Well, I'm back from my stint as a tour guide today. My buddy Keith went on in his journeys and Lesya and I collapsed.

It was great fun, and we were happy to have him out, but I've gotten extremely behind with all of you.

So now I'm back and going through the Zerkalo Nedeli backfiles looking for material to put into an article on Ukraine. I will hopefully submit the article to Atlantic Monthly (no guts no glory) within a week.

In my searches I've come across some articles I'd like to share with you all:

1. I've been spending a lot of my time trying to figure out why exactly Kuchma fired Yushchenko. I have the common supposition - that he was irritated that Yushchenko was more interested in reform than loyalty - and have been looking for any information on Kuchma's motives, either supporting this view or providing a more compelling one. This article gives Zerkalo's reason for why Kuchma fired him.
2. At about the same time Tymoshenko was thrown in prison. This event has often been described as formative for her. This article was an interview with her on her politics during her incarceration, and this article follows up by asking her about the conditions in which she was detained. (which she repeatedly said did not count as torture)
3. There are remarkable similarities between the tactics used against the opposition in the run-up to the 2004 election and in the run up to the 2002 parliamentary election. This article describes media suppression and electoral games in Donetsk. This article describes the use of anti-American rhetoric to scare voters. This heartfelt article describes how the journalist's own father was persuaded to vote against Yushchenko by Russian media trying to link him to extreme nationalists. This article gives a summary of the media situation in the immediate aftermath of the election.
4. I've also been trying to track voter preference throughout the past years, to determine the extent to which the Orange Revolution was the culmination of a process. Zerkalo analyzes Razumkov data periodically: in spring of 2001, in September of 2001, again in November 2001, just before the spring 2002 parliamentary elections, in July 2002, in March of 2003, in June of 2003, in April of 2004, and in August of 2004. (among others)