[Ohio UZO News] Ukraine: WP (2); IHT; AP (2), link

[Deychak, Orest]

The Washington Post

Letter to the Editor

Misreading Russia 

15 July 2008

FINAL

A18

In his July 8 op-ed, "Finding Common Ground with Russia," Henry A.
Kissinger made two questionable points.

He asserted that the emergence of two centers of power under President
Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin may herald "an
evolution toward a form of checks and balances." But that will depend
far more on a strong civil society, with private property rights and an
independent press, judiciary, legislature and nongovernmental
organizations.

Mr. Kissinger argued that so as not to "generate emotions" in Moscow,
NATO should not "accelerate" implementation of the pledge made at its
April summit to admit Ukraine. Would this not reward Russia for bad
behavior toward its neighbors?

Although it agreed to the eventual admission of Ukraine and Georgia,
NATO declined to launch membership action plans for concrete steps. A
few weeks later Moscow sent more troops into the Georgian separatist
region of Abkhazia, shot down a Georgian drone flying over Abkhazia and
took other steps pointing toward possible annexation. The Russian
newspaper Kommersant reported that behind closed doors at the summit,
Mr. Putin questioned Ukraine's right to exist as an independent state.

Aborting NATO's careful procedures for admitting new states would
encourage dangerous miscalculations that are out of place in modern
Europe.

WILLIAM COURTNEY

KENNETH YALOWITZ

Washington

William Courtney is a former ambassador to Kazakhstan and Georgia.
Kenneth Yalowitz is a former ambassador to Belarus and Georgia.

 

The Washington Post

A War The West Must Stop

By Ronald D. Asmus
Tuesday, July 15, 2008; A19

There is war in the air between Georgia and Russia. Such a war could
destabilize a region critical for Western energy supplies and ruin
relations between Russia and the West. A conflict over Georgia could
become an issue in the U.S. presidential campaign. How they respond
could become a test of the potential commander-in-chief qualities of
Barack Obama and John McCain
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/John+McCain?tid=informl
ine> .

The issue appears to be the future of Abkhazia, a breakaway province of
Georgia and the focus of a so-called frozen conflict. The real issue,
however, is Moscow's desire to subjugate Tbilisi and thwart its
aspirations to go west. For several years, Russian policy toward
countries on its borders has been hardening. Moscow has concluded that
democratic breakthroughs in places such as Georgia and Ukraine are
threats that need to be squashed. It is using the "frozen conflicts" in
such places as Abkhazia and South Ossetia to reestablish a sphere of
influence. With a lame-duck president in Washington and Europe heading
off on vacation, Moscow may sense an opportunity to "resolve" this issue
once and for all.

This latest round of Russian aggression started after the West
recognized Kosovo's provisional independence in February and NATO
bungled the issue of offering Georgia and Ukraine a membership action
plan at its Bucharest summit in April. Moscow has since launched a
creeping annexation of Abkhazia, including a series of illegal moves to
strengthen its military hand and to provoke Tbilisi into actions that
could lead to further Russian military intervention.

Many in the West are tempted to look the other way. This crisis is,
after all, inconvenient. Georgian democracy is far from perfect, and
Tbilisi has certainly made its own mistakes. Russia has a new president
who we all hope could be more liberal and open to the West. We also need
Moscow to be aligned with the West in the United Nationson issues from
Iran to North Korea to Zimbabwe. This is an awkward time to take a tough
stance. It would be only too easy to equivocate, blame all parties a
little and call for more diplomacy.

But this approach is making war in the Caucasus more likely, not less
so.

Its warts notwithstanding, Georgia is the region's best hope for
democratic development. If the Rose Revolution fails, we will wait a
generation or more for another chance for positive change. Critical
principles, including sovereignty and territorial integrity, are at
stake. Russia is seeking to redefine the rules of post-Cold War European
security to its advantage. And as Georgia is considered America's
project, U.S. prestige is on the line. The Rose Revolution was animated
by American values. Tbilisi has pursued American-style economic reforms,
has soldiers in Iraq and wants to join NATO. The region is waiting to
see whether and when Washington will step in. If we don't try to stop
Russia's overstepping, countries in the region -- from Azerbaijan to
Central Asian energy producers -- will recalculate accordingly.

There is one way to stop this Russian power play for Georgia:
solidarity. Working with our allies in Europe, we can draw a clear line
and tell Moscow that there will be real consequences in its relations
with us if it does not stop its aggressive course. Georgia, too, needs
to act to de-escalate the tension. Yet Tbilisi cannot resolve this
crisis alone. Halting the drift toward war requires heavy lifting by the
West. In the short term, we need to prevent a conflict from starting
this summer. In the medium term, we need Moscow to reverse its creeping
-- and illegal -- annexation of Abkhazia. In the longer term, we need to
establish an authentic peace process that can resolve the conflict for
good.

Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice is finally engaged in this issue
personally. President Bush should be, too. After all, Vladimir Putin
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/Vladimir+Putin?tid=info
rmline> , with whom he prides himself on having a close relationship, is
the mastermind of this anti-Georgia campaign. If McCain and Obama issued
statements strongly supporting Georgia, Moscow would have no illusions
that its actions in the months ahead would affect U.S.-Russian relations
after January, no matter which of the two senators becomes president.

Last weekend, I attended a conference at Lavadia Palace in Yalta. In the
place where Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Winston Churchill acquiesced
in February 1945 to Joseph Stalin's desire for a sphere of influence, I
couldn't help thinking about the costs and consequences of accepting
spheres of influence today. Many suspect that Crimea could be the next
target if Moscow subjugates Georgia and then shifts its sights to
Ukraine. Whatever the failings of these countries, they deserve better
in the 21st century. They should be free to choose their own paths and
to become normal democratic societies, including joining the European
Union or NATO, if they so choose. That is why we should stand up for
Georgia today. Accepting Moscow's demand for a sphere of influence was
wrong in 1945. It would be wrong again today.

The writer is executive director of the Brussels-based Transatlantic
Center and is in charge of strategic planning at the German Marshall
Fund of the United States. The views expressed here are his own.

International Herald Tribune

 

Ukrainian premier Tymoshenko survives no-confidence vote in parliament 

By MARIA DANILOVA 

Associated Press Writer

11 July 2008

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) - Ukraine's Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko on Friday
survived a no-confidence vote in parliament, but her victory was likely
to provide only a temporary respite in this ex-Soviet republic's
political turmoil.

Although Tymoshenko remains in the premiership, her alliance with
President Viktor Yushchenko is threatening to collapse.

The opposition Party of Regions had sought to get rid of Tymoshenko over
her failure to stem inflation, which has reached 30 percent, and other
economic problems. Tymoshenko claims inflation has already started to
slow. She has also accused the president's office of blocking her
anti-inflation measures.

Tymoshenko and Yushchenko were the two main figures of the 2004 Orange
Revolution protests, which forced the overturning of a fraudulent
presidential election. But since then their relations have been tense.

Tymoshenko briefly served as Yushchenko's premier in 2005 until the two
fell out, then regained her post in December. The two leaders put
together a coalition government and pledged to put their differences
aside in order to fulfill their promises of prosperity and quick
integration with the European Union.

But the two are seen as likely opponents in the 2010 presidential race
and they have sought to undermine each other and block each other's
work.

"It just gets them through the summer, that's all," said Geoffrey Smith,
strategist at the Renaissance Capital investment bank in Kiev. "The
coalition is effectively dead in any case."

The 450-seat Verkhovna Rada voted 174-32 to dismiss Tymoshenko, far
short of the 226 votes needed to throw her out.

Analysts predict the coalition will not last beyond this fall, saying
the president will either call early parliamentary elections or
Yushchenko's party may join forces with the opposition.

The Party of Regions is led by Viktor Yanukovych, who was credited with
the most votes in the 2004 election, sparking the massive weeks-long
protests. The party resists Yushchenko's and Tymoshenko's drive for
integration with the West.

Associated Press

Ukraine to investigate whether devastating 1932-33 Soviet-era famine was
genocide 

10 July 2008

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) - Ukraine plans to open a formal investigation into a
Soviet-era famine that killed millions of people to see if it can prove
the famine was an act of genocide.

The 1932-33 famine was engineered by Soviet dictator Josef Stalin to
force peasants to give up their private plots of land and join
collective farms.

Ukraine, which has rich farmland, suffered the most of all Soviet
regions and President Viktor Yushchenko has led efforts to win
international recognition of the tragedy as an act of genocide against
the Ukrainian nation.

In 2006, the Ukrainian parliament declared the famine a genocide.
Vladislav Verstyuk, deputy head of the government's Ukrainian Institute
of National Remembrance, said Thursday that prosecutors and the state
security service will now seek to prove that in court.

Historians are divided on whether "death by hunger" -- or "Holodomor" as
it is known here -- was an act of genocide.

Some are convinced the famine targeted Ukrainians as an ethnic group.
Others argue authorities set out to eradicate private landowners as a
social class and say the Soviet Union sought to pay for its rapid
industrialization with grain exports at the expense of starving
millions.

The probe is likely to anger neighboring Russia, which insists the
famine was not genocide because Russians and other ethnic groups also
suffered.

Verstyuk said the investigation is not aimed at extracting compensation
from Russia, the Soviet Union's legal successor.

"What matters for us is to condemn Stalin's regime and those who
surrounded him," Verstyuk said.

Estimates of the number of people who perished differ wildly. Yushchenko
estimates up to 10 million Ukrainians died, while Stanislav Kulchitsky,
a Ukrainian historian, believes 3.5 million perished

Associated Press

Ukraine grapples with alarming rise in hate crimes as it pursues EU
dreams 

By MARIA DANILOVA and OLGA BONDARUK 

Associated Press Writers

10 July 2008

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) - Nigerian medical student George Itoro Ebong was
waiting for a bus in central Kiev when three young men ran up and
shouted, "Go back to Africa, you're a monkey!" They smashed a bottle
over his head and ran away, leaving him dripping with blood.

Such hate crimes are shooting up at an alarming rate in this country
that is trying to hone its reputation as a bastion of democracy in the
ex-Soviet bloc as it pursues its ambition of joining the European Union
and NATO.

Neighboring Russia has been struggling with a much bigger problem with
racist attacks, but foreigners in Ukraine have been stunned by the
sudden and ferocious spike in violence here.

Ebong has led a secluded life since last year's attack, feeling safe
only in his dorm or in the lecture hall. Going to a movie theater is too
dangerous, he said, so he fills his free time assisting the local
Nigerian community and carrying out advocacy work.

The 28-year-old says he can only venture out to a cafe or bar during the
day and with three of four friends accompanying him.

"I don't go anywhere," says Ebong, who came here in hopes of a vibrant
student life in a European country. "It is safe in the university and
the dormitory, but on the street it is not safe, on the metro, even on
the bus it is not safe."

In a report released Thursday, London-based Amnesty International warns
of an "alarming rise" in racist attacks in this ex-Soviet republic of 46
million in recent years.

The group says more than 60 people were targeted in racist violence last
year, and six of them died. More than 30 people suffered in racist
attacks since the beginning of this year, and at least four were killed.
The group did not give data for earlier years, but the United Nations'
International Organization for Migration said there were 12 racist
attacks in 2006, three of them fatal, and only five attacks in 2005.

Much of the violence has been blamed on ultrarightist groups like the
Ukrainian National Labor Party, whose leader Evhen Herasymenko has
called for purging the nation of "sludge."

Attacking dark-skinned foreigners, Herasymenko told The Associated
Press, is like "the immune system -- the reaction of a healthy body to
the infection that got into it."

Any non-Slavic looking person can be a target: from engineering students
at elite universities, to jeans vendors at outdoor markets, to
professional athletes and diplomats.

A black American diplomat, not assigned to Ukraine, was attacked in Kiev
in 2005 by a group of men in an apparent hate crime and suffered light
injuries.

The U.S State Department now warns prospective travelers to Ukraine of
"increasing incidents of racially motivated violence" on its Web site.

Foreign students are perhaps the most vulnerable to attacks. Despite the
dangers, they keep coming to Ukraine, lured by the solid Soviet-style
education and relatively cheap tuition fees.

Since 2002, the number of foreign students has doubled to nearly 40,000.
Most come from China, Russia, Syria, India, Iran and Malaysia, according
to the Education Ministry.

Rights advocates are puzzled by the rise in hate crimes but they say
government inaction is partly to blame.

"These things happen when governments let them happen," said Heather
McGill, a researcher at Amnesty International, who co-authored the
report.

The report criticizes the government for failing to thoroughly
investigate hate crimes and punish perpetrators. The group says
Ukrainian law enforcers fail to classify such attacks as racially
motivated crimes and instead often write them off as hooliganism, which
is easier to prove in court and usually carries a lighter sentence.

Rights groups also say the government aggravates the problem by denying
that racism is growing and only acknowledging isolated incidents. Even
public officials sometimes make controversial or offensive statements.

This week, Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko stressed the importance of
fighting illegal migration in the western city of Lviv, saying: "I don't
want Lviv to turn into a Chinatown."

"Government spokespeople have demonstrated a bewildering lack of
understanding about the nature of racial discrimination and the gravity
of the problem in Ukraine," the Amnesty International report said.

Ethnic minorities also regularly accuse police officials of targeting
them for document checks on the streets, trying to extort money from
them or generally treating them disrespectfully.

Ukrainian hate groups are believed to be inspired by their counterparts
in Russia, where minorities are assaulted almost every day. Russian
skinheads help the local groups, sharing tips and video clips on how to
attack and torture their victims and how to safely leave the crime
scene, rights groups say.

Police say some 500 skinheads operate in Kiev alone. Another 1,000
members of hate groups are estimated to be active elsewhere in the
country, according to the International Organization for Migration.

Ahmet, 25, an aviation student at a top mathematics institute in Kiev
who came here from Turkey, has not suffered physical attacks but is
subject to daily insults on the street.

"They start to spit the moment they see you," said Ahmet, who refused to
give his last name or even be photographed for fear of being tracked
down and attacked.

Henry Asimote, 40, is still recovering from multiple knife wounds to the
stomach he suffered in March when two men assaulted him on a trolley bus
in Kiev.

Asimote, who came here from Nigeria eight years ago, said he may be
forced to quit his job selling sports clothes at an outdoor market and
take his Ukrainian wife and 2-year-old daughter back to Nigeria.

"We came to this country, these were good people, but it is becoming too
dangerous for me and my family," he said.

Amnesty International report on Ukraine:
http://www.amnesty.org/en/for-media/press-releases/ukraine-racial-discri
mination-rise-20080710

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