Friendship Caravan Greeted with Rocks and Tacks in Donetsk
The Yushchenko campaign's Friendship Caravan, which has traveled around Ukraine talking about their candidate, has been turned back from Donetsk. First the city officials told them not to come because there were potentially violent Yanukovych supporters in the city that they couldn't control. Then the Yanukovych supporters in question started throwing rocks at the cars and tacks on the road in front of them. The Yushchenko head representative in Donetsk also had his tires slashed, but this is not particularly significant as he was hit with a baseball bat and kicked around on 28 November.
You can get a more in-depth description of the event in Russian here. This is describes in more detail the tacking and stoning that substitutes for dialogue in Donetsk.
In unrelated but very welcome news: at a conference with Gerhard Schroeder in Germany, Vladimir Putin showed at least a slight willingness to work with a victorious Yushchenko. [link in Russian, sorry] In response to the question of whether he would consider a victory by Yushchenko a personal defeat and a defeat for Russia, Putin answered "I see no problems here."
It's hardly friendly talk, but there have been no more pro-Yanukovych Putin visits, and the anti-Yushchenko rhetoric has been reserved for the Russian home market. This is actually a step forward.
Dan McMinn
in 33) Dec 2004 Pres. Election, 35) Orange Revolution
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Reader Comments (4)
They've seen murder, attempted murder, and hear threats of more murder. They've seen fraud, deceit, theft, bribery, intimidation, beatings and property destruction and confiscation. They've seen their rights trampled on, their rights impugned and their rights denied.
But this list barely scratches the surface of the long list of crimes committed against the people - by their own government.
I've only began to learn in the past two or three weeks just what the Ukrainian people have had to live under. In a nutshell, they have suffered the grinding thumb of a Governmental Mafia, squared, aided and abetted by Russian Mafia/Government - exponentially more insidious than any Machiavelli ever imagined. Machiavelli was a saint by comparison.
The Ukrainian people revolted at the attempted theft of an election, by these criminals - but, they are not nearly free of them yet - and may not be for months, if not years, to come - even if the popular favored candidate wins again three days from now.
The people may yet face criminals attempting to avoid the full penalty for their crimes, now desperate and willing to do anything, including killing as many innocents as necessary to avoid the hangman's noose.
Can the government police be trusted to do their duty? Or, will the people ultimately be forced to become the police force they do not have?
The guy I keep coming back to is Vyacheslav Chornovil (not his bizarrely traitorous son Taras). This was Ukraine's answer to Vaclev Havel, an amazing dissident and nationalist. He was killed. (got pictures of his monument in L'viv) That was before the 1999 election.
The fact that Ukraine had this Orange Revolution is enough for me to feel that they have begun to gain control of their country.
I'm bursting with hope, but I know that come March of this year, things are going to be very settled and the government forces are going to start being able to work their nastiness again.
But I have every faith in Yushchenko's economic ability, and the opposition has cut its teeth fighting against pro-administration encroachment for 18 straight months. (since the administration stole back the Parliamentary majority)
The only thing I really fear is the death of Yushchenko, which is still a significant possibility. If that doesn't happen, the corruption becomes a petty crime, rather than a national horror, because the people at the very top will be fighting it.
I also fear greatly for the death of Yuschenko. And upset that because of the rigged election, he cannot be focused on improving the health of his internal organs. To my knowledge which is severly limited, I know of no one who can replace Yushchenko. I pray daily for the safety and health of his family and himself.