Ukrainian Programming on RCI

Hello,

On behalf of Hubert T. Lacroix, President and CEO of CBC/Radio-Canada, I am writing to thank you for your e-mail message in which you voice your support for the Ukrainian section of Radio Canada International (RCI). We deeply regret the disappointment that you must feel at this decision. As I am sure you understand, it was made after extensive consultation and a great deal of careful consideration, and in response to the very difficult financial situation at CBC/Radio-Canada. Although it is bound to Foreign Affairs objectives, Radio Canada International remains fully accountable for its programming. We recognize that the Ukrainian section that opened in 1952 is one of the service's oldest. We also realize how important it is to the Ukrainian community, in both Canada and the Ukraine. That said, RCI must pull out all the stops to fulfill its mission with a considerably reduced workforce now. Despite the closing of the Ukrainian section and the cancellation of programming in Cantonese, RCI will continue to faithfully carry out its mandate, which is to produce and distribute programming that targets international audiences, with a view to raising awareness of Canada, its values, and its social, economic and cultural life. Thank you for your interest in RCI's programming.

Sincerely,

Francine LétourneauChief of StaffOffice of the President and CEO

"Canada will not be bullied. ???

"Let's be perfectly clear here," Cannon said at a news conference in Montreal. "Canada will not be bullied.
This statement contradicts itself as we are being bullied in our own backyard with the CBC cutbacks in particular with Ukrainian Section of RCI is the only foreign language department to be terminated.
Does not make much sense to me if we are trying to play an International role in the world, while cutting off 46 million people from a reliable media source which is what the mandate for RCI states:
"The international broadcaster created this initiative with the goal of promoting cultural harmony. It allows the CBC to go a step further in making Canadian culture available to all—both at home and abroad—while reinforcing the CBC/Radio-Canada group’s strength in this area. "
Or are these just fictional words to look good in the world arena? Such a decision is unconscionable and is out of line with the Government of Canada's commitment to Ukraine as one of its top strategic bilateral partner countries."

Hoping that a reverse to these events will be announced shortly.
We encourage you to support this action and sign a petition, click here.

UCC's letter to CBC President Hubert T. Lacroix can also be viewed at:
http://ucc.ca/media_releases/2009-03-26_2/index.htm

We also encourage Canadians to express their concerns to:

The Hon. Lawrence Cannon, MP, Minister of Foreign Affairs
CannoL@parl.gc.ca
The Hon. James Moore, MP, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages
MooreJ@parl.gc.ca
The Hon. Bev Oda, MP, Minister of International Cooperation
OdaB@parl.gc.ca
The Hon. Vic Toews, MP, President of the Treasury Board
ToewsV@parl.gc.ca
The Hon. Stockwell Day, MP, Minister of International Trade
DayS@parl.gc.ca
The Hon. Jason Kenney, MP, Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism
KenneJ@parl.gc.ca
The Hon. Michael Ignatieff, MP, Leader of the Official Opposition
IgnatM@parl.gc.ca
Hon. Jack Layton, MP, Leader of the New Democratic Party
LaytoJ@parl.gc.ca
Mr. Gilles Duceppe, MP, Leader of the Bloc Québécois
DucepG@parl.gc.ca
Ms. Joy Smith, MP, Chair, Canada Ukraine Parliamentary Friendship Group
SmithJ@parl.gc.ca

Putin enters seal hunt debate

Putin defies easy categorization.
He's revived Russia's sagging economy yet allowed corruption to flourish. He crushes internal dissent, ignores human rights, threatens Ukraine, invades Georgia, and has savaged Chechnya. He's been accused of assassinating journalists and certain political defectors, but remains as popular in Russia as, well, as Barack Obama in the U.S.
Click here to read great article on this,
by Peter Worthington - Edmonton Sun
http://www.edmontonsun.com/Comment/2009/03/16/8762301-sun.html
It doesn't take a genious to figure this one out!!!!
And meanwhile airhead Brigitte Bardot takes her hat off to Putin
In her letter to Putin whom, according to AFP, she called “the president of her heart”, 74-year-old Bardot wrote: "I really want to thank and congratulate you for your willingness to denounce the hunting of young seals that you rightly qualify as a bloody industry."
More on this garbage, click here, that is if you have a strong stomach.

Russia bans 'bloody' hunting of baby seals

Now if they (Russia - Putin's KGB machine), would only stop killing defenseless journalists and freedom fighters, in Georgia, Chechnya, Ukraine, UK, this could be looked upon as a great achievement

Russia said on Wednesday it had banned the hunting of baby seals, weeks after Prime Minister Vladimir Putin called it a 'bloody industry.'

Click here to view this sick story.

Source: Montreal Gazette

Ignatieff extends an olive branch

At a meeting, which was organized by Borys Wrzesnewskyj, the Ukrainian-Canadian MP who was "turfed" from the shadow cabinet, Ignatieff addressed key issues that affect the community and made several commitments, including:

- To support Ukraine's sovereignty, territorial integrity and membership in NATO;

- To assist in decreasing Ukraine's energy dependence upon Russia by sharing Canada's nuclear technology with Ukraine; and

- To commit to the full terms of the Acknowledgement, Commemoration and Education (ACE) program of redress for the First World War internment of Ukrainian-Canadians, as agreed to by Paul Martin's government in 2005. This program pledged $12.5 million to the Ukrainian-Canadian community for use in internment educational projects.

Click here for complete story.

Source: Edmonton Journal

Ignatieff alienates many Ukrainian-Canadians

Is Russia's neo-colonial think creeping into Canada?

Russia's nasty tactics to corral its "near abroad" are well-known globally. Its strong-arm tactics to reassert power over Ukraine -- the largest country in Europe -- by interfering in elections and threatening nuclear attacks if it moves closer to the West by joining NATO are not lost on Canada and some of its 1.3 million Canadians of Ukrainian descent, including the 125,000 strong in Edmonton. Russia's neo-colonial think allowed Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to inform former president George W. Bush that Ukraine is not a nation. He's not alone.

In his little book Blood and Belonging: Journeys into the New Nationalism, Michael Ignatieff, now leader of the Liberal party, belittles Ukrainians: "Ukrainian independence conjures up images of embroidered peasant shirts, the nasal whine of ethnic instruments ..." and reverts to historic self-aggrandizement of the oppressor over the hoi polloi.

Click here for complete article.

Source: Edmonton Journal

Stormclouds over the Moscow Kremlin

Russian moves against Ukraine and Georgia have been beaten back, and the U.S. Secretary of State (a woman?!) is giving assurance of their imminent NATO admission. Russia has been exposed as being wholly without credible allies, including China.

The price of oil has fallen by two thirds, and the Russian currency and stock market have collapsed right along with it, obliterating the insane fantasy propagated by the Kremlin that Russia was “resurgent,” a “safe haven” and an alternative to the United States.

And now, the economic crisis is causing its first round of really intense pain on the street of Russia. The Kremlin, blindsided by this tsunami of failure, does not yet have in place the means of equally intense social repression to control the reaction of the population, nor has it finalized its set of scapegoats.

And so it is panicking. This is the time for Russia’s opposition to move with speed and boldness to directly confront the Kremlin and consolidate a foundation of power it can use when the next elections roll around, and use more importantly as a shield from the Kremlin’s most desperate acts of violence, visited most recently upon the hero Stanislav Markelov.

Now is the time.

Source: Russophobe

Baloha links Ukraine's economic downturn to Tymoshenko's premiership

Baloha called appointment of Tymoshenko as the prime minister another one mistake of President Yuschenko.
"This was another one mistake made by the president. He was then told: she wouldn't care about the economy, she would devote herself to the election campaign and sacrifice Ukraine's economy to this," remarked the Secretariat's chief.

He also pointed to the need of continuing Ukraine's cooperation with the International Monetary Fund and pronounced hope that the authorities would keep jointly working on this issue.

As Ukrainian News earlier reported, the incumbent Cabinet of Ministers led by Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko assumed office of December 18, 2007.

Source: Kyiv Post

Taras Shevchenko - 195th Anniversary of Birth

Not until 1857 that Shevchenko finally returned from exile after receiving a pardon, though he was not permitted to return to St. Petersburg but was ordered to Nizhniy Novgorod. In May 1859, Shevchenko got permission to move to his native Ukraine. He intended to buy a plot of land not far from the village of Pekariv and settle in Ukraine. In July, he was arrested on a charge of blasphemy, but was released and ordered to return to St. Petersburg.

Taras Shevchenko spent the last years of his life working on new poetry, paintings, and engravings, as well as editing his older works. But after his difficult years in exile his final illness proved too much. Shevchenko died in Saint Petersburg on March 10, 1861, the day after his 47th birthday.

Visit UKEMONDE to learn more about Taras Shevchenko.
http://www.ukemonde.com/shevchenko/index.html

Source: Wikepedia

Ukrainian, Polish presidents commemorate victims of tragedy in Lviv region

Ukrainian President Victor Yushchenko and Polish President Lech Kaczynski have attended the events to commemorate the victims of a tragedy, which took place 65 years ago the village Huta Peniatska, Brody district, on Saturday.

The two presidents laid flowers to the monument to the tragedy victims, an Interfax-Ukraine correspondent has said.

There were many great events in the history of Ukraine and Poland, Kaczynski said. "But today we are speaking about the most difficult moments and it is good that we cans speak of them now, as it is what a real friendship between the peoples is," the Polish president said, noting that this crime has broken the trust between Ukrainians and Poles for decades.

In turn, the Ukrainian president said that the two peoples have rather a complicated common past. "Today I am obliged to be hear side by side with my Polish counterpart. I want to show thus that a Ukrainian has once and forever offered a hand of friendship and understanding to a Pole," Yuschenko said.

Besides, Yuschenko and Kaczynski will commemorate the victims of Bolshevist repressions in the city of Brody.

On February 28 1944, the German police officers have conducted a punitive operation killing among others several hundreds of Poles residing at Huta Peniatska following a fight between Soviet partisans and a unit made up of Ukrainians.

Source: Kyiv Post

'We will defend our airspace'

OTTAWA — Canada will not tolerate Russian intrusions into Canadian airspace, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Friday after it was disclosed that two Russian bombers were intercepted just outside the Canadian Arctic shortly before U.S. President Barack Obama's visit to Ottawa this month.

"I have expressed at various times the deep concern our government has with increasingly aggressive Russian actions around the globe and Russian intrusions into our airspace," the prime minister said at a news conference in Saskatoon.

"This government has responded every time the Russians have done that. We will continue to respond; we will defend our airspace."

Click here for complete story.

Source: Montreal Gazette

Canada 'turns back Russia bomber'

Canadian air force jets intercepted a Russian bomber approaching Canadian air space the day before President Barack Obama visited Ottawa, officials say.
Click here
Two fighter jets met the long-range Bear bomber over the Arctic last week, Defence Minister Peter MacKay said.

Click here for complete article.

Source: BBC

KGB killers enjoy life in Canada

They called themselves Chekists -- the sword and shield of the Soviet Union. They were proud of what they were. Some served as concentration camp guards. Others were executioners. Many were just clerks or cooks or those ordinary guys who mop up the mess after the torturers are done.
Over the years they had different names -- Cheka, OGPU, NKVD, SMERSH and, most notoriously, KGB. Yet their job description didn't change. They were killers. They murdered whomever their masters wanted dead. Their victims numbered in the many millions.

Click here to view complete aticle. Great piece by Prof. Lubomyr Luciuk

Source: Winnipeg Free Press

Svoboda in Odesa

A peaceful demonstration turns ugly when local thugs attack the people attending this event. What were the police doing? Were they assisting these thugs? Why were these thugs left to run around and have free rein on the innocent by standers? They must feel really BIG hitting on people out to express speech. Slava Banderi / Slava Ukraini!! Katasapam / moskalyam het!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CHQTS7GEvU&feature=subscription

Exposing Russia’s Incompetent Leadership

Writing in the Globe & Mail Aurel Braun, a professor of political science and international relations at the University of Toronto and author of NATO-Russia Relations in the Twenty-First Century, calls upon the West to stop being fooled by Potemkin Russia’s incompetent leadership:

The authoritarian leadership structure, what the Russians call the “power vertical,” is not transparent or adaptive. Mr. Medvedev’s constitutional supremacy belies the reality that crucial decisions are, in fact, made by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and his tightly controlled group of security men, the siloviki. Even the occasional impression of a diarchy is mistaken, for Mr. Medvedev lacks a true powerbase. His liberal-sounding statements and expressed desire for genuine democracy, rather than Mr. Putin’s hyphenated euphemisms for authoritarianism – “sovereign democracy” or “directed democracy” – may raise Western hopes but, so far, mean little in practice.

Click here to view complete article.

Source: Globe and Mail

Putin jibe picked for Eurovision

Georgia has chosen an entry which takes a swipe at Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin for May's Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow.

But disco-funk song We Don't Wanna Put In, a play on the politician's name, could fall foul of Eurovision's rule against political content in entries.

A contest spokesman told BBC News some lyrics are "sensitive", but any action would be deferred until next month.

Russia and Georgia went to war last year over the region of South Ossetia.

Relations between the two countries have been tense for several years.

Click here to view clip and view complete story.

Source: BBC

Eight decades of struggle

The 80th anniversary of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN), being marked one of these days, is unlikely to draw too much attention. What is being hotly debated in Ukraine is the UPA (Ukrainian Insurgent Amy), the OUN’s armed branch, Roman Shukhevych, who held various posts in the organization and even headed it, and Stepan Bandera, known as the OUN top leader. These subjects and personalities have their followers and adversaries. But the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists itself is outside the societal discourse. After all, this can have a logical explanation: the OUN has been a legally unrecognized entity for 80 years now.

Click here for complete story.

Source: The Day

Exposing Russia’s Naked Emperor, freezing in Cold War II

Ultimately it’s up to the Russians to decide to be friends. One day, someone in the Kremlin will have to confront a hard choice: Does an isolated and dysfunctional Russia want to modernize and join up with the West, look toward China, or continue its slow decline? Until then, Mr. Obama better stock up on aspirin and dampen his and our expectations about Russia.

Click here to read more.....

Source: Wall Street Journal

The end of Russia?

On its present course, Russia is doomed, claims the distinguished historian, Yury Afanasiev. Why did reform change nothing? Why has the wheel of history turned back to autocracy? 500 years of oppression are reaching a terrible climax. In this important, excoriating essay, he challenges his people to face the truth about their history.
Click here for complete article.

Source:open Democracy News Analysis

Living book on Hetman Mazepa

Here is a brief excerpt from the historical portrait of Mazepa, this time about his recognition in Rusia: “He had absolutely everything to satisfy his proudest, insatiable self-esteem. When it was chilly outside, he would make public appearance wearing a luxurious green velvet jacket lined with sable fur and with diamond-ornamented buttons — everyone knew that this was Tsar Peter I’s gift. He was a general of the Russian army, a Full Privy Councilor, and the holder of the highest orders of the time, which lifted him above all Russian generals. He was awarded the title “Prince of the Holy Roman Empire.” All of this is, in my opinion, weighty evidence of the respect Hetman Mazepa enjoyed in Russia at the time.

Source: The Day