| |
|
25. november 2004
|
|
Background on Ukraine
Obviously, a government that organises widespread voting fraud is very corrupt to begin with. To get a bit of background on how corrupt, check out La Sabot, a Kiev-based blogger.
Compare the situation to Russia, where an authoritarian Putin faced off against corrupt oligarchs. In Ukraine, authoritarianism and oligarchy are fused. Yanukovych isn't just another unscrupulous candidate, he's the main man of Akhmetov -- the duke of Donetsk and the richest man in Ukraine. The current president, Kuchma, is the head of a different clan, Dnepropetrovsk. The presidential administrator is Medvedchuk, who happens to run the Kiev-based Medvedchuk-Surkis clan. He also owns the two biggest Ukrainian TV stations, which is awfully convenient.
While there is jockeying for control among these clans, the overall effect is for them to sustain one another in power. They all depend on the same system for survival, and actively collaborate to keep it in place.
A good example of the clan system in action was the recent privatization of the Kryvorizhstal factory. Western firms offered 2.1 billion dollars. It was sold to the presidents son-in-law for 800 million. His son-in-law is Pinchuk, the head of the Pinchuk-Derkach clan.
Link via Dan Drezner, who has some insights of his own:
At this juncture, there is one of three possibilities:
1) The leadership backs down;
2) The leadership cracks down;
3) The leadership tries to crack down but the coercive apparatus splits.
That moment is rapidly approaching in Kiev.
I hope for and believe in option one.
10:17:40 PM 
|
|
Norway is worth $9 trillion
Norway's Department of Finance has calculated that Norway is worth NOK 55,158,356,850,000 - 55 trillion Norwegian kroner or almost US$ 9 trillion.
"Only" NOK 2,500 billion of that is Norway's oil reserves. The vast majority is the value of current and future work of Norwegians.
(From a Norwegian article in VG)
Also, there is now officially 4.6 million Norwegians to share the wealth. Not many, but our country still has a decent population growth unlike some neighbours further south. We are, however, still short of the replacement rate.
9:12:45 PM
|
|
Happy Thanksgiving!
Thanksgiving is a particular US celebration, and I have of course never participated in it.
I wish all my American readers and fellow bloggers a Very Happy Thanksgiving!
8:44:22 PM
|
|
More Ukraine news - An Orange for Ukraine
An Ukrainian government member has resign in protest against the electoral fraud (yes, link goes to Kyiv Post, an independent Ukrainian newspaper in English):
Deputy economy minister Oleh Hayduk resigned in protest of the fraudulent vote count in the Ukrainian election, Ukrainian News reported.
“When the European Union doesn’t recognize the election results, what kind of European integration can we talk about?” Hayduk said Nov. 25 on the Channel 5 television station.
“That’s my position as a citizen. I wrote a declaration of my resignation yesterday, and now I’m confirming it,” he said.
Hayduk, 39, has been a deputy economy minister since April 21 of this year.
 His letter was read to the protesters, who reportedly are in a good mood.
Lech Walesa also addressed the crowd of peaceful orange-clad protesters.
According to Norwegian newspaper VG, the Ukraine issue has also united "old Europe" with the new world. The US and the EU is together in protesting the electoral fraud.
In the German parliament, foreign minister Joshcka Fischer and other members of the government coalition's Green Party brought oranges to the Bundestag to mark their support of the opposition in Ukraine. Angela Merkel, the leader for the main opposition party CDU, asked to have an orange to join the little demonstration.
As you can see, I have joined it myself. Display an orange on your blog in support for a peaceful, democratic outcome in Ukraine!
PS: Above picture is from amgmedia's free photos page, found via Google image search. Thanks to them!
Update: More Ukraine.
8:38:21 PM
|
|
Iraq war update - possible chemical weapons found in Fallujah
Another leutenant of wanted terrorist Al-Zarqawi, identified as Abu Saeed, has allegedly been arrested in Mosul.
US and Iraqi forces have reported to have found the largest weapons cache so far in Fallujah, so large in fact it would be sufficient equipment to equip and army that could hold all of Iraq. According to the Iraqi government, the troops also found a terrorist chemical weapons lab in the city:
National security adviser Qassem Dawoud said National Guard troops “found a chemical laboratory that was used to prepare deadly explosives and poisons.”
He said the lab was in a district where pockets of fighters are still holding out following the US led assault on the city.
“We also found in the laboratory manuals and instructions spelling out procedures for making explosives,” Dawoud said. “They also spoke about making anthrax.”
Dawoud showed pictures of a shelf containing what he said were various chemicals.
The US military said it discovered the “largest weapons cache to date in Fallujah.”
The weapons – including anti-tank mines and a mobile bomb-making lab – were found inside a mosque used by an insurgent leader. Troops also found documents detailing hostage interrogations, the military said.
British, US and Iraqi forces also launched a large thanksgiving offensive named operation Plymouth Rock in "Millionnaires Row," where Saddam's tops, including Republican Guard commanders, had their luxury homes.
The British Black Watch regiment participated in the raid, netting nearly 80 suspects and some bomb-making equipment. No casualties were reported for the good guys.
8:16:18 PM
|
|
Stakes are high in Ukraine, and not only for Ukrainians
Hundreds of thousands of people keep protesting alleged fraud Ukraine's presidential election, and today the peaceful demonstrators received an unexpected boost from the country's Supreme Court. The country's highest court suspended publication of the official result pending further investigation of the complaints.
Liberal opposition candidate Viktor Yushchenko had appealed the result, which officially had Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych as the winner.
There are questions about how independent from the government the supreme court can act, but it's not inconceivable the judges can see which way the wind blows.
The impasse has also reawakened old emnity between the west and Russia. Yushchenko is the west's favourite, while Russia's Vladimir Putin has made no secret of his support for Yanukovych. Putin congratulated the prime minister today while the EU and the US said they could not accept the official election result amid widespread fraud allegations. Putin, however, could be interpreted to back down when he both warned against foreign meddling in Ukraine (that is chutzpah!) and said the election result had to be decided by the country's court system.
The US has been remarkbly strong in rejecting Yanukovych as a fraudulent and corrupt dictator, and for a while it looked like the cold war was making a return over the Ukraine conflict.
If Yushchenko finds himself the winner, and succeeds in his reform plans, Russia will find its buffer-zone of "friendly" states between itself and the west totally evaporated. That would be most unfortunate for Putin if he plans to rebuild Russia as a superpower in direct competition with the US, but it certainly would be the best news for former Soviet states as well as those Russians who believe that real democracy and market reform is the way to go forward.
8:03:11 PM
|
|
Bought it on Ebay
The Ebay song.
Gonna buy (a slightly-damaged golf bag)
Gonna buy (some Beanie Babies, new with tag)
(From some guy) I've never met in Norway
Found him on eBay
Maybe I should be insulted that "Norway" is often used meaning "bloody far away place." Nah.
Now, a reference to some guy here selling Beanie Babies, that is kinda offensive.
2:34:56 AM
|
|
|
© Copyright 2004 Jan Haugland.
Last update: 01.12.2004; 07:26:16.
|
|
|
