Attack on reporter restores passion to Ukraine demonstrations

[Valin]

Reuters:

Jack Stubbs

KIEV Thu Dec 26, 2013

 

(Reuters) - Protesters demanded Ukraine's interior minister resign on Thursday after an opposition journalist known for documenting the extravagance of the country's political elite was chased down in her car and savagely beaten in a midnight attack.

 

Clutching pictures of Tetyana Chornovil's badly bruised face, hundreds marched on the Interior Ministry in the capital, Kiev.

 

The attack on the 34-year-old restored passion to protests which have been losing steam more than a month after the government spurned a pact on closer ties with the European Union, turning instead to former Soviet master Moscow.

[Valin]

BBC: Fresh Ukraine protests draw thousands onto Kiev streets

29 December 2013 Last updated at 10:56 ET

 

Tens of thousands of Ukrainians have gathered again in Kiev in a fresh show of force by the month-old anti-government protest movement.

Many demonstrators also marched on President Viktor Yanukovych's official residence outside the capital.

 

They have been re-energised by a brutal attack on a prominent journalist, Tetyana Chornovol, on Christmas Day.

She had accused Mr Yanukovych of corruption over his financing of the Mezhygirya residence in an expose.

Mr Yanukovych denies any allegation of corruption and has called for an investigation into the attack on Ms Chornovol.

 

"We plan to come out here until the day the authorities make changes to the constitution and limit the powers of the president," Kiev pensioner Tetyana Kornienko told AFP news agency, amid a sea of Ukrainian flags fluttering across Independence Square.

 

(Snip)

[Valin]

Former Ukrainian Minister Hospitalized In Clash With Police

1/111/4

 

Former Ukrainian Interior Minister and current opposition leader Yuriy Lutsenko has been hospitalized in intensive care after being injured in a clash with riot police.

 

Lutsenko's wife and his Third Ukrainian Republic organization said Lutsenko had suffered a concussion after being struck in the head early on January 11.

 

Photographs showed Lutsenko, 49, with his head bandaged and a patch over his right eye.

 

(Snip)

[Valin]

Ukraine pro-Europe protesters hold first big rally of 2014

Pavel Polityuk and Natalia Zinets

KIEV Sun Jan 12, 2014

 

(Reuters) - At least 50,000 opponents of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich rallied in a central Kiev square on Sunday, reviving an anti-government protest movement after a Christmas and New Year lull.

The mass rally in Independence Square was a continuation of street protests that erupted in November after Yanukovich decided to abandon a free trade agreement with the European Union in favor of closer cooperation with Russia.

 

The demonstration came a day after baton-wielding riot police tried to disperse protesters outside a Kiev courthouse, sparking clashes in which at least 10 people were injured.

"What are the next steps? We will fight, ... protest peacefully," Vitaly Klitschko, an opposition leader and former world heavyweight boxing champion, told a crowd waving the blue-and-yellow national flags of Ukraine.

 

 

(Snip)

[Valin]

The Exhaust Fumes of Stalinism

The Ukrainian government threatens the Greek Catholic Church.

George Weigel

1/14/14

 

The religious dimension of the EuroMaidan protests in Ukraine these past two months has gone largely unremarked. Yet in Kiev and elsewhere, the day’s activities at these oases of civil society are punctuated with prayers offered by clergymen of a variety of Christian communities: Orthodox, Greek Catholic, Protestant. That fact in itself says something about the nascent civic community that is being born in Ukraine today. Ecumenical fellow-feeling and cooperation have not been a prominent feature of Ukrainian religious life in the past. Yet now, with the future of the nation (and no small part of the future of Europe) being contested amids snowstorms, tent cities, flying universities, and police brutality, Ukrainian Christians have discovered a common cause: the moral and cultural renewal of Ukraine, which the brave men and women of the various EuroMaidans understand is essential to free politics and free economics in the future.

(Snip)

[Valin]

Ukraine parliament pushes through sweeping anti-protest law

1/16/14

 

(Reuters) - Supporters of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich rammed a sweeping law through parliament on Thursday in an attempt to curb anti-government protests, sparking an outcry from the opposition and raising tensions on the streets.

 

The law, backed by 235 of 450 lawmakers, said unauthorized installation of tents, stages or amplifiers in public places in Ukraine would be punished by a fine of up to $640 or by up to 15 days in detention.

 

People and organizations who provided facilities or equipment for unauthorized meetings would be liable to a fine of up $1,275 or by detention of up to 10 days.

 

(Snip)

[Valin]

Ukraine: The New Dictatorship

Timothy Snyder

1/17/14

 

On paper, Ukraine is now a dictatorship. President Viktor Yanukovych, in having the deputies of his Party of Regions endorse an extraordinary packet of legislation, has arrogated decisive political power to himself. After hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians spent weeks in the cold demonstrating for basic human rights and a stronger association with Europe, the president has responded with a violation of human rights and a rather sad imitation of Russia.

 

In procedure and in content the laws passed by the Ukrainian parliament this week contravene the most basic rights of modern constitutional democracies: to speech, assembly, and representation. Although they concern the most basic aspects of political life, and transform the constitutional structure of the Ukrainian state, these measures were not subjected to even the barest of parliamentary procedures. There were no public hearings, there was no debate in parliament, and there was no actual vote. There was a show of hands in parliament and an estimate of how many hands were raised. The standard electronic voting system, which creates an official record, was not used.

 

The deputiesthose who apparently raised their handshave all but voted themselves out of existence. If the deputies from Yanukovychs Party of Regions read the legislation, which according to Ukrainian reports they did not, they would realize that their own positions are now under threat. Their parliamentary immunity is now no longer guaranteed, which means that if they vote the wrong way they can be stripped of immunity and prosecuted. Yanukovychs main political rival, Julia Tymoshenko, is in prison. Her defense lawyer has already been stripped of his parliamentary mandate.

 

(Snip)

 

 

 

 

H/T NRO/The Corner

[Valin]

Outlook for Ukraine is pretty bleak, no matter who prevails
You need to understand Ukrainian history to understand Euromaidan and the turmoil in Ukraine.
edgeofthesandbox
Saturday, January 18, 2014

 

Watching the coverage of Ukrainian protests last months, I found most Western media outlets a bit too eager: Yay! Protest! People on the streets!

 

The Russian state media has its own agenda, of which, I think, most readers of this blog are aware.

 

Some Americans writing for Kyiv Post have a tendency to whitewash the ugliest sides of Ukrainian nationalism.

 

I’ve seen some curious ideas on wiki, too: that Nazi collaborationist Stepan Bandera “fought for Ukrainian independence from Soviet Russia and Nazi occupation during World War II, and against all perceived enemies of a free Ukrainian state.” or that prosecuting Ukrainian WW2 criminals is an example of anti-Ukrainian sentiment (I believe this one is from Pat Buchannan’s playbook). The bit about Bandera “fighting” reverberates through Western media.

 

I am an American citizen and a Jew, a native of Kharkov, a Russian-speaking city in what was, when I was growing up, the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. I often get questions about Ukraine. My short answer is, no matter who prevails, the outlook for Ukraine is pretty bleak.

 

The long answer is that Ukrainian history is both fascinating and disturbing. Take the Cossacks, for instance. They were semi-nomadic dwellers of Poland’s Eastern Borderland known for military prowess and probably runaway slaves. They were Eastern Orthodox, had a republican form of government with an administrative center in Zaporozhian Sich.

 

 

 

(Snip)