Outgoing Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma, facing mass protests over a disputed presidential election, Monday called for a new poll to help end the crisis tearing the nation apart.Another positive sign is reports that some of the Ukrainian "oligarchs" may be switching sides, or at least backing off their support of Yanukovych. The English language Kyiv Post is generally viewed as reliable. The internet activist site, Maidan, has a mix of rumor and reliable reports. Volunteer translators are apparently working non-stop to provide English-language versions of as much as they can. Worth visiting simply as a remarkable example of "citizen internet."
If we really want to preserve peace and consensus and build this just democratic society, of which we speak so much but have failed to carry out in a legal way, let us have new elections," Kuchma said in a statement.
Kuchma, in power for 10 scandal-tainted years and widely accused of mismanaging the economy, said he had no intention of running in a new poll.
He spoke as the Supreme Court sat to try to resolve the election stalemate, though a decision could take days.
[...]
Dan Drezner has a good analytical roundup from early this morning, when he was not feeling very upbeat.
Want a feel for "as it happens" -- check out Le Sabot Post-Moderne, a passionate Western partisan for Yuschenko's "people power" movement. Lots of photos connected with blow-by-blow what's going on with negotiations, rallies, etc. Although he admits he's so close to the on-the-ground action that it's hard to keep sight of the broader strategic goings-on.
Nonetheless, he has very interesting explanations about how the election was stolen and the Orange movement, not only in Kiev (or Kyiv if you spend more time with Ukrainians than Russians).
Especially helpful is the correction, echoed by other bloggers, of the distorting East vs West narrative being imposed by outside commentators. [Map: The Economist, Nov 25 2004 "Europe's New Divisions"] This post from Le Sabot Moderne Saturday rips apart the Guardian. It starts: Jonathan Steele's hit piece in the Guardian is a sad example of the condescension that so many hold for Ukraine. He insists on spinning this as a West-Russia dispute, as if the Ukrainians themselves have nothing to do with it. If he'd troubled himself to talk to some actual Ukrainians, he'd know that they're viewing this as a fight against a Mafia-esque ruling class which is using its powers to repress dissent, monopolize political power and cannibalize the nation's infrastructure through corrupt "privatization" schemes.Another blogger from Kyiv, Tulipgirl has a rich collection of Ukrainian activist details as well as a good variety of other links to blogs, sites and photo collections. Especially recommended is a just-created "blog of the revolution," Orange Ukraine, by a former Peace Corps volunteer who lives in Kyiv with his Ukrainian-born wife.
These oligarchs sound like just the sort of people a nice Lefty like Steele would be against. But I guess it's just more fun to poke a stick at the United States.
In an incredibly Orwellian moment, he dings the US for "provocatively" financing exit polls. Let's get this straight, the oligarch government was financing rigged polls to help justify their theft of the election. Yet it's the WEST who is trying to use exit polls to perform a coup? What a jackal.
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[UPDATE 8:30PM EST 11-28-04] For those of you who just can't get enough Ukraine. A lengthy background piece -- giving a good deal more on who's who and the various events leading up to the current situation -- can be found on John Quiggin's personal blog, via Dan Hardie, by Tarik Amar, "who, Dan says, is doing a PhD on Soviet history and speaks Ukranian, German and Russian, among other languages, and knows the place very well."
Other bloggers following developments closely are Fist Full of Euros and Daniel Drezner, who has a running news roundup. Drezner catches this interesting bit from the Kyiv Post:
Roman Olearchyk's analysis in the Kyiv Post suggests that elites in the eastern parts of the country would take steps beyond autonomy to protect their interests:Similar story in MosNews.com [Map: MosNews.com, Nov 26 2004 "Pro-Russian Eastern Ukraine Threatens to Secede if Yushchenko Wins"].The business tycoons in eastern Ukraine that supported Yanukovych appear to be taking extreme measures to protect their interests, which include lucrative assets in Donetsk, Lugansk, Kharkiv and Luhansk. Government officials and legislators in these oblasts have in the past two days demanded the formation of an autonomous eastern-southern Ukrainian republic and are threatening to split their oblasts away from Ukraine altogether.
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And in further apparent confirmation, this just in from AFP: Yuschenko calls for prosecuting "separatist governors," while Yanukovych is off with Moscow's Mayor, Yury Luzhkov, visiting the Russian-speaking regions. "After a short meeting [in Lugansk] they were due to head to Severodonetsk to attend a meeting of 3,500 local officials from 17 regions that was expected to discuss holding a referendum on autonomy."
[UPDATE 2:00PM EST 11-28-04] Via AFP, Yanukovich's meeting in the south-east proceeded as anticipated.
Flanked by Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov, Yanukovich met some 3,500 local officials from 17 of Ukraine's 27 regions and warned that the country was heading toward an imminent collapse, denouncing a vote in parliament Saturday proclaiming the election invalid.
"Either we are capable of preserving the stability and peace in our state, or everything will collapse and very rapidly," he told a meeting of Ukraine's Russian-speaking regions where local officials demanded autonomy.
The regional leaders then said they would hold a vote on "self-defense" -- a euphemism for autonomy -- should Yushchenko come to power.
"In the worst-case scenario of the political situation in the country, we will be united and decisive in defending the will of the Ukrainian people, including holding a referendum on a possible change in the administrative and territorial status of Ukraine," their group said in a resolution.
Another useful running commentary is at The Periscope. This very lengthy post has a number of interesting snips. They point to an article in Institute for War and Peace Reporting about the help the Ukrainian activists have received from Serbs.
As hundreds of thousands of opposition supporters’ march through the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, protesting against what they see as falsified presidential election results, sixteen floors up a Belgrade skyscraper, Danijela Nenadic and Sinisa Sikman are monitoring the situation like hawks.A terrific story about the crowds coming out for Yuschenko, making the rounds of the blogs, is from another blogger, Foreign Notes, about his mother-in-law, who is one of the babushki for the revolution.
Veterans of the student-led non-violent protests that brought the regime of Slobodan Milosevic crashing down in Serbia in 2000, they have a close personal interest in the outcome of protests now rocking Kiev. The clenched black fist displayed on flags and on people’s foreheads in Kiev was first used by their own organisation, Otpor, meaning resistance, to unite Serbia’s disparate opposition parties against Milosevic’s authoritarian rule.
But while Otpor has played a role in helping Ukrainian student groups and parties marshal their forces, Nenadic and Sikman laugh when asked about media accounts virtually suggesting they directly pull the protesters’ strings in Kiev.
Otpor, now an NGO called the Centre for Nonviolent Resistance, is “not in the business of exporting revolutions”, Nenadic said. “We are not revolutionary advisors, we just don’t work like that.”
“What we did in Serbia is known all across the world,” Nenadic added, with restrained pride “and what is happening in Kiev today is very similar to what happened to us.”
“But there is no universal concept to fight authoritarianism. You have to have your own strategy. All we can do is share our experience.”
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Yesterday, we got word that she had been with the protestors at the Presidential Administration Building. They were there again as part of the numbers of people who are making their presence felt around government buildings in the downtown area. We were told that she went up to the guards in front of the entrance, guards in full riot gear, masks and shield, in ranks twenty deep. She went up to one and said, “I am a babushka [translated roughly as “grandmother” but used for every older woman grandmother age] from the village. I came here to find out how you are. Are you fine? Are you hungry? Maybe your parents are somewhere worrying about you?
“Babushka has come from the village with some warm socks for you. Maybe your feet are cold and you need some socks?” She talked to this fellow in this way and won him over. He lowered his shield to expose his face and he was grinning at her while she spoke to him.
Today, she was supposed to come over and see us. She likes to do this especially since she has a new grandson she dotes on. But today she can’t be bothered with that sort of thing. She is part of the revolution. Getting out of bed this morning, she went to the store, bought bread and sausage and is on her way down to make sure that the protestors are fed and taken care of.
Before she left, she called her husband in the village. She had been planning on going back home and letting him come to take part but, when she called, she told him “There is nothing for you to do here. There are enough men here already. A woman’s touch is what is needed here to help take care of the people down at the square. So I will stay here. You don’t need to come.” (This is terribly un-PC but that is the way she is and the way of life is in the village.)
My mother-in-law is caught up in the revolution.
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