Hi, I'm a highschool student studying the orange revolution for my honors project. I just found your website, and am amazed at all of the useful information on it! I was wondering if you could help me, since you seem so proficient at researching and answering questions...

I'm doing my Global Studies Honors project on the Orange Revolution (I went on a mission trip there in march, and became really interested ever since), and I'm trying to develope a thesis. I was thinking about writing on the speculation of U.S involvement in the Revolution, but I really havent been able to find much substantial evidence on this subject. Do you possibly have any ideas of where I should look, OR any other interesting thesis ideas. To learn about the revolution, I've really just been reading various articles on it, and trying to figure it out for myself.

I've also ordered some of Taras Kuzio's books to obtain the neccessary history for the region, but if you have any suggestions for research, the help would be greatly appreciated! Hope this isn't too much of a favor to ask... Thank you!

Nan

Tried to send this via email but can't get the link to work.

---------------
For Immediate Release
CONTACT: Bruce Bridges
Phone (063)3089953
(0512)354437
email:MykolayivPress@gmail.com

Ukraine Holds First Oblast Elections Since Orange Revolution

Ukraine's newly installed government held its first Oblast elections since the Orange Revolution, the event that captured the world's imagination in 2004. The local elections in the Bashtanka & Ochakiv districts for council seats in the Mykolayiv Oblast were important indicators of a promised new and transparent election system.

To promote the day and raise political and social awareness, a
coalition of oblast social organizations arranged for live television
coverage in both villages that allowed all local citizens to see their
electoral system at work. This type of coverage was unprecedented in
the country.

The Oblast Governor Oleksandr Sadykov expressed his satisfaction with the
results. "The winner of the election was not our main concern. What
was most important was for us to demonstrate to the people that voters
will be fully represented and that every vote will be counted. I am
happy to say that the day was a great success."

Volunteers from across the Oblast collaborated on the event with tasks ranging from answering the telephones to posting a minute-by-minute online report. As a reflection of the various interests involved, volunteers held views that covered the political spectrum, not all supporting the current administration.

”The idea for the telethon came up during a discussion of the transparency of the election process. Officials talk about transparency but when the electoral process starts, they seem to forget about it.” Said Mark Gres, a volunteer as well as the creator and head of the telethon. ”The Press Secretary of the Oblast Governor, Gleb Golovchenko was approached and it took off from there. Since then we’ve enlisted a large number of enthusiastic volunteers dedicated to the idea of bringing to Ukraine the standards of elections enjoyed by Europe.”

Oblast Governor Oleksandr Sadykov expressed his feelings concerning the results
of a successful election. "It is important that the world sees that
we are fully committed to reform. This is only one step of many to come.”

“New Government, New Opportunities” is a coalition of Mykolayiv Oblast, non governmental organizations dedicated to democracy in Ukraine.
###

Hi you have a link to my website and i wanted to update you on that link.
http://drivingsocrates.com/author/andrei-hedstrom/page/2/

is the place you should link the
Driving Socrates
Supporting blog from California

I also wrote about my visit to Kiev
http://drivingsocrates.com/ahhh-kyiv-2

and several others that can be found on http://drivingsocrates.com/author/andrei-hedstrom/page/1/

I also am writing because I am building www.drivingsocrates.com into a global blog site and am looking for english speaking bloggers with progressive polititcs to join in. We have our work cut out for us in the US and we will need all of the itnernational help we can get to make the changes that need to happen.

Not to mention that bringing people together is simply put - a good thing.

Peace and Good Things,

Andrei Hedstrom
http://www.drivingsocrates.com

Nan:

Glad to see that you're interested. What church did you go on the mission trip with? I know the Presbyterian Church of America people, but not many others. Where did you go?

For the way the OR progressed, I would suggest you look in my section labelled "Taras Kuzio" in the sidebar (if you haven't already). In my "Journal Archives" section, I have a number of journal entries with the label "Foreign Policy - US" which might be of interest.

Some people say the US helped Pora by sponsoring conferences they attended or something like that. You can always look through articles and press releases on the US Embassy site in Kyiv from September 2004-January 2005. There you could find the official response to accusations and look up the accusations.

Of course, the Yanu people made wild allegations of US funding of Yushchenko during their campaign, but while you'll find the accusations, you won't find the evidence, obviously, because they were foolish. You might also want to research a certain PR company (the name escapes me) which assisted Yanukovych's campaign. Try looking in the Eurasia Daily Monitor for the basics, then branch out to other news sources once you have them.

Finally, I highly suggest you look into the OSCE observation mission. I was an observer, and I can say that their method was great, the US was only one of many countries contributing volunteer observers, and their findings helped to more clearly illustrate the undemocratic practices of Yanukovych, Kuchma and their supporters. The National Democratic Institute and International Republican Institute, as well as Ukrainian-American organizations also sent volunteer observers.

That's about all I can think about for now. Good luck.