Ukrainian President Goes on Sick Leave

[Capt. Obvious]

Source: New York Times

Viktor F. Yanukovych, the president of Ukraine, went on sick leave on Thursday, leaving negotiated efforts to resolve the country’s political crisis uncompleted.

A statement on the president’s website said Mr. Yanukovych is taking time off because of a respiratory illness and fever, and offered no indication of how long he was expected to be absent. The statement cited a deputy director of the presidential administration responsible for medical affairs.

Mr. Yanukovych has faced pressure from Russia to take a harder line with protesters opposing his government rather than continue negotiations that could cede power to pro-Western members of the opposition.

Mr. Yanukovych went on sick leave before signing into law the repeal of harsh new rules against freedom of assembly and freedom of speech that was passed in Parliament with support from the pro-government party on Tuesday in a significant concession to the opposition but means little unless it is signed.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/31/world/europe/ukraine-unrest.html?_r=0

[pampango]

1. "Mr. Yanukovych has faced pressure from Russia to take a harder line with protesters opposing his

govenrnment ..."

That cannot be true. Putin himself has warned that foreign countries should not interfere in the politics of Ukraine. I believe that Russia is a 'foreign country' when it comes to Ukrainian politics.

Russian President Vladimir Putin warned foreign nations against interfering in the politics of ex-Soviet states.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/01/28/ukrainian-president-yanukovych-calls-biden-on-dramatic-day-in-ukraine/

[Capt. Obvious]

2. Read a good piece that explains the division in Ukraine re: Russia vs Europe

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/01/140129-protests-ukraine-russia-geography-history/

[pampango]

4. I knew about the East-West differences in Ukraine, but this is a good article.

In the early 1930s, to force peasants into joining collective farms, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin orchestrated a famine that resulted in the starvation and death of millions of Ukrainians. Afterward, Stalin imported large numbers of Russians and other Soviet citizens—many with no ability to speak Ukrainian and with few ties to the region—to help repopulate the east.

This, says former Ambassador to Ukraine Steven Pifer, is just one of the historic reasons that helps explain why "the sense of Ukrainian nationalism is not as deep in the east as it is in west."

With the protests spreading east, says Pifer, the protest "has metamorphosized into much more. This started out to be about Europe, but it's also turning into protests over democracy and the end of corruption." There also appear to be political divisions based on demographics, between younger and older generations, not just geography and a turbulent history.

Whether what is happening today will become a trend or is a short-term change to earlier divisions is unclear, says Harvard's Plokhii. "But the old lines are not applicable to the degree they were even just one month ago."

I have a friend who immigrated here a few years ago from Moldova. Actually she is from a part of Moldova called Transnistria and always says that she is Russian. (When I first met her, I was confused when she said she was from Moldova but not really and considered herself to be Russian anyway.)

The population of Transnistria is predominately ethnic Russians who did not want to be part of the new Moldova after the breakup of the USSR. Transnistria seceded from Moldova in 1992. Although it is not internationally recognized it epitomizes for me the issue of large numbers of ethnic Russians who live in parts of the former USSR and still have an affinity for Russia rather than the country they live in.

[freshwest]

12. Capt. Obvious, thanks for this link. I have Russiam friends. This comment:

Tom Mengel

This seems to illustrate a common problem in both the EU and Russia and their minions (as well as here in the US where we try to peddle our "democratic way" to the world).  The thought that a "modern" progressive political system can somehow just come in and magically change a generational culture overnight is naive at best and quite often results in bloodshed and destruction of any residual culture with no set alternatives in place (think Syria).  The usual chain of events is a race downward to a small scale strong-man criminal style system of rule (often misnamed as some kind of political faction) unless some outside power is willing to step in and hold the existing rulers to some higher level of function.  

To be successful this must continue for a long time until the over all population somehow get a higher level government together but it almost always causes resentment to the "occupying forces", a lesson we Americans should probably really take to heart after spending trillions of dollars attempt to implement "democratic reform" style of haphazard control in two Mideast countries without success.  

The big questions for the Ukraine right now is who will stabilize the economy and offer a framework to resolve the differences in favor of the people (I myself would not bet on Russia on this one, and I think the average Ukrainian would probably agree).  It will be interesting to see how this plays out, especially between Russia and the EU and what is will do with that relationship outside of the Ukrainian crisis for a long time to come.

The article has a lot more depth than the swill our media is feeding us daily.

[jakeXT]

5. I bet he includes Russia into the group of ex-Soviet states

Russia's President Vladimir Putin has described the collapse of the Soviet Union as "the greatest geopolitical catastrophe" of the 20th century.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/4480745.stm

[pampango]

6. I am sure he does and I bet he does not want foreign countries interfering in his 'ex-Soviet state'.

That would include him not wanting Ukraine or other ex-Soviet states (Poland, Hungary, etc.) interfering in his ex-Soviet state. Too bad he does not see the irony of his efforts to influence politics in the Ukrainian ex-Soviet state.

[jakeXT]

7. If others influence it, he can't be just sitting on his hands /nt

[pampango]

8. Which is exactly what the "others" say about Putin - whose reputation is not a "hand sitter".

Whether you agree with him or not he is known as someone who projects his power and that of his country whenever he can.

I think Putin has been pretty up-front about not wanting Ukraine to drift out of Russia's sphere of influence. He said no one should interfere in Ukraine's politics when it looked like there was little danger of such a drift. Now that Yanukovych looks to be in some trouble (though certainly still very much in power), the proposed Russian $15 billion aid package for Ukraine is dependent on who runs the Ukrainian government.

If that is not 'interfering' in Ukraine's politics, I am not sure how you define 'interfere'. And I doubt that the public statements made by European and American officials constitute as much 'interference' as dangling then withdrawing a $15 billion aid package.

It would be nice if everyone just backed off and let Ukrainians solve this issue internally and democratically.

[jakeXT]

9. Probably not in this world

Is NATO's Trojan Horse Riding Toward the 'Ukraine Spring'?

Dennis J. Kucinich

Fmr. 16-year Member of US Congress; Two-time US Presidential Candidate

Ukrainian citizens have rallied in the bitter cold at Independence Square in Kiev to demand a better economic future and to protest President Viktor Yanukovych's failure to sign an economic agreement with the EU.

But while the draft of the EU "Association Agreement" is being sold as an economic boon for Ukrainian citizens, in reality it appears to be NATO's Trojan Horse: a massive expansion of NATO's military position in the region. What's more, the Agreement occurs under the cover of nebulous economic promises for a beset population hungering for better wages.

In a country where the average monthly minimum wage stands at about $150 USD, it's not hard to understand why Ukrainians are in the streets. They do not want to be in Russia's orbit, nor do they want to be pawns of NATO.

But is the plight of Ukrainians being exploited to usher in a new military agreement under the guise of economic reform?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dennis-j-kucinich/ukraine-nato_b_4435637.html

[pampango]

10. "NATO is not specifically mentioned in the draft of the "Association Agreement"...

"22 of 28 members of the EU have NATO membership" so being an EU member - which Ukraine is a long, long way from ever being - does not require a country to belong to NATO.

From the link you posted:

Ukrainian citizens have rallied in the bitter cold at Independence Square in Kiev to demand a better economic future and to protest President Viktor Yanukovych's failure to sign an economic agreement with the EU.

In a country where the average monthly minimum wage stands at about $150 USD, it's not hard to understand why Ukrainians are in the streets. They do not want to be in Russia's orbit, nor do they want to be pawns of NATO.

Ukrainians may be pro-EU, but are the EU and NATO pro-Ukrainian?

From the content of the article one would gather that:

1. Are protesting in the bitter cold for an economic agreement with the EU;
2. Ukrainians do not want to be in Russia's orbit;
3. they do not want to be pawns of NATO;
4. there is not mention of NATO in the agreement;
5. they are pro-EU.

There is nothing there that I would argue with.

I, for one, will not belittle what has motivated Ukrainians to take to the streets. If they want to spend weeks protesting in frigid weather they must care deeply about aligning more closely with Europe. I am not going to use the shadowy possibility that the evil NATO may be lurking in their future to distract from their protests.

We certainly should not be deciding their future for them, but then neither should Putin be offering a $15 billion bribe for them to make the 'right' choice.

[snooper2]

3. SICK LEAVE? WTF, you don't get to take sick leave when you are President

LOL...


Did he have to bring a doctors note

[another_liberal]

11. The protesters had better be on their toes . . .

This could mean the hard-liners have pushed Yanukovych out, and the tanks are warming up their engines.

[Igel]

13. How Soviet of them.

The other alternative is just that he's elsewhere "consulting."

In distinctly 3rd-place position is another possibility: He knows that he's the lightning rod, negotiations are going no place, and a cooling off period is necessary in which his inflammatory presence is counterindicated. In other words, by giving himself a "time out" he's giving the situation a time out.