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Interesting times in Ukraine.

I hear the pro-western presidential candidate has survived one assasination attempt and a seperate poisoning attempt.
He had to be taken to Austria where doctors determined it was poison. Ukrainian doctors were clue-less.

FWIW,

Gman

... in response to Ukraine elections, posted by Gman on Sep 24, 2004

Wow Gman! It looks like you took the advice of your fellow boardsmen and learned to use spellcheck/grammarcheck so as to come across as someone post-illiterate. You are to be commended for taking the time. We see you in a whole new light now! Thanks for understanding our feelings.

... in response to Re: Ukraine elections, posted by rojak on Sep 25, 2004

Please don't confuse Gman with Gmen99.
I am the original.

regards,

Gman

... in response to Ukraine elections, posted by Gman on Sep 24, 2004

I watched a parlimentary session on TV the other day in which Yushinka (the pro-West candidate) talked about his poisoning attempt. The Rada (the Ukrainain congress) voted to investigate the incident. We'll see.

I think Yushinka will be good for Ukraine, although to be fair, most of what I know about him comes from the Kyiv Post (the English-language paper here). But there is a serious attempt to silence him here. Visrtually none of his rallies are covered, and he is given little airtime. Also, the (in)famous rumour mill is hard at work here. Yushinka is a supposedly a rabid nationalist who wants to kick all non-Slavs out of the country AND a spy for the CIA who wants to hand Ukraine over to Western influence and control (you've got to love the Ukrainian ability to hold two contaradictory positions simultaneously!). The rumour-du-jour is now that he will start a civil war in Crimea by kicking out the Tartars.

I have read reports (not from the Sate media, of course) that local government officials have threatened to be fired if elections in their regions don't go the right way (that is if Yushinka is elected) and that factory workers have also been threatned tobe fired if they don't vote the right way. I have even heard that there is pressure within the university system to convince students to not vote for Yushinka. While I have never heard this actually said, virtually every faculty member and student I have talked to is very anti-Yushinka. One colleague accused him of being "mafia," and when I asked which candidate wasn't part of the mafia, she said "oh, he's the American mafia"

Fageddaboudit.......

... in response to Re: Ukraine elections, posted by TimInUkraine on Sep 25, 2004

According to Babushka, it looks like there's going to be some ugliness, regardless of who wins.  It looks like the west and south favor one candidate and the north and east favor the other.  People are supposedly out digging field fortifications in preparation for the election.  While the chances are slight, there could possibly be some insurrections after the election vote is finally tallied.

One of the candidates (the one with the American wife) is something like a finance minister.  He's been giving everyone pay raises, from students, to retirees to goverment workers, to entice them to vote for him.  When Marina told me this, I just shook my head and told her that it would just raise prices higher on everything.  Sure enough, prices rose higher, even higher than what people gained from their "raises".  Marina thought I was a genius to predict it, but simple economics dictated it would happen.  Surprisingly, it hasn't devalued the hryna yet, but I would expect it to drop against the dollar if these "raises" continue.

Neither candidate is worth much to vote for.  One is supposedly deeply connected to the mafia.  The other has been in prison twice (once for rape, once for theft).  Nobody really wants to vote for either candidate.  They're just trying to decide the lesser of two evils.  Given our own current presidential slate, I can pretty much sympathize with them...

... in response to Re: Ukraine elections, posted by TimInUkraine on Sep 25, 2004

I spoke to my friend in the Ukraine about this.  She is hearing and reading that Yushinka poisoned himself by eating sushi and beer or something along those lines.  Amazing! She says he is known as the "American Brother in Law" because he supposedly has an American sister in law and will cozy up to the U.S. and send troops to Iraq.  Although I complain about the New York Post and Fox News and my conservative brethren complain about the liberal media, when I hear these things I remember how lucky we are the US government usually keeps its hands off the press.  This is not exclusive to the U.S., I just don't have the experience to make claims for other countries.  

I also made the dumb mistake of making a mildly critical statement about Putin; to the effect that the U.S. press is claiming he is using the terrorist attack to consolidate power.  I was promptly slapped to the ground (via e-mail) and lectured as to how little I know about the Russian people.  I should have known better. Dumb, dumb, dumb.  Oh well, more money to the Ukrainian florest industry.  My contribution to world trade.

Craig

... in response to Re: Ukraine elections, posted by TimInUkraine on Sep 25, 2004

stay with the devil one knows than to go with the devil unknown.

... in response to Ukraine elections, posted by Gman on Sep 24, 2004

The Ukrainians are pretty much resigned to the hand picked replacement of Kuchma.

My wife's uncles always call me Presidente Allen before they begin the Kuchma jokes.  It really is so very sad that the soviets raped eastern europe for so long and the raping continues under a different facade.