Yushchenko and Tymoshenko take turns holding each other back

While there aren't many things that could have made relations between Yushchenko and Tymoshenko worse that I mentioned in my last entry on the subject, the two of them seem to have found ways to do so. Ostensibly for stymieing Tymoshenko's anti-inflation proposals, Bloc Yulia Tymoshenko blocked Yushchenko from giving his annual address on May 13. The effort was also probably in retaliation for Yushchenko's own blocking of Tymoshenko's privatization plan (by ignoring a court ruling in order to keep his anti-privatization State Property Fund Chairwoman Valentyna Semenyuk in place). Rather unconvincingly, even as she was stopping Yushchenko from making he speech, she was wording her description of the action as if it were targeted as some greater, poorly defined "force" opposing her, rather than at the President personally.

This seems like a strange reticence from her, since she has now made other accusations directly against the President, in regards to the sale of Black Sea shelf rights (she accuses him selling out Ukrainian interests, after having been tricked by corrupt businesspeople).

Blocking the podium may have been too extreme an action. In the first place, Tymoshenko should remember that the Party of Regions may have lost as much as a 10% support in the polls for blocking the actions of the Parliament in March. In the second, she may have noticed that the People's Self-Defense party, the NS in NUNS, have begun calling for the resignation of the head of Yushchenko's secretariat, Viktor Baloha, the presumed instigator of Yushchenko's hard anti-Tymoshenko stance. If Yushchenko's closest allies are calling for an end to his attacks on Tymoshenko, she might have been able to wait, instead of forcing things now.

I would say that this action has brought the government to a standstill, but it was essentially immobile before May 13 as well. It makes for very little political news. The Ukrainian Journal seems to blame Tymoshenko. Taras Kuzio blames Yushchenko, and I've been inclined to agree since he ditched Tymoshenko's government for Yanukovych in 2006 2005 [thanks to the commenter who caught this error of mine!]. But at the end of the day, apportioning blame correctly may be as futile as apportioning blame between a couple after a divorce. 

Now might be a good time to move on from the frustrating to the merely ridiculous. 

Candidates for "Most Senseless Statment of the Week"

1. Yushchenko's assurance that Ukraine will be allowed into NATO at the December 2008 meeting. There are a lot of issues of importance he could be talking about or, even better, acting on, before giving his assurance. One big one would be to finally launch the public information campaign on the subject the government has been promising for years.
   
2. BYuT this week offered Klitchko (currently far ahead of their candidate, Turchynov, in the polls) the position of Kyiv Council Secretary if he withdraws his candidacy and Turchynov is elected. They're asking him to give up a strong candidacy in order to take inferior position beneath a weak opponent in the unlikely event that that opponent can overcome a 20% popularity gap in the next week... they must really think as little of Klitchko's intelligence as Turchynov's banners imply they do.
3. In Sevastopol recenlty, Moscow Mayor Yuriy Luzhkov again made a speech that the city, as well as the whole of Crimea, has never been legally part of Ukraine. National Security and Defense Council Secretary Raisa Bohatyrova (herself a former member of the generally pro-Russian Party of Regions) responded with measured irritation, and the SBU has barred Luzhkov from entering the country again. This level of restraint is probably for the best. Getting irate at Russian impudence would likely just give more of an appearance of legitimacy to this balderdash.
   

Take your pick: which of these do you think is most senseless, which second, which third?

Not a very good week for political news. As a consolation, look for some (long overdue) additions to the Ukrainian book library within the next week. If you've got book recommendations, please include them in the comments.