Saturday, October 21, 2006

our ukraine in opposition

is our ukraine attempting a pathetic takeover of the opposition from BJuT? are they still that arrogant and intent on being counterproductive/mucking things up? realizing how almost hopeless the situation of their party has become, are their egos driving them toward an attempted takeover of the opposition as a last-ditch effort to save their own asses?

i sure hope not.

but i fear that a future shevchenko may just have to write about yushchenko and our ukraine similar lines as those about ol' khmel' (a cousin of mine and i refer to that section of the poem as "khmelnytskyj pizdetskyj!" meaning to convery something kind of like, "goddamn it, bohdan!"). . .

roman bezsmertnyj said:
Regarding our proposals in today's situation, we call on opposition forces in parliament and outside parliament to form a European Ukraine [opposition alliance] as a confederation, to work out an action plan that would be aimed at creating an alternative to the actions of the anticrisis coalition and the current government.
rfe's jan maksymiuk comments:
However, judging by Bezsmertnyy's announcement on October 17, Our Ukraine is set to reformat the configuration of opposition groups in Ukraine according to its own taste rather than join the Tymoshenko-led group.
rfe article here.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Stefan,

I find your analysis intriguing and your arguments compelling. I would much have rather seen Ukraine follow the path of Venezuela, but we should have known better. Looking back, it is obvious that in my desire for real change in Ukraine, I chose to ignore what I did not want to hear. I should have known that a neo-liberal like Yushchenko would sell of what ever government companies Ukraine had rather than try to make them competative. Instead, I focused on his promises to ensure free higher education and health care. Of course, virtually no efforts have been made to realize these promises. I find Ukrainian news websites, of which "Ukrayinska Pravda" is the most popular, to have no substance. They constantly discuss political games without ever addressing any real economic issues that face Ukraine. During the election I submitted a question asking Moroz about his plans for reforming health care in Ukraine. That question was never posted, but at least three questions addressing his ideas about Tymoshenko's wardrobe were. I find it disgusting. I think that Ukraine needs a real leftist movement that can rebuild Ukraine and give its citizens the basic human rights of health and education they require. Unfortunately, it would be a challenge for such a movement to find support in Ukraine right now. However, with the disillusionment in politics that currently pervades Ukraine, anything is possible. What do you think about this possibility, and do you think Tymoshenko is sufficiently revolutionary (in the leftist sense) to accomplish this. Even though I have been a longtime supporter of her, with a sober head I must unfortunately say no.

Thanks for the amazing posts

-yosyf