The (Ukrainian) Revolution WILL be Blogged

The Postmodern Clog Blog ^ | 11/24/2004 | Discoshaman

[JerseyHighlander]

novembre 24, 2004 Updates from PORA -- The Revolution WILL be blogged.

I've joined the PORA opposition group as an English page editor for the internet news site Maidan.org.ua (the #4 website in Ukraine!) I'm writing from HQ.

Here is some breaking news we've received:

-Authorities have begun violent action against peaceful protesters near the Presidential Admin building. 2 buses of special ops police units drove up and have moved on the demonstrators.

- The tent city has now reached as far as the Central Department Store on Kreshatik Street.

- The pro-Yanukovych tent city seems to be bleeding people at a quick rate. They either can't take the cold, or the heat. :)

- Provocateurs planted an "explosive" device in our tent city. Snipers were called in.

- There are reports of tanks approaching the city. This is still unconfirmed, and I'm skeptical about this one.

Stay tuned! The Revolution WILL be blogged. Posted by Discoshaman at 03:27 PM | Tossed Clogs (6) | TrackBack (0) New Digs and a New Gig in Tent City

It snowed throughout last night, but it was a nice, warmish sort of snow. And it made everything look beautiful, hopeful and new this morning.

I'm no longer bunking with the guys from Lutsk Region. I've landed a spot in the roomy, warm tent of a local Evangelical congregation. They even have a Jesus fish flag flying overhead. They couldn't have been more welcoming.

I've also found some new work for the times when there aren't any demonstrations. I'm volunteering nights at the tent city press center, and it looks like I'll be doing editing for the English version of Maidan.org. This is an independent news source set up after the slaying of the journalist Georgiy Gongadze, and is one of the most popular news sites in Ukraine these days. I have a meeting with them in about an hour. Wish me luck! Posted by Discoshaman at 10:54 AM | Tossed Clogs (2) | TrackBack (0) Updates!

- The oligarch forces have bussed in Yanukovych "supporters", and they're setting up their own camp nearby. It has about 1,000 people, all of whom are large and male. In other words, rented Donetsk muscle.

- Yulia Tymoschenko has pulled demonstrators away from the Presidential Administration building. She's announced that there are Russian troops inside the area. They've been given orders to fire for effect. The Ukrainian people are incensed at the idea of Russian troops threatening Ukrainian citizens.

But isn't this typical of an authoritarian system? In Tiananmen Square, the Chinese shipped in troops from far outlying provinces. In Iran, the mullahs use Chechen mercenaries to put down the people. So why not Donetsk rent-a-thugs and Russian loaner troops?

- Good news! The linguistics university in Kiev and another Uni in Bila Tserkva have joined the student strike. It grows by the day. Posted by Discoshaman at 10:05 AM | Tossed Clogs

[Renfield]

We sure do live in interesting times!! Keep us informed. This is really exciting.

[struwwelpeter]

This morning's mail:

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Seychas u nas slozhniy period v strane, narod vstal s koleney, ochen' slozhno. Chasto propadaet internet, vchera ne smogla otpravit' tebe pis'mo. Zhal' u menya net zdorov'ya, ya by byla v ryadakh protestuyushchego naroda. Ya vpervye v zhizhi gorda za svoy narod, kotoriy vstal s koleney i mozhet zashchishchat' svoi prava i interesy. Ya dazhe ne mogla podumat', chto tak lyudi mogut podnyat'sya, ved' my takie tepelivye, no uzhe dostali vsekh. Ya vecherom napishu bolee podrobno tebe, t.k. boyus', chto snova svyaz' prepvetsya.

"Now our country is in a complicated period, the people have risen from their knees, very complicated. The internet often stops and yesterday I couldn't send you a letter. It's a pity that my health doesn't allow me to join the protesting people. For the first time in my life I'm proud of my people, who have risen from their knees to defend their rights and interests. I couldn't even imagine that such a people could rise up, since we're so patient, but everyone has had enough. In the evening I'll write again in greater detail, since I fear that communication will stop once again."

It's 20.45 in Kyiv now, but nothing else but this letter :-(

[Calpernia]

Great to hear from you! Please keep us up to date!

[struwwelpeter]

Here's a pic I took last April or May. Yushchenko banners are in orange.

You know more than I about the Ukraine.

I'm confused about Soros in this deal. He's anti-Bush, anti-Putin. He is directly responsible for getting Kuchma into power, but has been supporting Yushchenko.

Yanukovich is a Donbas gangster - the ex-Donetsk oblast governor is connected to the notorious Ryadchenko. He, Rybak, Ryadchenko, and Chernomyrdin ripped off the world bank and the Russian treasury in a huge hotel complex in Mariupol in the mid-1990s. Rybak is now mayor of Donetsk, Chernomyrdin is Moscow's ambassador to Kyiv, and Yanukovich is close to being president of Ukraine.

OTOH, Yulia Timoshenko, Yushchenko's big partner in a future coalition, probably stole billions from the Ukraine, and Yushchenko has some right-wing ulta nationalists supporting him in the Crimea.

It's hard to know who to root for or against.

When I lived in Donetsk, the mood there was that Ukrainians ruined everything. Coal mines shut down, land lays fallow, and Ukraine imports grain while Russia is a net exporter. It takes a real idiot to make Ukraine hungry.

Friends in Kyiv are independence-leaning and don't like what they've experienced of Russian history, and don't want to see a repeat.

Probably no one is on the side of the angels, but I just hope it doesn't get too bloody.

[MileHi]

OK, who are the players, goog guy, bad guy? I am behind on this.

[MileHi]

goog guy - or GOOD guy, even.

dang

[struwwelpeter]

I lived there off and on for 3 years and can't figure it out.

Ukraine is a schizo nation, with the East side predominantly Russian blooded and language (even President Kuchma didn't speak Ukrainian when he was sworn in). The Western half (from the Dnepr river to the Moldavan border) is Ukrainian in blood and language. Ukrainian is the official language for everything, though the main train station does schedules in Ukrainian, Russian, and English.

President Kuchma is a gangster from Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine's Pittsburg. He is implicated in murdering a journalist by the name of Gonadze, and also in having judges investigating the crime beaten.

Kuchma won re-election in '2000 through a huge banana republic election. People told me that they had to show their ballots to the officials or they couldn't even vote. Cities and districts that went against him had the lights and water shut off. Often for months at a time.

Kuchma is forbidden by the constitution from running again, his hand-picked successor Yanukovich is tied neck and neck with Yushchenko.

Yanukovich is the former governor of Donetsk, in the eastern Donbas coal district. He was born in Enakievo, an ex-con, and tied to other mobsters from the area.

Yushchenko is, on paper, cleaner, but has some interesting supporters: George Soros, Yulia (billions in her personal accounts) Timoshenko, and an ultra-right wing organization in the Crimea that traces its roots to a Nazi "werewolf" group that committed post-WW II terror in the Ukraine and Poland.

The East basically wants to rejoin Russia, which is blossoming economically. Many Ukrainians work in Russia, which should tell you how pathetic the Ukraine is. The West wants no more Russian history, thank you. No one, not even the Mongols, has killed more Ukrainians than the Russians, which is why the East Ukraine is pretty much empty of Ukrainians.

I'm going by memory here, and a lot of cheap Ukrainian gorilka may have screwed up the details ;-)

[MileHi]

Thanks for the history. So Yushchenko will align better with the west than his competitor would you say?

[JerseyHighlander]

Upon request: Blogs covering the Orange Revolution

Ukrainian Democracy Blog
The Periscope
Comments @ The Periscope
LoboWalk
InstaPundit
A Fistful of Euros
Little Green Footballs
Bob Schaffer
Blog de Connard
Chrenkoff
Neeka's Backlog
All About Latvia
Europhobia
The Argus
SueAndNotU
Le Sabot Post-Moderne (The Post-Modern Clog)
obdymok
SiberianLight

[struwwelpeter]

Yushchenko will align better with the EU, at least. What's better for the Ukrainian people remains to be seen. Is the Ukraine even capable of independence? The world's richest soil lays fallow and hard-coal mines stand idle while Kyiv imports brown-coal from Poland and grain from Russia.

Kyiv 'privatized' almost every important industy, even the main power company Kyivehnergo is owned by an American now, and they have no problem shutting off grannies whose government retirement is something like $10 a month. Kyivehnergo has a nasty habit of shutting off an entire building if enough residents don't pay. If you go to buy an apartment there, if you find out that more than half of the families are retirees, don't even think about it.

Ukraine may have a better economic future if they integrate with Russia, but there's probably too much bad history between them to attempt it.

Here's a joke that describes the Ukrainian mentality:

Mikola and Volodomir were brothers in the Ukraine in the 1930s. When the state collectivized all the farms, Volodomir gave his up to the sovkhoz, while Mikola stayed a kulak and wouldn't give in. When the Germans came in 1941, Mikola became a politsai and turned in commies, while Volodomir became a partisan and fought the Nazis. After the war, Mikola was sent to Siberia and Volodomir went back to the collective farm.

Years later, Volodomir is an old man sweeping up in a factory, while Mikola is the director. One day when they meet in the hall, Volodomir asks his brother: "How is this possible? Why am I sweeping floors, while you're head of the factory?"

Mikola nods and answers: "It's simple. I have a brother who is a war hero communist partisan, and you have one who sat in Siberia as a traitor-kulak."

[struwwelpeter]

Fresh mail:

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Privet, dorogoy!

Da, u nas slozhnoe vremya.
Kuchma s Yanukovichem sfal'tsifiroval vybory. I takimi gryaznymi metodami. Oni dali bol'she milliona otkrpepnykh talonov i ugolovniki ezdili po strane i golosovali po pyat' i bol'she raza. A takzhe nasil'no zabirali u lyudey pasporta i po nim tozhe golosovali za Yanukovicha. A v Donetske tak voobshe neinteresovalo mnenie lyudey, vbrasyvali ugolovnye ehlementy v urny nuzhnye byulletni. Seychas ves' narod na ulitse otstaivaet svoi prava. A segodnya TsVK ob'yavila podbedu Yanukovicha, takoy tsinism. Kuchma ne poyavlyaetsya pered narodom, govoryat on v zapoe.
Raduet, chto mnogie goroda prinyali na sessiyakh reshenie o tom, chto podchinyatsya budut tol'ko Yushchenko.
Kieyvlyane progolosovali za Yushchenko 75 protsentov i Omel'chenko, mehr Kieva, prinyal reshenie na Kievsovete o podderzhke Yushchenko.
K Kievu podtyagivayutsya voyska i tekhnika, militsiya. No samoe strashnoe, chto Putin prisylaet omonovtsev, kotorye pereodevayutsya v nashu formu i im prikazano strelyat, esli bol'she 50 chelovek narushit granitsu, kotoruyu oni okhranyayut.
Polozhenie strashnoe.

"Hello!

"Yes, we are in complicated times.
"Kuchma and Yanukovich did a fake election, and with such dirty methods. They gave out more than a million voter forms and criminals travelled about the country and voted five or more times. And they even took people's passports by force and used these to vote for Yanukovich. And even in Donetsk they could care less about the people's opinion, they just tossed ballots in whatever boxes they felt like. Now the entire (Ukrainian) people is on the street demanding their rights. Today the TsVK (Central election commission?) declared Yanukovich's victory, such cynicism. Kuchma won't show his face in public, they say he's on a bender.
"It makes one happy that many cities have held special sessions and decided that they will not follow anyone but Yushchenko.
"Kyiv residents voted for Yushchenko by 75%, and Omel'chenko the mayor of Kyiv and the city counsel has voted their support of Yushchenko.
"Troops and armored vehicles are moving toward Kyiv, as well as police. But the most frightening is that Putin is sending OMON (SWAT) police, dressed in our uniforms and they've been ordered to shoot if more than 50 people cross the border of what they are protecting.
"The situation is frightening."

[frontdeboeuf]

What a bunch of bullshit!!!

That bastard Soros is spamming this very site with
his Chirac Crap!!!

Tell me how this big lie is any different
than all those he foisted on us just
a couple of weeks ago!!

Totally disgusting!!!

[LibertarianInExile]

What big lie? I don't think anyone here doubts that one candidate will be more pro-West than the other. And I don't think anyone here doubts that ain't the candidate the Russians back.

[sevry]

I don't think anyone here doubts that one candidate will be more pro-West than the other.

Why would you say that - or did you say it, just to say it?

[LibertarianInExile]

Why do you DISAGREE with it? All you have to do is Google about the race and whichever paper or site you read, one party is almost always linked to an open door to the West, while the other is linked to Russia and the mob-style politics of Kuchma. The MSM doesn't often get things right, but seems to me when everyone INCLUDING the MSM think this, it is likely to be true!

[sevry]

I misunderstood. I thought you meant both would be equally anti-US. The is some distrust of the US, from years of 'euro-ganda' and the like, on the Yushchenko side, perhaps. But I think they got the real picture in Powell declaring the result of the election void in the opinion of the US.

I got me thinking, however. What do the 'revolutionaries' in this really have? They are backed by worldwide liberalism - if you read a lot of liberal blogs. These are solidly pro-Moscow, and anti-US. They would flee the old revolution tyranny of tanks in the streets, sure. For freedom, sure. But what kind of freedom? Is it the next revolution 'freedom' of 'euro', of UN rule, of corruption and oil-for-food, PPFA and permissive abortion, attacks upon people of Judeo-Christian faith, and so on? That kind of 'freedom'? That's what 'euro' offer them. And Yuschenko is apparently very pro-'euro'.

Either way, the last revolution, or the next, they can't escape a trap that's set for them in that part of the world. Perhaps if they wrote God into their Constitution? But then the 'euros' wouldn't have them.

[struwwelpeter]

From the beauty shop two blocks from my old apartment on Kudryashevo in Kyiv, last December.

[MarMema]

That bastard Soros is spamming this very site with his Chirac Crap!!!

Well-said.

[Renfield]

Please explain that rather cryptic joke.

[struwwelpeter]

Mikola and Volodomir were brothers in the Ukraine in the 1930s. When the state collectivized all the farms, Volodomir gave his up to the sovkhoz, while Mikola stayed a kulak and wouldn't give in. When the Germans came in 1941, Mikola became a politsai and turned in commies, while Volodomir became a partisan and fought the Nazis. After the war, Mikola was sent to Siberia and Volodomir went back to the collective farm.

Years later, Volodomir is an old man sweeping up in a factory, while Mikola is the director.

One day when they meet in the hall, Volodomir asks his brother: "How is this possible? Why am I sweeping floors, while you're head of the factory?"

Mikola nods and answers: "It's simple. I have a brother who is a war hero communist partisan, and you have one who sat in Siberia as a traitor-kulak."

Volodomir, the good brother, can't get ahead in life because of his brother's crimes. Mikola, on the other hand, is rehabilitated because of his family connections.

That they are one another's brother makes it the tragic comedy which is the Ukraine.