Soros In Ukraine

The people of Ukraine suffered tremendously under communism and deserve their freedom. It's heartening to see them turn out for free and fair elections. But we should be under no illusions about how or whether American interests will be served by the victory of one side or the other in those elections. The fact is that the candidate dubbed "pro-Western" wants to pull Ukraine's troops out of Iraq, while the alleged "pro-Russian" candidate wants to keep them there.

An "Embassy row" column by James Morrison in the Washington Times captured the contradictions, noting that Eduard Prutnik, a chief adviser to the Ukrainian prime minister Viktor Yanukovych, had visited Washington and noted that billionaire George Soros, who poured millions of dollars into efforts to defeat President Bush, is also spending millions on the campaign against Yanukovych.

The other candidate, Yushchenko, who wants Ukraine's troops out of Iraq, is supposed to be pro-Western and pro-American. A blogger by the name of Daniel Brett says that Yushchenko is pro-European Union and "closer to the Old Europe Rumsfeld detests…. To understand Yushchenko, you have to understand the politics of the EU. The visionary values that drive the EU and its enlargement--the desire to create a new, assertive super-power independent of U.S. influence--are being forged by those Rumsfeld views with contempt. And Yushchenko shares this vision."

The American Enterprise Institute on December 10 sponsored a symposium on the events in Ukraine titled, "Ukraine's Choice: Europe or Russia?" That may be a more accurate characterization of what's at stake. Notice that it wasn't framed in terms of Europe, Russia or America.

Firstly; Ukraine is in the Russian sphere - they share a religion and a history and an ethnicity. They have more in common with each other than we Americans do with Mexico.

Secondly; whose "sphere" is the Ukraine bound for? Not America which is jack broke and contributes ZERO to the Ukrainian economy.

This is a bid by the EU to gain a sphere of influence over the Ukraine at Russia's expense. In this situation America is holding the EU's coat.

Thirdly; Putin is not reconstituting the USSR. Any who think so are fools. A stronger Russia with influence over the neighbors she has a history with and blood ties too? No doubt - the USSR? Not at all except to the paranoid delusional.

Let's take this piece by piece:

The fact is that the candidate dubbed "pro-Western" wants to pull Ukraine's troops out of Iraq, while the alleged "pro-Russian" candidate wants to keep them there.

Not true. Yanukovych also would have withdrawn them.

Then we have the same old de-bunked Soros charge from Eduard Prutnik, Yanukovych's main campaign sponsor, who was exposed as helping to rig the election in his candidiate's favor.

Political analyst J.R. Nyquist, in a column on the crisis in Ukraine, contends there's not a whole lot of difference between Yanukovych and Yushchenko on the major geopolitical issues.

Well, well, well. Need validation from writers like Nyquist, eh? Politics do certainly make for strange bedfellows. Well at least he's not one of those crazy birchers who think the fall of the USSR was faked, right?

Earlier in the year, protestors in Ukraine covered him in mayonnaise." Some reported that Soros was splashed with glue, not mayonnaise. But there is no dispute that the protesters yelled, "You'll get nothing here!"

Funny that, the people who splashed Soros were from the Ukrainian white supremacist group Bratsvo (Brotherhood). I thought you, the Guardian, AntiWar.com, PJB and every communist newspaper in the world said that all the Yushchenko supporters were bad racist nazi neo-con trotzkyite market-leninists. Turns out to be a bunch of commie BS.

RUSSIA AND STATE-SPONSORED TERRORISM IN UKRAINE
Paradoxically, although presidential front-runner Viktor Yushchenko is regularly assailed as a "nationalist," his Our Ukraine bloc has only one member that is nationalist: the Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists. Yet the recent wave of terrorist attacks has been blamed on Yushchenko followers.
In contrast, Viktor Medvedchuk's Presidential Administration and the Social Democratic United Party (SDPUo) that he leads control four extreme nationalist groups. These are the Ukrainian National Assembly (UNA), the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists in Ukraine (OUNvU), Rukh for Unity (RukhzY), and Bratstvo (Brotherhood). Dmytro Korchynsky, head of Bratstvo, was a commentator on the "1+1" television channel controlled by Medvedchuk. His "Prote" television show has specialized in attacking Yushchenko.
Each of these four nationalist groups has provided a presidential candidate who is working on behalf of Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych: Korchynsky (Bratstvo), Roman Kozak (OUNvU), Andriy Chornovil (OUNvU), and Bohdan Boyko (RukhzY).
UNA has held various demonstrations in Kyiv with participants dressed in Nazi-like fatigues and declaring their support for Yushchenko. Yushchenko has always denied any links to UNA and has called upon the MVS and Justice Ministry to de-register the party.
In mid-September a UNA attempt to hold a rally "in support of Yushchenko" was thwarted when Our Ukraine supporters blocked it and convinced the students paid to attend that it was a charade (razom.org.ua, September 9). UNA vigils "in support of Yushchenko" have been widely broadcast on television channels controlled by Medvedchuk to portray Yushchenko as an "extremist."

Just for fun I'll post a blurb from Nyquist's article:

President Leonid Kuchma mentioned Yushchenko as his successor following a cynical aside from presidential chief of staff Dmytro Tabachnyk, who said the regime needed someone who could be “realistically made up” as a new pretender for the presidency. Yushchenko was a perfect fit because he was already known, and would be spared “extra scrutiny.” Implicated in the decapitation of an Internet journalist, Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma is an international pariah – a typical post-Soviet gangster-apparatchik. Given this situation, how does the Ukrainian government get its good name back? Meanwhile, the right-of-center Yushchenko has been traveling the world, winning the West’s confidence. Yushchenko even met with U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, if only to emphasize his free market credentials. It is doubly useful, in this regard, that Yushchenko’s wife has been accused of being an American spy. - LINK

It's all a Kremlin plot!

George Soros helped Viktor Medvedchuk become a well-known lawyer and public figure. Ukrainian Bar Association headed by Medvedchuk received three grants from George Soros amounting to 87 thousand 677 dollars. IRF supported the initiative of the public organization headed by Medvedchuk as to implementation of the project “Comprehensive Theoretical and Practical Training for Advocates: Applying International Legal Human Rights Standards”.
Given all that, there is a question - will Viktor Medvedchuk continue issuing orders to the authorities to boycott the visit of famous financier to Ukraine and by means of “temnyky” demand that the mass media under his control ignore George Soros’s meetings with Leonid Kuchma, Olena Franchuk, Volodymyr Lytvyn and other Ukrainian officials? Or maybe, after a respective statement by Leonid Kuchma, the campaign for discrediting Soros will stop, and Viktor Medvedchuk will officially thank the prominent philanthropist for financial support that assisted his to get established as a respected lawyer and public figure” - LINK

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