This shows the danger of democratic imperialism. Mr. Bush has spent much time discussing how he believes that the US has "the moral obligation to spread liberty".
That obligation must, therefore, take the US to Ukraine which Sec Powell recently declared had a fraudulent election. Unfortunately for Mr. Bush, that puts the US square into the face of Mr. Putin, his sphere of influence, and his Ukraine candidate Viktor Yanukovich. Mr. Putin has responded by implying that the US is a dictatorship with Mr. Bush as the Dictator. To add to the international intrique, Mr. Yushchenko, after having had dinner the Ukrainian Secret Police, was debilitated by an unknown illness that shares many symptoms with ricin poisoning. (Great article here: http://www.iht.com/articles/2004/12/03/news/sick.html ) (see before and after pictures here: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/04/international/04opposition.html ) The CIA has said they believe Mr. Yushchenko was poisoned and there is much speculation that Mr. Putin or his supporters are responsible. After all Mr. Putin is a former high level KGB agent and the KGB were experts at this type of attack. In any event, here's the latest from the Financial Times: http://news.ft.com/cms/s/ad09cdde-459a-11d9-8fcf-00000e2511c8.html Ukraine election to be rerun By Our International Staff Published: December 4 2004 02:00 | Last updated: December 4 2004 02:00 Viktor Yushchenko, Ukraine's opposition leader, yesterday won a pivotal battle in his campaign to secure the presidency when the Supreme Court cancelled last month's disputed polls and ordered a rerun on December 26. The decision was welcomed by huge crowds of Mr Yushchenko's supporters in central Kiev and by western governments. "This is a great victory for all the people in the square. It's a great victory for democracy," said opposition MP Mykola Katerinchuk. But the verdict is a big blow to prime minister Viktor Yanukovich, official winner of the disputed election, and president Leonid Kuchma, who backed him. It is also an embarrassing defeat for Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, who has publicly supported the two men. The victory of Mr Yanukovich in Ukrainian elections would have bolstered Russia's image as a powerful force domestically and internationally. Pro-Kremlin media and analysts in Russia have portrayed Mr Yushchenko as a puppet of the west. Sergei Markov, a political analyst who is close to the Kremlin said the events in Kiev showed that "Ukraine is not a sovereign country. Its politicians are acting on the instructions of Washington and Brussels." Yesterday's supreme court decision is likely further to isolate Russia from the West and strain its relations with the US. One US official yesterday said Washington and Moscow were "at right angles" on the disputed elections. Mr Putin, who is on an official visit to India, yesterday made an angry attack implicitly aimed at US foreign policy. Without mentioning President George W. Bush by name, Mr Putin warned that policies "based on barrack-room principles of a unipolar world would appear to be extremely dangerous". Using cold-war rhetoric, Mr Putin said: "Even if dictatorship is packaged in pseudo-democratic phraseology, it will not be able to solve systemic problems . . . It may even make them worse." The White House offered no immediate response to Mr Putin yesterday but officials privately said it was dispiriting to hear someone who had been such a vocal advocate of the Bush presidency speak in such a way. White House spokesman Scott McClellan welcomed yesterday's ruling in Ukraine, saying: "The court's decision is an important step in moving toward a peaceful, democratic resolution that reflects the will of the people." Speaking to tens of thousands of ecstatic supporters in Kiev, Mr Yushchenko hailed the judges as "true heroes" and said: "Henceforth, Ukraine is a true democratic state." The ruling satisfied all the main points of Mr Yushchenko's challenge to the election, which he said was stolen from him by the authorities. The court cancelled the result, ruling it was aided by widespread systemic fraud, and ordered new elections to be held within three weeks of December 5. Mr Yushchenko will go into the new poll with his supporters buoyant, but Mr Yanukovich will have to fight with his credibility damaged by the verdict. By Tom Warner and Stefan Wagstyl in Kiev, Arkady Ostrovsky in Moscow and James Harding in Washington ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Special thanks to the CF Community Suite Silver Sponsor - RUWebby http://www.ruwebby.com Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:5:138774 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:5 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
