"Ukraine's top soccer official has called for urgent measures to make up for lost time in preparing for the 2012 European championship following criticism from UEFA President Michel Platini.

Ukrainian FA President Hryhory Surkis said staging the tournament was critical for the ex-Soviet state's development and fast decisions were needed to keep the event's timetable on course.

"It is true that we have lost nine months and everyone knows why -- our authorities have proved slow-moving amid all the circumstances," Surkis told the daily Argumenty i Fakty on Friday.

"But the time-out is over. There can be no more excuses. Let this be clear to everyone -- Ukraine has been given an historic chance. Not a single month, day or hour should now be wasted.

"In the next few weeks, I hope the preparations process will be corrected and everything brought on stream at full capacity. Ukrainians must quickly understand that Euro 2012 can bring us closer to Europe and improve our living standards."" (bold is mine) (Reuters)

Explosion at coal mine in Donetsk region. Cause currently unknown. Six prisoners injured with four listed in grave condition in the hospital with serious injuries. Those injuried were prisoners of correctional facilities and not regular mine workers.

What were they doing working in a coal mine - was this part of their sentence? is this even legal? isn't this a vioaltion of human rights?

Title of article translates as "What is going on at "5" - referring to Channel 5 or known commonly as 5 kanal. The program shown on the tv news channel "Time" has been taken off the air due to a shareholder of the company being upset by a show's content. And the show's creator and reporter Egor Sobolev and a second anchor person were removed.

The evening news program which featured interviews and commentary from major movers and shakers esp. in political events, received high ratings and had the innovation of allowing comments written by viewers via the Internet to be "published" on screen. Unless proven otherwise the shutdown of the news program "Time" as well as the firing of the two anchors can only be seen as media censorship and character "assassination" of two very respected journalists who deserve to be lauded for their hard work and integrity. I do hope that the owners/producers will reverse this wrongful termination and revive a very popular and crucially important show which provided truthful and topical information to its loyal viewers, of which I was one.

Tymoshenko and Bohatyrova in the Ukrainian Government

I guess it would not be a surprise to most folks that after traveling from California to Ukraine, Lesya and I found we didn't have enough winter clothing (you may leave your jokes about wussy Californians in the comment line if you must). Hats and gloves and boots for me--no problem. Women's boots... well...

"How is it," we said to ourselves, "that in a country where the sidewalks are often cracked, in winter lines of ice criss-cross through those cracks, night lighting is inadequate, and most people aren't traveling around door-to-door by car, how is it that all the women's boots have stiletto heels?"

Every store, every bazaar kiosk, every megamarket, it was the same story. Just about when we started to despair though, we found at least one woman trying to do the same thing.

"I'd like a pair boots: comfortable ones without heels," she said.

"Oh?" said the shopkeeper, "going to the Carpathians are you?"

Ah, Ukraine, we thought. A country of very strong women, but one where traditional gender roles are still a little too prominent.  It provides perspective on the two women in politics that this entry is about.

Tymoshenko: Beats Another Gray Bureaucrat

We've seen it before: when talk turns to Tymoshenko, the temperature tends to turn up. And since she's proved herself quite capable of rolling over less charismatic Ukrainian politicians than herself (all of them), the inevitable charge is populism.

Sure she's populist. But democracy isn't about chosing the best: that's meritocracy. Democracy is about chosing the best of what options you've got. So, for example, let's look at Tymoshenko's current campaign to sell state assets and use the money to reimburse holders of long-defunct Soviet account.

For press material, she made up a cheesy notebook! The caption reads "No Going Back!"PoR's argument isn't just Yushchenko's reasonable one that it's irresponsible to sell off major assets for a one-off handout. Or the one implied in Yu's talk about restraint in privatizations: that it's going to scare the hell out of foreign investors. Both of these are old arguments, Ty and Yu had them in 2005. The one PoR and its allies add is the complaint that people will only be recovering 1000 hr, a fraction of what they'd lost. Think about it: why would that be a big accusation unless they are also promising the same thing to their constituents, just at a future date? Nor is this behavior any less inhibited than how PoR politicians acted in power. Remember the massive pension increase the Yanukovych government made a month before the 2004 election? By comparison, Tymoshenko is taking a relentlessly principled position. After all, the next election isn't for another year and a half: she's giving people plenty of time to forget this money.

The frightening fiscal situation is similar. Inflation in Ukraine is well into double-digits for 2007, but as Dzerkalo Tizhnya points, all political parties contributed as the problem.

We move on to less certain territory with Tymoshenko's opposition to the RosUkrEnergo intermediary in Ukraine-Russia gas deals and her calls for charging Russia more for gas transit to Europe. In this there is no clear populist stance; while Ukrainians react very strongly to changes in the price of oil and natural gas, the specifics of actual transit deals are a little too far removed for most people to get agitated about. However, if there is a less populist position, Tymoshenko has taken it, in that the populist thing to do would be to leave things alone (especially considering the real threat of Russian retalitory price hikes: the kind of things Yushchenko brings up alongside his usual procedural qualms) and concentrate on base issues. Tymoshenko thinks the intermediary is untransparent and unhelpful, however, so she's fighting it with her usual doggedness. That she happens to be right is just an added benefit for us.

And finally: NATO. Tymoshenko is cautiously pro-NATO: she signed on to the letter asking for an action plan, but repeats over and over again that Ukraine will not join without a referendum. In this she (and Yushchenko) separate themselves from PoR, for by no stretch of the imagination could support for NATO, which will mean taking on the burden of winning over the 80% of Ukrainian voters who oppose it, be considered populist. Yanukovych's policy of backing it in his first term as prime minister and screaming against it now, however, is not only populist, but (since he hasn't explained his switch) two-faced.

Tymoshenko may certainly usher in more economic pains, because she's as unlikely to back off her wide-ranging privatization efforts as anything else she does. But her economic reforms can hardly be worse than the ones in 2007. That's kind of a trick statement, since there was no reform in 2007: Ukraine has so far to go with reforms (and the necessary ones are so obvious) that long periods of stagnation like 2007 are tremendous setbacks.

If Ukraine needed to stay the course, if it were following a path of reform or needed to improve the implementation of sweeping changes, Tymoshenko wouldn't be a good pick. But the nation is in an economic and political rut, and there's only one Ukrainian politician that could give it a kick that's sharp-heeled enough to get it moving.  

Bohatyrova: You Could Do Worse

As many, many people have pointed out, it was a big surprise to see Yushchenko lure Raisa Bohatyryova away from PoR to become his secretary of the National Security and Defense Council. The linked EDM article lists political analysts as saying this move is probably an attempt by Yushchenko to find a counterweight to Tymoshenko (Yushchenko's own justification here). In that it sounds like the old "multi-vector" policy Yushchenko had back after the Orange Revolution: have Tymoshenko in government, but bring on some PoR-leaning compromiser types to balance her out. It would be instructional to note that some of those counterweights, Petro Poroshenko, Roman Zvarych, and Roman Bezsmirtniy for example, don't tend to come up in conversation much anymore.

Bohatyrova (UNIAN via 1plus1)That may auger her future, but what might be our reaction to her? As IIU drew attention to earlier, Bohatyryova has displayed a level of reasonableness about NATO that's quite pleasantly surprising, when compared against the diatribes of her former Party of Regions allies (compare her discussion, with their populism after the Ukrainian government sent a letter requesting an action plan from the organization). Certainly one can say the answer is simple: she's switched sides, that's why she's not joining the NATO agitation. In addition, she's no longer PoR, she had to give up her deputy status to get her new position. This is true, but that still makes PoR's shrill cries one voice weaker. Even more than once voice weaker, it cracks the unity of the party at it's weakest point: the willingness of each individual business member of the party to strike any compromise that is to that member's own benefit.

For contrast, take this little snippet from Foreign Notes back in 2006, when PoR was attempting to lure away deputies from the Yushchenko and Tymoshenko crowd, and Raisa was pleased as punch. Not the nicest woman to have around, but it's great fun every time Yanukovych gets "pushed to the wall" about losing deputies.

Overall, Bohatyryova's defection gives one the strange impression that Tymoshenko's got The Force on her side: every time PoR is in opposition, it starts disintegrating, but when Tymoshenko is out, it only to makes her stronger.

It's the politicians who are thuggish

Democracy has never been the most polite form of government. If one were to try to find a government full of polite officials, one would want to look elsewhere, say the latter part of the reign of Louis XIV in France. No, democracies are confrontational and often raucous. Thanks to a commercial for milk, for example, I won't ever forget that American politician and vice president Aaron Burr and American founding father Alexander Hamilton fought each other to the death over an insult. Or the non-milk-related historical incident of Preston Brooks beating Charles Sumner into unconsciousness with a cane on the senate floor while his friends stood guard with a pistol (which, incidentally was not enough to get him kicked out of the Senate).

Be that as it may, democracies have had a few decades to learn some manners. Which is why the incivility of Ukrainian politicians is particularly galling. Both this great Business Ukraine article, and this good article from Taras Kuzio's blog lay out the situation well.

Internal Affairs Minister Punches Mayor of Kyiv

A new low point came when Internal Affairs Minister Yuriy Lutsenko punched Kyiv Mayor Leonid Chernovetskiy in front of top politicians. My kudos to Kyiv Post for their response: having the top figure in law enforcement try to score points by hitting an opponent is an embarrassment. For him continue to be pleased with him about it is disgusting. PoR is right: resigning would be a respectable thing for him to do, kicking him out would be fair (though their scrums around the podium whenever Yushchenko and Tymoshenko factions are looking concilatory are hardly different, aside from the number of people involved). What an appalling model Lutsenko showed all the police officers under him.

Listen to Leopold the Cat: "Let's Live in Harmony!"I wouldn't take things as far as Kyiv Post and call directly for the resignation. It would be enough to see an apology and chalk one more bad mark for crudeness in Ukrainian politics. But Ukrainians won't even get that. (update: They did! Lutsenko apologized. My respects to him for admitting his mistake like an adult, and I wish him luck in corruption-fighting) Instead, Yushchenko ordered a probe. (What in the world could that be for? Lutsenko hit him in full view of other politicians, nothing could be more obvious. Is he implying that there's something Chernovetskiy could have said that would justify the attack?)

What's worse, I rather like some of Lutsenko's politics, and it hasn't hurt my impression of him that PoR's done everything it can to stymie him. How disappointing to see him disporting like them, then.

They Talk Ugly, Too

It seems almost anticlimactic to mention more bad language from Yanukovych after Lutsenko's actual violence. Moreover, he used it to accuse his opponents of separating friends from khokhols (an epithet used against Ukrainians), rather than calling them names directly (like chattel, among other things). But much of the nastiness in Ukrainian politics starts in this way. As Kuzio points out: since it is not possible to actually prosecute high-level officials for libel, or anything else for that matter, libelous and hateful words abound.

The problem is in finding the limit. Generally the thing that stops politicians is not fear of accountability before their peers, it is fear of disgusting voters. When that's the only check on words, things get ugly, because voters are notoriously responsive to negativity: the limit on scathing words is not particularly stringent.

Not Much In the Way of A Fix 

I know I'm not going to wow you by saying that the best step towards more civility would be to remove deputy immunity from prosecution. The new government is more likely than the Yushchenko-Yanukovych association to actual scrap the immunity, but there's still not a lot of movement forward.

To end on at least a mildly optimistic note, there's one form of ugly speech that Ukraine is relatively free of: military bellicosity. This is a particularly attractive feature of politics in this country when I compare it to, say, the statements that get made by Russian generals these days.

Ah... home

Hello, all! Well, Lesya and I are back in Ukraine for good, and in the few weeks since we got back and started settling in, we've already been confirmed in our decision. It's been nice to see the familiar sites of Kherson, as well as an unfamiliar one: our 7-month-old niece.

I'll probably be getting up an entry in the next day or so, but I wanted to just drop in a hello to everyone. Look for me to at least occasionally tag in with IIU, though she also seems to be serving you up a lot of news. I may have to start making Orange Ukraine a major link for articles and information. I'm not sure if I can do that, seems a bit referential...

In any case, back to blogging. 

"A democratic state striving to join NATO and the EU cannot have a 'militsiya' or Internal Troops that were created under the NKVD in the 1940s to fight against internal enemies of the Soviet state, such as the UPA. A European state should also no longer  have a 'militsiya' but a 'politsiya'. Remaining Internal Troops that guard prisons should also be transformed into a police force under the Ministry of Justice. These three steps would contribute to Ukraine's Europeanisation. ... The return of Interior Troops to a National Guard is a welcome step provided ­ as in the 1990s ­ they are democratically accountable to parliament and president." (Kuzio's Ukrayinska Pravda blog)

"The bill on the Cabinet of Ministers drafted by the Presidential Secretariat coincides with last year’s draft of the document submitted by the government under Viktor Yanukovych by 90%. Be that as it may, there are many principal differences masked in that 10% – for instance, the new procedure for appointment of the premier and the appointment and dismissal of ministers of foreign affairs and defense.

In accordance with the newest edition of the draft law on the cabinet, the president is empowered to reject the candidate for the premier’s seat proposed by the parliamentary coalition. At the same time, a list of grounds upon which the president can do so is not included in the bill. This means that the head of state would have the right to block any candidate that may be inconvenient for him and dictate his demands to the coalition in circumvention of the Constitution. Yet another interesting clause is the one that reads that MPs are obligated to approve a candidate proposed for the premier’s seat. In such a case it will be sufficient for the president to have a more or less powerful faction (50-90 people) and a dozen super loyal MPs to force candidates for premier to take on those obligations that are in the best interests of the president. Besides that, in the draft law the president granted himself the right to raise then issue of the accountability of the Cabinet before the parliament.

President Yushchenko also proposes in the new bill that submissions regarding the dismissal of the Minister of Defense and Minister of Foreign Affairs be made only with the consent of the president. Recall that the former foreign minister Borys Tarasyuk was fired upon Yanukovych’s submission without the consent of the Presidential Administration.

PA has stated earlier that the premier has absolutely no need to have powers to “direct, coordinate and control the work of ministers, the heads of other central bodies of power, the heads of the city state administration or the government of Crimea”. Without them the position of the premier is transformed from governing to nominal. ... " (read on at Kyiv Weekly "Tymoshenko Stands to Lose Levers")

"There are plans in the works to set up the National Anti-corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU), a body that will clamp down on corruption among high-ranking officials. Interior Minister Lutsenko says MPs and top government officials from the premier and prosecutor general to judges of the Constitutional and Supreme Courts will be under strict scrutiny. The NABU will also monitor parliamentary and presidential candidates.

The president will appoint members of the NABU upon the minister’s recommendation, but will be outside the bureau’s jurisdiction. This is seen as Lutsenko’s curtsey toward the Bankova and a proof of his loyalty in response to the suspicions of the Secretariat of the former’s pro-BYT sympathies.

The procedure for review of all court cases by the Kyiv Court of Appeals as the court of first instance is set by another clause. This will allow for control over court proceedings and preventing attempts at offering bribes or putting pressure on judges. Some political analysts believe this provision was the result of an agreement between Lutsenko and Premier Yulia Tymoshenko, who together with the current head of the Supreme Court, a former BYT MP Vasyl Onopenko controls practically all the judges of the Kyiv Court of Appeals.

Another proposed novelty is the subordination of the Border Service to the interior ministry and creation of the State Migration Service, also controlled by the MIA.

The Presidential Secretariat spoke out against the strengthening of Lutsenko’s position, stating that the president’s main office either does not want to accept the growing influence of the minister and sees him as a rival, or smells lobbying the interests of Volodymyr Lytvyn, whose brother heads the Border Service.

Yet another argument of Bankova not in Lutsenko’s favor is that if the Border Service subordinated to the president will be able to keep eye on Valeriy Khoroshkovskiy, the current head of the State Customs Service and Tymoshenko’s protege. ..." (read full article at Kyiv Weekly)

"According to calculations of KW experts, the volume of the shadow land market in Kyiv’s suburbs is currently a minimum of US $4-5 bn. Taking into account the escalation of land prices on the southern coast of Crimea, on the outskirts of Odesa and in the picturesque regions of the Carpathian Mountains, the total volume of last year’s shadow deals in the country was estimated at a minimum of US $15 bn. For comparison, this is nearly one third of Ukraine’s budget for 2008.

The most common scheme of deals with agricultural lands that allows for their alienation despite the moratorium on land sale looks as follows: the buyer pays around US $300 per 0.01 ha to the owners of a favorably situated land plot, but the owner receives this money as a loan, for example for one month with the land used as collateral and a corresponding agreement signed. After the agreement expires, the borrower files an appeal with a court requesting repayment of debt and receives pledged land into his ownership upon a court’s decision. Then the new owner appeals to the local council to change the designated purpose of the land plot and, as a rule, receives permission to do so." (bold is mine) (GREAT Kyiv Weekly article about land sales in Ukraine - a must read!)

"Secretive Ukrainian ex-pat Serhiy Bondarenko is leading the development of a five-star resort in a Vinnytsia town.  The $269 million project is backed by European investors.  Both Boderenko and regional officials confirm the funding but neither would identify the investors. ... Ukrainian media suggested that Bondarenko was the investor backing the project. Bondarenko stressed he is not an investor nor wealthy enough to back such a project." (Kyiv Post)

“The Ukrainian economy has experienced strong growth since 2000,” reported the Kyiv offices of ING, a leading Dutch bank. “However, we expect a mild slowdown this year caused by the expected general deceleration in developed markets.” The bank lending boom, small business development, money from Ukrainians working abroad and salary growth will fuel increased consumption. “We expect household consumption to remain the major GDP growth driver during 2008 and 2009,” said Vitaliy Vavryshchuk, Dragon Capital analyst. Rising salaries and social payments will boost consumer demand in 2008, stimulating rapid growth of consumer-oriented sectors, such as food, services, and retail, said Anna Cherednichenko, an International Centre for Policy Studies (ICPS) economist. Foreign direct investment (FDI) will continue to grow in 2008. “Rapid economic growth will continue to foster demand for Ukrainian assets,” ICPS reported, adding “FDI will grow from $8 billion in 2007 to $8.5 billion in 2008.” ... High inflation will be the main economic risk in 2008, according to ICPS. Energy imports will not be the only factor driving prices higher." (Kyiv Post)

"Since the Orange Revolution of 2004, Ukraine’s democratic path seems ever more ineluctable. Yet these gains are held back by an economy that stifles small- and medium-sized businesses, imposes high taxes, and fosters rampant corruption. As an article in this week’s Post points out, Ukraine’s strength in formal freedoms - like freedom of association or the right to demand a change in government without fear of persecution - was overshadowed by a miserable performance in economic freedom. Ukraine’s perch among the world’s 90 “free countries” for the second straight year is worthy of applause, yet its economic weakness is lamentable because there’s a simple, long-delayed solution that could kick-start improvement: adoption of a new, liberalized tax code. If anyone has an inherent interest in such a matter, it’s Yulia Tymoshenko. Reforming the tax code would provide that needed breakthrough to dash the anti-business accusations dogging her since the re-privatization campaign. A revitalized tax code with corporate tax incentives and benefits – halving the burdensome payroll tax for starters – will attract much needed budget revenue and encourage companies to emerge from Ukraine’s vast shadow economy. Such reform is accomplishable in one year and it will leave as much of an impression on investors and voters as Tymoshenko’s now-famous campaign to return lost bank deposits. Tymoshenko’s iron will, when pointed in the right direction, can move mountains. It would be a winning recipe for her, Ukraine’s pro-Western coalition, and the country as a whole, to push tax reform through the halls of parliament this year. Given the Tymoshenko-led coalition has a thin majority in parliament, further delays are inexcusable." (Kyiv Post)

"Nearly $195 million was invested into Ukraine by the French during the first nine months of 2007, according to State Statistics Committee of Ukraine figures, ranking the nation eighth among foreign investors. Meanwhile, $742.5 million was invested in 2006, eight times more than the prior year, largely the result of the post-Orange appreciation of business assets. Overall, however, French FDI into Ukraine accounts for a small share of the total, some 4 percent. Activity is expected to remain high, with French companies taking a lead role in the retail and construction industries in particular. Among the biggest French companies in Ukraine are two banks which, along with other European banks, moved quickly to secure a portion of Ukraine’s promising banking sector through acquisitions. France’s BNP Paribas ... Calyon Bank Ukraine, a subsidiary of the Credit Agricole Group" (Kyiv Post)

"Philippe Pegorier is the economic and trade adviser with the Embassy of France in Kyiv. In his interview with the Post, Pregorier highlighted agriculture, transportation and infrastructure as the most attractive business sectors in Ukraine. He added that the presence of French companies on the Ukrainian market will depend on future economic growth and the stabilization of the political and economic environment." (Kyiv Post)

"Political freedom and civil liberties in Ukraine remained strong for the second straight year in 2007, while personal economic freedom was “mostly unfree” for the fifth straight year, according to surveys released this month.“This is an accurate depiction of the current situation,” said Ilko Kucheriv, director of the Democratic Initiatives  think tank. “Ukrainians for the most part feel they can speak and write without fear of persecution, even to demand political change, which we have witnessed in the passed two years.” Political rights and civil liberties, the benchmark indicators employed by the American human rights non-governmental organization (NGO) Freedom House, improved in Ukraine, according to its 2008 Freedom in the World survey. ... Ukraine’s economy was 51.1 percent free in 2007, a 0.6 percent decline from 2006, according to the Heritage Foundation’s 2008 Index of Economic Freedom, which measures “that part of freedom that is concerned with the material autonomy of the individual in relation to the state and other organized groups.” An individual is economically free who can fully control labor and property, in the view of the Heritage Foundation, a US neoconservative research institute. Ukraine is severely deficient in investment freedom, property rights protection, and freedom from corruption, ranking 133rd out of 157 countries and almost qualifying for the repressed category.In the European region, Ukraine ranked 39th out of 41. “ Widespread corruption not only damages relations between the public and the state, but also negatively influences companies’ budget policies, infrastructure, as well as many other society factors,” said Juhani Grossman, chief of party for the Promoting Active Citizen Engagement in Combating Corruption in Ukraine project, funded by USAID and the Millennium Challenge Corporation. Corruption has become a two-way street in Ukraine as well, he said. A fifth of Ukrainians face government extortion, while a tenth voluntarily offer bribes as well.
The Promoting Active Citizen Engagement project’s  studies show Ukraine’s corruption level is comparable with other Eastern European countries, Grossman said, the principal difference being the level of the public’s trust towards government is much lower.“ State officials aren’t perceived to be actively trying to improve or combat corruption,” he said. The report isn’t a final authority, said Volodymyr Yarovsky of Ukraine’s Helsinki Human Rights Union. For example, Poland has police and courts that are truly independent, while that’s only formally the case with Ukraine.“ They have real freedom of association,” he said. “We do only formally, and the legislation for this is outdated.”

Assessing the state of freedom in Ukraine, observers said a key problem plaguing Ukrainians is they still have no real power to conduct government oversight.

 “Although we have political freedom, our low level of holding the government accountable to us, or elected parties to their campaign promises, remains a problem,” Mishchenko said." (Kyiv Post)

"The Cabinet of Ministers has granted the State Tax Administration and the State Customs Service permission to ignore illegal court decisions that grant exemptions on payment of taxes. ... «In order to protect our Customs, Tax Administration, and other [bodies] that are obliged to collect taxes, we have adopted a special resolution that grants the freedom and the right on the basis of the Constitution not to implement criminal court decisions that are knowingly issued,» Tymoshenko said. Tymoshenko read to journalists several rulings issued by courts in Kharkiv and Kremenchuk that exempted businesspeople from paying taxes. Tymoshenko stressed that the existence of criminal groups among representatives of the government, courts, and enterprises was resulting in evasion of taxes and a shortfall in budget revenues necessary for financing increases in pensions and wages. Tymoshenko also said that the Cabinet of Ministers has directed the Justice Ministry to document illegal court decisions with the aim of asking the parliament to remove the judges that issued the illegal decisions and asking the Prosecutor-General’s Office to file criminal cases against them.

According to Tymoshenko, Deputy Prosecutor-General Tetiana Korniakova, who was present at the Cabinet of Ministers meeting, supported the idea of launching criminal cases against judges that issue illegal decisions. Moreover, Tymoshenko said that she intended to ask the Supreme Court’s chief justice to document illegal court decisions and draw the necessary conclusions." (Ukrainian News)

PM Tymoshenko is requesting the the issue of Ukraine's entrance into NATO not be politicized. While Speaker Yatsenyuk considers that recent official pronouncements from the Russian Federation are an interference in Ukraine's sovereignty.

In the meantime, Yanukovych threatens that the blockade of the rostrum in Verkhovna Rada will happen.

(So Parliament shutdown may continue which is REALLY unfortunate as so much needs to get done for 2012 and so much legislation needs to get passed, inc. hopefully the amendment of deputy immunity.) 

Mejli Tatars are holding a protest action in Simferopol, Krym (Crimea). They are doing so in response to provocations by city officials and Party of Regions members. The leader of the protest stated that in actuality the issue has been on-going for ten years and is in reference to the proposed building of a mosque in Simferopol. They are being denied the right to build the mosque at their designated location and have appealed for Pres. Yushchenko's assistance in having land dealings in Krym straightened out. They had received the go ahead to build on their site after three years of procedural delays. But on Jan. 10, 2008 without any documentation, consultation with or agreement from Tartar Moslem religious leaders, the city council passed a decision which changed the site of the mosque construction to another location and so the protest action began.

In Kyiv it is estimated that 40% of all minors (children under legal age of 18) smoke. Most start at age 13 and 65% of minors state that they have no problems obtaining cigarettes. While 20% of minors living in Kyiv reported that they drink alcohol.

Incident in Kyiv's subway system which disrupted service. It was due to an overheated compressor that started smoking and filled up the subway station. People were evacuated from the stop which was the Theater one. It is reported that service is back to normal.

In Kyiv a replica copy of the Monument of the Russian Soldier was erected, right opposite the Estonian Embassy. The original copy of the monument was the cause of controversy and rioting in Tallinn, Estonia when it was moved from the city centre. The replica copy in Kyiv was put up by members of the Party of Regions youth organization. This was done in protest of events in Tallinn.

Today the head of Donetsk Ministry of Coal Production stated that no one has any plans to close the Zasyadko mine which had the highest number of fatalities in a mine explosion, in Ukraine's history ever. (Over the past few months it has had numerous explosions.)  

"On January 19 the Mine Interdistrict Prosecutor's Office opened a criminal case upon the fact of the explosion at the Shakhtarska-Hluboka coalmine in Shakhtarsk, Donetsk region. ... As Ukrainian News reported, on January 19 two miners were killed and two more injured in an explosion occurred at the Shakhtarska-Hluboka coalmine." (Ukrainian News)

Article about the rise on Neo-Nazism in Eastern Europe. "Racial and xenophobic tensions in Ukraine generally are low. However, extremist nationalist groups are active in most cities of the former Soviet republic. Most members of such groups are unemployed teenagers or young men from low-income families. Actual violence against ethnic minorities in Ukraine is an infrequent but recurring event. The most common targets are Jews and Muslim Tartars, but in recent years attacks against foreigners from Asia and Africa have increased."

The following is at least heartening "But there's little evidence that extreme right-wing parties will ever be able to attract significant popular support."

Longtime commentator dlw has asked to "recommend to them the top 5 books that would be helpful to USAmericans going to Ukraine for a week and hopefully who will become committed to continuing relationships with Ukrainians." (PS 'Books, books and more books' entry has been moved to here. As the following entry will be in a few days.)

First check out Dan's "I'm Off to Ukraine for the First Time - Ideas?" 

The following is my subjective list of books and websites that may be helpful and is geared to english as primary language. (Welcome for others to make submissions or comments.) In my essential list would be map, one travel guide and one language book (with common phrases and dictionary in the back.) For background prior to the trip helpful to read history book and depending on baggage could take it with you. In addition there have been culture guides written but if someone has travelled abroad extensively, they are not necessary but for some people have been helpful in est. comfort level.

BOOKS 

Guidebooks) There is Ukraine Bradt Guide (second ed. avail in March 2007 and note that Lonely Planet Guide was publ. in 2005.) See Bradt website for more info. about book. And Bradt also has a Kyiv guide. Lonely Planet Ukraine Travel Guide and they have an overview website of Ukraine, as well as a site where updates can be posted. There is also Language and Travel Guide to Ukraine. Check Amazon reviews for more info. about books.

Language Books) There is the small in size but big in content Lonely Planet Ukrainian Phrasebook but for more in depth there is the the Teach Yourself Ukrainian Complete Course which comes with CDs and Colloquial Ukrainian for which cassettes can be purchased. By the same author is my fav. grammar book for serious study Ukrainian: A Comprehensive Grammar Book. In addition there is also Vocabulearn Level 1 and Talk Now Learn Ukrainian.  Based on need and want (esp. if travel is geared to regions near Russian border or Crimea), could substitute Russian language coursebooks/multimedia. Hard to tell in advance if don't know specific locations you will be travelling to.

Dictionaries) The greatest super duper ukrainian to english dictionary imho is the following but it is over 1100 pages. And my favorite (so far) english to ukrainian dictionary is a heavy two volume set which I purchased in Kyiv. In addition to the already mentioned Lonely Planet phrasebook there is Hippocrene ua->eng/eng->ua and Hippocrene Phrasebook and Dictionary. (Is a dictionary needed for a one week stay? Hard to tell but if someone has a travel guide, lang. book and/or phrasebook don't see the necessity.)

History Books) The Ukrainians: Unexpected Nation (2002) (380 pp) and the weighter Ukraine: A History (2000) (736 pp) are my top contenders for history books. But in addition people have rated Borderland: A Journey Through the History of Ukraine (2000) very highly.

Books which maybe of interest: Communities of the Converted: Ukrainians and Global Evangelism (to be publ. Sept. 2007),  Ukraine: Culture Smart, Ukraine: Culture Shock, Ukraine in Pictures, Children's book Ukraine (Enchantment of the World) (don't know if children will be traveling), Wormwood Forest, and I could go on and on ... :)

WEB SITES

Google Maps and the super cool satellite view.

Travel to Ukraine Lots of information about Ukraine, events, places, pictures and even includes link to Global Incident Map. Also includes link for purchasing maps of major cities, books, etc.. There is also Travellerspoint, Ukraine Traveler Advisor, Ukraine.com, For photos, videos/podcasts, blogs, forum discussions see Travelpod. and much more avail. by googling ukraine travel sites.

What's On Kyiv guide to events and nightlife in the city. Also includes essential listings guide. New edition every Friday 

Kyiv Post  Keep up with events in Ukraine in english and unfortunately archived articles are only avail. to subscribers. New edition every Wednesday.

Kyiv Weekly Keep up with events in Ukraine and does allow for searching of archives for free. New edition usu. Wedsnesday.

"President Viktor Yuschenko is insisting on abolition of parliamentary deputies’ immunity from prosecution before the end of the parliament’s first session. ...  «A draft law on abolition of deputies’ immunity has been sent to the parliament at my initiative. I am insisting that it should be approved during the current session,» Yuschenko said. He stressed the need to enforce order within the government and that everyone should be equal before the law." (Ukrainian News) 

Headline of article reads, "Bohatyryovva Supports Yushchenko's Position in Regards to NATO". She stated in an interview with 1+1 (link includes video of interview in ukr) that "Entrance to NATO and referendum will take place at that time, when the country is ready. Based on the results of the referendum will appropriate decisions be made." "Вступ до НАТО і референдум буде проведено у той час, коли країна буде готова. За наслідками референдуму буде прийматися відповідне рішення".

"Discussion about entrance is currently not underway. The discussion is about joining the action plan, which could inculcate certain standards in Ukraine." "Мова про вступ зараз не йде. Мова йде про приєднання до плану дій, що могло б впровадити в Україні певні стандарти."

[In terms of the latter quoted statement she is absolutely correct regarding that the current discussion is only about Membership Action Plan. I am still reeeling from B's decision to accept the post on the NSDC and this completely floors me. I wonder what is Yanukovych's reaction to this interview and her statements. And I wonder how this may impact voters in the East and South. My only correction to the news article is that B is currently not a member of the Party of Regions - she had to quick the politcal party in order to accept her current position.]

And of noteworthy attention is "Ukraine considers significant acceleration of its dialogue with NATO as one of its foreign-policy priorities. The press service of the Foreign Affairs Ministry announced this to Ukrainian News. First Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Volodymyr Khandohyi met with NATO Deputy Secretary-General Irzha Shedeva on Tuesday." (Ukrainian News) Present at the meeting was also Turchynov. (iPlus)

"The political honeymoon between Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko and Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko appears to be over. Yushchenko has thwarted Tymoshenko’s planned visit to Moscow, torpedoed planned appointments to her government, disagreed with her privatization plan, and come up with a package of bills aimed at diminishing the role of the prime minister and the Cabinet." (Read on for rest of EDM article here)

Today UNIAN reported that Yushchenko stated that the money from mass privatizations must not be used for social grants-in-aid. 

One note is that in regards to the "package of bills" - "The BYT faction in Parliament will vote in favor of the presidential version of the law on the Cabinet of Ministers. Yulia Tymoshenko admits she could run for presidency, after all." ("Of Cabinet's Bondage")

(It is interesting for me to note that during the time of Yanukovych as PM when Yushchenko was forceful, he was applauded for finally behaving like a President and taking charge and his ratings went up. But at this time with Tymoshenko as PM he is imho going to be facing a lot of flack and his ratings will go down. Out of interest, I wonder how much of it may be caused by a "gender bias", if at all.)

"According to a statement released today on the Ministry of Justice’s official website, the Cabinet of Ministers is planning to remove the stamps “Not to be printed” and “Not to be published” from Cabinet of Ministers Resolutions and Instructions issued between 1991 and 2005 since these stamps are not allowed for by Ukrainian legislation. The Minister of Justice Mykola Onishchuk informs that the relevant Instruction on revoking these stamps has already gone through checking procedure in the Ministry. He adds that the Instruction is aimed at ensuring citizens’ rights of access to information, as guaranteed by the Constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights. 

The statement goes on to say that the Cabinet of Ministers plans to ensure free access to legislative acts which were not on general access in previous years.

The Minister states that restrictions in access to more than one thousand government acts issued between 1991 and 2005 will be removed.

Approximately 300 others will have the above mentioned stamps removed, however will still not be available to public scrutiny with another stamp “For official use only” being used instead.  It is stated that almost all these acts deal with defence and security or contain issues relating to economic competition." (bold is mine, from KHPG)

"Prime Minister of Ukraine Yulia Tymoshenko could not take part in a meeting of President of Ukraine Victor Yushchenko with leading political forces chiefs today, because she is still ill.

As UNIAN reported earlier, Yulia Tymoshenko caught cold and could not take part in the National Security and Defense Council session on 18 January. She also postponed her visit to Georgia, scheduled for 20 January, and could not attend the inauguration of Mikheil Saakashvili as the President of Georgia." (UNIAN) (in eng Ukrainian News)

Do hope for a full and quick recovery and return to the "New and Different Prime Minister". (Very much agree with the following.) "The Yulia Tymoshenko who enjoyed a short and stormy term as prime minister immediately following Viktor Yushchenko’s election as president now seems a much calmer and better-balanced executor of the position she fought so hard to regain. Power sharing rather than constant battle seems to be the order of the day."