"democracy" nowadays is a code name for rule by International Capital.The IMF and the World Bank impose the proper economic structures by attaching conditions to loans. The US pulls strings to make sure suitably pliant leaders are "democratically" chosen and that unco-operative "dictators" such as Kuchma and Milosevic are deposed by well-financed "grass-roots" uprisings amply funded from abroad. Cheers, Ken Hanly US Involvement Seen Behind Political Crisis in Ukraine, 'Cassette Scandal' Rossiyskaya Gazeta 20 April 2001 [translation for personal use only] Article by Andrey Grozin from the Institute of CIS Countries: "Americans Have Their Own Penchant for Ukrainian Dumplings" Many people have already noticed that the political crisis in Ukraine has for some reason attracted most attention from U.S. political scientists and state officials. Every once in a while, they give Ukrainian authorities recommendations, which the legal terminology defines, by the way, as interference in internal affairs of a sovereign state. Even the U.S. State Department issued a declaration on the "undemocratic attitude of the authorities toward the opposition." The Americans ostentatiously refused to provide financial assistance to the "stray Ukraine." Financier George Soros even decided to explain in the Financial Times what is what to the most slow-witted people in the Ukrainians halls of power. So, Mr. Soros advised the West to condemn actions by Ukrainian President Kuchma even more strongly and Leonid Kuchma himself to delegate his powers to Prime Minister Viktor Yushchenko. But Soros proposed Kuchma "resigning temporarily" until all the circumstances of the "cassette scandal," which has lasted since last fall, were established. By the way, well-informed sources in Kiev speculate that the scandal in some way involves the same U.S. financial circles that recommend Kuchma to resign. For example, reports have appeared in the Ukrainian press that George Soros funds the operation of the International Press Institute in Vienna, which... examined the controversial audiocassettes at the request of the Ukrainian opposition. By the way, the examination cost $3 million but the opposition never specified who paid for it. It is also unclear who helped security guard Major Mykola Melnychenko, who allegedly recorded the Ukrainian president's conversations, flee abroad without proper documents and, by the way, [to a country located] in the zone of Schengen accords. Some Kiev analysts believe that it is not at all a coincidence that Melnychenko obtained a Czech visa and the Ukrainian section of Radio Liberty, which is financed by the U.S. Government and whose leadership is based in Prague, is able to stay in contact with the fugitive major and broadcast his "exposing declarations" about the Ukrainian president. But the real slap in the face to "Ukrainian independence" is the fact that the United States granted political asylum to Melnychenko. Official Kiev was forced to declare that "when making this decision, the U.S. side could not help but know that the Ukrainian General Prosecutor's Office has instigated a criminal case against Melnychenko on charges of illegal eavesdropping and disclosure of a state secret -- the crimes that are severely prosecuted in the United States." Based on all this, the analysts conclude that some in the United States cannot wait to railroad the incumbent Ukrainian president into resignation and "appoint" in his place present Prime Minister Yushchenko, with whom the West is openly sympathetic. In fact, it is the Western circles, as many Ukrainian political scientists believe, that placed Yushchenko in the position of prime minister. Leonid Kuchma was exposed to corresponding pressure. Otherwise, the West threatened to refuse to reschedule Ukraine's foreign debts, which could have even reduced the country to bankruptcy. Sure enough, once Viktor Yushchenko was appointed prime minister, the "debt problem" was resolved in a matter of one month. Very high-level officials from the U.S. administration extended their support to the prime minister in rescheduling the debts, while the deferment itself was credited by those eager for changes on the [Ukrainian] political Olympus as one of Yushchenko's "heroic deeds." However, financial analysts view the whole situation ironically because the huge foreign debts were accumulated in just several years with the participation of Viktor Yushchenko himself, who earlier headed the National Bank. In that position, the analysts contend, Mr. Yushchenko sanctioned the OVGZ [internal state loan bonds] pyramids, whereby the bonds were bought from the state with foreign loans and then repaid (at 60-80 percent per annum!) with money from the state treasury. It is not clear yet what role in those speculative operations was played by the international financial organizations, which closely cooperated with the National Bank. But one thing is clear: The Western financial circles have displayed unconcealed sympathy toward Viktor Yushchenko specifically since those financial pyramids were launched, and today those circles are even attempting to make him president. Notably, the more active Ukrainian-Russian relations, the stronger pressure on Kuchma. For example, the aforementioned article by Soros in the Financial Times was published immediately after the recent meeting by the Ukrainian and Russian presidents in Dnipropetrovsk. Therefore, many politicians believe that the Western interference in the situation in Ukraine is not accidental. This is how well-known political scientist Valeriy Matviyenko commented for the Ukrainian Den newspaper on several recent statements made by the West on Leonid Kuchma's actions: "It is generally known that U.S. politicians use human rights as a tool when the interests of big capital are at issue in a particular region. We see this kind of situation in Ukraine today. After all, nobody mentioned human rights before the conversation between the Ukrainian and Russian presidents 'against the missile backdrop.'" The West is so much worried by the Ukrainian problem that Western officials, politicians, and statesmen even gathered in early April in Washington at a an extraordinarily large-scale forum entitled "The EU-U.S.-Canada: Policy Toward Ukraine." Yevhen Marchuk, secretary of the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council, who attended the forum, pointed out: "In my speech, I had to reveal the essence of what is called now the improvement of relations with Russia, because this tendency raises some concern in the West." In this light, you should agree, everything looks quite plausible, even if the speculation circulating in Kiev that certain Western structures are involved in the organization of the "cassette scandal" and political crisis in Ukraine is practically impossible to prove. In any case, many Ukrainian politicians stress that certain skillful engineers direct the Ukrainian protest actions, while unknown circles generously finance all the events staged under the slogan: "Resignation for Kuchma, Yushchenko for President." The West has probably every reason to consider Yushchenko a future "dependable president." This is why a joke that is circulating in Kiev now and presenting Ukraine as "the 51st U.S. state" does not sound as funny and silly as it may seem. *******
