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27. november 2004
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Was Yushchenko poisoned?
In around four months of this year, Ukrainian opposition candidate Viktor Yushchenko appeared to age twenty years or more. The government blames bad sushi, while he blames the government for poisoning him. Doctors in Vienna who treated him say they can neither prove nor rule out poisoning as the cause of the mystery illness. He came to Vienna too late to find toxins in his body, even if they were there. Doctors in Kiev, who investigated him earlier, said they found "chemicals not of a food origin.''
11:36:54 PM 
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Michael Meacher at it again
Remember Michael Meacher, the British member of parliament and former member of Tony Blair's cabinet who advanced totally nutty 9/11 conspiracy theories?
Now, as British blogger Blithering Bunny informs me, Mr Meacher is at it again, advancing recycled and long-debunked claims that President Bush stole the US election. As before, the MP is channeling trash from the looniest parts of conspiracy web sites and presenting it as gospel, without offering any hint that even most hardline pro-Kerry observers have already debunked and rejected the claims.
It scares me, too, that such loons get to positions of power.
9:21:18 PM
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Putin's Ukraine mistake
An Ukrainian think-tank argues convincingly that Russian President Vladimir Putin hurt himself badly when he, more or less alone, supported the corrupt government of Viktor Yanukovych.
“President Vladimir Putin should have seen it coming, but he evidently did not,? Denis Trifonov, a defense consultant for the Kyiv-based International Centre for Policy Studies said in a statement on Friday, adding that Ukrainians have risen against the Moscow-backed government of Viktor Yanukovych, disputing the elections result they view as rigged.
"Russia's international image has taken a direct hit as the world watches President Putin acting as a lone advocate for Mr. Yanukovych, a man with two criminal convictions and proven ties to the so-called Donetsk criminal clan.
"The elections campaign in Ukraine gave Russia a chance to re-affirm [its] commitment to strong ties with the US and the EU, and highlight the positive aspects of her agenda in the CIS," he said, but added that "one struggles to comprehend why [its] interests should be served by a policy of backing undemocratic, deeply corrupt regimes along the lines of Belarus."
One could also argue that Putin here showed his true colours, as if his troubled relationship to democracy has not been obvious enough already. Whatever his motives, Putin would have been so much stronger if he had done the right thing and at least expressed scepticism about the fraudulent election result.
Naturally, if Yushchenko should be brought to power as now appears increasingly likely, he will not sever or even damage ties with the great neighbour. He will, however, remember very well who were the friends of the Ukrainian people in its hour of decision, and who were not. So will the million people marching in the streets. And, maybe even more important, the west's skepticism towards Putin will have increased even more.
6:21:20 PM
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Ukraine parliament, press rejects election result
The opposition keeps gathering momentum in Ukraine, where thousands of people are still braving the cold to demonstrate against flawed elections. Challenger Viktor Yushchenko won an important, if mostly symbolic, victory when the majority in the parliament voted to have the election result annulled, and also voted no confidence in the Central Election Commission, which gave the result to prime minister Viktor Yanukovych.
While not binding without the president's signature, the motion may well have some weight with the Supreme Court, which meets on Monday to review the case.
The opposition also scored a major victory when staff at the state television, previously an unashamed cheerleading crowd for the government, declared they had had "enough of telling the government's lies" and have started broadcasting pictures of the protests and information about the vote-rigging to all the country.
The Ukrainian media played a big role in boosting Mr Yanukovych's election chances by denying the opposition any airtime to make its case and ridiculing his challenger, Mr Yushchenko. Reporters say the government issued lists of what they could and could not show.
Negotiations between the government and the opposition have been ongoing, so far not agreeing to anything but resolving this peacefully, and it's hard to see another outcome now than annulling the flawed election and having a new one.
If the government should stupidly decide to use force, it may find its options running out. More and more military and police have been seen joining the protesters.
Speaking of press bias. With near-unanimous support of the protesters in western media, it is good to see that the Guardian heeds the calls from Stalinist past and ridicules the people of Ukraine for wanting such stupid US-inspired things as democracy and the end of corruption.
Intervening in foreign elections, under the guise of an impartial interest in helping civil society, has become the run-up to the postmodern coup d'etat, the CIA-sponsored third world uprising of cold war days adapted to post-Soviet conditions. Instruments of democracy are used selectively to topple unpopular dictators, once a successor candidate or regime has been groomed.
How incredibly evil those Americans are, wanting to introduce democracy to east Europeans who are, presumably, too stupid to understand that corrupt authocrats are all they deserve.
PS: Jonathan Steele, the author of that Guardian piece, may not be on Putin's payroll, but it's close.
PS 2: La Sabot in Ukraine gives Steele a well-deserved trashing.
3:39:04 PM
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Marrying a Jihadist murderer
A German woman known as Doris Glück or Regina S has written a book about her life after she married Egyptian Reda Seyam, who became a Jihadist. She converted to Islam, but he got more and more radical, she explains.
But one day in 1996, she said, she went with her husband and others to the place near a mountain where three Serbs were executed, an incident that her husband filmed. One victim was shot to death by a group of women whose husbands or sons, he told her, had been killed by Serbs.
"Then there was a second man, a Serb, on his knees," Ms. Glück said. "I saw a big knife and then I saw his head cut off. I sleep with this memory every night. Afterwards, the mujahedeen played football with the head. Then a third Serb was shot by the men.
"I was so shocked that I couldn't tell where my husband was, if he was one of the men who shot, or if he only filmed."
Only some years later did she leave him, and she is now living under a witness protection programme.
It is troubling to see how these Jihadist atrocities started well before 9/11, in wars where the west actually supported the Muslims (so much for a crusade), and the world turned a blind eye to extremists making much of the Muslim world into a civil war. Only when the civil war spread into the west, dramatically, did many of us wake up to the danger.
3:05:43 PM
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The festive season has begun
It's been a bad few days for Santa Claus, and Christmas is still a month off (somebody tell the shopowners!).
In Florida, US federal rules have prohibited Santa from landing in Disneyland. Aircraft are banned from flying below 3,000 feet within 3 miles of the theme park.
If you think the Americans are bad, Santa, be careful about Germany. There Santa gets shot by the police. That, I hope, was Bad Santa.
12:16:16 AM
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© Copyright 2004 Jan Haugland.
Last update: 01.12.2004; 07:28:41.
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