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NEWS & LETTERS, January-February 2005Our Life and Times by Kevin A. BarryVictory in UkraineThe mass, disciplined Ukrainian democratic movement followed through its November-December nonviolent insurrection with a decisive 52% (vs. 44%) electoral victory for its representative, Viktor Yushchenko. Among the first fruits of that victory was the announcement that Ukraine would withdraw its 1,600 troops from Iraq. Russia’s Vladimir Putin accepted an outcome he never wanted with sullen resignation. Nothing is worse for an authoritarian like Putin than to look weak, which is what happened after he blatantly interfered on behalf of the losing side in Ukraine. At home, Putin has muzzled rival political parties and the press, all the while continuing a war without end in tiny Chechnya where up to 200,000 (out of only one million) have been killed since 1994. After Ukraine’s changeover, Putin gave a very telling speech. Reflecting his early Stalinist and police training, he lashed out at the prospect of "permanent revolution" in the lands of the former USSR. In addition, his spokesmen complained that the Ukrainian events actually resembled (horrors!) Poland’s Solidarnosc. It was Putin’s bad fortune that his draconian cuts in retirement benefits took effect only a week after Yushchenko’s victory. Suddenly there were mass protests in the streets of dozens of Russian cities, the largest since Putin came to power in 2000. Finally his attempt to influence Ukraine was working, but this time in reverse. continues, shrouded in silence. |
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