11/30/2004|||110180984763141213||||||
A NATION DIVIDED?

Andrew Wilson, author of a history of Ukraine, has an interesting op-ed in the Independent (subscriber-only, unfortunately):

"...[T]he rival demonstrations in eastern cities have been ritualistic. The authorities have been stymied by their preference for staging fake rallies. Yanukovych 'supporters' bussed into Kiev have usually disappeared pretty quickly - particularly when they were paid in advance."

UPDATE (via Instapundit): Le Sabot Post-Moderne thinks they must have been using North Korean adding machines at the polling stations.

MORE: An aside from NRO's John Derbyshire:

UKRAINE IS PART OF RUSSIA! So I have been told by every one of my Russian friends, with much indignation. I have yet to meet a Russian willing to accept the idea of Ukraine as a separate nation. This is regardless of political complexion: red and white Russians all agree -- Ukraine is Russian! (Yes, I know Stalin insisted on separate seats for Ukraine and Byelorussia in the original UN; but that was part of the "nationalities" game that Stalin, and Lenin before him, played...)

I am not endorsing this point of view, I'm just recording it. If my contacts are representative, an armed incursion by Putin to restore Russian control over the Ukraine would be overwhelmingly approved by Russians of all political opinions. Presumably Putin knows this...



|||Clive|||http://clivedavis.blogspot.com/2004/11/nation-divided-andrew-wilson-author-of.html|||11/30/2004 10:09:00 am|||||||||
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