Blogging the democratic revolution
In the email is another fascinating and huge article by Tammy Lynch, which goes into great detail about the current political crisis in Ukraine. Read it in its entirety. Ukraine-based journalist Peter Byrne doesn’t end on an optimist note, however. former sbu chief olekandr turchynov has tentatively scheduled a press conference for sept. 15. he is expected to describe yushchenkos reaction to “facts” presented to him by the sbu in july suggesting criminal activities involving russian natural gas traders and yushchenko’s closest advisor, former gas attendant oleksandr tretyakov. the information was ignored. so was another report detailing alleged criminal activities…
Peter Lavelle hits this nail on the head, with a really good article knocking all sides of the post-orange order. It takes him just a few paragraphs to dish it all out, but make sure to read the whole thing. Viktor Yushchenko’s decision to fire the government of Yuliya Tymoshenko puts to an end Ukraine’s “post-orange” order. The coalition of revolutionaries who stirred the imagination of millions of Ukrainians in the name of fair elections and transparent government has shown itself to consist of inept and selfish civil servants. Their failure to deal with what plagues Ukraine most – an…
I’ve received a lot of emails about this. They go something like, “Robert! I know how much of a fan of Yulia you are. What do you think about all this?” I wrote a post yesterday, but it was mostly in the context of the scandal and the sacking of the government. Now would be a good time to focus on Yulia, her side of the story, and what she plans on doing after being fired by Yushchenko. Yulia’s appeal stems from the fact that she is not only beautiful, but bold and incorruptible. Revolutionary. The story being reported by…
The period after a democratic revolution is generally the most volatile, so there isn????????t time to lose. Yushchenko needs to step up, whip his party into line, and take control of his job for the betterment of the country. He may also have a tough decision ahead of him with the upcoming parliamentary election. Will he keep or drop Yulia? At this point, the latter may be the sad but needed necessity. I wrote that back in July, but seriously, who thought that it would actually happen? The scandal started a couple of days ago, when Chief of Staff Zinchenko…
Transitions Online offers a nice three page article on the second wave of transition in the post-Soviet space, and its relation to happiness; or rather, it’s negative counterpart. Go ahead and read the whole thing. A few things I’d like to add, though, is how post-Soviet development in each of the occupied countries has contributed to the political tremors that have been shaking the region. For example, we see nations like Serbia and Ukraine that retained their authoritarianism all throughout the ’90s, ushering in new revolution. Throughout all the corruption, cheap sell-offs of state assets, censorship, and oppression, people have…
I’m in quite a bit of a mood for Russia at the moment after finishing Kremlin Rising. The book went into detail about Putin’s life and how he has consolidated power to the Kremlin since being elected, but it both started and ended with the massacre at Beslan School No 1. The authors themselves were WaPo correspondents and in Beslan during the hostage crisis, and they go into great detail about the actions of both the Chechen terrorists and the outright corruption of the Russian security forces, of which the latter is quite extensive and relatively untold since it isn’t…
Today marked the 25th anniversary of the founding of the Solidarity trade union, which broke the grip of Soviet communism over the freedom-loving nation of Poland. It isn’t a national holiday, or even one that many people were alive to remember, but people took to the streets in celebration to remember the birth of freedom in their country. It might not have been a public holiday – but it was a national day of celebration in Poland. Gdansk, the home of the Solidarity movement, was particularly festive. Thousands of people crammed into Solidarity Square beside the main gate of the…
Today’s Wall Street Journal has an in-depth essay today on the Babes of Politics theory, developed in depth here at Publius Pundit, at WILLisms and at Gateway Pundit. It’s excellent. Read it here.
Daniel Berczik remember’s that yesterday was Ukraine independence day, which doesn’t bode well for we who didn’t remember at all. So to make up for it, in an ever-increasing desire to raise the level of discourse here at Publius, here is Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko’s hot daughter dressed down in black leather during the festivities. Let me introduce you to Yevgenia Tymoshenko, aged 25, someone who obviously has her mother’s genes.
“Twenty-five years ago next Wednesday — 31 August 1980 — unemployed Polish electrician Lech Walesa struck a major blow to Soviet communism when, after leading a strike at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdansk, he announced the official birth of the Solidarity independent trade union. Solidarity went on to play a central role in the demise of communism across the Soviet bloc, changing forever the course of history in Europe…” Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty is running a couple of articles about the Solidarity movement in Poland, which has since become a symbol for non-violent struggle against tyranny in the…
In a continuing sequence of improved bilateral relations, Russia and China are staging first-ever joint military exercises over the next eight days. Andrew Young takes a look at all of the dimensions, both charitable and provocative. Here is his conclusion: Geopolitical considerations are also important to this exercise, although less important than the practical Russian and Chinese aims that I’ve outlined above. The two countries have an increasingly close, although still edgy relationship. Any kind of operation like this allows them to develop a closer working relationship and, more importantly, gives an outward show of co-operation to the rest of…
President Saakashvili and President Yushchenko met for a summit in Georgia to discuss and make the announcement of a new grouping of nations whose sole purpose is to secure the principles of democracy for their people. It will be called the Commonwealth of Democratic Choice. 12 August 2005 — The Ukrainian and Georgian presidents today called for the setting up of a new regional alliance that would champion freedom and democracy in their countries and throughout the region. Ukraine’s Viktor Yushchenko and Georgia’s Mikhail Saakashvili said in a statement that the Commonwealth of Democratic Choice will become a powerful tool…
Poor President Putin. According to Russia’s constitution, he won’t be able to run for the presidency again when his second term ends in 2008. Speculation is always rampant about whether or not he will run again, and just a week ago he was lamenting the fact that he cannot run again because the constitution does not allow it. Russian president Vladimir Putin stressed that the constitution of the Russian Federation did not allow him to remain the head of state after 2008. ???????I may want it but the constitution doesn????????t allow me to do so. I think the most important…
RFE/RL has an interview with Ukraine’s leading lady who we all laud over, Yulia Tymoshenko. It covers a range of topics marking the 6th month anniversary of the new government coming to power. UPDATE: Meanwhile, Russian nationalists are filming a porn movie about Yulia and Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili. Is anyone else anticipating this as much as I am?
As Lukashenko’s regime continues to move in on Belarus’ largest civil organization, the Union of Poles, and Europe now promising funds for opposition groups, tensions between the country and the rest of Europe are escalating dramatically. The EU sent a delegation to investigate human rights and democracy in Belarus, and they actually had the cojones to turn them away! Hrodna, Belarus; 8 August 2005 (RFE/RL) — Belarus today denied a delegation from the European Parliament permission to enter the country. Polish diplomat Bogdan Adam Klich, chairman of the European Parliament’s delegation for relations with Belarus, told RFE/RL: “I don’t understand…
We’ve discussed Belarus quite a bit over the past few days, including an item showing that Congress approved $24 million of funding for opposition parties in the countries. Now, it seems as if the EU has finally moved beyond “stern condemnations” to real action, by getting ready to set aside funds for similar measures that the U.S. is taking. THE European Union is set to provide cash for opposition parties in the former Soviet republic of Belarus. EU diplomats are considering direct funding to allow Belarus’s opposition parties to compete with the pro-government campaign. If approved, it would mark a…
Eurasia Daily Monitor has a very in depth article concerning the parliamentary and government rivalries going on in Ukraine. In particular, PM Tymoshenko wants President Yushchenko to break with parliamentary speaker Lytvyn and put together a parliamentary majority so that they can finally get WTO legislation passed. In this case, the problem is in the pudding, and the current make up of parliament isn’t very favorable to that happening. The first demand is that Tymoshenko remains prime minister until the 2006 election. The second demand is to exclude Lytvyn’s NPU from the 2006 election coalition (see EDM, August 3). In…
As most House spending bills do, this one almost slipped under the radar. They just approved $24 million dollars to fund democracy in Belarus. The U.S. House of Representatives voted late Wednesday to earmark $24 million for promoting democracy, development of political parties and independent media in Belarus over the next two years, the RIA-Novosti news agency reported. The bill on financing the U.S. foreign policy in the years 2006-2007 was passed by 351 vs 78 votes, the House of Representatives Secretariat reported. In particular, the document authorizes the U.S. government to spend $24 million on assistance in building democracy…
Earlier this morning Robert posted an entry on some Poles in Belarus who happen to be rock music lovers using their passion to protest against the government, based on a Radio Liberty report from yesterday (Aug. 3, see Rock Against the Regime!). Whether this was related to today’s crackdown or not, Le Monde is reporting that Belarusian police have arrested the Vice-President of the Polish Association of Belarus, Wieslaw Kiewliak, along with an aid. According to Le Monde, this is the sixth member of the organization that the government has arrested this week. The article notes the context; Poland is…
As the ongoing feud between the Polish and Belarussion government over ethnic Poles in Belarus continues, and with all countries in the area outside of Russia declaring support for democracy, Polish activists are taking the issue up in a way that Elvis would be proud of. I’ll let the headline speak for itself, “Polish activists rock against Lukashenka.” 3 August 2005 (RFE/RL) — Young Poles want to use rock music to help Belarus’s pro-democracy opposition resist the regime of Belarusian President Aleksyandr Lukashenka. Pawel Stanczyk, head of Poland’s Association of Young Conservatives, says in Warsaw the association has launched a…
A writer at Kommersant thinks so, given the trend of events over the last half year or so, and he thinks Russia’s banning of ABC over its airing of an interview with Shamil Basayev is the freezing point. It is not surprising that Washington defended the TV company. The thing is that the Nightline program with Shamil Basaev happened at the right time when Russian-American relationship has reached the maximum freezing point. It is not hard to remind that the main problem between Russian and the United States appeared right after the Beslan events. Then President of Russia Vladimir Putin…
I wanted to highlight this because it’s really very dramatic given how much the international eye has refocused on Serbian war crimes. The wife of one of the leaders indicted for genocide spoke out on regional television stations appealing for his surrender. I can’t even imagine how hard that must be. 29 July 2005 (RFE/RL) — The wife of war crimes indictee and former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic appealed to her husband in a broadcast carried by several regional television stations yesterday to surrender to the Hague-based war crimes tribunal. Bosnian and international media said the appeal came as…
Well, this almost totally slipped under the radar! If it weren’t for certain services that focus specifically on this kind of stuff, the world may never know that Bush was following up on his promise to support the democratic opposition in Belarus. They met at the White House. George W. Bush declared support to Belarusian democratic forces President of the United States of America George W. Bush supports process of uniting Belarusian democratic forces. American President told it in informal meeting with vice-chairman of BNF party Aliaksey Yanukevich in the White House. ???????It was a meeting of party leaders of…
Here’s an interesting article at The Messenger, an English-language Georgian newspaper. Additionally, here at a Ukrainian news site, there’s a brief report on Israeli investment in Ukraine, noting that over the most recent half year “foreign capital amount increased 16 times in comparison with the same period of the last year.”
Andy “Now that’s what I call inflation!” Young has come across a few gems detailing the incredible rate that corruption and bribe payments are growing in Russia since just after Putin took the presidency. In fact, sincev2001, the average bribe has grown 10-fold. INDEM’s “Corruption in Russia: Dynamics and Perspectives” report claims the average bribe in 2001 was $10,200 and has increased to $135,000 in 2005. The report claims bribes increased 10-fold since 2001 and equal to two and a half times the current federal budget. The Moscow Times report he links to also that businesses and individuals are “forking…