Відповіді

• 2004.04.01 | peter byrne

  It was a bright cold day in April

  It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen....
  
  “Don’t teach apples how to make more little apples. Keeping pigs from eating them is a more important task.”
  
  That’s the folksy aphorism Viktor Yushchenko delivered on March 31, 2004, a date that will live in infamy.
  
  Annette Laborey, accompanied by billionaire investor and philanthropist George Soros, got involved in ethnic connections in Crimea, protest camps were struck in Kyiv, the IMF gave Kuchma $605 million and Medvedchuk hovered in the wings. The son-in-law, meanwhile, mumbled something about Rule of Law and talked about creating “legal clinics” in towns and villages across the country.
  
  Oh, and the egging. Yes, this was also interesting, especially in light of what the longest serving former Russian Federation prime minister said about “The West” interfering in Ukraine’s internal affairs. “The Americans are crawling all over the place.” “Soros always turns up when the meat is burning.”
  
  This kind of crap is nothing new. It was a regular feature of Belarus’ gradual degradation into what Hanah Arendt defined as a dictatorship. Political reform there also featured a parliamentary coup, referendum, media monopolization, a 2-year anti-Soros campaign, dead journalists, missing politicians, etc. The story of what happened, and Chernomyrdin’s role in it, you can find here: http://www.s95451559.onlinehome.us/minsk.htm
  
  What’s interesting now is how the big shots are now kicking the Ukrainian football around. The U.S. (Armitage), the EU (Patten/Solana/Prodi), Russia (Chernomyrdin), and, well, err, now Soros.
  
  To be on the safe side, we should be open and admit at the outset that what they are all doing really IS interference in the nation’s internal affairs, at least to the extent that I am by writing this. .
  
  Now, if we draw Pinchuk into the picture, and, um, add a dash of Lauder, is it any clearer?
  
  Of course not, but the question of whether Ukraine is framed by Prodi or hung it in Bush's closet is immaterial.
  
  What’s left after 13 years of independence in Ukraine is a flag, football field and a bad reputation.
  
  Reasonable minds may differ, but the scorecard for how well the U.S., Europe, Soros, IRF and Russia contributed to the mess is nothing to brag about.
  
  Billions of assistance dollars later, there’s no taxation with representation, free speech or human rights.
  
  Ukraine’s intelligentsia, afflicted with mental dystrophy, was, is and for a long time will probably not be up to arduous task of inspiring ordinary citizens to chuck out the bandits who run the country.
  
  Kyiv today reminds me of Minsk in early 1996, Belgrade in the summer of 1997, Bratislava in 1998 - and of South Korea on BBC.
  
  Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows. If there is hope, it lies in the proles.