Looks like the Bush backed Ukraine president has got himself quite a dictatorship going on

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http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18861634/

Ukraine president seizes control of troops

Ukraine's president, Viktor Yushchenko, on Friday seized control over the National Guard escalating political confrontation with a hostile governing coalition that accused him of conducting a coup d'état.

In a presidential decree signed on Friday, Mr Yushchenko stripped control over the National Guard away from the Interior Ministry, which is loyal to the governing coalition of Viktor Yanukovich, the prime minister.

The president has repeatedly denied accusations from the coalition of Mr Yanukovich that he is plotting presidential rule. While the president has not yet declared an emergency situation, his decision to take over the National Guard signals that his administration is ready to give up on months of fruitless compromise talks with the government.

Seizing physical control over the country's state institutions would allow them to enforce early parliamentary elections, which have been stonewalled by Mr Yanukovich's coalition.

The spat between Ukraine's rivalling leaders has plunged Ukraine into its worst political crisis since both leaders clashed over the presidency sparking the Orange Revolution of 2004. Allies of the pro-western president have accused Mr Yanukovich, viewed by many as pro-Russian, of derailing the country's efforts to integrate with the west, including attempts to join the World Trade Organisation.

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1. Guess he figures if * is gonna try it, he might as well also. n/t