Ukraine provides PACE with Holodomor proofs

Chief of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) Valentyn Nalyvaichenko has met Mevlut Cavusoglu, the PACE Vice President and rapporteur for problems on the famine in the former Soviet Union, the SBU press-service reports.

Nalyvaichenko, by authorization of an investigator, informed the PACE official about the progress of investigation into a criminal case on genocide in Ukraine in 1932-1933. The Ukrainian investigation established that genocide was committed by way of creating an artificial famine using such mechanisms as isolation of Ukraine's territory by special armed military units; inscription of districts and localities into the so-called 'black boards', blockade by troops, ban on people's movement outside the bounds of these areas, full seizure of foodstuffs and seed stocks, trade ban; restriction of free movement of peasants with the aim of looking for foodstuffs. In the course of the investigation, Ukraine received absolute evidences of committing crimes against humanity by the USSR top officials. Genocide in Ukraine in 1932-33 is proved by 3,685 Soviet classified documents, including with Joseph Stalin's signature, and many other papers, as well as 933 mass burial places of genocide victims. The SBU official also said that in order to collect proofs of genocide of Ukrainians in other countries, in full compliance with the international law, the SBU investigators have submitted petitions on providing legal assistance to law enforcement agencies of Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Italy, the United States, Germany, Austria and Poland. According to different estimates, the Great Famine (Holodomor) took from 7 to 10 million lives in Ukraine, including around 4 million children, which was 25% of the country's population at that time.

Source: NRCU

The Great Hunger on CBC

Philip Coulter went to Ireland and Ukraine to ask some questions about what happens to a society when the great hunger is over. What has changed, how do people look at each other, how do they look at themselves? And how does such an event ripple down through history, its deep currents shaping the lives of later generations.

Click here to listen to Part I and Part II of The Great Hunger

Source: CBC Radio

Medvedev lauds Ukrainian veterans on victory over Nazis

"On this day we honor our veterans, we bow our heads before the memory of those who in the fierce battle with the Nazis gave their lives for victory - for our common victory. We will forever keep the memory of this feat, the unity of our peoples in the struggle against the enemy, passing it from generation to generation," the Russian president said in a message to Ukrainian veterans.
Now when will the Russian President acknowledge the veteran's of UPA (Ukrainian Insurgent Army) who also fought valiently against the Nazis.
Click here for complete story.

Source: RIA Novosti

An Ethnic Russian UPA Vet Tells His Story

In this Channel 1+1 report, Volodymyr Chermoshentsev, an ethnic Russian, recalls his past: He fought in the UPA. Click here to see story and video clip. Hat tip to faboulous site UKRAINIANA -

Ukraine's Yushchenko hopeful of joining NATO

Yushchenko, who was in New York for the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, has been pushing for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to accept the Ukraine in an effort to ensure its sovereignty.

"If you analyze the history of Ukraine in the 20th century," Yushchenko said, "you will see that from 1917 to 1991 Ukraine declared its independence six times and five times we lost it."

He blamed the former Soviet Union for the reversals.
Canada and the United States have been strong supporters of the Ukraine's bid to join the 26-member alliance, established after the Second World War to counter Soviet expansion.

Source: CBC

Ex-KGB agent denied review of deportation

One less commie..... one down and may more to round up and deport. Many still living in Canada and collecting comfortable big pensions which is being payed out by Canadian taxpayers.

Source: CBC

A former Soviet KGB agent has lost what could be his last legal battle to stay in Canada, after the Federal Court on Tuesday rejected his application for a judicial review.

Mikhail Lennikov wanted a federal judge to reconsider the decision of Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan to send him back to Russia.

Van Loan had ruled that as a former espionage agent, Lennikov was not eligible to remain in Canada. The Federal Court said Tuesday it has found there were no grounds to review Van Loan's decision.

Lennikov has argued that he was forced to work for the KGB as a young man because of his language skills, but that he fled the country years ago in part to get away from the espionage organization.

Lennikov's wife and son have been granted permanent residency on humanitarian and compassionate grounds, but Lennikov has been living in a Vancouver church since early June, when he sought sanctuary to avoid deportation to Russia.

He told CBC News on Tuesday he would not comment publicly on the ruling before speaking with his lawyer.

Obama rejects Russia missile link

The US president says his decision to shelve a missile defence plan was not dictated by Russian opposition.

"The Russians don't make determinations about what our defence posture is," Barack Obama told CBS television.

"If the by-product of it is that the Russians feel a little less paranoid... then that's a bonus," Mr Obama said.

Click here for complete story.

Source: BBC Online

President claims Kremlin is shielding his would-be killers

From their early days of trying to quiet any nationalistic fervour in Ukraine, the Kremlin has a long history of sending assassins outside their territory to do their job in killing anyone who tries to defy them. This went as far as last presidential election in Ukraine, where Putin and company were trying to hand pick the right person who would tow their line. Unfortunately it did not work.

The president of Ukraine has accused the Kremlin of harbouring the men he suspects of poisoning him when he ran for office five years ago.

Viktor Yushchenko, who was disfigured and nearly died, said Ukraine prosecutors wanted to question three main suspects believed to have fled to Russia. His requests for help have been repeatedly rebuffed by the Kremlin, he claimed.

“The people who organised my poisoning have been in Moscow for the past four years,” Yushchenko said. “I’ve appealed to the Russian president three times.”

But we know what the so called Russian president like to do instead, write threating letters to the Ukrainian president and its people.

Click here for complete story.

Source: Times Online

Poland marks 70th anniversary of outbreak of WWII European war

Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko said in her address that Europe did not need any more divisions, hatred and lawlessness. "Instead, we need compassion, generosity and understanding for suffering."

Hopefully she can apply the same rule to her governing in Ukraine as Prime Minister, especially in the Ukrainian Parliment which has become a lawless zone.

Maybe, she can also apply this to recognising Ukraininan Insurgent Army who fought agaist the German as well as Soviet armies, for a free and Independent Ukraine, also not forgeting the Polish Soviet backed guerillas that now has been turned into a propaganda spin for Russia, exposing their lying ways.

Putin condemns Nazi-Soviet pact

"It is possible to condemn - and with good reason - the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact concluded in August 1939," wrote Mr Putin, referring to the two foreign ministers who signed the pact at the Kremlin.

It was clear today, he said, that any form of agreement with the Nazi regime was "unacceptable from the moral point of view and had no chance of being realised".

Click here to view complete story.

Source: BBC

The war? Nothing to do with Stalin, says Russia's president, Dmitry Medvedev

Historians are unimpressed. "This is a very stupid argument," Vladimir Ryzhkov, a historian and former Russian opposition MP said. "You are saying that Poland was bad for allowing the division of Czechoslovakia, but that Stalin was good when he agreed to divide eastern Europe with Hitler."

He added: "The Kremlin wants to create a new identity for the Russian nation. It advocates the Stalin regime, and promotes the idea that Stalin's actions were right and necessary at all times, including when Stalin signed the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact."

According to Ryzhkov, Russia's contemporary leadership is seeking to rehabilitate Stalin in order to justify its own "authoritarian" model.

Click here for complete article.

Source: The Gaurdian

Democratic Ukraine, autocratic Russia: Why?

Developments in the former Soviet Union in recent years were fascinating for the specialist and might have puzzled the layman: Why have Europe’s two largest countries developed in such different ways? Russia has returned to authoritarianism while Ukraine seems to be maturing towards a real democracy. How did this happen – in spite of these nations’ similar Eastern Slavic Orthodox cultures and intertwined histories?
Click here to read full article by Andreas Umland and Ingmar Bredies, in special to Kyiv Post.

Source: Kyiv Post

Medvedev says better ties with Kyiv unlikely in future

SO looks like they (Medvedev / Putin and all those mixed up wanna be leaders) are not even willing to give it a try. Like they say, you will never know until you try it. Too bad for those sick dogs............ See what Russian propaganda is telling their people below.

"I cannot see any prospects for restoring normal relations with [Ukraine's] incumbent authorities... I will be happy [if the situation changes]," Medvedev said commenting on his decision to delay sending a new Russian ambassador to Kiev.

Presidential polls in Ukraine are slated for January 17. The popularity of Ukraine's incumbent leader, Viktor Yushchenko, is currently in single digits.

"I hope that a new Ukrainian leadership will have significantly more opportunities to improve relations. Russia wants this, and it is a top priority for our foreign policy," Medvedev said.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko earlier on Friday said, commenting on relations with Moscow, "I have always built and will build relations with Russia as an equal, taking into account national interests, mutual advantage, and respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity."

However, she warned that "Ukraine will choose its foreign and domestic policy itself."

Source: Ria Novosti

Yushchenko says Russia's charges "unfriendly"

KYIV, Aug 13 (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko on Thursday rejected accusations of anti-Russian policies made by Russian leader Dmitry Medvedev in an open letter on Tuesday.

Medvedev's comments, in which he also said he wanted to see a leader in Ukraine who was easier to deal with, marked a new downturn in relations between the countries and was seen as an attempt to influence Ukraine's presidential election.

"I will be frank, I am very disappointed with its unfriendly character," Yushchenko said of Medvedev's letter.

"I cannot disagree that there are serious problems in relations between our countries, but it is surprising that the Russian president completely shrugs off Russia's responsibility for this," Yushchenko said in a statement.

Yushchenko, propelled to power by the 2004 pro-Western "Orange Revolution" has irritated Moscow with his bid for Ukraine's NATO membership and insistence that Russia vacates the Black Sea Fleet based in the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea.

His aide said on Wednesday Russia was stuck in its imperial past and seemed to relish bullying and insulting its neighbours.

Source: Reuteurs

Dima, please. If you want to get our attention, you at least have to take your shirt off.

Here is a little slapstick humor, something the people in charge back in the old USSR lack. Check this out ....... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2EbIX_Gemo

Also check out the topless hunk putinflabo
http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2009/08/05/vladimir_putins_muscly_vacation

These comment issued by gutless Medvedev is exactly why when it gets cold outside in Ukraine in Januaury, Russia decides to close that taps on gaz going to them as well as to the neigbouring EU countries, this really shows Russia's warmth and respect.

"The way our Russian president, our country are treating the Ukrainian people, the Ukrainian state, has been exceptionally respectful, warm and fraternal," he said.

I wouldn't call this being very fraternal, but outright intimidation and return to their old aims of being a totalitarian state. Booohooohooo!!!!
And the war of words continue… What will the Kremlim come up with next?

Ukrainian official accuses Russia of 'imperialist complex'

What can you expect from a government (Russian) that wants to go back in time? Instead of building strong relations with its neighbors, they go on rampages of accusing Ukraine of rewriting its true history, creating problems for the Black Sea Fleet, and concerns of delivery of our Russian gas.
A top Ukrainian official on Wednesday accused Russia of continuing to push imperialist ambitions, in a furious response to an attack the previous day by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, AFP reported.
"Sadly, the young Russian leadership is hostage to an old imperialist complex," Vira Ulyanchenko, chief of the presidential administration who also holds a top post in President Viktor Yushchenko's Our Ukraine Party, said.
"That makes it cherish the notion of a foreign enemy and replace a dialogue of equals with the language of insults and threats," Ulyanchenko said in a statement posted on the party's website.

Ukrainians 'nasty anti-Semites,' Ignatieff quoted in flyer

WINNIPEG — Michael Ignatieff once viewed Ukrainians as "nasty anti-Semites," according to a flyer distributed by a Conservative cabinet minister.

Vic Toews has resurrected allegations the Liberal leader is anti-Ukrainian in a flyer sent to communities in his Manitoba riding with large Ukrainian populations.

The flyer includes a photo of Ignatieff and two excerpts from his 1995 book Blood and Belonging, which includes the quotes, "Ukrainian independence conjures up images of embroidered peasant shirts, the nasal whine of ethnic instruments, phoney cossacks in cloaks and boots, nasty anti-Semites." It also refers to Ignatieff as a "Great Russian" with a "taste of old Russian disdain for these 'little Russians.' "

The same remarks were raised against Ignatieff in 2005 when he ran for the Liberals in the Toronto riding of Etobicoke-Lakeshore, and have haunted him repeatedly since, despite his attempts to explain they were meant as irony to rebut long-standing stereotypes of Ukrainians held by Russians.

On the flip side of the flyer, Toews outlines things the Conservatives have done for Ukraine and Ukrainian Canadians, and includes a photo of Toews with Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko.

Source: Montreal Gazette
_______________________________________________________________________

Putin 'turns into art instructor'

Renowned art aficionado Vlad the terrorist Putin has come out expressing his great knowledge of art by telling one of the country's most famous artists how to paint better. Click here to read BBC on-line article.

"The sword is too short," he is reputed to have said. "It's only good enough for cutting sausage."

Now this follows Putin’s other knowledgeable talents on subjects such as history and how to re-write history textbooks to fit his vision. This truly shows his mad mad obsession on wanting to become a dictator, but he has a lot to learn yet from like of his idol, Stalin.

Just recently Putin urged journalists to read Denikin's diary, Denikin was a talented writer, and even before World War I had written several pieces in which he analytically criticized the shortcomings of his beloved Russian Army. His voluminous writings after the Russian Civil War (written while living in exile) are remarkable for their analytical tone and candor and are a "must read" to anyone interested in the Russian Civil War. (Source: Absolute Astronomy) His writings can be interpreted in many ways, but Putin finds only one interpretation which fits his bill.

“One of the main ideas in Denikin’s works and political activity was not to allow the divorce of Russia and its little Russian lands – Ukraine,” the head of the monastery said.

“It is a crime if someone starts to talk about the division of Russia and Ukraine, even if this is being said by activists of the white movement or by foreigners,” Putin said citing Denikin’s memoires.

Source Kyiv Post

Give him the boot Ex-KGB agent has no right to be here - so get rid of him

There are some Canadians who don't like this rule. Fair enough. They can work to change it. But Lennikov has no such privilege. He is not a citizen. Whether he has lived here for a decade or been a nice neighbour or grows gardenias in his garden and gives them to the poor is irrelevant. He should never have been allowed into Canada and he has no right to stay here.

I agree with Professor Lucuik, time to boot Lennikov and his kind out of Canada....

To read full article click here

Source: Montreal Gazette

Ukraine Security Service opens criminal investigation into 1932-1933 genocide

May 22, The Security service of Ukraine, SBU, opened a criminal investigation into the induced famine in 1932-1933 aimed at murdering millions of Ukrainians, the SBU May 25 press center release runs.
The probe was opened following the appeal by Academician Yukhnovsky, the head of the Ukrainian Institute of National Memory, VR lawmakers O. Chornovolenko and H. Omelchenko, L. Lukyanenko, the head of the Association of Holodomor Researchers, R. Krutsyk, the head of the Memorial Society as well as other prominent Ukrainians. In the appeal, they demanded to investigate the murder by famine of millions of Ukrainians in 1932-1933.

After analyzing the appeal and reports about the genocide, SBU in cooperation with the Prosecutor General’s Office and UINM carried out an investigation indicating that, following the defeat of the Ukrainian People’s Republic in 1921, the Bolsheviks launched large-scale unlawful campaign to forestall the emergence of an independent Ukrainian state and to turn Ukraine into a denationalized territory of the FSU.

Click here for complete story.

Source: ZIK

Putin warns outsiders over Ukraine

Another time the wanna be tyrannical dictator goes on a rampage showing his true KGB face.

"He has a discussion there about Big Russia and Little Russia — Ukraine," they quoted Putin as saying. "He says that nobody should be permitted to interfere in relations between us, they have always been the business of Russia itself."

Putin should brush up on the real history of Ukraine and not the crap that he was force fed to learn by his masters.
To read full article, click here.

Source: Associated Press

Russia and Ukraine Battle Over Their Shared History

The battle is heating up, but very nice to see reputable media write about the true facts that can be easily researched today, by simply digging a little deeper. Not being fed by chauvinist Russian propagandists, who got used to selling off their lies. Today, the ball game has changed somewhat.
Click here to read great article in TIME magazine, who one time name the butcher Putin as man of the year. Hmmmmmmmmmm!!!

On May 17, Ukraine's Day of Remembrance for Victims of Political Repression, Yushchenko gave a speech at the Bykivnya forest, a mass grave near Kiev where the bodies of an estimated 100,000 victims of the NKVD, the forerunner of the KGB, were dumped between 1937 and 1941. In the speech, he equated the Soviet Union with Nazi Germany: "They are comparable in their hatred towards human beings. They are identical in the unprecedented scale of their mass killings."

Source; TIME

‘There will be no forgiveness’

“Ukraine must finally purge itself of the symbols of a regime that destroyed millions of innocent people,” he said, adding that 400 such monuments had been taken down in the past year.

Not everyone agrees with the president’s steps. The Head of the State Archives, Olha Ginzburg, a member of the Communist Party, has criticized the president’s decision to publish archival documents. The president has often riled Russian leaders with his portrayal of their country as the perpetrator of horrific crimes against Ukraine during the Soviet period.

Political analysts suggest that his willingness to touch the prickly subject of Ukraine’s Soviet past has opened a can of worms which is negatively affecting his popularity, which now runs in single digits.

“Many people who benefited from the Soviet Union are still alive,” said Roman Krutsyk, president of the non-governmental organization Memorial, which documents Soviet political repressions. “But lots of people who suffered are also still alive, and relatives of those who were killed. It is essential for Ukraine as an independent state that it remembers its past.”

Click here to read full article.

Source: Kyiv Post

A Jew Who Beat Jews in a Nazi Camp Is Stripped of His Citizenship

Here is a great article published in Durantyville press....

The case of Mr. Tannenbaum had provoked what many war-crimes experts and Jewish leaders called deep complexities and passions, raising such questions as why a Jew would have collaborated with the Nazis, whether the persecuted can also be the persecutor and how such questions can be answered more than 40 years after the fact.

Some Jewish leaders, while disavowing sympathy for any collaboration with the Nazis, drew distinctions between those who volunteered to help the Nazis and those who thought they were saving their own lives by cooperating, often with the intention of easing the brutal life of fellow prisoners.

Kapos - from the German word Lagerkapo, or camp captain - were appointed by the SS, which supervised the camps, and enjoyed special privileges such as better food, clothing and housing. In return, they supervised the work of other inmates.

Source: NY Times

Divide and Conquer: The KGB disinformation campaign against Ukrainians and Jews

When will this circus ever end?

The KGB wanted to use this legitimate concern of Americans as a weapon to divide their Ukrainian and Jewish enemies, to discredit the large émigré communities in the United States and Canada, and to discredit any emergence of Ukrainian nationalism.

One of the names Hanusiak brought to the United States was that of John Demianiuk (Demjanjuk). His name was given to the United States Justice Department, which began an investigation of the retired Ohio auto worker. Soon, Demianiuk was accused of being "Ivan the Terrible," a brutal guard at the Nazi Treblinka death camp.

Source: The Institute of World Politics

The real May Day Victory celebration

While Russia still lives in a days gone by era, other former Soviet countries (Belarus)are realising that it is time to move forward. Along with Ukraine and other free thinking countries, time to from dependency on Russia.

Yushchenko warns against restoration of totalitarianism in any country

Ukrainian President Viktor Yuschenko has called on all nations that were involved in WWII not to allow the restoration of totalitarianism in any country.

"As the head of the Ukrainian state, I am addressing all nations that took part in the Second World War. You went through the hell of the war against fascism. We cannot tolerate indifference and sacrilege toward that common fight and the dead heroes. In the new times, it is unthinkable to tolerate even the smallest hint of restoration of some totalitarian or authoritarian system and violate the holy right of peoples to their independent national existence," Yuschenko said at a rally in Kyiv marking the Soviet Union's victory in the 1941-1945 war against Nazi Germany.

Yuschenko also said he was sure that all the truth about that war will be known.

Source: Interfax / Kyiv Post

Ukrainian Programming on RCI

Thank you for response Mme Francine Létourneau,

Your response,"great deal of careful consideration, and in response to the very difficult financial situation at CBC/Radio-Canada." certainly does not reflect what is truly happening at the CBC and RCI, as for the following information below. How do you explain the misuse of Canadian taxpayers money, while top executives seem to be more concerned of having a jolly good time, while cutting RCI Ukrainian section.The cutting of the Ukrainian section certainly brings many doubts to mind. I invite you read the following article. What excuse will you come up with now?
Hat tip to Paulette for publishing excerpt from the Ottawa Sun article on her fabulousblog

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

Year of Mazepa: Baturyn — forever!

The restoration of the historical and cultural preserve “Hetman’s Capital” in Baturyn is, undoubtedly, a significant event for every Ukrainian who has at least a vague idea about the importance of the Nov. 2, 1708 disaster for our homeland.

The Russian troops were led by “His Serene Highness” Prince Aleksandr Menshikov, an embezzler, intriguer, hater of Ukraine, early 18th-century “oligarch,” and Tsar Peter I’s closest aide. The Russian soldiers cut out the entire population of Baturyn—up to 15,000 people, according to certain estimates. They had no pity on newborn babies, women, or the elderly. This was a deadly blow to Baturyn, Hetman Mazepa’s favorite capital, as well as to his plans to get free from Muscovy’s “heavy hand” and win state sovereignty for Ukraine.

Well before Ivan Mazepa’s reign Baturyn served as the place of residence for such well-known Ukrainian hetmans as Demian Mnohohrishnyand Ivan Samoilovych. Later, following the demise of the hetman state, the tradition was maintained by Kyrylo Rozumovsky and Danylo Apostol.

Thus it is not accidental that these historical leaders are immortalized in the new sculptural composition that has been solemnly unveiled by President Viktor Yushchenko in Baturyn. Historical traditions of Ukraine’s Independence, in particular those cherished in the Hetman State, are a bridge linking state building in the distant past with the present day.

Historical memory is an absolutely indispensable component of a politically mature nation, although it is not sufficient because there is also the specific state responsibility for today’s realities. That is why it is didactic and necessary to think about Baturyn today — otherwise we may have to exert as much effort to restore the glorious landmarks of our history in another 300 years.

Source: The Day
By Ihor SIUNDIUKOV, http://www.day.kiev.ua/263444/
Tuesday, 27 January 2008
http://www.day.kiev.ua/263444/

Medvedev Threatens Ukraine Sanctions

What a true diplomat this constipated president is showing us all. Issuing such threats really brings me to my knees!!!! THe direction this puppet government is taking, the route ala Putin!!!

President Dmitry Medvedev used a wide-ranging interview to threaten sanctions against Ukraine, say Russia will allow a more flexible exchange rate and express hope for partnership with the incoming U.S. presidential administration.

Click here for full article.

Source: The Moscow Times

Russia may cut off Ukraine's gas

Russia and their leaders as they call themselves are really, really constipated!!! Read on....

Click here for full story.

Source: BBC

Why are KGB men allowed to stay in Canada? - ASK YOUR MP!

Of course the commentators of a particular blog entry suggest otherwise, going so far as to suggest that Mikhail Lennikov was up front and transparent about his KGB links from the get go.

It boils down to which reporter telling the story you are going to believe, but the way I see it, Lennikov wouldn’t have been able to remain in Canada, in fact his visa application would have been rejected had he told the truth about his KGB history. Funny thing, the commentators that left their two-cents worth failed to mention that. Obviously they, like they accuse me of, are more than a little lacking in knowledge when it comes to the circumstances that led to the Lennikov family being issued with a deportation order. They obviously believe that disclosing such information after Mikhail Lennikov was called up on it makes him transparent, and makes up for his failure to disclose pertinent information regarding his KGB association.

Click here for complete story.

Source: Crooked in Canada


Here are a few interesting article to consider:

Ukraine must pursue perpetrators of Holodomor

Time to hear an apology for the Great Terror in the Soviet Union

Fair is Fair: Ukrainians Call for Deportation of KGB Veterans in Canada

Russia Turns New Law Against Kremlin Critics

Here is what democracy is all about. And Germany and France and those Italians enjoy licking Putin's a_ _ . Hmmmm, makes you wonder where their loyalties lie????

Andrei Piontkovsky, one of Russia's most pungent political commentators and a visiting scholar at the Hudson Institute in Washington, was accused in court Tuesday of inciting violence against Russians, Jews and Americans as well as insulting and stirring feelings of inferiority in all three groups.

A Moscow district court opened hearings Tuesday on a charge by prosecutors that two of Piontkovsky's books -- "Unloved Country" and "For the Motherland! For Abramovich! Fire!" -- can be labeled "extremist" under a law ostensibly designed to stamp out racism and xenophobia. The title of his second book refers in part to Roman Abramovich, Russia's richest tycoon.


Andrei Piontkovsky, whose books are alleged to insult various groups and incite violence, told reporters outside court that the case was
Andrei Piontkovsky, whose books are alleged to insult various groups and incite violence, told reporters outside court that the case was "absurd" and "primitive."

Click here fore full article.

Source: Washington Post

Ukraine de facto obtains MAP, says foreign minister

Kyiv, Dec. 3 (Interfax-Ukraine) - Ukraine has de facto obtained the NATO Membership Action Plan, because an annual national program is an important component of this document, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Volodymyr Ohryzko has said.


"We have achieved the desired result at this stage: we have de facto been granted an action plan for preparing Ukraine for NATO membership. This is a serious step forward. We are moving ahead toward membership, and we're starting practical integration with NATO in 2009," he told journalists in Brussels on Wednesday, in comments on a communique in relation to Ukraine adopted at a NATO ministerial session.

Source: Kyiv Post

Georgia and Ukraine face Nato wait

Instead, other less formal measures preparing the way, such as raising the standards of equipment, will be pursued.

This, it is hoped, will enable Nato to say that the goal is being maintained and only the pace of progress is being changed.

Washington is supporting this approach, which it feels might offer a more informal, and potentially easier, track for the two applicants.

Put into the wider context of relations with Russia, the developments represent a victory for the Russians in that membership is being delayed into the future and into the term of a new American administration.

Not that the secretary of state-to-be, Hillary Clinton, is likely to soft-pedal further. She strongly supports the governments of both Georgia and Ukraine.

Click here for complete article.

Source: BBC

More hot gas, and dreaming of glory days gone by!

Not only are our Russian friends constipated with the need to let out a little gas, but they also have run into a mental quandary. Dreaming that they are still a super power!! Sorry before I let out a good laugh!!! :-))

In his first state-of-the nation address, Mr Medvedev, a make believe president, said Moscow would deploy the Iskander missile system in the Kaliningrad region - between Nato members Lithuania and Poland - to "neutralise - if necessary - the [US] anti-missile system". Do they really have such missiles?


"Naturally, we also consider using for the same purpose the resources of Russia's navy," he said. A navy where submarines explode and we are supposed to fear this?

Mr Medvedev also said Russia would jam the US anti-missile system electronically. We all love jamming especially to a good tune. Are there any good Russian tunes to jam to?

Mr Medvedev's announcement is extremely provocative, but the Kremlin's clear message is that America is to blame, the BBC's Rupert Wingfield-Hayes in Moscow says.

And what else is new. Seen that heard that. Time to be a little more creative Medvedev, something Russia is really lacking, having you lead their country. But they can dream!!

Click here to have a good laugh.

Constipated Alexei Miller - needs to let out a little gaz!!

Must be all that kapusta / cabbage Aleksei Miller, chairman of Russia's natural gas monopolist Gazprom, agreed on repayment terms for the multi-billion dollar debt after talks with Oleh Dubina, chairman of Ukraine's natural gas company Ukrnafta.

Ukraine will pay Gazprom in full for natural gas burned in September, and partially for gas used in October, Russian and Ukrainian news media reported.

I was chosen by your dead - Legacy of the Famine: Ukraine as a postgenocidal society

To complete the commemoration of Ukrainian Holodomor - Genocide, I invite you read one of the best pieces I have ever come across written by no other than the James Mace.

In 1981, as I embarked on studies of the Great Famine in Ukraine, there were still many unpublished Party documents.
After studying national communism within the context of the Ukrainian history of the period, along with documents, speeches, and editorials carried literally every day by the official press of Soviet Ukraine, the main features of the Soviet official policy toward Ukraine became completely clear to me.

At this point a digression is in order. Why should I, a born and bred American, take up such a topic? What did I need it for? I have been asked this question very often and I have often been tempted to ask in turn: Why should millions of Russians, Jews, Armenians, and Ukrainians travel across the ocean to that faraway godforsaken country, my America? I did it because Ukrainian Americans required such research, and fate decreed that the victims chose me. Just as one cannot study the Holocaust without becoming half Jewish in spirit, one cannot study the Famine and not become at least half
Ukrainian. I have spent too many years for Ukraine not to have become the greater part of my life. After all, Martin Luther said,
"Here I stand, I can do no other."

Click here to read complete article.

He was the first to light a candle‏

Hundreds of thousands of candles lit last Saturday on squares and in windows all over the country were a memorial tribute to the millions who died during the terrible 1932-1933 famine in Ukraine, as well as to him, James Mace, who was the first to light a candle

This year the famine victims were honored in a special way. One can clearly see that the organizers of the memorial events did this with all of their heart. The posters and drawings on the walls of the Ukrainian House vividly display human contribution to the nationwide memory of the 20th-century catastrophe. The stalls present books of memory from every oblast in Ukraine; there were prepared by hundreds of local researchers. All this is an adequate response to those who accuse the president of “carrying things too far” in this matter.

Hanging among the posters is a small piece of embroidery made by a 10th-grader; it shows grain ears and a guelder-rose. This picture symbolizes that, by the sheer power of his spirit, James managed to find a way to human hearts, even though not to all of them. One more important moment: a woman came up to James’ portrait, put down a slice of bread, and bowed to him. She thanked him and showed that she was in pain.

Source: The Day

Ukrainian Genocide: NY Times Still Covering Up

Is the New York Times "airbrushing" history again? It would seem so. On Saturday, November 22, Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko presided over a commemoration in Kiyv of the 75th anniversary of the famine genocide of 1932-1933 that took the lives of 7-10 million Ukrainians. Known as the Holodomor (Ukrainian for "murder by hunger"), it is one of the greatest mass murders in history, and one of the cruelest. Joining President Yushchenko for the event were official delegations from 44 countries, including the presidents of Poland, Lithuania, Estonia, Macedonia, Georgia, Latvia, Bosnia, and Herzegovina.

The New York Times prides itself on being the national "newspaper of record" and still carries its longtime motto, "All the News That's Fit to Print" in the upper left-hand corner of its front page. If we are to believe the Times' motto, the week-long Holodomor commemoration didn't take place, or at least it didn't qualify as "news." A search of the Times website — using both visual scan and their own search engine — yielded zero results for current or recent stories.

The smae can be said for Montreal media, keeping up the times with the Times. Very sad to see!!!

Click here to view full article.

Source: New American

Ukrainian-Canadians mark famine's 75th anniversary

Ukrainian-Canadians spent Saturday marking the 75th anniversary of the Holodomor, the nightmarish famine that killed millions in the Ukraine in the early 1930s.

The famine is largely blamed on Soviet leader Joseph Stalin's forced collectivization of grain and other foodstuffs that left millions of people without adequate food supplies. Estimates put the number of dead anywhere between two and 10 million.

Earlier this year, Prime Minister Stephen Harper supported a private member's bill that acknowledged the famine as a genocide, following the lead of a dozen or so other countries.

National Holodomor Awareness Week in Canada begins this weekend with candlelight vigils and other events Saturday, and memorial services at Ukrainian churches across the country on Sunday.

"This is the bare minimum which we, as Ukrainians, should do not only for the millions of victims, but more importantly, for our descendants who must always remember the Holodomor and heighten the international community's sensitivity to the re-occurrence of similar tragedies," the Ukrainian Canadian Congress said in a statement on its website.

Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney marked the anniversary of the famine in Kyiv alongside leaders from the Ukrainian-Canadian community.

The Canadian delegation is expected to participate in a forum on the famine.

"Our government is committed to remembering the victims of communism and heightening international awareness of genocide, and we are proud that our Conservative government recognized the Holodomor as a genocide, " Kenney said in a statement issued by the UCC. "We take such actions to help ensure that similar atrocities never happen again."

Ceremonies across the Ukraine Saturday were marred by opposition from Russia, which objects to Ukraine's campaign to have the famine recognized worldwide as a genocide.

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko said Saturday that many of his countrymen believe the famine was designed to attack Ukrainian nationalism itself.

"This was not death through hunger -- this was murder of people through hunger," Yushchenko said in a speech. "Hunger was selected as a tool to subdue the Ukrainian people."

Source: CTV

Towards the history of national communism in Ukraine - James Mace

How much we miss you James, today we share the sorrow of the Ukrainian nation, reflecting on the Ukrainian Holodomor. Something that was a passion for you, to expose the criminal elements of this great tragedy and your concept of that: “James Mace’s concept of a post-genocidal society sets the agenda for the future”

Vichnaya Paymat to you dear James, Vichnaya Pamyat to all victimis of Ukraine's Famine - Holodomor 1932-1933.

James Mace, an outstanding son of America, a person who devoted all his lifetime to the hard work of restoring the historical truth and the national dignity of Ukraini­ans, a prominent historian, political writer and public figure, Professor James Mace went down forever in the history of Ukrain­ian intellectual thought as a researcher of the 1932-1933 Holodomor in Ukraine, of its preconditions, course and consequences for our nation. It is this part of Mace’s scholarly legacy that The Day readers will know best of all. But the circle of Mace’s academic interests also included another, no less important and topical (and still little researched to boot) theme: the tragedy of Ukrainian national communism. This is the subject of the study ”A Great Experiment. Towards the History of National Communism in Ukraine,” the first part of which we are offering to The Day readers. This article is part of the book James Mace: ”Your Dead Chose Me” which was published in the Day Library series in early September. This is the first time it is being published in the newspaper. Could Ukrainian society have been successfully developing under the leadership of national communists? How would it have affected the further course of national history? If Ukrainian national communism was, in Mace’s view, a great experiment of history, what was the essence of this experiment? Why did it suffer a fiasco? Finally, to what extent right is the deep-rooted stereotype of the past two decades that a true Ukrainian patriot is always a person of right-wing (conservative, right liberal) views and that the farther right s/he is the brighter his/her patriotism is? A serious-minded reader (for whom James Mace’s study is intended) will find in it well-grounded answers to these questions and, undoubtedly, very rich factual material to reflect on.

Click here for complete article.

Source: The Day (Den)

Minister Kenney to travel to Kyiv, Ukraine

Minister Jason Kenney will travel to Kyiv, Ukraine,
from November 20 to November 23, to participate in
an international forum and attend ceremonies to
commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Holodomor,
the 1932-33 famine-genocide in Ukraine. The Minister
will also meet with officials of the Ukrainian
government and visit Bykivnia Memorial and Babyn Yar
Holocaust sites.
Canada become the first nation to recognize Holodomor as Genocide

Yushchenko believes Medvedev humiliated millions of Ukrainian murder victims

President of Ukraine Victor Yushchenko calls the refusal of Russian President to attend events on commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the Ukrainian great famine a humiliation for millions of Ukrainian murder victims.

According to the President`s press-office, he said this in an interview with El Pais newspaper (Spain).

Victor Yushchenko claimed he “does not have any big desire to comment” on the statement of his Russian counterpart, who shows “an inadequate attitude to the tragedy of the Ukrainian nation”, which could have been explained “with a historical misunderstanding”.

At the same time, the President of Ukraine stressed: “The President of Russia humiliates millions of people, who are dead as of today, those innocent murder victims, who did not hurt anybody”.

As UNIAN reported earlier, on November 14, D.Medvedev claimed that the Ukraine’s famine of 30ies is used to achieve an immediate political aim, and refused to attend the events on commemoration of the Holodomor 75th anniversary.

Source: UNIAN

Yuschenko slams Medvedev for improper attitude to Ukrainian famine

Ukrainian President Viktor Yuschenko believes that Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has shown "an improper attitude towards the tragedy of the Ukrainian people" of 1932-1933, and sees this position as disrespectful to the millions of people who died.

He said this in an interview with Spain's El Pais newspaper and other European newspapers, the presidential Web site reported.

In the interview, Yuschenko said that he is reluctant to comment on the statements by his Russian counterpart, who is showing "an improper attitude towards the tragedy of the Ukrainian people," which could be explained as "a historical misunderstanding." The president of Russia humiliates millions of people killed without conscience, Yuschenko said.

As reported, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev sent an address to Ukrainian President Viktor Yuschenko in which he said that the tragic events of the 1930s are being used in Ukraine to achieve political goals.

Source: Kyiv Post

Shame on You, Mr. Medvedev!

It’s bad enough that Russians themselves won’t do anything to reconcile themselves to their abhorrent history of mass murder. Unlike Germans, Russians not only refuse to take responsibility for the barbaric actions of their ancestors, they’re actually in the process of rehabiliating those homicidal lunatics, like Josef Stalin, and lionizing them as great historic figures. But if Russians want to obliterate their own country, that’s their affair.
However, when Russians, like so-called president Dima Medvedev, attempt to prevent other nations from confronting their totalitarian past, a line must be drawn. Last week, in an action so outrageous that it bespeaks mental illness, Medvedev dared to intrude into domestic Ukrainian politics and lecture Ukrainians as to how they should commemorate the famine that wiped out millions of their ancestors in Soviet times.
Do you dare to imagine, dear reader, how Russians would react to a similar effort by the American president to lecture Russians on how to remember their own history? How is it possible for Russians to reach this stunning level of apelike hypocrisy? How can Russians even believe, with their long years of totalitarian dictatorship, that they even know their own history, much less anybody else’s? Dima Medvedev was schooled under Communism and appointed to office by a proud KGB spy following an election that was an utter sham. For this imbecile to imagine he has insights into the history of oppression is the height of Russian insanity.
We call upon the people of Russia to act like responsible human adults and be consistent. If you demand foreigners butt out of Russian affairs, then keep your noses out of theirs. If you feel you have the right to instruct Ukrainians about their own history, then don’t complain if the next U.S. adminstration begins to instruct you about yours.

Source: La Russophobe

First volume of national book of famine remembrance published in Ukraine

Ukrainian President Viktor Yuschenko has participated in the presentation of a national book of remembrance on the history of the Famine of 1932-1933 in Ukraine.


The head of state said that the study of the Ukrainian famine of the 1930s is not directed against any nation or any state.

He said that it is necessary, first and foremost, to know and remember the history of Ukraine for the latter to be an independent and prospering state.

"If we want to answer a question what we will be like, we should know our history," Yuschenko.

Source: Kyiv Post

Prime Minister to meet with Ukrainian genocide survivors during Parliament Hill ceremony

Is Dimitri Medvedev coming too?


OTTAWA, Nov. 28 /CNW/ -

Prime Minister Stephen Harper will launch
commemorations of the 75th anniversary of the Holodomor - the Ukrainian
genocide in Ukraine of 1932-33 during a ceremony on Wednesday, November 28 at
7:30 p.m., Reading Room (Room 237-C, Centre Block). The Prime Minister will
join the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, the Canada-Ukraine Parliamentary Group
and Ukraine's Embassy in Canada in honouring the victims of the famine, which
claimed up to 10 million lives in the very heart of Europe's breadbasket.

Survivors of the Holodomor from the Ottawa region will participate in the
ceremony which will include an ecumenical service and presentations by federal
party leaders.

Ukrainians in Canada join the international community in commemorating
this tragedy to spread the truth about the Holodomor, and ensure
acknowledgement of the Holodomor as an act of genocide against the Ukrainian
nation. The Ukrainian Canadian Congress calls upon the Government of Canada to
be a leader in these efforts and to support Ukraine as it petitions the
United Nations to acknowledge the Holodomor as genocide.


For further information: Ostap Skrypnyk, Executive Director, (866)
942-4627, ucc@ucc.ca, www.ucc.ca

Kiev Famine Tribute Irks Medvedev

Let's keep irking Medvedev and his cronies. High time to change the advantage to our side and drive them all CRAZY in Moscovite land!!!! Let's hope they all start chocking and turn blue in the face. :-))

Here is a snippet of the so-called President's irk:

President Dmitry Medvedev accused Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko on Friday of distorting history for political gain by commemorating a famine engineered by Soviet dictator Josef Stalin.

"We clearly see that this theme, along with persistent attempts to secure an invitation to NATO's 'prep classes,' has in recent years all but become the main element of Ukrainian foreign policy," Medvedev told Yushchenko in a letter."Such steps can hardly be explained by a bid to restore historical justice or to honor the victims' memory. They are more likely aimed at dividing our peoples as much as possible," he said.

Source: Moscow Times

Kyiv uses Stalin-era famine to divide Russia, Ukraine - Medvedev

This type of propaganda being spewed by Russia's so called president, might have had a bigger effect in the 1960's - 1970's. But we are living in a new era Dimitri, with new technologies and a new generation that does not fear you and your war mongers any longer. The truth is out there to behold, but you keep holding the line like a good communist and denying the fact that the communist regime under Joseph Stalin masterminded one of the most heinous crimes in history of mankind, by deliberately planning to starve to death over 10,000,000 people.

The wedge you are talking about was set in motion by your state, which can not come to terms that there no longer exists a Soviet Union. That Ukraine is a free independent country, and is courageous enough to look back into it's history and call a spade a spade. So, while Ukraine and Ukrainians around the world commemorate this tragic event HOLODOMOR, by coming to terms with this sad part of our history, you keep hiding behind your iron curtain and keep lying to your own people about this famine- genocide that was perpetrated by the Soviets, something you did so well before, and continue on with this tradition.

Russia's president has accused Kiev of using the Stalin-era famine to drive a wedge between Ukraine and Russia and urged efforts to forge a common position on the tragedy.

In a letter to Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko released by the Kremlin on Friday, Dmitry Medvedev said Kiev's position meant he could not attend events to commemorate the famine, known as the Holodomor, in Ukraine due later this month.

Click here for complete story.

Source: news.balita.ph

The World Reacts

Amid the cheers, a first challenge from Russia.
It's not surprising that the regime of Mr. Medvedev and his master, Vladimir Putin, would be the first to try intimidating the president-elect, though the speed with which it did so might have surprised even Mr. Biden. The principal aims of Mr. Putin's foreign policy are restoring Soviet-style domination of Russia's neighbors, such as Georgia and Ukraine, and proving that Moscow can still act as a counterweight to the United States. So Mr. Medvedev yesterday blamed the United States for Russia's invasion of Georgia and said that international "mechanisms must be created to block mistaken, egotistical and sometimes simply dangerous decisions" by Washington.

Click here for complete story.

Source: Washington Post

Requiem for a genocide

Yesterday, in a downtown Montreal church, a choir sang tribute to the victims of the genocide, known to Ukrainians as "Holodomor," or "death inflicted by starvation."

"I'm emotionally distraught with all this, knowing my family's history," said Valentina Kuryliw, a member of the Counterpoint Chorale, a Toronto group that performed at Montreal's St. James United Church.

Her parents survived the genocide, she said.
Kuryliw, a former Montrealer and retired history teacher, read a poem by a Holodomor survivor as part of the tribute that attracted more than 250 people, most of them greying members of Montreal's Ukrainian community.

Click here for complete story.

Source: The Montreal Gazette

Yushchenko praises Ukrainian nationalism

Ukraine’s president has taken part in celebrations to mark the 90th anniversary of the founding of the short-lived Western Ukrainian People’s Republic. Viktor Yushchenko attended the ceremonies in the city of Lvov.
He laid flowers on the monument dedicated to Western Ukrainian revolutionaries and participated in the parades which took place around the city.

Yushchenko also acclaimed and encouraged the activity of the newly-established museum of the Western Ukrainian People’s Republic, deeming it representative of modern Ukrainian values and the spirit of statehood.

Click here for complete story.

Source: Russia Today

Alberta Approves Memorial Day For Ukrainian Genocide

EDMONTON, Canada -- Premier Ed Stelmach's voice cracked as he spoke about an Act introduced and passed unanimously Thursday that makes every fourth Saturday in November an official memorial day in Alberta for the Ukrainian famine and genocide, or Holodomor.

"I do this with a great range of personal emotion," said Stelmach, whose grandparents immigrated to Alberta from Ukraine a century ago.

In a speech heavily peppered with Ukrainian phrases and words, Stelmach called the famine forced upon Ukrainians in the early 20th century "one of the most heinous atrocities of modern history." He outlined how millions of people from his ancestral home were starved to death by Soviet policies that stripped grains from Europe's traditional "bread basket."

"My grandfather and grandmother were amongst those early pioneers who came to Alberta in the late 1890s," Stelmach said. "Marie and I still maintain the original farm that they settled on, till the same soil that they did and . . . "

The premier took a long pause before continuing, "And we also give thanks for the abundant crops that soil yielded."

Sadly, he said, the dark black soil of the Ukraine his own ancestors treasured could not offer the same happy yields through the early 1930s.

The Act was introduced by Aboriginal Affairs Minister Gene Zwozdesky - who is also of Ukrainian descent.

Source: Calgary Herald

IMF, Ukraine Reach Agreement on $16.5 Billion Loan

The International Monetary Fund reached agreement with Ukraine on a $16.5 billion loan to help support the nation's financial system as turmoil in global credit markets and recession concerns roil the eastern European country.

The 24-month stand-buy loan will be conditional on parliamentary approval of legislation to support the country's bank, the Washington-based lender said in an e-mailed statement today without elaborating. Ukraine will also need to balance the budget and address the current-account deficit, the Kiev-based Ukrainian central bank said in a separate statement.

The loan may ensure financial stability and rebuild confidence among investors, who've shunned riskier emerging- market assets in a flight to safety. Ukraine is the least creditworthy of Europe's transition economies measured by the cost of credit-default swaps, which protect bondholders against default.

``This program is focused on the essential upfront measures needed to maintain confidence and economic and financial stability,'' IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said in the statement. ``The strength of the program justifies the high level of access, equivalent to 800 percent of Ukraine's quota in the Fund.''

Fitch Ratings on Oct. 17 cut Ukraine's credit rating to B+, four steps below investment grade, citing the currency's weakness, instability in the banking system and risks to economic growth.

International credit rating companies say the threat to Ukrainian banks has intensified because of the seizing-up of global credit markets, the high inflation rate, a widening current-account deficit and political instability.

The central bank pledged to support the banks and has injected more than 16.25 billion hryvnia ($3.13 billion) into the banking system this month, almost three times the figure it loaned in September. It also took control of Prominvestbank in recent weeks and promised an injection of 5 billion hryvnia to help the lender ``renew its financial stability'' after a run by depositors.

Source: Bloomberg

Parliament recognises Ukrainian famine of 1930s as crime against humanity

According to the resolution, the Holodomor famine of 1932-1933, which caused the deaths of millions of Ukrainians, "was cynically and cruelly planned by Stalin's regime in order to force through the Soviet Union's policy of collectivisation of agriculture against the will of the rural population in Ukraine".

MEPs believe that "recalling crimes against humanity in European history should help to prevent similar crimes in the future" and they stress that "European integration has been based on a readiness to come to terms with the 20th century's tragic history and that this reconciliation with a difficult history does not denote any sense of collective guilt, but forms a stable basis for the construction of a common European future founded on common values".

The resolution therefore makes a "declaration to the people of Ukraine and in particular to the remaining survivors of the Holodomor and the families and relatives of the victims".

It "recognises the Holodomor (the artificial famine of 1932-1933 in Ukraine) as an appalling crime against the Ukrainian people, and against humanity".

The text then "strongly condemns these acts, directed against the Ukrainian peasantry, and marked by mass annihilation and violations of human rights and freedoms".

It also "expresses its sympathy with the Ukrainian people, which suffered this tragedy, and pays its respects to those who died as a consequence of the artificial famine of 1932-1933".

Lastly, the resolution "calls on the countries which emerged following the break-up of the Soviet Union to open up their archives on the Holodomor in Ukraine of 1932-1933 to comprehensive scrutiny so that all the causes and consequences can be revealed and fully investigated".

Source: European Parliament

Kremlin hyping Georgia arms sales

The war of words over Ukraine’s role as one of the world’s top 10 arms exporters and in supplying weapons to Georgia is heating up.


The Ukrainian arms industry is in the firing line.

The war of words over Ukraine’s role as one of the world’s top 10 arms exporters and in supplying weapons to Georgia is heating up – at least with the Kremlin and Moscow-friendly Ukrainian lawmakers.

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Source: Kyiv Post

Putin tracks pet dog from space

Russia's satellite navigation system isn't fully operational yet, but it seems to work on Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's dog.

Putin listened Friday as his deputy, Sergei Ivanov, briefed him on the progress of the Global Navigation Satellite System.

Then footage broadcast on Russian TV showed them try a collar containing satellite-guided positioning equipment on the prime minister's black Labrador Koni.

Ivanov said that the equipment goes on a standby mode when "the dog doesn't move, if it, say, lies down in a puddle.

Now if they only could fit this type of device on Putin and his cronies, would it not be so wonderful?

Source: CNN

Putin's misstep

While we have many issues that require Russian co-operation, implementing these measures would go a long way toward firing a shot across Mr. Putin's bow and level the playing field.

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Source: The Washington Post

Ukrainian president gives time until Oct 7 to form coalition

KYIV, October 4 (Itar-Tass) - Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko will have consultations on Tuesday on whether to dismiss the parliament. The presidential press service cited him as saying this to reporters in the Khmelnitsky region.

The president said that he already had the right to dismiss the Supreme Rada. He said he realised that he had the full right to do it, but noted that he gave time until October 7 for political forces to legally formalise agreements to form a new coalition.

Yushchenko suggested that the existing inter-party agreements should be completed in a few days. Consultations planned for October 7 are a formal moment after which he will legally have the right to disband the parliament, he noted.

Ukrainians deny giving wartime help to Georgia

Ukrainian officials on Friday denied Russian accusations that Ukraine provided weapons to Georgia during the August war with Russia and that its military personnel operated some of the weapons during the conflict.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin made the charge Thursday, calling it "a crime" that this former Soviet republic helped Georgia during the fighting. The Russian military had said previously that anti-aircraft missiles supplied by Ukraine shot down four Russian warplanes.

The governments of both Ukraine and Georgia, which also is a former Soviet state, have angered the Kremlin by moving closer to the West and seeking membership in NATO.

Ukraine is a top supplier of weapons to Georgia. But the head of its state arms export company, Ukrspetsexport, said no arms were sold during the war, the Interfax news agency reported.

"Not a single bullet" was supplied to Georgia during the conflict, the report quoted the official, Sergei Bondarchuk, as saying.

Ukrspetsexport declined to comment on Interfax's report.

Ukrainian Defense Minister Yuriy Yekhanurov, meanwhile, denied that Ukraine's military personnel fought on the side of Georgia.

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Source: Associated Press

Ukraine's president, Viktor Yuschenko, meets with President George W. Bush at the White House on Monday.

Ukraine's president, Viktor Yuschenko, meets with President George W. Bush at the White House on Monday.
Bush's spokeswoman, Dana Perino, said the two leaders will discuss how to reinforce democracy, security and national sovereignty in Ukraine. In addition, she said Thursday they will review Ukraine's efforts to become part of the Euro-Atlantic community.
Yushchenko's pro-Western coalition with Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko collapsed earlier this month. The two leaders have been feuding ahead of the 2010 presidential elections. They also have disagreed about how to react to Russia's war with Georgia last month.
The Kremlin has bitterly opposed the prospect of NATO membership for Georgia and Ukraine.

Source: The International Herald Tribune

Ukrainian President Yushchenko declares democratic sovereignty

Amid domestic political turmoil and neighboring geopolitical conflict, speaking through a translator, Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko addressed the country’s future plans for an independent and democratic Ukraine. Nearly two weeks ago, Ukraine’s ruling coalition collapsed, and last year at this time the parliamentary elections put in place an ‘orange’ coalition featuring an alliance between the Yushchenko’s party and the party of Prime Minister Julia Temeshinko. The recent Russian-Georgian conflict has caused international tension between Ukraine and Russia over the fact that Ukraine hosts Russia’s Black Sea fleet and the transportation of energy supplies between Russia and Europe.
In the context of the Russian-Georgian conflict and pro-Russian forces active in the Krimean area, Yushchenko said that he is ready to fight and protect his sovereign nation and determine it’s own defense and security policy. He strongly confirmed that his territory would never be used for any country to deploy nuclear weapons. Addressing the fears of communist presence in the government, Yushchenko did not understand how Prime Minister Temeshinko made their top partnership with communists because, he said, “there are no Ukrainian communists. These communists always represented interests of a different country.”
Yushchenko confirmed his support of NATO, saying it is “the best model to guarantee security in the (Ukraine’s) international coordinates”. The President continued to declare his plan for a democratic Ukraine and integration into the European Union under the Association Agreement. The Association Agreements would include a free trade area and a start to negotiations of visa free access between the EU and Ukraine.

Source: The Talk Radio Service.

Round One

AP

As planned by the commission on debates, most of the night was devoted to foreign policy and there we give the clear edge to Mr. McCain. This is the ground where the 72-year-old is most comfortable, and you could see it in his self-confidence, as well as his command of history and facts. He showed it too in the specificity of his answers, notably on Russia: Watch Ukraine, he said, and "the Crimea," because Vladimir Putin's Georgian expedition is a prelude to Russian adventurism there.

Mr. Obama was well briefed, but almost in the way a Ph.D. candidate gives his dissertation defense. He knew the subject but without the conviction or detail that comes from wide experience. One surprise: Mr. Obama declared that both Georgia and Ukraine should get an immediate action plan to enter NATO. This is welcome as a policy matter, though we have our doubts how much this conviction would hold up in an Obama Administration as Mr. Putin growled and made trouble for the U.S. in Iran and Eastern Europe.


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Source: Wall Street Journal

Why McCain Loves Misha

Mikheil Saakashvili, his eyes bloodshot from sleeplessness and his face caked with television makeup, summoned his closest advisers into his office above Tbilisi's Old City. It was 2 a.m. on Aug. 12, and columns of Russian tanks were rolling down the highway toward the Georgian capital. "I am never going to flee," the president told his team. "I will not live my life regretting that I abandoned my own country at war." Then he sent them home to change out of their suits and ties so they could fight the invaders. Swigging a can of Red Bull, Saakashvili grabbed a phone and called the trusted friend and mentor he had turned to every night since Aug. 8, when the war began: John McCain. A source close to the Republican standard-bearer, asking not to be named discussing a private conversation, says McCain voiced support for diplomatic and political pressure against Moscow. "Hang in there," the senator said, according to a Saakashvili aide on condition of anonymity. "We are not going to let this happen … We are doing everything we can to stop this aggression."

Alex Majoli / Magnum for Newsweek

Straight out of the gate, Saakashvili fired 80,000 state employees, including 90 percent of the old KGB-trained security force and every last member of the country's notoriously corrupt traffic police. Since then three Parliament members, 16 prosecutors, 45 judges, 400 police and even a serving cabinet minister have been indicted and jailed for graft. And bypassing Georgia's old ruling class, Misha filled his cabinet with young, Western-educated former NGO staffers. "Only young people had the enthusiasm to change the country," says Georgia's state-security secretary, Alexander Lomaia, 50, the cabinet's oldest member. (The defense minister is 29.)

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Source: Newsweek