Yushchenko's place in history: A leader who failed his people?

Despite these initiatives Yushchenko lost virtually all credibility not only among Ukrainians but among Ukraine's loyal Russian citizens. Instead of arresting the rich and powerful guilty of rampant corruption, he gave them medals. Although this may have been motivated by a plan to co-opt former enemies and transform them into a "new national elite" nothing in the behavior of men like Kivalov ("seriozha pidrahui"), or Kyiv's mayor Chernovetsky suggests they have been thus transformed. Neither still can't even speak Ukrainian and historians will one day undoubtedly debate whether he, Batu Khan or Bogoliubsky did more to destroy Kyiv. Kyiv is turning into a vast filthy Calcutta-like slum.The initiative did, however, make a mockery of the awards system and the man who gave them.

Click here to read full article.

Source: Kyiv Post

International Center for Policy Studies: How to desovietize public administration in Ukraine

Ukraine’s political crisis is universally viewed as the only obstacle to the country’s integration into the European Union. Typically, only two main causes for the crisis are recognized: the “Ukrainian mentality” and a bad political leadership.
Click here for complete article.

Source: Kyiv Post

Ukrainian Christmas celebration in Montreal

Ukrainian Christmas celebration in Montreal presented by CTV news Montreal. Very nicely put together.

http://watch.ctv.ca/news/clip253103#clip253103

Veselych Sviat!!!

Source: CTV Montreal

Ukrainian Christmas 'not a generic holiday'

Wishing everybody celebrating Ukrainian Christmas smachnoyi kuti.
Click here to read article from The Standard in St. Catherines, Ontario.

Source: The Standard

Making a Little Fun of Russia’s Powerful

Ellen Barry writes from Moscow:It is not, from a purely technical standpoint, impossible to make fun of Vladimir V. Putin. His head is shaped a bit like a light bulb, with eyes that are heavy-lidded, as if to convey that he has just been reading your dossier. He has a needle nose, a prizefighter’s swagger and a fondness for posing shirtless. If all else fails, there is always the matter of height.

Read the story here.

Click here to view the clip, from great blog by Taras - Ukrainiana


Source: New York Times

Ukraine's leaders start ringing in the new year

President Victor Yushchenko, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and opposition Party of Regions chief Victor Yanukovych are polishing up their New Year's Eve speeches. Tymoshenko is expected on Kyiv's Independence Square.

Click here for story.

HAPPY NEW YEAR to everyone!!!

Source: Kyiv Post

UCCLA: No "miracles" for a KGB veteran - Canada's Ukrainians and many others want for Christmas, frankly, is a Canada free of the KBG.

Canada's Ukrainian community is calling on federal Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, Jason Kenney, and the Minister of Public Safety, Peter Van Loan, to reject calls for "a Christmas miracle" that would allow a self-confessed veteran of the KGB, Mikhail Lennikov, to stay in Canada.

UCCLA was responding to Vancouver Liberal MP Ujjal Dosanjh, who at a Monday news conference suggested Christmas is a time for "giving and forgiveness, the season of generosity." Responding, the Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association's Dr. Lubomyr Luciuk said: "Why ignore Mr. Lennikov's admitted membership in one of the most notorious secret police forces the world has ever known? What mercy were the KGB's victims ever shown? It's remarkable how ignorant some MPs are of history."

Both the Immigration and Refugee Board as well as a judge of the Federal Court of Canada confirmed that it is against the law for former members of the KGB to immigrate to Canada and then ordered Mr. Lennikov's removal. He has since defied those decisions, claiming a (non-existent) "right of sanctuary". Mr. Lennikov even told a reporter from The Vancouver Sun that he will spend Christmas enjoying a yuletide dinner with family and friends in the Lutheran Church where he now sits, evading Canadian authorities.

"Did Gulag prisoners have it that good?" wondered Dr. Luciuk. "Mr. Lennikov was ordered deported by a federal court judge and yet, inexplicably, he remains here. Why isn't the Canada Border Services Agency doing its job? They have a judge's order and they know where he is. While we agree that Canada should give haven to real refugees we certainly shouldn't to those who, indirectly or directly, were responsible for the enslavement and mass murder of millions of innocents between 1917-1991. What Canada's Ukrainians and many others want for Christmas, frankly, is a Canada free of the KBG."

For more on the Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association go to www.uccla.ca

The War on Christmas: It’s a Commie Thing

Indeed, today’s secularist war on Christmas (yes, the one that, like God, many liberals deny exists) was waged, in large part, when Communists began attempting to supplant the deity of Christ (and His associated Judeo-Christian principles) with the false deity of the State.

Ronald Reagan once spoke to this noteworthy historical factoid during a Christmas radio broadcast about the Ukraine’s war on Christmas. The great Gipper noted: “When the Ukraine was free and not under Soviet bondage, Christmas was, of course, the religious event that it is in the Western world.”

But as part of an effort to suppress the Gospel message and the spread of Christianity in Soviet Russia, Communist leaders secularized a favorite Ukrainian Christmas carol, “Nova Radist Stala” (Joyous News Has Come to Us).

One verse originally began: “The joyous news has come which never was before. Over a cave above a manger a bright star has lit the world, where Jesus was born from a virgin maiden …”

“Now, of course,” continued Reagan, “[public Christian expression] was neither fitting nor permitted under Communism. Still the commissars were a little leery about an outright ban. They chose to allow the song after some rewriting.”

Click here for complete article.

Source: Canada Free Press

MERRY CHRISTMAS to everyone!!!

Pickled herring, porridge and perogies make a Merry Christmas for Vancouver Canucks

A Christmas wish to our followers who celebrate December 24-25. Here is an article I came across that has some international flavor.

Hordichuk, the Canuck winger from the Ukrainian-Russian town of Kamsack, Sask., was accustomed to big family gatherings at Christmas.

“Everything revolved around the family and we had a huge family,” he said. “There were a lot of Hordichuks. Christmas Eve we’d go to church — Ukrainian Catholic. We’d have a big family Christmas.

Click here to read complete story.

Source: Vancouver Sun

Nato fails to gain Russia aid in Afghanistan

Analysts say the atmosphere between the alliance and Moscow has improved recently. Earlier this month, the Nato-Russia Council convened for the first time since the Georgia conflict.

During this visit, issues such as missile defence, Iran and a joint review of new security challenges were expected to be on the agenda.

The expansion of Nato remains a sensitive issue between the two sides, with Russia firmly opposed to any move towards membership by Ukraine or Georgia.

Mr Rasmussen has previously said they would become Nato members as and when they satisfied the necessary criteria, but emphasised that Moscow should not see that as a threat.

Click here for complete story.

Source: BBC

&^*&_*^)&%)&@#_&*+@

To whomever has been trying to post comments on the UKEMONDE blog, the text is not deciphered and is garble. Our blog is mostly in english we do have people submiting text in cyrilic and it comes through fine. I am simply deleting these messages since they are not clear. If you are the Russian troll? Oh well sorry your comments certainly won't be posted either.

Roman

Feds' witch hunt isn't punishing real war criminals

All major Nazi war criminals have been convicted or have died. Only small fry are left, and evidence is frail that any are war criminals.

Ukrainians conscripted as teenagers by Nazis have tended to be branded as suspect war criminals by the media, which overstates their "crime."

Anyway, Oberlander is once again a Canadian citizen, and with luck his ordeal is over.

For those interested, there's no shortage of recent crimes against humanity that warrant investigation, exposure and retribution.

Click here to read comple article by Peter Worthington of Toronto Sun.

Source: Toronto Sun

Accessory vs. Perpetrator

Many of us may not understand what the legal notion of ‘accessory’ stands for. An ‘accessory’ is a person who assists in the commission of a crime, but who does not actually participate in the commission of the crime as a joint principal. Bearing that in mind. I wonder what Demjanjuk’s court case is there to serve? Clearly geriatric Demjanjuk is not a danger to society. He is neither blamed for being a murderer nor accused of being a mass murderer. Being an alleged ‘accessory’ he is not exactly the story of the Shoa either. If the Holocaust is an account of a racially driven industrial homicidal crime, a Ukrainian POW serving as a German guard while being a prisoner is not exactly a story of a principal executioner. If this court case is aimed at perpetuating the message of the holocaust, all it really does is spread the opposite message.

Click here for complete article.

Hat tip to Cybercossack

Source: Dissident Voice

Women people's deputies of Lviv to send tie as present to Putin

A new shirt would also compliment a tie that is being sent by women's union of Lviv!!!! RG

The union of women people's deputies of Lviv region is to give a present of a tie to Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin, Emilia Podliashetska, a people's deputy of Lviv regional council, has told journalists on Wednesday.

"The women of Lviv region will give a present of a tie to Vladimir Putin so that he will have something to do after the elections in Ukraine," she said.

Click here to read complete article.

And we won't even question his questionable homosexual tendities?.

Source: Inter-Fax

EU cautious on integrating Ukraine

Good for the EU to show Ukraine that enough is enough. While they were used to the best of two world at their earlier stage of independence, very little has been done to show that they are worthy of being axcxcepted.

But on Friday there was no such agreement to sign. Jose Manuel Pinto Teixeira, the EU's top official in Ukraine, said the government in Kiev had simply not kept its side of the bargain, and that very little progress had been made in the areas where the EU wants Ukraine to reform.

"In particular in creating an environment to start reducing corruption; red tape; administrative burdens of all kinds in terms of the business in Ukraine, of attracting investment. There are a number of issues that indicate that in fact very little progress has been achieved."

Click here to read full article.

Source: BBC

Russia's Putin calls for balanced assessment of Stalin

Today at 15:08 | Reuters MOSCOW, Dec 3 (Reuters) - Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin called for a balanced assessment of Soviet leader Josef Stalin on Dec. 3, saying his legacy was not all positive or all negative.

Asked for his views on Stalin amid an ongoing debate in Russia over his legacy, Putin praised Stalin for industrialising the Soviet Union and winning World War Two but condemned his repression which destroyed the lives of millions.

Source; Kyiv Post

I can give a balanced assessment of Stalin Russia's that Putin is calling for but we don't want to get NASTY!!! :-)))

December 1 is the happiest day of my life. On this day I killed the Soviet Union.

December 1 is the happiest day of my life. On this day I killed the Soviet Union.

I am not a violent person. But on December 1, 1991, I voted in a referendum on the independence of Ukraine, along with more than 90 percent of Ukrainians.

This was the end of the USSR. I am saying this not because my life immediately became better. In fact, for many of my fellow Ukrainians life became worse, or at least more difficult.

Nor am I trying to challenge Russian leader Vladimir Putin, who said that the demise of the Soviet Union was the biggest geopolitical disaster of the 20th century. God forbid! He may have his own reasons to feel this way. I just want to share my happiness and explain it.

I never liked the Soviet regime. From early childhood one had to learn to be a liar, a hypocrite, to stop being oneself in order to make a career or even to survive. But it was not the kind of regime one bravely stood up to, as you would to a foreign occupation.

Click here for complete story.

Source: RFE/RFL

1932-33 Holodomor has become part of the world drama owing to James Mace

Sad-eyed old men and women were the first to come to the Holodomor Memorial to offer up prayers for the dead. It was hard for them to discuss the subject and they were scared by their memories. Everyone held a lit candle decorated with wheat ears. Behind them were the shadows of thousands, millions of fellow countrymen tortured to death, slaughtered, killed by famine, who were denied the right to speak their mind, even to pray. “The mute shall start so speak,” wrote Taras Shevchenko prophetically. On these days of remembrance people did speak, shared their memories, and wept.

Click here to read complete article about James Mace from The Day English version paper.

Source: The Day

Demjanjuk trial shows double standards, lawyer says‏

A lawyer for John Demjanjuk, accused of helping to murder 27,900 Jews at a Nazi death camp, has accused German prosecutors of double standards. Mr Demjanjuk, 89, denies he was a guard at Sobibor camp, in wartime Poland.

As the case began in Munich, his legal team said in previous cases Germans assigned to the camp had been cleared.

The Ukraine-born accused, who was extradited to Germany from the US in May, was twice carried into court, first in a wheelchair then a stretcher.
Doctors have said Mr Demjanjuk is in poor health, and asked that hearings be limited to two 90-minute sessions a day.

Over 60 years after the end of World War II, this may be Germany's last big war crimes trial.

Click here for complete story.

Source: BBC

Ukraine leader calls '30s famine Soviet genocide

Standing before a monument dedicated to the millions who perished from the Great Famine of the 1930s, Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko marked the famine's anniversary with a fresh appeal for the world to recognize the tragedy as an act of genocide by then-Soviet leader Josef Stalin.

The ongoing effort by Mr. Yushchenko to revive a history long suppressed by the Soviet Union, and still dismissed by many in Russia, could well define his presidency.

"We did almost the impossible," the leader told a large crowd on Saturday gathered near the memorial on an overcast day. "We saved and returned to the people the truth about the Great Famine of 1932-33. We returned it from the abyss, from the precipice, from that which fails to return."

Ukraine's Soviet-era archives, opened to the public by Mr. Yushchenko, has allowed historians to take a fresh look at the Holodomor, or death by hunger. It refers to the famine that killed between 3 million and 7 million Ukrainians, mostly from the country's central and eastern regions, in 1932 to '33. Some estimates of the toll run as high as 10 million.

Mr. Yushchenko and scholars say Stalin ordered the famine as a way of breaking the Ukrainian people and its leadership. Both had serious disagreements with the Soviet leader over his collectivization policies and were unwilling to meet quotas that he had set for the agriculturally rich Ukraine.

Click here to read complete article.

Source: Washington Post

Remembering Ukrainian genocide - Lubomyr Luciuk

This year, Nov. 28 - tomorrow - is the date on which the Holodomor's victims will be hallowed. Thousands of postcards bearing Lemkin's image and citing his words have been mailed to diplomats
worldwide, asking them to acknowledge what was arguably the greatest crime against humanity to befoul 20th-century European history. There is no doubt that Lemkin knew the famine in Soviet Ukraine was
genocidal. If the world chooses to ignore what he said than what this good man fathered - the word "genocide" - will lose all meaning.

This was article written by Lubomyr Luciuk and was published in Montreal Gazette on November 27, 2009. Click here to read full article.

Kyiv decides to light 30,000 candles near memorial to victims of Holodomor on Nov. 28, 2009

The Kyiv city state administration has decided to light 30,000 candles on the bank vault in Glory Park near the Memorial to the victims of Holodomors on Sichnevoho Povstannia (Mazepy) Street. Anatolii Holubchenko, the first deputy head of the Kyiv city state administration, announced this to the press.

"There are 30,000 candles," he said.

According to the first deputy head of the city administration, the Kyivzelenbud municipal company on Friday started setting saucers for the candles and will start lighting the candles at 09:00 on Nov. 28.

Ukraine observes the 76th anniversary of the Holodomor famine on Nov. 28, 2009.

According to various estimates, the Holodomor artificial famine killed between three million and seven million of innocent people in Ukraine in 1932 and 1933 alone.


Source: Kyiv Post

This was the last part of our six part series, this is the bare minimum which we, as Canadians, 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 reoccurrence of similar tragedies.

All Canadians are invited to join the Ukrainian community in remembrance.

Let's reveal the truth about the Holodomor to the world!

The Famine as Genocide/Quebec

On Wednesday, November 25, 2009 The Quebec National Assembly unanimously accepted the introduction of a Bill recognizing the 1932-1933 Famine as Genocide. The bill was introduced by Louise Beaudoin, P.Q. MNA for Rosemont riding. It was received with applause by all parties and official gallery observers!

UCC Montreal has been assisting on this historic presentation of a Bill with Louise Beaudoin since August 2009, after Hon. Louise Beaudoin declared her intention to have the Famine recognized as Genocide at the UCC's annual Independence Banquet. She was invited as a special guest to Banquet in August.

Special thank you to Roman Karpishka, Prof. Roman Serbyn, Zorianna Hrycenko-Luhova, Hryhorij Kowryha, Yourko Kulyckyj, Marta Bilyk for all their tremendous work! This could not have have been achieved without their continuous hard work.

140 special information packages about the 1932-33 Famine-Genocide for members of The National Assembly of Quebec as well as for members of the press, were prepared in advance, and delivered by car to Quebec. It included a covering letter by Marika Putko, president.The package also included a French-language DVD copy of the award-winning documentary Harvest of Despair. (The UCC National Holodomor Awareness Committee assisted in receiving appropriate materials.)

Wednesday 7am, a bus left from Montreal to Quebec with 57 members of the Ukrainian community to witness and support the historic event. Caisse Ukrainienne Desjardins helped cover rental of the bus for which we gratefully thank them. Roman Karpishka coordinated the organization of the bus delegation. A special presentation of the just released book titled Raphael Lemkin:Soviet Genocide in Ukraine (with Lemkin's article in 28 Languages), was also presented by Prof. Roman Serbyn in Quebec.
Several articles have already appeared in the press about this event.

Again, I wish to sincerely thank the KYK Committee for working so hard to make this happen.

Marika Putko, President
UCC Montreal/Quebec

Statement by the President on Ukrainian Holodomor Remembrance Day

Seventy six years ago, millions of innocent Ukrainians – men, women, and children – starved to death as a result of the deliberate policies of the regime of Joseph Stalin. Tomorrow, we join together, Ukrainian-Americans and all Americans, to commemorate these tragic events and to honor the many victims.

From 1932 to 1933, the Ukrainian people suffered horribly during what has become known as the Holodomor – “death by hunger” – due to the Stalin regime’s seizure of crops and farms across Ukraine. Ukraine had once been a breadbasket of Europe. Ukrainians could have fed themselves and saved millions of lives, had they been allowed to do so. As we remember this calamity, we pay respect to millions of victims who showed tremendous strength and courage. The Ukrainian people overcame the horror of the great famine and have gone on to build a free and democratic country.

Remembering the victims of the man-made catastrophe of Holodomor provides us an opportunity to reflect upon the plight of all those who have suffered the consequences of extremism and tyranny around the world. We hope that the remembrance of Holodomor will help prevent such tragedy in the future.

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

The perpetrators' motive was simple, and all the documents and later research have not changed the overall portrait of the events I first presented in 1982 International Conference on the Holocaust and Genocide in Tel Aviv. I remain convinced that, for Stalin to have complete centralized power in his hands, he
found it necessary to physically destroy the second largest Soviet republic, meaning the annihilation of the Ukrainian peasantry, Ukrainian intelligentsia, Ukrainian language, and history as understood by the people; to do away with Ukraine and things Ukrainian as such. The calculation was very simple, very primitive: no people, therefore, no separate country, and thus no problem. Such a policy is GENOCIDE in the classic sense of the word.

Click here to read the complete article written by the late James Mace in 2003. One of my favorite articles that I came accross. In the late 1980s, Prof. James Mace was executive director of the US commission that collected evidence and eyewitness accounts from survivors, who survived the Golgotha of Soviet Ukraine in the 1930s. This is PART V of the six part series dedicated to the memory of the victims of Ukrainian Holodomor 1932 - 33.

Welsh hero of Ukraine recognised

Ukraine now uses Gareth Jones's ground breaking reports in its efforts to secure international recognition of the famine, known in Ukrainian as the Holodomor, meaning genocide.

Jones's reports of expropriations, famine and deaths at a time when the West was buying cheap Soviet grain and other foods did not change their minds.

Despite his reports having little impact, Jones was accused of espionage and banned from the Soviet Union. He went to the Far East and, according to his family, was murdered in suspicious circumstances in Inner Mongolia in 1935.

He was just 30 years old. It wasn't until decades later, in 2008, that he and Malcolm Muggeridge were posthumously awarded the Ukrainian Order Of Freedom medal in a ceremony at Westminster Central Hall in London.

Click here to read complete story about Gareth Jones - "Hero of Ukraine"
This is PART IV of our six part series dedicated to the tragic history of Ukrainian Holodomor which was perpetrated by the Stalin Soviet machine.

SOVIET GENOCIDE IN UKRAINE

FAMOUS ESSAY by Rafael Lemkin, New York, NY, 1953 [Text was probably originally composed for Lemkin’s address at the 1953 Ukrainian Famine commemoration in New York. Later Lemkin added it to the material he was gathering for his elaborate History of Genocide which was never published. Ed, Roman Serbyn.] "Holodomor Studies" Journal, Vol. 1, Issue 1, Winter-Spring 2009, Pages 3-8 Charles Schlacks, Publisher, Idyllwild, CA

These attacks on the Soul have also had and will continue to have a serious effect on the Brain of Ukraine, for it is the families of the clergy that have traditionally supplied a large part of the intellectuals, while the priests themselves have been the leaders of the villages, their wives the heads of the charitable organizations. The religious orders ran schools, took care of much of the organized charities.

The mass murder of peoples and of nations that has characterized the advance of the Soviet Union into Europe is not a new feature of their policy of expansionism, it is not an innovation devised simply to bring uniformity out of the diversity of Poles, Hungarians, Balts, Romanians – presently disappearing into the fringes of their empire. Instead, it has been a long-term characteristic even of the internal policy of the Kremlin – one which the present masters had ample precedent for in the operations of Tsarist Russia. It is indeed an indispensable step in the process of “union” that the Soviet leaders fondly hope will produce the “Soviet Man,” the “Soviet Nation,” and to achieve that goal, that unified nation, the leaders of the Kremlin will gladly destroy the nations and the cultures that have long inhabited Eastern Europe.

Click here to read complete article. This is PART III of our six part series dedicated to the 10 million victims of Ukrainian Holodomor

Bill 390 - An Act to proclaim Ukrainian Famine and Genocide (Holodomor) Memorial Day

Bill 390

An Act to proclaim Ukrainian Famine and Genocide (Holodomor) Memorial Day

Introduced by - Madam Louise Beaudoin (Member for Rosemont)


EXPLANATORY NOTES

The purpose of this bill is to proclaim the fourth Saturday in November in each year Ukranian Famine and Genocide (Holodomor) Memorial Day.


Bill 390
AN Act TO PROCLAIM UKRAINIAN FAMINE AND GENOCIDE (HOLODOMOR) MEMORIAL DAY

AS the Holodomor is the name given to the famine and genocide that occurred in Ukraine in 1932 and 1933;

As millions of Ukrainians perished as victims of a famine deliberately induced by the Soviet regime under Joseph Stalin to quash the aspirations of the Ukrainian people for a free and independent Ukraine;

AS the President of Ukraine issued a Presidential Decree on 26 November 1998 establishing the fourth Saturday in November as a National Day of Remembrance for the victims of this mass atrocity;

AS, in recent years, a number of countries have in various ways acknowledged the Holodomor in Ukraine as historical fact;

AS there is a Ukrainian community in Québec;

AS our fellow citizens of Ukrainian origin care deeply about commemorating the victims of the Ukrainian famine and genocide of 1932 and 1933;

AS Quebecers are committed to defending democratic values and human rights and as they reject intolerance and ethnic exclusion;

THE PARLIAMENT OF QUÉBEC ENACTS AS FOLLOWS:

1. The fourth Saturday in November in each year is proclaimed Ukrainian Famine and Genocide (Holodomor) Memorial Day.

2. This Act comes into force on (insert the date of assent to this Act).

Source: National Assembly of Quebec

Ukrainian genocide will be commemorated in Quebec

QUEBEC — Members of the Quebec provincial legislature voted unanimously to approve on first reading a bill to commemorate the Ukrainian genocide in the 1930s, when Soviet dictator Josef Stalin withheld food from Ukraine, leading to millions of deaths.


The bill was presented by Parti Quebecois member Louise Beaudoin.


Once the bill receives final approval, the fourth Saturday in November will be designated to commemorate the Ukrainian genocide, known as the Holodomor.


If passed, Quebec will be the fourth province to mark the genocide. Alberta passed similar legislation in October 2008.


Also, in May 2008, the Harper government said it would recognize the Holodomor as genocide.


The genocide, in 1932 and 1933, was Stalin's attempt to subdue the Ukrainian people by systematically starving them and restricting travel beyond their villages. The exact number of victims remains unclear.


With files from Canwest News Service

Source: Montreal Gazette

HOLODOMOR – THE UKRAINIAN GENOCIDE

The “Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide” provides the most authoritative definition of genocide, which has been integrated into national and international laws. The document acknowledges that genocides occurred in all periods of history, and in times of war and peace. Article II defines genocide as “acts committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious groups, as such.”

Genocide does not imply total destruction or only physical extermination. Article II lists three lethal actions: killing, causing bodily harm, and imposing conditions of life leading to physical destruction. Two measures are non-fatal: preventing births and transferring children. Ukrainians were victims of all these atrocities, and the deportation of divided Ukrainian families to Russia falls under the last heading. There are no quantitative criteria for genocide, but it is assumed that the victims form a significant part of the target group. The extinction of the Ukrainian population did not suit Stalin: Ukrainians comprised over 20 percent of the Soviet workforce and inhabited a strategic region. A partial extermination would suffice. Since there is consensus that several million Ukrainians perished, quibbling over the number of victims becomes irrelevant and only diverts attention from fundamental issues.

Click here for PART II of six part series, article by Professor Roman Serbyn.

LEMKIN: HOLODOMOR 'CLASSIC' GENOCIDE

We start our 6 part series dedicated to the inncocent victims of Ukraine’s Holodomor.

Rafael Lemkin who coined the term ‘genocide,’ called the Holodomor a classic case of Soviet genocide.

Only seven people came to bury him. He rests beneath a simple stone in New York’s Mount Hebron cemetery, the sole clue to his historical importance an inscription incised below his name - “Father Of The Genocide Convention.”

As a graduate student I was obliged to read his book, Axis Rule in Occupied Europe: Laws of Occupation, Analysis of Government, Proposals for Redress, frankly more door-stopper than page-turner. Nowadays, with advocates for “humanitarian intervention” shilling the notion of a “duty to intervene” whenever and wherever necessary to “stop genocide,” Dr. Raphael Lemkin’s name and words are better known. After all he fathered the term “genocide” by combining the root words –geno (Greek for family or race) and –cidium (Latin for killing) then doggedly lobbied United Nation member states until they adopted a Convention on Genocide, on Dec. 9, 1948, his crowning achievement.

Click here to read complete article by Dr. Lubomyr Luciuk

Russian News Agencies Spread Saakashvili’s Response to Putin’s Joke

Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili took Putin’s joke as an outrage of Georgian and Ukrainian people.
According to Russian TV-channels, Mikheil Saakashvili made the corresponding statement on the Ukrainian TV-channel.
‘Putin was threatening to hang me with a part of my body which I can’t name publicly, though which is very important for every man and even woman, especially for politicians. Now he is talking about my necktie. It’s good news. He has moved up to a necktie and I feel more secure now’, Saakashvili said.
According to him, Russian Prime Minister Putin’s statement outraged Ukraine and Georgia.
Mikheil Saakashvili stated Georgia and Ukraine are following the way of European development and Russia wouldn’t be able to return these countries back to the Soviet Union.
According to Russian news agencies, at a press-conference, held in Yalta on 20 November, Vladimir Putin advised his Ukrainian counterpart not to put on a necktie at the supper with Mikheil Saakashvili, indicating to the BBC video shot in August, 2008.

Click here to view video: Putin lampoons 'Saakashvili tie' at gas talks with Ukraine RT

Source: The Georgian Times

Lemkin: Holodomor ‘classic’ genocide

Likewise overlooked were Lemkin’s views on Communist crimes against humanity. In a 1953 lecture in New York City, for example, he described the “destruction of the Ukrainian nation” as the “classic example of Soviet genocide,” adding insightfully:“the Ukrainian is not and never has been a Russian. His culture, his temperament, his language, his religion, are all different...to eliminate (Ukrainian) nationalism...the Ukrainian peasantry was sacrificed...a famine was necessary for the Soviet and so they got one to order...if the Soviet program succeeds completely, if the intelligentsia, the priest, and the peasant can be eliminated [then] Ukraine will be as dead as if every Ukrainian were killed, for it will have lost that part of it which has kept and developed its culture, its beliefs, its common ideas, which have guided it and given it a soul, which, in short, made it a nation...This is not simply a case of mass murder. It is a case of genocide, of the destruction, not of individuals only, but of a culture and a nation.”
For complete article, click here.

Source: Kyiv Post

*INTERNATIONAL CAMPAIGN RECALLING GENOCIDAL GREAT FAMINE LAUNCHED*

UCCLF - International campaign recalling genocidal great famine launched

(Ottawa, 16 November 2009)

An educational campaign recalling the Great Famine of 1932-1933 in Soviet Ukraine, known as the Holodomor, was launched today. Thousands of postcards are being sent to embassies and consulates internationally, urging governments to officially recognize that this famine was an act of genocide perpetrated by the Soviet regime of Joseph Stalin. Canada is one of the few countries that has already recognized the Holodomor as genocidal.

Drawing upon the writings of Dr. Raphael Lemkin, the "father of the [UN] Genocide Convention," who described the "destruction of the Ukrainian nation" as the "classic example of Soviet genocide," the Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Foundation and partner groups around the world are mailing postcards featuring a pastel drawing of Lemkin and an excerpt from his 1953 speech "Soviet Genocide in the Ukraine," an effort timed to coincide with the annual day of mourning for the Holodomor's victims (28 November).

Commenting, Professor Lubomyr Luciuk, editor of Holodomor: Reflections on the Great Famine of 1932-1933 in Soviet Ukraine, said:

"Many millions of men, women and children suffered agonizing deaths in Soviet Ukraine in 1932-1933 during what was arguably one of the greatest acts of genocide to befoul 20th century European history. To this day there are Holodomor-deniers attempting to obfuscate what happened, continuing to cover up this Communist crime against humanity. This educational effort is therefore aimed at reminding governments everywhere that the father of the United Nations Convention on Genocide was personally convinced of the genocidal character of Soviet rule in Ukraine. We are also calling upon countries that believe in upholding the relevance of the UN Genocide Convention to officially recognize the truth of what happened during the Holodomor."


To contact Dr. Lubomyr Luciuk, please e-mail: luciuk@uccla.ca

House of Bears - Orysia Dawydiak's first novel.

Everyone is invited to the launch of House of Bears, a new novel by Orysia Dawydiak.

WHEN: Thursday, December 3, 2009, 7-9 p.m.
WHERE: Haviland Club, 2 Haviland Street, Charlottetown

House of Bears is Orysia Dawydiak's first novel.
http://www.acornpresscanada.com/book/house-bears
When Luba Kassim reluctantly returns home to Northern Ontario, the strained relationship with her traditional Ukrainian mother only heightens her feelings of alienation and isolation. A family crisis reunites her extended family and reignites old rivalries and the pain of long-held family secrets. Slowly, Luba begins piecing together her family’s unspoken past, starting in the 1930s in Ukraine, followed by emigration to England and settlement in Canada. In the process, she uncovers some startling truths about her own identity, and learns that she and her mother have much more in common than she thinks.

Orysia works at the Atlantic Veterinary College in Charlottetown, and lives on a small farm on Prince Edward Island's north shore where she raises sheep and dogs. She writes books on livestock protection dogs, and has also written award-winning fiction for children and young adults.

Author reading and signing - Music - Refreshments
Everyone welcome!

For more information, call (902) 892-8151
Published by Acorn Press, Charlottetown
acornpresscanada.com
ISBN 978-1-894838-34-4 / 6 x 9 / 320 pp / 2009 / pb / $22.95

1930s journalist Gareth Jones to have story retold

The story of Jones, a devout, non-comformist teetotaller from Barry, often has elements of Indiana Jones and Zelig.
Rory Finnan, a lecturer in Ukrainian studies at Cambridge, called him "a true hero"."He is a remarkable historical figure and it is also remarkable that he is not well known. Jones was the only journalist who risked his name and reputation to expose the Holodomor to the world."
Click here for complete story.

Also visit these fabulous sites:

UKEMONDE - Gareth Jones, hero of Ukraine

Ukrainian Canadian - True extent of Ukraine famine revealed in British journalist’s diaries


Gareth Richard Vaughan Jones - Hero of Ukraine (1905 -1935) A Man Who Knew Too Much...

Source: The Guardian

Medvedev calls for economy reform ????

The Russian president gave a bleak assessment of the current situation and there was much in the speech that implied deep criticism of Mr Putin, reports the BBC's Richard Galpin in Moscow. Click here for full story.
Does this mean the KGB apparatchiks working for Putin will start plans on elimination of Mr. Medvedev, as they have to reporters and anyone who stands up against his (Putin's) corrupt regime?

Source: BBC

'Russian King Lear' did the world a huge favour

Twenty years later, the world owes Gorbachev an enormous debt of gratitude for ending the Cold War, and freeing Eastern Europe and the Baltic states. Thank our lucky stars Gorbachev was in power when the Soviet Union met its inevitable collapse -- or we could have faced World War III. - Another great article by Eric Margolis, click here to read it in its entirety.

Kremlin's Russifying “internationalists”

Another great article I came across was in The Day newspaper. All those Kremlin Politburo “internationalists” were outright demagogues and chauvinists who utterly hated the ethnic sentiments of the peoples that made up the USSR, with Ukraine probably topping the list. Click here to read the complete article.

Source; The Day

Does Ukraine stand a chance?

Ukraine, regrettably, failed to use its chance. One can come up with a long list of reasons, including historical and political traps concealed in latter-day history; questions like whether the Europeans knew Ukraine for what it was all about; an analysis of our mistakes and ways to correct them.

Read full article here.

Source: The Day

And the wall came tumbling down ...

This process has not been without its painful moments, and there will be more to come. But the enlargement of Europe remains the most obvious consequence of the fall in November 1989. Looked at from the point of view of those former Soviet states that still yearn to breathe free of Russian hegemony, such as Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova, this enlargement is both seductive and incomplete.
Click here to read full article.

Source: FT

Flu panic stoked by political malpractice

Very interesting article in Kyiv Post about the politics behind the swine flu pandemic in Ukraine. Click here to read the article. Also CBC had done a similar piece on this, click here for the article.

Sources: Kyiv Post://www.kyivpost.com & CBC

Ukraine Flu Epidemic Day 6

You can get the latest about the HINI flu crisis in Ukraine by visiting Greetings from Ukraine Blog Michelle Knisley is a missionary serving with CrossRoads Foundation. Her Blog also has links to other news sources regarding the flu pendemic.

Seventy-one people die of flu

While her slogan for the Presedential Elections in 2010 is "I am the only on working" it seems people in Ukraine are dying of H1N1, with reports of over 70 dead so far. How prepared was her government to face this pandemic? Does not look to well. And people want to elect her Predident? First her incompetent government handling of the World Finacial Crisis, now this.
Here is a recap of stories on the crisis in Ukraine:

Seventy-one people die of flu, acute respiratory infections - Interfax Ukraine
Panic in Ukraine over swine flu - BBC News
Swine flu hits Ukrainian election campaign - EurActiv
Ukrainian Hospitals To Distribute Tamiflu For Free - RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty

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.

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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.

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Source: Edmonton Journal