Ukraine Today - An Independent Political Review

UKRAINE AND GEORGIA IN NATO NOT SEEN TO BE IN U.S. INTEREST Former U.S. ambassador to Moscow Jack Matlock said on Tuesday By Susan Cornwell, Reuters, Washington, Tuesday, September 16, 2008 WASHINGTON, D.C. - NATO membership for Georgia and Ukraine is not in Washington's or the alliance's interest, former U.S. ambassador to Moscow Jack Matlock said on Tuesday as he and other ex-U.S. envoys decried the poor state of ties with Russia. At a gathering of five former U.S. and Russian ambassadors, Matlock, the last U.S. envoy to the Soviet Union, questioned a central tenet of Bush administration policy: its firm support for the NATO membership bids of both Georgia and Ukraine. Some European countries have doubts about the policy, and some U.S. analysts have blamed it for helping provoke the brief war last month between Russia and Georgia over the breakaway region of South Ossetia. Since Russian troops crushed Georgian forces in that conflict, U.S. ties with Moscow have plummeted. &qu

Notional seats based on poll results   Parliamentary Seats   Publication Date   19-Sep-08 04-Sep-08 27-Aug-08 21-Apr-08 30-Sep-07 Poll Dates from 01-Sep-08 15-Aug-08 08-Aug-08 11-Apr-08   to to to to Election Results 07-Sep-08 27-Aug-08 08-Aug-08 17-Apr-08 30-Sep-07 Poll Source   Kyiv International Institute of Sociology   FOM-Ukraina FOM-Ukraina Ukrainian Center for Economical and Political Studies   CEC PoR 180 189 164 162 175 BYuT 186 158 189 171 156 OU-PSD 29 28 37 51 72 CPU 29 38 37 35 27 LPB 26 36 23 31 20 SPU

Russian armour in South Ossetia: who started the war? In a potentially significant swing of expert Western opinion, a leading British think tank has urged that Nato membership should not be granted to Georgia or Ukraine "The policy of Nato enlargement now would be a strategic error," said Dr John Chipman, Director General of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS). "There is no case for accelerating membership for Georgia and Ukraine. There is a strong case for a pause," he said in remarks introducing the IISS's annual review of world affairs, the Strategic Survey. The IISS intervention shows that following the war in Georgia, a debate is growing about whether a confrontational approach to Russia is the best one. The IISS is critical of Georgia's actions during the conflict The IISS is highly critical of Georgian actions - in contrast to the support Georgia has received from the US and some European countries, notably Britain. Naturally, if

Hryhoriy Nemyria Interview BBC Ukraine crisis is a stuggle between two heads of power and Ukraine's future as a European Parliamentry Democracy. Our Ukraine and Yushchenko destroyed the alliance. CLICK HERE TO VIEW

This is not a East versus West stereo type conflict, as portrayed in the western media and promoted by the US administration. It is false and misleading to present it as such. The majority of Ukraine's politicians support Ukraine's integration into Europe and also support maintaining close ties with Russia. The main destabilizing influence in Ukraine today is the US backed President, Viktor Yushchenko, who has divided Ukraine like never before as he pursues a personal power struggle between the Office of the president and the peoples elected Parliament. This will be the second parliament in less than a year that Yushchenko has dismissed. The previous Parliament was dismissed unconstitutionally in order to prevent the parliament from gaining support for the establishment of European Parliamentary democracy in Ukraine. Every other former Soviet state when they declared independence had adopted a Parliamentary model except Ukraine. The struggle to establish a Parliamentary syste

The James Foundation published a recent article on the current crisis facing Ukraine. Whilst the article is worth reading there is a fair bit of important background information missing from the article. The problem facing Ukraine today is the President, Viktor Yushchenko. What we are seeing, but has not been properly reported in the article, is an ongoing power struggle between the Office of The President and the people's democratically elected representative Parliament (Pure and simple). Yushchenko and his political party Our Ukraine continuously seek to undermine Ukraine's economic and democratic development. They have opposed every effort to see Ukraine become at democratic parliamentary republic. Last years snap parliamentary election and Yushchenko's illegal interference in the independence of Ukraine's Constitutional Court was in response to the Parliament gaining strength and support to initiate reform to Ukraine's Constitution. Reform that would see Ukrain

Support for Victor Yushchenko's Politcial party Our Ukraine has fallen to below 4% as the President seeks to hold on to power by dismissing his second parliament in as many years. The poll undertaken by the Institute of Sociology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine indicates that 5 Polictial Parties would be elected to parliament if fresh elctions were held between August 15-27. Party of Regions (26.6%) 189 Seats BYuT (22.2%) 158 Seats CPU (5.4%) 38 Seats Lytvyn’s Bloc (5.1%) 36 Seats Our Ukraine (3.9%) 28 Seats * Other parties in contention but below the 3% representation threshold include Progressive Socialist Party (1.9%) The People’s Self-Defense Bloc (1.8%) The Socialist Party of Ukraine (1.1%) The United Center party (0.5%) Others parties and blocs would receive 2.6%. 9.1% of those polled would vote against all, and 19.7% refused to respond. The poll also reported that 68.5% of respondents would take part in the snap poll with 24.7% stating they wouldnot partipate

Ukraine's President, Viktor Yushchenko, faced with growing disillusionment in his administration, had indicated that he will, once again, dismiss Ukraine's Parliament. The announcement followed a decision by the President's political faction Our Ukraine to withdraw from the governing coalition sparking a new round of political crisis in Ukraine. The decision made yesterday comes as no surprise as Yushchenko has been actively undermining Ukraine's democratically elected parliament since his election back in 2004. The relationship between the President and the governing coalition came to a cross roads last month when the Office of The President attacked Ukraine's Prime-Minister, Yulia Tymoshenko, making unsubstantiated allegations and accusations that the prime-minster has committed "high treason". The catalyst for the latest fall-out was the Prime-minister's determination to not support the President's call to arms over the recent Georgian/Russia co