World Examiner

4th of July Recap

Quick recap of 4th of July 2008 for the Duringer family:

• wife Helen's first time at open carry in Nevada
• daughter Ayn's (age 7) first time shooting Uzi, at Front Sight, NV
• Russian babushka's first time seeing family members walking around in public while openly carrying loaded firearms 
• first-class fireworks 1am July 4 at Front Sight, NV
• back in Ladera Ranch by July 4 afternoon, very tired from desert heat so during Ladera fireworks opted to stay indoors, watching Russian-dubbed version of "The Patriot" with Mel Gibson

Russian Women Credited for Bringing Down Soviet Union

WND reports on the lack of credit given to Ronald Reagan for bringing Gorbachev back to bargaining table on ending Cold War:

Michael Reagan also notes that the economy of the Soviet Union was crumbling at the time.

"It was so bad in the Soviet Union financially, the women were were angry because they couldn't find panty hose. And Gorbachev told me, 'I had to appoint a czar of panty hose to get panty hose into the Soviet Union so that the women would be happy.' And that's what really impressed him. Not just the panty hose but the fact that he was being bankrupted. The Soviet Union had no place to go," Michael Reagan told the magazine.

Today is Ukraine's Constitution Day

Today is Constitution Day in Ukraine.  With the Heller decision, it feels like Constitution Day here in the US, too.  Happy Birthday, Ukraine!  (Also happens to be mine today.)

Tymoshenko expressed the hope that Constitution Day will be a day of unity and reconciliation.

"I want June 28 to feel like a real holiday to us. We need such dates for the unity of the country, for realization of our Ukrainian identity, for reconciliation in the society," the message states.

Yuschenko also called on Ukrainians to remember that Ukraine's long constitutional tradition date back to the Pylyp Orlyk constitution of the year 1710.

As Ukrainian News earlier reported, Ukraine will mark Constitution Day on June 28.

IHT: Putin's opponents are made to vanish from TV

MOSCOW: On a talk show last autumn, a prominent political analyst named Mikhail Delyagin offered some tart words about Vladimir Putin. When the program was televised, Delyagin was not. His remarks were cut and he was digitally erased from the show, like a disgraced comrade airbrushed from an old Soviet photo. (The technicians may have worked a bit hastily; they left his disembodied legs in one shot.)  Read it:
Putin's opponents are made to vanish from TV - International Herald Tribune.

 

An Ominous Sign For Ukraine -- -- Courant.com

Link: An Ominous Sign For Ukraine -- -- Courant.com.

Last week, Russian tanks, missile launchers and columns of goose-stepping soldiers again paraded through Red Square. The Victory Day parade sent a collective shudder through the republics of the former Soviet Union.

Ukraine joins WTO, forcing economic reforms and opening new trade channels

Link: Ukraine joins WTO, forcing economic reforms and opening new trade channels.

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) - Ukraine became the 152nd country to join the World Trade Organization on Friday after 14 years of negotiations, getting in ahead of bigger neighbor Russia and committing the former Soviet republic to economic reforms and opening new trade channels.

IHT: As freedoms roll back in the ex-Soviet world, Ukraine becomes an island of freedom - International Herald Tribune

Link: As freedoms roll back in the ex-Soviet world, Ukraine becomes an island of freedom - International Herald Tribune.

Since the 2004 Orange Revolution ushered in a vigorous, sometimes chaotic democracy, Ukraine has become an island of freedom and tolerance in an ex-Soviet bloc still dominated by authoritarian regimes, and journalists, political activists, artists, and business professionals have flocked here.

Concern over War Between Georgia and Russia Spills Over to Ukraine

Link: Reuters/Guardian

Any new conflict and tension could also affect sentiment towards other states bordering Russia which already have prickly relations with Moscow. Of these, he said Ukraine was probably more exposed as the Baltics were safeguarded by being members of the European Union and NATO.

Also, from RadioFreeEurope:

Georgia is warning Western governments that there is a real risk of war with Russia unless Moscow is persuaded to reverse recent decisions to strengthen ties with the separatist Abkhazia and South Ossetia regions.
....
Iakobashvili said after his EU talks that he feels for the first time that officials in Brussels understand that "Russia is not an honest broker" in Georgia's frozen conflicts. But he warned that this epiphany alone is not enough, and that action must follow. He said Russia has designs to redraw "the borders of Eastern Europe," which do not end with Georgia, but will affect Ukraine and the Baltic states -- and by extension also the EU's own energy, neighborhood, and foreign and security policies.

Gorbachev Implicated in Pope Hit?

Link: The News | News.

The weekly Wprost, out tomorrow, shows a politburo document, signed by Mikhail Gorbachev, which appears to warrant a KGB contract killing on John Paul II.

French, Ukrainian and Russian shooters get medals, American shoots wrong target

Link: French shooter Henry nails down gold in men's 50m rifle three positions_English_Xinhua.

BEIJING, April 20 (Xinhua) -- French shooter Josselin Henry clinched the gold medal in the men's 50-meter rifle three positions with 1268.8 points at the Good Luck Beijing ISSF World Cup here on Sunday, after the last shot that changed the fate of many athletes. Jury Sukhorukov from Ukraine was edged to the second place with1268.0 points, while Russian marksman Sergei Kovalenko followed with 1266.9 points.
....
Ranked third with 1169 points at the beginning, the American had been among the top three before the tenth shot, in which a 9.1striped him of the bronze and sent his Russian rival, 2005 World Cup Final champion, 38-year-old Kovalenko, to the medal platform.

UNIAN - Ukraine plans to start fleet withdrawal talks with Russia

Link: UNIAN - Ukraine plans to start fleet withdrawal talks with Russia.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Volodymyr Ohryzko during his recent visit to Moscow had handed his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov a draft memorandum on the withdrawal of Russia`s Black Sea Fleet from the sea port of Sevastopol in southern Ukraine.

Russia Threatens Invasion of Ukraine if NATO Joined

Absolut clarity ... absolut hegemony:

Link: UNIAN - Ukraine Foreign Ministry sends note to Russia, requesting explanation.

The Foreign Ministry of Ukraine has sent a note to the Russian Foreign Ministry, requesting an immediate explanation from Russia over the recent statements made by Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. According to the press-service of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, the note requests an explanation for the following statements: at Russia-NATO Council on April 4 of the current year, the Russian Federation President said: “Ukraine is not even a state! A part of its territory is Eastern Europe, and a part, a significant one, was presented by us!”. According to Kommersant newspaper, he [Putin] also made it clear that if Ukraine is adopted to NATO, this state would merely disappear. In fact, he threatened that Russia may begin procedures to seize the Crimea and the Eastern Ukraine. On April 8, Russian Foreign Minister S.Lavrov, in his interview with “Ekho Moskvy” radio, confirmed the information, publicized by Kommersant newspaper. Besides, he added: “We will do everything to prevent Ukraine and Georgia from joining NATO”.

Solzhenitsyn`s curious change of heart

Link: UNIAN - Solzhenitsyn`s curious change of heart.

The famine of 1932-33 resulted in the loss of millions of innocent lives in Ukraine and the largely Ukrainian-populated Kuban area of the Russian Federation. The debate about whether it meets the legal requirements of a genocide is still going on. But what is clear today is the crucial role played by the Communist authorities in creating conditions for the famine, as well as their willingness to use hunger as a political tool to teach the rebellious peasantry a lesson. By treating the peasantry`s resistance to forceful collectivization as a manifestation and result of its susceptibility to Ukrainian nationalist ideology, and by closing the borders of Ukraine to prevent the escape of starving refugees and preclude the importing of food to Ukraine, the Communist authorities turned the famine into a Ukrainian national catastrophe. Solzhenitsyn`s assertion that the treatment of the famine of 1932-33 as a genocide is the product of "spiteful, anti-Russian, chauvinistic minds" can be understood only if one equates the Communist government and the Russian people. Solzhenitsyn spent a good part of his life arguing that Communism and Russia were incompatible. His op-ed raises the question of whether he still believes in this.

Holodomor The Movie

Please support this movie:

Link: http://www.holodomorthemovie.com/

Holodomor claimed more lives than every country combined during World War I 7 to 10 million people - including 3 million children, perished in 17 months.

The Great Famine-Genocide in Soviet Ukraine (Holodomor)

Link: The Great Famine-Genocide in Soviet Ukraine (Holodomor).

In 1988 the US Commission on the Ukraine Famine arrived at nineteen findings, among them (No. 16) that what happened to the Ukrainians in 1932-1933 constituted genocide.[1] This was, fact the most important of the commission's conclusions, and as the person who drafted those conclusions for the commission's approval, I feel a certain responsibility to defend it in this journal in the light of new evidence that has been made available after the collapse of the Soviet Union and published by scholars in Ukraine.

Sick: Solzhenitsyn Criticizes Bush Visit to Holodomor Memorial

Solzhenitsyn is not Jewish so this foolish statement of his against the Bush visit to the holodomor memorial cannot be blamed on concern over cheapening Holocaust impact, or on concern about Jews being blamed because some of them figured prominently among the Bolsheviks.

Rather, it seems borne of his strong Russian nationalist pride and inability to deal with or acknowledge what his own Russia did to Ukraine, land of his mother's family.

This is so sick.  Why not just acknowledge what is obvious? A bunch of evil secularist planners (of varying race and ethnicity), intentionally killed millions of freedom-loving religious people, not only in Germany and various spots in Russia, but also in Ukraine.  Enough with the tortured "reasoning" for keeping quiet about what really happened in Ukraine.  The fact that it happened elsewhere does not negate that it happened in Ukraine, and by design.

Link: Solzhenitsyn battles illness to complete final volumes | News | guardian.co.uk Books.

In a vituperative piece, however, Solzhenitsyn dismissed the claim as 'rakish juggling' and said that millions of non-Ukrainians also perished in the famine, which was engineered by the Soviet Union's leadership. 'This provocative outcry about "genocide"... has been elevated to the top government level in contemporary Ukraine. Does this mean that they have even outdone the Bolshevik propaganda-mongers with their rakish juggling?' an incensed Solzhenistyn wrote. Bush had been duped by a 'loony fable', he added. Yesterday Natalia Solzhenitsyn said that her husband felt passionately about the 'Ukrainian people' because his mother's family came from Ukraine. Asked about Solzhenitsyn's views on Bush, she said: 'Bush was only in Kiev for a few hours. He didn't go to the monument to the victims of fascism but to the holodomor memorial. We don't know whether Bush went there cynically, or because the level of his historical knowledge [is low].'
....
Yesterday DM Thomas, Solzhenitsyn's biographer, said it would be simplistic to describe the novelist as either nationalistic or reactionary. 'Patriotic and religiously conservative might suit,' he told The Observer. 'He disliked the secularism of the West almost as much as he disliked communism. He is in no way nationalistic in the sense of elevating Russia above others, or wishing for territorial aggrandisement... Above all, I think, he is or was a strong Orthodox believer. He hated the Bolshevik revolution, and because Jews played such an important role in that, he has laid himself open to the charge of being anti-semitic. I argued in my biography that this was based on a misunderstanding of his views.'

Germany Refuses to Throw Ukraine a Lifeline

Link: Trend News : Position of France and Germany on Ukraine and Georgia’s Entrance to NATO Testifies Revival of Axe of Influence of Paris-Berlin-Moscow: Experts.

“The action of Germany and France against Ukraine and Georgia’s entrance to NATO testifies revival of the axe of influence of Paris-Berlin-Moscow. These countries gave preference to the geo-political interests of Russia, but not Euro-Atlantic security.

Some are now calling Germany "the new France" -- maybe it's all a misunderstanding:

Russia: We Did Not Commit Genocide Against Ukraine

Link: UNIAN - Russian parliament rejects call to label 1930s-era famine genocide.

The 1930s-era famine that killed millions of peasants, mainly in Soviet Ukraine, should not be considered genocide and should not be used as a political tool, Russia`s lawmakers said in a resolution passed Wednesday

Kyiv Post. Spring forward

Link: Kyiv Post. Spring forward.

Ukraine’s daylight savings time (DST) takes effect Sunday, March 30, when clocks will move forward from 4:00 to 5:00.

Время сбережения дневного света Украины (DST) принимает влияние воскресенье, 30 -го март, когда часы двинут вперед от 4:00 к 5:00.

New $10 billion freeway to encircle Kyiv

Kiev is already a gem.  This will polish it.  Link: Kyiv Post. Government unveils $10 billion Kyiv beltway project.

Ukrainian government officials revealed on March 20 plans to construct a 213-kilometer beltway to encircle Kyiv and its satellite neighborhoods to relieve traffic congestion in the city’s central districts and foster economic growth. The “Velyka Okruzhna,” planned by foreign developers in conjunction with Ukrainian national and oblast government officials, would be the most expensive development project ever pursued in Ukraine, costing an estimated $10 billion. “The highway will change the oblast picture for the better, linking suburban neighborhoods to the capital, thereby attracting further investment into the whole region,” said Vira Ulianchenko, head of the Kyiv State Oblast Administration. If implemented, the beltway should steer traffic away from the center, boost real estate values and ignite a development and population boom, changing the character of Ukraine’s capital.

Bush to make first state visit to Ukraine

Bush will meet with Tymoshenko as well as Yushchenko.  Link: Kyiv Post. Bush to make first state visit.

US President George W. Bush will make his first official state visit to Kyiv on April 1, the White House confirmed.
....
“It is not a question of whether; it is a question of when,” said US Ambassador to NATO Victoria Nuland about Ukraine’s membership.

Kyiv Post. Tymoshenko wins battles in gas war

Link: Kyiv Post. Tymoshenko wins battles in gas war.

Ukraine’s Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko succeeded in preventing a stiff price increase for natural gas imports this year, and convinced Moscow to eliminate controversial intermediaries from the multi­billion dollar energy trade business between Ukraine, Russia and Central Asian producers.

Tymoshenko Victorious in Forcing Kiev Mayoral Election

Link: Kyiv Post. Parliament approves election to oust Kyiv mayor.

Ukraine’s parliament voted March 18 to hold pre­term elections for Kyiv’s unpopular mayor and city council in early June, an effort led by Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko in her quest to control the Ukrainian capital.

Ukraine optimistic on NATO bid ahead of Bush visit

Link: Kyiv Post. Ukraine optimistic on NATO bid ahead of Bush visit.

US President George W. Bush will visit Ukraine on the eve of next month's NATO summit, which will decide whether the former Soviet republic can move toward membership, Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko said Thursday.

Ukraine-Russia Gas Talks Could Determine Outcome of Internal Ukraine Power Struggle

The ongoing struggle for power between Tymoshenko and Yushchenko may be determined by the current gas talks with Russia, and the outcome may determine Ukraine's future relationship with Russia--Tymoshenko's hard line, or Yushchenko's more moderate stance.  Though both are considered reformers, Yushchenko's ties to Soros give one pause.

Link: Kyiv Post. Russia plays president, premier against each other in gas talks.

The leader who succeeds in gas negotiations with Russia will gain the most influence in determining relations between the two nations, experts said.

McCainus Maximus Linked to "New Russian" Ukrainian Billionaires

Link (WND): McCain aide linked to Russian billionaire.

Deripaska, whose net worth is estimated to exceed $13 billion, is widely reported to be a close ally of Putin.

Kyiv Post: US Senate urges NATO to put Ukraine, Georgia, on track for alliance membership

Good.  Perhaps at last Ukrainians will finally be treated fairly when applying for immigration or travel.  Link: Kyiv Post. US Senate urges NATO to put Ukraine, Georgia, on track for alliance membership.

Russia has made clear that it opposes an expansion of NATO to include the two former Soviet republics. This week Russia threatened to target Ukraine with nuclear missiles if it should join the alliance.

Putin warns: Will Point Missiles at Ukraine

Link: Putin warns Ukraine against joining Nato | World news | guardian.co.uk.

Russia could redirect its missiles towards Ukraine if the country joined Nato, Vladimir Putin warned today.

Ukraine Offering Subsidies to New Mothers and other Statist Solutions to Stave Off Population Decline

Link: Orange Ukraine - Words and Deeds.

Protect Family Values, Respect for Parents, and Children's Rights (+) I'm giving this promise a tentative positive after reading about the new budget. It looks like both the promises to new mothers and disabled children have been covered. This positive is conditional on the budgeted payments actually coming into effect, of course, as well as dealing with the majority of other sub-pledges. sub-pledges include: a) Reverse population decline (-) b) Increase support for new mothers tenfold (+) c) guarantee good healthcare for pregnant women. d) provide assistance to those raising children or caring for the elderly e) revive state kindergartens and nurseries, ban the sale of preschools (-) f) provide credit to homebuyers (-) g) eliminate child homelessness (-) h) provide free medical care to disabled children (+) i) establish a family doctor system (-) I'm going to give this more minor issue a weak negative rating. As with everything else, the benefits for families are on the budget, but the economy is so weak it is questionable whether or not they are affordable.

Per W.Ex's correspondents in Ukraine, annual payments are now 12,000, 25,000, and 50,000 hryvnas, respectively, for one, two, or three children (about $2400, $5000, and $10,000, respectively, in US dollars).  These are very large payments by Ukraine standards.  More evidence that the sin of abortion leads to more sin and unaffordable statist largesse.  (Witness the invasion of illegals in the US.)

Now is the time for all good elfs to come to the aid of their village!

Bad elf Putin now stakes a claim to the North Pole.  Putin has been increasingly assertive on a number of fronts recently, obviously because of Bush's legacy of being the lamest duck ever due to ignoring his base.

Daily Mail reports:

Russian leader Vladimir Putin has made an astonishing bid to grab a vast chunk of the Arctic, giving himself claim to its vast potential oil, gas and mineral wealth.

His audacious argument that an underwater Russian ridge is linked to the North Pole is likely to lead to an international outcry.

Putin regrets Ukraine situation, hopes crisis ends soon

NOVO-OGARYOVO, June 21 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's president said Thursday he regrets the current political crisis in Ukraine and hopes the Ukrainian authorities will resolve the situation soon.

"We hope our main partner in the former U.S.S.R. and our major economic and political partner in the world will overcome these problems as soon as possible," Vladimir Putin said Thursday...

The Smallest Minorities

At left is a picture of me, next to my wife (I'm on the viewer's right, click to de-minorify) - parasailing while on vacation in Key West.

(In the foreground is the deck hand.)

Raised in Ukraine, my wife in high school there not only trained with the AK-47, but also learned how to parachute.  So she was quite comfortable with the parasailing.  I was terrified - my arms locked and I couldn't even sit down as it didn't feel like there was anything to sit on.

Ukraine approves laws to end crisis (whew)

Link: Ukraine approves laws to end crisis (AFP):

UKRAINIAN lawmakers have finished approving a series of laws aimed at ending a two-month political crisis by paving the way for early parliamentary elections.

President Viktor Yushchenko is now expected to set early elections for September 30 under the terms of a political agreement struck on Sunday with his rival, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych.

....

Tensions escalated sharply last week, when the president and prime minister sparred for control over security forces and scuffles broke out at the prosecutor general's office.

NRA Present at Redondo Beach Memorial Day Parade

The South Bay NRA Members' Council participated in Redondo Beach's Memorial Day parade yesterday.  The invitation was circulated to some of us down in Orange County. The NRA was very well received by attendees.  Cheers for the NRA came from many of the folks attending, and even some of the active military participants.  The parade had good attendance and interesting entries.

Cam Edwards on Women & Guns

My wife had Kalashnikov training at high school in Ukraine (mp3 of her with Roger Hedgecock here); this month's issue of America's 1st Freedom covers history's greatest sniper, a female Ukrainian soldier in WWII; experienced instructors will tell you that women have some physical and emotional advantages that often make them better shooters.

Cam Edwards' latest Townhall column on recent female armed citizen stories should remind us how important it is to bring women into the fold, for their own safety, for our children's safety, and because the hand that rocks the cradle rules the country.

Link: Townhall.com::Self-defense::By Cam Edwards#commentAnchor#commentAnchor. Excerpt:

Three stories of self-defense with three happy endings. What would have happened if these women didn’t have a gun to help them defend themselves? Would we be reading about three murders, three robberies, or three rapes? Would there be Amber Alerts for two missing children from Coalfield, Tennessee? Because these women took steps to protect themselves we get to applaud their courage, rather than mourning their deaths.

Attempt to Criminalize Ukrainian Minutemen

During the chaos of the "Orange Revolution" I believe it was this group, or a related one, which carried arms for defense and security.  (Thankfully, the weapons were never fired.)  The press here ignored it, but we should remember that arms played some role (albeit a small one) in the revolution.

It's a good sign that Yushchenko and Our Ukraine recognize the importance of such groups to liberty, though according to the article linked below there is some resistance at the oblast level (Kharkiv, specifically) to what is basically a peaceful Minuteman-type group.  (This attempt to criminalize the group's activity sounds like an echo from the Grand Canyon State.)

Link: :: Lutsenko to Be Considered a Criminal Element? :: Ukrayinska Pravda.

According to Mr. Stetskiv, the People’s Self-Defense movement is public initiative, which will take power under a control and make pressure on the authority only with peaceful and organized way.

I've made several trips to Ukraine and there has been real improvement.  The people want to maintain some connection and close business ties with Russia, but do not want ever again to be under Russian dominion.