Friday, September 18, 2009

THE UKRAINE & GEORGIA: PRESENT AND FUTURE (?)

January 17, 2010. Mark it on your calender! Why? As inconsequential as it may seem to us, that is the day the Ukraine holds its Presidential election.

In 2004 Viktor Yushchenko was elected President in a run off election, defeating the Russian backed candidate, Viktor Yanukovych. It was a run off ordered by the courts due to substantial voter fraud in the initial polling. It has been assumed and likely correct that the Russian party rigged the election. But, in what is now called the "Orange Revolution", the Ukrainian people elected the pro western Yushchenko.

In September 2004, Yushchenko was rushed to Austria for an illness that was later determined to be "Dioxin Poisoning", and was permanently disfigured as a result. Lacking evidence, no one has ever been charged, but suspicion falls on former Russian KGB.

The 2004 election in the Ukraine was met with enthusiasm in the west and pressure was applied to ensure an accurate outcome. Will President Obama continue to support a Ukrainian administration that is seeking genuine independence? Will he seek assurances that Vladimir Putin and his cronies do not unduly affect an inaccurate outcome? President Obama's decision to alter defense agreements with Poland and the Czech Republic quite obviously embolden Vladimir Putin's designs to restore the hegemony of the former Soviet Union.

We are a little more than a year from Russia's invasion of Georgia in August of 2008. The invasion of Georgia was initiated on the pretext of protecting ethnic Russians in the Georgian breakaway Republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. The Russians have officially recognized both as independent nations. It was revealed today that Russia has now established treaties that provide bases in both "Republics". This violates the cease fire from 2008. It has received little attention.

Georgia and the Ukraine at present have a tenuous hold on a genuine democratic government. The alteration of defense agreements with Poland and the Czech Republic, besides emboldening Putin, energizes pro Russian advocates in both Ukraine and Georgia and undermines Pro western, Pro Democracy regimes. A pro Russia regime in either or both countries would effectively end the autonomy of both nations.

President Obama, like President Bush before him in 2004, with our NATO allies must be certain of an accurate outcome on January 17th 2010. We must have strong monitors to insure their validity. The struggle and triumph of the Cold War must not be undone for lack of vigilance at a moment when the forces of oppression seek to reinstate old dominions and reinvigorate historic divisions.

It may SEEM inconsequential, but mark it down anyway.

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