Two questions:

#1. If parliamentary facilities are unavailable, then why not used an alternate facility? This should bring the Party of (Statist) Regions back to the table?

#2. Why not slide into that packet Viktor Yanukovych as leader of the opposition, other than the fact he is a borgeois (sp?) loser?

From Bill Everett in a recent post at The New York Times Russia/East Europe Forum:

There are a few elements missing from the stories I have seen in the Western media such as the one from which you quoted. Perhaps these elements are missing because they are not really relevant. You be the judge.

According to Russian news stories, the principal reason stated by the Party of Regions for blocking parliamentary action is procedural. They demand that the voting be done in accordance with parliamentary rules.

Specifically, the Party of Regions demands that the leader of parliament be elected first and that parliament then vote for the prime minister candidate to be presented to the president for appointment. The Party of Regions objects to a "package vote" on coalition candidates.

Further, the Party of Regions demands that the voting be by secret individual ballots and not by block votes of parliamentary fractions, as proposed by the coalition.

Off topic, but this interview with Alexander Solzhenitsyn in the Moscow News saddens me.

Excerpt comments:

"Seeing that Russia today poses no threat to it, NATO is systematically, persistently expanding its military apparatus – to eastern Europe and to the south of Russia. This includes open financial and ideological support for “color” revolutions and the absurd imposition of North-Atlantic interests on Central Asia. All of this leaves no doubt that Russia is being encircled with a view to destroying its sovereignty."

And, a specific question on Ukraine:

Q: What is your perspective on the situation in Ukraine? In this context, what do you think about the problem of the division of the Russian nation (the largest divided nation in modern Europe)? Should Russia – if not politically, at least intellectually – ponder the possibility of reunification of ethnic Russians and Russian lands if Ukraine joins the EU and especially NATO?


Solzhenitsyn:
"I am pained by what has been going on in Ukraine – ever since the 1991 referendum. The fanatical suppression and persecution of the Russian language (which, according to previous polls, was used as the main language by over 60 percent of Ukraine’s population) is simply an act of atrocity that is aimed against Ukraine’s own cultural perspective. Vast tracts of land, which have never been part of historical Ukraine, e.g., Novorossia, Crimea and the entire southeastern region, have been forcibly incorporated into the modern Ukrainian state and into its policy of acquiring NATO membership at any cost. Throughout Yeltsin’s term in office, not a single meeting that he had with any of the Ukrainian presidents had gone without capitulation and concessions to them. Pushing the Black Sea Fleet out of Sevastopol (the city was never ceded to Ukraine, not even under Khrushchev) is an outrageous humiliation of the entire 19th- and 20th-century Russian history. Under these conditions, Russia must not cast Ukraine’s multimillion Russian population to the whims of fate, abandoning it, and cutting off all links with it."

In his defense, he probably doesn't get out much in his old age.

So it looks like the Orange house of cards has collapsed at the first tug. First, Moroz decided he wanted to be speaker anyway, despite the Orange agreements (the fault though goes to Yush and OU for putting PP for candidate). Then Moroz succeeds in becoming speaker on the back of PR and CPU votes. Yanu waxes lyrical on Moroz saying he is the man to unify Ukraine. Smells like back-room dealing to me...It becomes difficult to see how an Orange coalition is still feasible after the SPU basically stole the speaker position.

urep,
You're right, the Orange team was too fragile to even get its train out of the station. It didn't look too stable for the long haul anyway.
At first I thought this was a total disaster, but the more I consider it I'm not so sure. Moroz got his strongest vote in the center of the country. If he can get the Regions and Our Ukraine factions together, maybe Ukraine can really avoid the destabilizing east-west split that might have resulted from the NSNU-BYuT-Soc. coalition. All remains to be seen.
The real question is whether the pricniples of the Orange Revolution are still in play, regardless of whihc party or power holds office: Can we have open and transparent elections from here on out with minimal use of the "administrative resource"? Can Ukraine's Regions group behave as a western-style democratic party rather than a oligarchy? (Can any of the parties do that, for that matter? I was never one to believe that we had Orange angels and Blue demons exclusively.)
Best case: out of Yush and Yanu having to work together perforce, something can be worked out to bring civic democracy to Ukraine.
Worst case: Yanu hasn't changed, and pushes the ineffectual Yush off to the side.

WRY: Agreed. I have also been advocating a coalition that involves the PRU for a long time. I believe this is the only way forward for the country. Yulia's attitude of condemning any coalition with the PRU is both silly and foments division. An Orange-Blue coalition is the only form of government that can heal the divisions of Ukraine and prevent further radicalization of the citizenry. Let's hope we see some sense in Ukraine's politicians, and we get a PRU-OU-SPU agreement, the other mooted PRU-CPU-SPU coalition would be just as silly as an Orange-only coalition.

Yikes!
Now Regions, Communists and the Socialists have united to run the country.
I take back everything I said. This is truly a disaster.

Zaporozhe!

The steppes will be free again.

Taras Bulba is on right now.

Hope Dan is enjoying my Quick Takes.

There's more on the way.

Well, it'll depend on Yusch.

It's clearly his fault that things have gone this direction.

Can someone change? I believe so...

dlw

What a farce: Now we have Tymoshenko deputies proposing that a new election be held with a 10 percent threshold, a showdown between Regions and BYuT, winner take all. Apparently one item on the table would be impeachment of Yushchenko!

Note this article from ostro.org:
"The people's deputy from the Party of Regions, Mr. Kushnarev, stated that the bloc of Yulia Tymoshenko proposed for the Party of Regions to unite in order to let 'Our Ukraine' down. He said that in the program 'Speech Freedom' at IUACTV on 7 July, according to the press service of the Party of Regions.
Per his words, during one of the stages of negotiation process, 'The high-ranked representative of BYuT had some talks with the faction of the Party of Regions on the issue of bringing the situation of Verkhovna Rada up to the complete parliamentary crisis with the purpose to declare [early] elections of Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine'.
They proposed to start with amendments to the Law 'On election o people's deputies of Ukraine' by raising the passing barrier up to 10%. In the opinion of BYuT, in such case neither 'Our Ukraine' or socialists or communists could pass the barrier and Ukraine would have got the two-party system of the Party of Regions and BYuT,' the people's deputy noted.
'It would have let the parliament immediately consider the issue of the president's impeachment, change the Constitution and resolve many other problems, ' he added.
Mr. Kushnarev stressed that this proposition won't be accepted by the Party of Regions."

On another note, did anyone pick up on the pro-Ukrainian attitude Yanukovych is now taking in comments about the country's reltationship with Russia?

Well, either Dan has gone into a depression, or given up politics in disgust. With the circus going on, I'm surprised he last blogged in June.

The talk right now is of dissolving the VR. I can't believe the so-called 'democrats' even have the nerve of talking about it. Yes, Moroz behaved like a back-stabbing little sneak, but that's politics. That's how parliamentery democracies work, no alliance is permanent. You can't go about dissolving parliament because your favorite political forces did not come up on top. Rather than sulking, and throwing tantrums like spoiled brats (only showing to the world the immaturity of Ukraine's politics), the Orange guys should be behaving like a normal opposition. The OU (which has much in common with PR) should join the government, and give balance to it (current form is bad, Western Ukranians would not consider it legitimate). Yulia is the worst type of politician, and nothing good can be expected from her. She will inflame the lowest passions, hatreds and phobias of her electorate to gain political points. She is the stuff that Hitlers are made of. She should be excluded from any responsible government.

The problem with dissolving the rada, if you are a supporter of the Oranges, is that there's every reason to suspect that a new election would give Regions an absolute majority or at very least an improved standing. The Oranges have so frittered away their credibility over months of all this wrangling that it is almost impossible to conceive of an inspired electorate surging to the polls in their support, which is what it would take to win an election.
Unfortunately, a new election appears to be where we are heading within the not-too-distant future. The selection of a Communist as vice speaker is a clear signal from Regions that they will not let OU be a tail that wags the dog: They will let OU be an appendix, if that's what they want (not likely).
Human blocades of the podium and sirens wailing in the Rada do not inspire confidence that we are dealing with a political culture capable of maturity. I suspect that the average Ukrainian is now looking for a "strong man" to stop all this fussing and bring order.

urep: heh.You caught me on that one. I was on the East Coast celebrating one set of grandparent's 60th wedding anniversary with them, the other grandma's 80th birthday.

It was lovely being with family, but it would have been nice if the dates hadn't coincided so unhelpfully.

"I can't believe the so-called 'democrats' even have the nerve of talking about it. Yes, Moroz behaved like a back-stabbing little sneak, but that's politics. That's how parliamentery democracies work, no alliance is permanent."

Oh c'mon now, urep. You can't be so obtuse as that! NSNU, BYT, and the Socialists had already inked a one-hundred page agreement. A hundred pages of wrangling, and it had taken them months to put together. And then, one week later when Yanu's crew freed up the podium, all of a sudden all bets were off? That doesn't strike you as even a little over the top, even for a politician?

"She will inflame the lowest passions, hatreds and phobias of her electorate to gain political points. She is the stuff that Hitlers are made of."

It's pretty much the classic sign of someone discarding reasonable assesments in favor of smear when they start comparing someone to Hitler.

Hitler: populist, based his ideology on xenophobia, racism, an artificial mythos of national supremacy, ultra-nationalism, and violent warlike aggression.

Tymoshenko: populist, bases her ideology on anti-corruption, goes campaigning in hostile electoral areas looking to try to win over new voters, has supported no external military action, has never called on her supporters to violently attack her opponents.

How did these (and the hundreds of other) differences escape you?

WRY: if new elections are called I agree wholeheartedly with your assessment of what the results will be. We'll see what Yushchenko does.