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
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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