Yulia Tymoshenko
Posted on 02/07/2010 10:40:07 AM PST by Steelfish
Ukraine Exit Polls Say Yanukovych Has Won Election
Exit polls from Ukraine's presidential election indicate opposition leader Viktor Yanukovych has narrowly won. Mr Yanukovych is given a lead of 3-5% over Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko. President Viktor Yushchenko lost in the first round. If correct, it would be a remarkable comeback for Mr Yanukovych, who was swept aside five years ago by the Orange Revolution. He would be expected to make Ukraine's foreign policy more pro-Russian.
The BBC's Richard Galpin in Kiev says the result would be an extraordinary indictment of the Orange Revolution leaders' failure to deliver on their promises, which has left people deeply disillusioned. Mud-slinging Mr Yanukovych was a presidential candidate in the last election in 2004, which was found to have been rigged in his favour, sparking the Orange Revolution.
Yulia Tymoshenko earlier said she would take supporters to the streets He is now expected to change Ukraine's foreign policy - which has been pro-Western and anti-Moscow. Mr Yanukovych had secured 48.7% of the vote, against Mrs Tymoshenko's 45.5%, according to the National Exit Poll. Another exit poll, by ICTV, said he took 49.8%, against 45.2% for his rival.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.bbc.co.uk ...
I disagree again. Yushenko’s push for NATO membership had been very unpopular. By the time he began his reelection campaign any public support from the White House would have negatively affected his popularity.
LOL!
“It wasn’t in Obama’s mindset to allow a pro-Western democracy to exist there.”
Maybe you just need to pray harder for Obama — you are the one posting the “Pray for Obama” threads, aren’t you?
I don’t feel like checking, if you are not the one, I apologize.
And his rehabilitation of nazis didnt helped him either
The BBC, The City of London’s ministry of Propaganda, has never championed governments as guarantors of rights for the governed.
Why did Ghandi have to make that Salt again?
Many Ukrainians have the same feelings, I’m afraid.
Are you referring to the Ukrainian freedom fighters who fought against both the Nazis and the Soviets? I don't think giving them the recognition they deserve hurt him politically. What did hurt him with the ethnic Russian Ukrainians were his attempts to shine a light on the Ukrainian famine. I can't fault him for doing that though. Yushenko never had much popularity among that demographic to begin with though so it couldn't have hurt him too much despite the noise. The real reason behind Yushenko's decline is that he lost the support of his own base.
It’s not as if the US has Ukraine’s back anyway with the Usurper in the White House.
Both leaders are hopelessly corrupt.
The Obama administration is not directly responsible for this election, but they are indirectly responsible.
When Obama was elected there was a lot of excitement among the young Ukrainians because he was going to do away with “business as usual” and restore “hope and change” to America and the world.
The Ukrainians have seen, probably with more clarity than many Americans, that Obama is just another morally bankrupt ideological hack.
The same Ukrainians now have a “what the fork” attitude to politics. Does the party label make all that much difference when they’re going to rob you blind one way or another?
The Ukrainians I knew tell me they think Yushenko is stupider than a pile of bricks, BTW.
Nah...she is also vicious and beautiful. ;-)
Today was a loss for the good people of Ukraine, but not unexpected.
I meant to say Yanucovich. He apparently is a very stupid man who has his strings pulled by Putin.
Yes, Nazis.
Back to USSR :-(
Yanukovych is a devout conservative Christian Orthodox leader. He gets lots of points for that.
Yanukovych supported keeping troops in Iraq - Yushchenko wanted them out
Soros poured millions into Ukraine to defeat him in 2004.
etc.
NO - it’s the US who is looking more like the godless USSR every day. Ukraine and Russia are looking more like Christian nations.
Fundamental to the understanding of politics is understanding that keeping troops in Iraq (or not) and where Soros spends his money have nothing to do with whether someone is considered “pro-West,” and someone else is considered a Putin lapdog.
The question is why!
Why Poland is so pro-market and economically anti-socialistic?
Poland had the mildest version of socialism, where agriculture was mainly based on private farmers, which was unique in the whole of the Soviet bloc. The private initiative was the biggest social value and Poles always tried, somewhat clandestine and illegal, to be the masters for themselves and economically decide as free man.
Poland was never a Soviet-like economy with people totally dependent on those who are to decide, who are to manage, not thinking as free man and repeating commands of their managers. Briefly, Poles never got rid of managing abilities and privacy has always been their top imperative.
On the other hand, Ukrainians were never a free nation. Ukraine belonged to the Soviet Union where nothing was private. Communist Party managers were giving commands and all that workers could do was to obey. Individual thinking and initiative was almost forbidden - briefly: do what you are told to do by the party - that was the motto for the Soviet workers.
When freedom came and huge economic possibilities appeared, most people in Ukraine were not capable of using them because all life long they were trained as slaves, only to be able to listen to commands, not to create their own reality. Free state with free economy proved to be too inaccessible to them since they were mentally unable to create and take responsibility for any kind capitalistic venture. They began to yearn for the Soviet-like economy with big factories they could earn for lives as contract workers, not much, even pretty little but sure. This has become a big dream for many Ukrainians, especially elder ones.
Yanukovytch with his pro-Moscow, usually seen as pro-socialist tendencies just hit the nail and gained narrow electoral success, not to mention the fact that 1/3 of inhabitants of Ukraine are Russians. They don't speak Ukrainian and they have always declared hostility to the Kiev government and strong, almost 100%, support for Yanukovytch.
Therefore, pro-Western Victor Yushchenko with his free market ideology represented those, who already learned to benefit from capitalism, usually young ones, creative entrepreneurs with pro-independence and pro western views just became minority and lost elections.
Make no mistake, Ukraine is turning back to Soviet era while Russia with Ukraine inside may become a new threat for the West. (I hope not)
I have to say though, Tymoshenko is gorgeous...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.