they have agreed to hold new parliamentary elections in the near future, something Yushchenko has been demanding since dissolving parliament last month amid a bribery scandal. So far, no date has been set, but Yushchenko said today that the vote would be held within 60 days. July 8 is the best guess of some people in the know. Why did Yanukovich throw in his cards? Because his "Blue Revolution" on the streets of Kyiv was a failure. The demonstrations on Independence Square were lifeless affairs, and as word got out that most of the protestors were being paid to participate, the farce became more of an embarassment to Yanukovich than a tool for pressuring Yushchenko.

More after the jump.

Eurasia Daily Monitor states:

Once seen as a lame duck, Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko now is out-maneuvering the Anti-Crisis coalition (ACC) and the government of Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych. During the last week the president has reappointed Syatoslav Piskun as prosecutor, removed the deputy head of the Constitutional Court and a second member of the Court by presidential decree, and appointed a loyalist, Stepan Havrysh, to the Court. He also issued a decree rescheduling early parliamentary elections from May 27 to June 24. The Tymoshenko bloc is banking on increasing its support to the 30% mark by attracting Socialist voters and increasing its support in eastern and southern Ukraine. Our Ukraine is likely to improve its support beyond that of 2006 (14%) but will be unlikely to regain its 2002 support of 24%. This is because of three factors. First, Yushchenko's ratings have doubled in the last month, putting him for the first time ahead of Tymoshenko in the polls. Yushchenko will use a successful outcome to the crisis to re-launch his bid for a second presidential term in the 2009 elections. Prior to the crisis all observers had written off his chances of winning a second term. Second, Our Ukraine is establishing a mega-bloc consisting of itself, the Ukrainian Rightists, and the Yuriy Lutsenko bloc. Third, Our Ukraine has been reinvigorated as a national democratic party now that it has returned it to its more successful 2002 composition.

Betraying his hand, a bitterYanukovych said the parliamentary election would show which camp has more popular support. "Those who like elections, who initiated them, will get an answer from you about who today must be in power in Ukraine," he declared to his supporters. Obviously, he's not among those who like elections -- and the same can be said for the malignant forces in the Kremlin that support him.

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elmer says:

I am not one to throw cold water on the news of snap elections in Ukraine.

However, I think there is a bit more to this.

First - as the Council of Europe has previously noted during their meetings this year, this was a crisis in a democracy, and not a democracy in crisis.

Ukraine had already chosen a democracy - but, as the Council of Europe has noted, it is flawed.

http://assembly.coe.int/Main.asp?link=/Documents/WorkingDocs/Doc07/EDOC11255.htm

Second - the "Blue" demonstrations in the streets were indeed pitiful. A bunch of oligarchs in control of the Party of Regions paid people very poor, unemployed people about $20 a day to come to Kyiv and to wave blue flags.

And everyone knew it. And, everyone noted the sad, sad condition of the people, young and old, who waved the flags listlessly in front of stages set up for the occasion.

In the meantime, some rather vile oligarchs sat back, laughing up their sleeves, drinking vodka and smoking cigars, and thinking "what a small investment in return for keeping stolen billions" (through prior privatizations.

But that's not what did it.

Third - The Constitutional Court consists of 18 judges, 6 appointed by the President, 6 by the parliament, and 6 by a council of judges.

All of a sudden there were reports of "political pressure" on the judges in a Court which had literally done nothing for 8 months, and which prior to that time had not even been constituted, because the Party of Regions blocked its formation.

But whining about political pressure is nothing new in Ukraine.

Everyone has something on everyone else in Ukraine, and it's just a matter of timing as to when to use it.

And, one of the Judges got caught. Susan Stanik's mother mysteriously received $12 million worth of property, for no apparent reason.

The Prosecutor General's office did nothing about it, not surprisingly, because the previous Prosecutor General was "in the bag" for the Party or Regions, as was Stanik.

She was a Kuchma appointee, as was the other guy that President Yushchenko sacked, Pshenychny (tranlates to "Wheat").

With those 2 gone, the Court was not longer in the bag.

Fourth - Yushchenko got rid of the previous Prosecutor General, and brought back a Kuchma guy, Piskun. However, Piskun seems to have parted ways, sort of, with the Party of Regions, so he was no longer "in the bag" for the Party of Regions.

The replacement judges were also former Kuchmites. But, for one reaons or another, they are no longer "in the bag" for the Party of Regions.

Fifth - the Central Election Committee had 4 or 5 of its members suddenly "take sick." One of them healed up miraculously and came back, but the others remained in the hospital.

The Party of Regions announced that there was no money for elections.

But, ahead of elections, they have increased wages, as well as pensions to pensioners.

But that's not what did it.

Sixth - Ukraine's parliament is simply a collection of oligarchs. As the Wall Street Journal noted about the Orange Revolution, it's the millionaires versus the billionaires.

And Yushchenko managed to convince the right number of oligarchs that it was in their best interests for Yanukovych and his group of oligarchs not to control everything, as they had been trying to do by bribing deputies to come over to the majority colaition.

Quite simply - that's the key.

Seventh - Lutsenko had gone directly to the people, with his "National Self-Defense" movement - and had attracted quite large numbers of people throughout the country, even in Donetsk Mafia territory.

This, of course, alarmed the Party of Regions and the Donetsk Mafia.

So the government conducted ealry morning raids on Lutsenko, on made-up charges, and took away his passport.

Thank goodness for freedom of the press.

If the "pro-democracy" forces hold together, then that will be excellent for Ukraine in the upcoming elections.

And, indeed, a "mega-bloc" has been announced, headed by Our Ukraine and Lutsenko's National Self-Defense parties.

But Tymoshenko is still wavering as to whether to join that bloc, despite nice sounds previously about joining it.

If she decides to go it alone, then there is a danger of splitting the pro-democratic vote, which will be to the advantage of the Party of Regions and the Donetsk Mafia.

One can only hope that the Orange Coalition, including Tymoshenko, has learned from the mistakes in 2004 and 2006, and that they stick together.

In the meantime, the Party of Regions and their allies are robbing the country blind, with all sorts of rigged privatization sales, and through all sorts of other mechanisms.

It's very ugly.

But now, at least, the people know it.

In Russia, the people have decided to be treated like idiots.

I don't think that's so in Ukraine - but we will find out.

La Russophobe says:

Thanks for the interesting comment! I'm not one to throw cold water on such a comment, but you could make all those points about any democracy that has ever existed, including (especially) America's. The founding fathers bribed people for votes with whiskey. And the oppression the Americans had lived under was nothing at all like what Ukrainians have faced. Frankly, I think it's amazing the Ukrainainian people can even get out of bed in the morning, much less mobilize and protest. I say they can't be praised highly enough! Democracy is a messy, ugly business because the "common" people are a messy, ugly bunch. But Stalin and Hitler are FAR uglier.

If democrats allowed such points to dissuade them, there would be no democracy, and the human race would have long ago been exterminated by dictatorship.

The point that matters is, Yushchenko won, and he's better than Yanukovich. No thinking person can disagree with that proposition. One look at the poor man's face will tell you that. The contest was between having elections and not having them, and elections won. That's a good result, and no thinking person can disagree with that proposition either.

And you're quite right to say that Ukraine looks like a democratic paradise compared to Russia, ruled over by a freely-elected proud KGB spy.

VIVA UKRAINE! GO GET 'EM, JULIA!

dlw says:

Well, I think Elmer's far more nuanced take on the matter matters a great deal for those invested in their country Ukraine longterm.

The American Revolution and the US Constitution would have gone nowhere and not been worth the paper its written on if more activism/political renewal was not in the wind and one must first understand the situation as it is before one can successfully press for more significant changes.

Yushchenko finally came around to that "leadership" thing and the Spirit of the Orange Revolution was there in abstentia thru the tribute given to it by the ACC in a manner that could never replicate its vibrancy.

I think one could also say that Yanuk's greed got the better of him. Let's hope that Putin's paranoia and oil kleptocracy does the same...

dlw

elmer says:

Indeed.

Yushchenko was absolutely right in demanding new elections.

And various democracies have head their share of ugly history - true.

And various developing democracies, the former Soviet republics and satellites, have indeed had the same problems as Ukraine. Just look at Serbia.

One can only hope that Ukrainians realize the following:

An intelligent man learns from his own mistakes.

A wise man learns from the mistakes of others.

And a fool learns neither from his own mistakes or the mistakes of others.

If you go to Yanukovych's web site, you could substitute Lenin's picture, and it would be the same.

And that's regardless of the fact that Paul Manafort and his American PR firm is "helping" Yanukovych and Akhmetov.

I am optimistic.

Thank God for people like Yushchenko, Lutsenko and Tymoshenko. I can only hope they stick together for the elections.

And if you ever wanted to see the difference in approach to government and the people, here it is:

http://maidan.org.ua/static/news/2007/1177787675.html

VIVA UKRAINE! VIVA ESTONIA! VIVA GEORGIA!

Dave Essel says:

Elmer, thank you so much for the link to the Yushenko/Yanukovich photos.

A superb illustration of the 'picture worth more than 1000 words' cliché

aleksey says:

One thing I don't get is, what the f**k is wrong with the statement "...Russia Loses!"

You mean to tell me that the whole point of a political struggle in Ukraine is not to improve the quality of life for the Ukrainians, but rather to spite Russia? Whatever it takes to piss Russia off? You dumb little sh*ts!

If the pock-faced Yushchenko and the retarted blonde with a braid around her head are the best thing that ever happened to Ukraine, well, that's just great. But why is it that you can't stop squealing gleefully about how "Russia Loses". How about listing things that Ukraine really gains, instead of what Russia loses?!

Russia can do just fine without Ukraine. Always has. (If not for Russia, it would be Poland or Turkey today instead of Ukraine.) Russia's only concern is the Ukraine's tendency to get down on all fours and lick the ass of Europe and USA. Next thing you know, there's gonna be US missiles deployed right on the border with Russia.

You all seem to say that Russia would like nothing more than to screw Ukraine. That's bs. Believe me, other than for strategic considerations, Russia wouldn't give a flying continental f**k about Ukraine. You can have a freaking revolution every other day if you like.

Keep bickering and toppling each other, sneering at Russia and reveling in the racist nationalism that consumes you.

Meanwhile Russia will continue its economic resurgence, improving the lives of its citizens and living in the present and not the past.

VIVA RUSSIA!

dlw says:

I'm not about Russia losing.

I'm about the Ukrainian people getting the sorts of basic human rights reforms that they demanded during the Orange Revolution.

I'm also about such reforms eventually taking place in Russia, as one does not live on bread alone...

dlw

elmer says:

It's not about spitnig Russia, and I've seen this "sour grapes" and the "we don't need Ukraine, because Ukraine is nothing" baloney before.

These types of comments - from Russia, or from Russia supporters - flooded the web sites in Ukraine.

It's not about spiting Russia for the sake of spiting Russia.

It's about all the Russians living in Ukraine, who still think that they live in a Russian-dominated Soviet Union.

It's about all the Russians living in Ukraine who refuse to acknowledge and accept that they live in Ukraine, and who want special, superior status above everyone else.

It's about all the Russians who want to control Ukraine, by a form of thug-like Mafia style government, or "managed democracy," similar to that in Russia.

It's about Russia still attempting to exert power and influence over Ukraine by every means possible, including the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine.

It's about Russia acquiring assets in Ukraine at rigged privatization sales, through Ukrainian government officials that betray their own country.

Now here's aleksey showing up, cursing and spitting, refusing to accept democracy, whining about "nationalism."

There's that word again. In the Sovok Union, "nationalism" was a dirty word. One was not permitted to be a "nationalist" - except for Russians.

aleksey means that if Ukraine stands up for democracy, that they are just a bunch of dirty "nationalists."

President Yushchenko has previously stated that Russia and Ukraine should be good neighbors, not master and servant.

Some Russians just can't get it through their heads that freedom and democracy are better for everyone, not just a select few oligarchs and Putin.

Some Russians, like aleksey, would rather spit bile, and curse and moan, and play "sour grapes," than try to improve life through true freedom and true democracy.

What does Ukraine gain?

Freedom.

Democracy.

A true chance at a better life, at a better economy for everyone, and not for just the Donetsk Mafia, or the Russian Mafia, and a few oligarchs.

A sense of national pride and well-being, free from Russians calling Ukrainians "khokhols," and free from an oppressive, lumbering Russia or its pernicious influence.

A sense of happiness that comes from true freedom and democracy, and not the misery that Moscow loves to spread.

What does Ukraine gain?

Everything.

Taras says:

And, indeed, a "mega-bloc" has been announced, headed by Our Ukraine and Lutsenko's National Self-Defense parties.>>

Xa xa xa

Democracy? You call being forced into prostitution in Spain because there are no jobs a democracy? I just love how some canonize Yuschenko as a saint between Oligarchs, HE IS AN OLIGARCH. Bidniy Yuschenko, evil Yanukovich keeps blocking his son from buying $400,000 BMW's using the money his father stole, I mean "borrowed", from the Ukrainian people over the years.

Yuschenko and Timoshenko, biggest crooks in all of Ukraine. We sat in the dark, without heating, without hot water, while they stole Russian gas, sold electricity to Western Europe, and robbed our bank accounts.

elmer says:

You call being forced into prostitution in Spain because there are no jobs a democracy?

No, I call that unfortunate stupidity.

And I call your argument logically unfounded.

From my point of view, I see Yushchenko, Tymoshenko and Lutsenko as people who are working towards a true democracy in Ukraine, and trying to drag all the oligarchs in the zRada, who are kicking and screaming, along with Yanukovych and all the other Kuchmists, into a democracy.

And into a realization that this is the 21st century, and the glorious Workers' Paradise no longer exists.

And, yes, all of the ugliness of Ukrainian politics has now become crystal clear, oligarchs, corruption and all.

But at least Yushchenko, Lutsenko and Tymoshenko are working at improving things.

So, Taras - rather than spit bile and vent about Yushchenko's son - why don't you give us some constructive solutions to solving Ukraine's problems?

Including economic problems, which causes Ukrainians to search for work in other countries, and including social problems, such as child prostitution.

Or, are you going to do what Kuchma did?

After NOT helping people with the job situation, he blames the people who left Ukraine to find jobs in other countries for not staying in Ukraine, and called them - prostitutes.

What were they supposed to do - stick around in Ukraine, unemployed, and sniff Kuchma's and his daughter's rear end, and admire their wealth - which had been stolen?

Nikolay says:

I wonder how do you reconcile standard right-wing hatred of Soros with the fact that he's very much behind Yushchenko and other democratic forces in Europe?

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Democracy Wins in Ukraine, Russia Loses!

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