Thousands protest president in Ukraine

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Houston Chronicle/Associated Press

April 3, 2007, 4:23PM
Thousands protest president in Ukraine


By MARA D. BELLABY Associated Press Writer
© 2007 The Associated Press


KIEV, Ukraine — Thousands of flag-waving supporters of Ukraine's prime minister set up a camp near the
parliament building Tuesday to protest a decision by the pro-Western president to dissolve the legislative body and call for early elections.

The two leaders, whose rivalry dates to the 2004 Orange Revolution that swept President Viktor Yushchenko to power, met in Yushchenko's office for a four-hour talk to try to resolve the standoff — the most serious political crisis in Ukraine in years.

At their start, Yushchenko adopted a lecturing tone, reminding Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych that "according to the constitution, a presidential order must be fulfilled." Yanukovych sat opposite the president at a small oval table, looking glum. The meeting ended without a statement to the media.

Yushchenko stood by his order Monday dissolving Ukraine's parliament and calling for elections, and appealed for support from foreign ambassadors, law enforcement officials and governors as hundreds of his supporters set up their own tents on Independence Square.


Read more: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/world/4685146.html

[Dr.Phool]

1. Isn't Yuschenko married to a Heritage Foundation fellow?

[Judi Lynn]

3. I read she worked for the Elder Bush administration at one time.

Hope someone else might have more info.

I'll check later tonight, when I get a few minutes.

[Igel]

5. The great Wiki seems to be ok on this matter.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kateryna_Yushchenko-Chumachenko

Involved in the Reagan and Bush I administrations, but also apparently worked for a Congressional something-or-other while the Dems were in control.

If that's not acceptable, there's her own page:

http://www.yuschenko.com.ua/eng/Private/Family/2822/

I think I like her. And, regardless of quibbles about her, I prefer Yushchenko to Yanukovych. If what I recall about his and Timoshenko's falling out, it makes me prefer him even more. (Even during the 'revolution' itself, Timoshenko wrankled. Tymoshenko? Pfeh. Ukrainian.)

[Judi Lynn]

6. Ha. I got side-tracked looking at some information at a Dave Emery site:

(I've never looked into her background, but if any of this is actual, it is somewhat interesting, and not so surprising.)


The former Katherine Chumachenko was a key official with the UCCA (the key OUN-B front group in the U.S.) and was Deputy Director for Public Liaison in the Reagan/Bush White House. In light of the fact that Yuschenko’s entire cabinet has either resigned in protest over the corruption of his regime or been fired, one must seriously consider to what extent his association with fascist fellow-travelers like the former Ms. Chumachenko may have paved the way for unsavory elements to enter the Ukrainian government. The program also highlights the links between both the GOP and the John Birch Society milieu and the Iron Guard, the Romanian fascist group that fought alongside Hitler and the Nazis. Joseph Schmitz, the son of John Birch Society luminary Joseph G. Schmitz and the former Inspector General of the Pentagon has been named as the head of the Blackwater company—a private security outfit employing former elite special operations troops.
(snip)

. Mrs. Yuschenko’s background is more than a little interesting, and gives a possible hint to a source of corruption: the former Ms. Chumachenko was closely affiliated with a front group for the OUN-B, a Ukrainian fascist group that worked with the SS under the Third Reich and has been an integral element of the postwar Underground Reich. The OUN-B worked closely with the Gehlen spy outfit and affiliated organizations, such as the ABN (see below.) For more about the Gehlen spy outfit, see—among other programs—FTR#’s 44, 113, 180, as well as RFA#’s 1, 2, 3, 22, 36, 37, available from Spitfire. “One Ukrainian nationalist group was the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) which split into two organizations: a less militant wing, led by Andrew Melnyk and known as OUN-M, and the extremist group of Stepan Bandera, known as OUN-B. The Nazis preferred the radical nationalist OUN-B. During the German military occupation, the Ukraine witnessed terrible atrocities against Jews and other groups targeted by Nazi policies. The OUN-B organized military units that participated in these atrocities. With the collapse of the Third Reich, many Ukrainian collaborationists fled their homeland.”
(snip)

http://ftrsummary.blogspot.com/2005_10_25_ftrsummary_archive.html

[Judi Lynn]

7. Here's a quick reference to the Heritage Foundation:

Over 70 percent of Russian and Ukrainian oligarchs carry Israeli passports. Ukraine President Viktor Yuschenko's wife, Kateryna Chumachenko Yushchenko, is an American citizen and held positions in the Reagan White House that were directed against "the evil empire." She was, and remains, close to the leading neo-con war hawks of the Reagan years, including Perle, Ledeen, Douglas Feith, Paul Wolfowitz, and Ken Adelman. Georgia's President, Mikhail Saakashvili, in an anti-Putin U.S.-trained lawyer who ousted his predecessor in a U.S.-financed and supported coup backed by oil companies like Halliburton and Exxon Mobil. In addition to the offices of AEI, AIPAC, Hudson, WINEP, and Heritage, in addition to the Pentagon, the embassies of Poland, Ukraine, and Georgia in Washington have become virtual neo-con nesting places, working overtime to formulate all sorts of anti-Russian propaganda aimed at destabilizing Russia and toppling Putin. They are assisted in these efforts by the US Mission to the United Nations, which under arch neo-con John Bolton, has become a favorite off-site meeting place for Washington-based neo-cons right in the middle of Manhattan.
(snip)

http://www.hongpong.com/archives/2006/03/27/fear_bear_russians_provide_saddam_war_intelligence_or_it_more_dc_neo_con_percept

[Judi Lynn]

8. Reference from a right-winger:

Kathy — she is now known as Kateryna — is one of the brightest, most dedicated conservatives I have ever known. She has a MBA from the University of Chicago and is well versed in that school’s free-market economics tradition. The first time we ever met was at a Heritage Foundation event.

http://www.nationalreview.com/nrof_bartlett/bartlett200410270757.asp

[Alexander]

2. Winning is relatively easy compared to governing.

I like Yushchenko. I hope he does well, although from what I've read it doesn't sound too promising.

[BayCityProgressive]

4. Who is in the opposition?

Social Democrats? Communists?

[Odin2005]

9. The "opposition" = people who want to bend over backward to please Russia.

[TheLastMohican]

10. That's your very simple estimation.

These are people who don't want any alienation between Ukraine and Russia, and USchenko is leading Ukraine towards a break of any good relations with Russia. Maybe Katya Chumachenko has something to do with this.

Many Ukrainians ask me would it be okay with Americans, if they knew that US President's wife is a prominent governmental foreign national (in other words KGB operative)? Since Chumachenko has worked for the CIA on many occasions, people over there despise her and here mediocre husband.