“Let’em fight it out in Kiev”
From an e-mail to me ….
My relatives in Ukraine are absolutely sick of politics and have the attitude of “let’em fight it out in Kiev as long as it doesn’t affect us”.
My whole take would be rather pro-Russian, so I am very much opposed to Yuschenko and/or Timoshenko. But I don’t believe Yanukovich is pro-Russian, he is merely Kuchma #2. The whole “West vs. Russia” framework got forced on Ukrainian events by western media, which allowed the minority of Ukrainian nationalists to hijack the legitimate protest of the majority against Kuchma’s corruption (and Yanukovich was believed to be a Kuchma follower, with more of the same) and turn it into another attempt to tear Ukraine away from the Russian influence.
That is the basic reason for the ultimate failure of the “Orange revolution”. Once normal Ukrainians realized that they are being led down the nationalist path as part of the package, the support for the orangists collapsed and Yanukovich’s party easily won parliamentary elections.
But that doesn’t remove from Yanukovich the stigma of Kuchma’s corruption or his own questionable character.
It must be pointed out that the oligarchs from the Yanukovich camp are probably the paragon of honesty compared to the greedy and unprincipled sons of bitches in the Timoshenko camp. Mostly because the former have already looted enough, and the latter are just getting started.
I am of two minds about the events. On the one hand, Kuchma #2 would’ve been better for the country economically. On the other, the defeat that the East and South of Ukrainian suffered from the nationalist orangists served as a wakeup call to a large degree.
Eastern Ukrainians are basically coming to a realization that they’ve been raped by the nationalist West ever since independence. While being the industrialized part of the country and providing most of the national GDP, thus subsidizing the economically backward West, in exchange they are undergoing forced Ukrainization and are being fed chauvinist fairy tales designed to develop a national inferiority and permanent victimhood complex, just like that in Poland.
So the East is giving up on the central government and is taken things in its own hands, most especially by instituting Russian as an official language at the regional level, in defiance of threats from Kiev. I think it’s all for the better in the long term.
As for current events, it’s nothing but a desperate gamble of Yuschenko to save the power that was slipping away from his grasp. He has failed already. If Yanukovich doesn’t win in the standoff, Timoshenko will. Yuschenko has practically no supporters of his own left.
Poland and Ukraine to co-host Euro 2012
Poland and Ukraine will co-host the 2012 European Championship.
UEFA overlooked the favorite Italy and a joint bid from Croatia and Hungary on Wednesday to award the continental championships to the former eastern bloc for the first time since Yugoslavia in 1976.
UEFA president Michel Platini announced the winner at Cardiff City Hall after a private meeting of 12 members of the executive committee.
“It will be a milestone in the common history of two Slavic nations,” Poland soccer federation president Michal Listkiewicz said.
Poland and Ukraine won the right to host the tournament in the first round of balloting, collecting eight votes to Italy’s four. The Croatia-Hungary bid failed to win a single vote.
“Within five years we will build a new country and we won’t have a better opportunity to do so,” Ukraine soccer federation president Hrihoriy Surkis said.
Chelsea’s Ukrainian striker, Andriy Shevchenko, and Liverpool’s Polish goalkeeper, Jerzy Dudek, supported the bid at a presentation from the two former Communist countries.
Ukraine’s ex-world heavyweight boxing champion, Vitali Klitschko, and its former Olympic pole vault champion, Sergei Bubka, were in Cardiff for the vote, along with Ukraine President Victor Yushchenko.
“I’m happy they trusted us,” Bubka said. “I don’t see any problems, everything will be done in time. We need this and this decision will accelerate the development of infrastructure in our countries.”
Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Kyiv and Lviv in Ukraine and Gdansk, Krakow, Poznan, Warsaw, Wroclaw and Chorzow in Poland have been lined up as host cities for Euro 2012.
“It is a wonderful opportunity for Ukrainians and Poles to give soccer fans from around the world an extraordinary sporting event,” said Yushchenko, who assisted with the final presentation Tuesday.
The bid by Poland and Ukraine had to overcome some problems.
Poland’s national team just avoided suspension after FIFA said the federation had done little to stop corruption, and a match-fixing scandal in the domestic leagues led to about 70 people being arrested.
While Yushchenko swept to power in a 2005 revolution that was also considered a negative factor.
But concerns still remain about the shortage of high-quality hotels and poor transport infrastructure in both Poland and Ukraine.
Italy, which has hosted two European Championships and two World Cups, also had its campaign tainted by a series of off-field problems.
A widescale match-fixing scandal in Serie A last year was followed by the death of policeman when soccer fans rioted in Catania. Earlier this month, accusations of brutality were leveled at Rome police after clashes with Manchester United fans at a Champions League match against AS Roma.
“The scandal was an embarrassment for world soccer,” Italian delegation member Luigi Riva said.
But Italy sports minister Giovanna Melandri insisted these problems didn’t cost her country the vote.
“It’s a decision to enlarge the European football family,” Melandri said
