Maybe you shd let IIU and elmer take over temporarily as guest bloggers?

dlw

I'd like more coverage of this...
http://www.interfax.kiev.ua/eng/go.cgi?31,20070312004

dlw

Thanks dlw but heck no, Dan is the one! The only one! The true one! The best! And I for one would rather wait for quality than quantity!!! Hip! Hip! Hooray!

btw Serduchka is in as the Ukrainian eurovision entry!

btw I am too busy reading "Putin's Russia" by Politkovskaya, "Grief of My Heart" by Baiev (doctor's account of wars in Chechnya) and "Fatherland" and "Enigma" by Harris.

Dan all my BEST BEST BEST to Lesya, you and yours!!!! You have a great and wonderful time and live it up! We'll be right here, when u get back. :)

And the news is too depressing from Ukraine anyway.

Bah,
it's just a couple of months...

All you'd need to do is keep on posting like you do in the comment sections and it seems like things have been getting interesting for Ukraine, though I understand from Levko that a majority of the population(according to polls) are still opposed to new elections.

dlw

this is so exciting!!! best of luck to you and lesya!

Michael Levchenko in a press conference today (video coverage http://5.ua/video/143/) stated that Russian should be the one and only official language in Ukraine. He is the secretary of the Donetsk city council. (He may have been holding the press conference to address his previous remarks stating that the Ukrainian lang. should be used only for folklore and anecdotes.)
-------------

Well his anti-Ukrainian remarks certainly provoked someone, as he was victim to a "dairy attack" (kefir was poured on him) (http://5.ua/newsline/179//38333/) I wonder if the people responsible were the same ones who got Soros with mayonnaise? And why are the protesters reading Cleopatra's beauty recipes for restoring suppleness to winter fatigued skin?

------------------------------
"The status of the Russian language is only problematic just before elections"

Gadzooks! There is actually concern in Donetsk that pre-term elections may be a reality! Going from ignoring it, to ridiculing it, it is now being perceived as a threat. And deliberately provocative remarks/actions are being made to incite protest.

Run! hide! The elections may actually be coming!

I think you're right.

Did you see the clips from Levchenko's press conference?

It is the same old, same old, Levchenko is whining, just like the russkies were whining 3 years ago, about language.

I don't know about you, but I think his little lying game is alienating a lot of people, and making them angry.

Well, all except you-know-who.

Why would anyone have a press conference about having a dairy product thrown on them?

You're not having an identity-crisis, are you, Elmer?

It looks like expectations are changing...I think the biggest factor will depend on whether Yuschenko is willing to support reelections, when it could result in him losing the presidency.
dlw

From tap-the-talent.blogspot.com
"Moscow to Close Its Only Ukrainian Library
Local authorities are planning to “reorganize” the one and only Ukrainian library in a city with an estimated one million people of Ukrainian descent.

The library opened a year ago. Interestingly enough, Moscow Mayor Yuriy Luzhkov, a front-runner of Russia’s claims on the Crimea, attended the opening ceremony."

Actually it was less than a yr. and it was done by private donations (no $ from RU govt.)
http://www.nrcu.gov.ua/index.php?id=4&listid=28985
I wish I could find - National Radio of Ukraine did an interview with the head of an Ukrainian org. for people living in Russia and was involved in the endeavor. The excitement in his voice over the library was infectious. Now it is heartbreaking. 50,000 donated volumes. The first UA library was opened at the beginning of the 20th c. and closed in 1938. Most of the books from that library were 'lost'.

Levko has posted that there are signs that Yusch is in dialogue with Yanuk and Moroz.
http://foreignnotes.blogspot.com/2007/03/global-reconciliation.html

It seems the possibility of another election was taken seriously enough that the ACC may have decided to deal Yusch some of his power/influence back.

It's like a soap opera. Except the stars are elephants who disregard the ants they stomp on as they alternate between cuddling and fighting.

dlw

Well I'm going to be doing some of my own protesting this weekend, as I've decided to fly to Wash DC to take part of a protest against our war in Iraq.
http://sodsbrood.com/antimani/2007/03/14/christian-peace-protest-outside-white-house/

prayers for our well-being and success in moving our president's heart would be appreciated. Once we are out of Iraq, it'll be easier to help Ukraine and deal with Russia.
dlw

Yushchenko has long been asking for another round table to deal with situation and I guess he finally got it. I hold no hope that it will resolve the issues. Even if PoR loses a few battles, it is intent on winning the war. And will unless new elections are called. Well, Yushchenko's ratings are going to plummet even further. (I wonder what star he was born under that he keeps "snatching defeat from the jaws of victory".) And even more deputies will depart NU for BYuT.

Bye, bye to live coverage to televisions of the sessions of the Kyiv City Council, thanks to the Mayor. But sessions will still be recorded and shown only will be edits for the news.
http://5.ua/newsline/198//38375/

--------
I wonder when temnyky will return as well? Six months, a year? How soon?

"These boots were made for walking"

Another walk out of Rada by NU and BYuT

"As Ukrainian News earlier reported, on March 14 Yuschenko reached agreement with Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych and Parliament Speaker Oleksandr Moroz on appointing Ohryzko as Ukraine's foreign affairs minister...
Yulia stated "She said that the signing of the National Unity Pact again was the same as making the same mistake twice." ...
Today - The Verkhovna Rada has postponed consideration of Volodymyr Ohryzko’s candidacy for the post of Foreign Affairs Minister by 245 deputities.
...
Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc and Our Ukraine Bloc factions’ deputies have left Verkhovna Rada session hall."

My God, is Ukraine a fascist state or what?

The Kharkiv court prohibited a peacable assembly of Lutsenko's "Self-defense" movement.

Haven't people had enough of the fascist soviet life????!!!!!!


Freedom of assembly is not permitted????!!!

Between this and space cadet Chernovetsky, you kind of wonder - what the hell is going on????

http://5tv.com.ua/newsline/179//38417/

"If the opposition does not fall victim to infighting and is able to continue it offensive against Yanukovich, it will have a real chance of forcing early parliamentary elections."
March 14, 2007

Well, Lutsenko is going to try to have a meeting in Kharkiv - on the "Square of Freedom."

Talk about irony!!!

The fascist court decides that Samooborona ("Self-defense") is, for some unkown reason, prohibited from assembling publicly.

Площа свободи??????


IIU, what the heck is going on??????

http://5tv.com.ua/newsline/179//38443/

A consistent mantra of the PM, Azarov and PoR has been that they will change Ukraine for the better by positively infl. the economy and yet
a) Ukraine's ascension into WTO is hanging in limbo
(so close and yet so far)
b)much needed legislation has not been enacted which would protect shareholder rights and would plug up major loopholes which allow for corruption to flourish and thrive
c) nor have they addressed how the court system is used/corrupted to obtain desired judicial rulings (ex. raiders)

At times of "stress" Kuchma used to do trips to Moscow, now Yanukovych travels to Donetsk. So whose really running the show? And whose interests are being protected? and being promulgated?

"Experts have long warned that Ukraine’s legislation falls short on protecting minority shareholder rights, allowing majority shareholders to dilute the stakes of smaller investors or shift assets from prized companies to other legal entities at will.

Roman Marchenko, Senior Partner of the Ilyashev & Partners law firm, said that recently Ukrainian courts have had a tendency to make decisions favoring majority shareholders.

“To prove that in making the decision, the interests of minority shareholders were violated is no longer enough. You need to prove that the decision would have been different if the procedure had been perfectly correct.”

Marchenko added that to protect the interests of minority shareholders, legislation should outline the mechanism of buying back minority shares at market price by the majority owners – something that is currently non-existent."
http://www.kyivpost.com/nation/26284/

----------
Juggernaut continues on - there will be a new appointee to the head of the Tax Admin. by the PM. (The actions of the Tax Admin. have been directed based on politics and which has been used previously to bureaucratically and financially destroy targeted business owners)

elmer,

The court has also banned advertising for the political action in Kharkiv, and in addition banned putting up a stage.
http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2007/3/15/55780.htm

Harsh words from Moroz for Lutsenko's activities.
http://www.pravda.com.ua/en/news/2007/3/14/7261.htm

[It was not enough that Lutsenko resigned from the Pres. Secretariat because of Moroz's comments to stop accusations? (This is really sad based on how Lutsenko believed in, trusted and worked for Moroz but I guess it must be upsetting Moroz's "dear friends")]

elmer,
Have u seen the website for Lutsenko's group?
http://www.samooborona.in.ua/