more
from the ukraine: second round vote cancelled and other updates
 |
The
Ukraine Supreme court has cancelled the second round vote of 21
November. The new election is scheduled for not later than 26 December
2004. Twelve days of concerted peaceful, public action has had effect. |
|
A contrast between
the two political camps:
pro-Yushenko:
“Today I was able to sit down with Yura, a member of the Mobile
Unit, which Yushchenko's people have organized as a quick reaction
force. It's composed entirely of former soldiers and militiamen. I
grew nervous when I heard about that.
“Then Yura explained the reason for the force. It's directed
not against government troops, but against provocateurs. It's a way
of policing both our own people, and anyone who would commit a wrong
act to discredit us. The democracy movement is committed to non-violence.
”
[Quoted from Le
Sabot PostModern]
pro-Yanukovych:
“Police of Lugansk shields the criminals. Or it is possible
that the militia itself organizes numbers of fighters in black leather
jackets to beat the “orange” supporters of the opposition
presidential candidate.”
[Quoted from Pravda
Ukraine]
|
|
Yulia Tymoshenko, “top
ally of opposition leader Yushchenko”
“[...] promised to supply Russia with a similar revolution:
'As soon as our orange revolution has been completed, we’ll
transfer it to Russia.' Tymoshenko said one could see cars with orange
ribbons in Moscow even now.”
[From Pravda
Ukraine via Le
Sabot PostModerne]
This seems unnecessarily provocative. |
|
Update on an example voting
tally:
Here
are two maps of voting patterns in different Ukrainian administrative
regions.
- The first map shows how the second round voter turnout jumped in
the Eastern part of the Ukraine (pro-Russia), as compared to the Western
part (pro-West) which shows little change in voter turnout.
- The second map shows how the different regions voted.
At the following link is a page giving statistical
data on the Ukraine (the link goes to the table on populations
of different administrative regions of Ukraine).
|
| |
A
webcam in central Kyiv. |
the web address for the article above is
https://www.abelard.org/news/politics0411.php#free_ukraine3 |
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more
from the ukraine: yushenko poisoned
image credit: nikita
demosthenes
yushenko’s face: part
1 part
2
The nikita demosthenes blog also has an interview
with Viktor Yushenko’s wife, Kateryna from last October.
dioxins
Severe
2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) Intoxication: Clinical and Laboratory
Effects [including photos of symptoms.]
—
“The term “dioxins” refers to a family of chemical compounds
that share several common characteristics. Dioxins are produced from volcanoes
and forest fires as well as man-made processes such as manufacturing, incineration,
paper and pulp bleaching, and exhaust emissions. [...] Dioxins are ubiquitous
in the environment. They are found throughout the world in air, water and
soil. Although dioxin exposure can come through industrial environmental
exposure, overall, skin contact or breathing represent very small sources
of dioxin exposure. Dioxins decompose in the environment and can be deposited
on plants and taken up by animals and fish as they feed. Dioxins have a
high affinity for fatty substances and are found in fat tissue.” [Quoted
from ific.org]
Note that fats are metabolised by the liver, thus dioxin
poisoning can damage the liver. The Austrian doctors attending to Viktor Yushchenko
state that his liver function is almost back to normal.
—
“ [The herbicides] 2, 4-D or 2, 4, 5-T may be contaminated with dioxins,
some of which are very toxic. Dioxins have been incriminated in severe chloracne
in man.”
—
“If a toxic dose of 2, 4-D or 2, 4, 5-T has been ingested, further
absorption should be prevented by gastric lavage or inducing emesis and
administration of activated charcoal. Supportive therapy should be given.”
[Quoted
from Field Army Service, NATO]
a
voting tally
image credit: Discoshaman
larger version available at nikita's
blog
“It shows a vote tally sheet from the Ukrainian elections. For those
of you who don't read Cyrillic, Yanukovych received 2,139 votes, no one
else received any.”
This lot can’t even cheat plausibly.
Viktor
Yushenko’s website, in English.
Note that the
lobowalk blog is compiling a list of other useful
blogs on the Ukraine situation.
the web address for the article above is
https://www.abelard.org/news/politics0411.php#free_ukraine2 |
| another
lot fight for freedom - ukraine
i'm
coming back
“The Parliament elections in 2002 in Donetsk were falsified, the
same way the 2004 presidential elections were falsified. I not only witnessed
it, I took a part in falsifications. I was pressured to do so. After the
2002 elections I realized the error of my ways and started fighting against
my former "friends" from Ahmetov group. I wrote to opposition
media and told about all the methods of falsifications and I showed proof.
Unfortunately, I was quickly tracked down by Donetsk bandits. They beat
me heavily on the stairs of my house and I spent 2 months in the hospital.
The whole time I was getting threats from the Donetsk gangs and finally
I decided to flee the country. I did not believe that it was possible to
eradicate those disgusting thugs. It is not one person's job.!”
un
losing moral authority
“The final losers are the U.N. and Kofi Annan. The U.N. has been
invisible. As Kofi Annan has been trying to keep his head above oil, he
has issued his usual appeal for restraint. But this crisis has brought forth
the heroes of the Cold War from retirement -- Vaclav Havel, Lech Walesa
and Margaret Thatcher -- to encourage the orange revolutionaries. And Annan
cannot begin to compete with their moral authority or the legitimacy they
can bestow.” [from John O’Sullivan in the Sunday Times]
Blogger’s comment:
“That's saying a lot, considering O'Sullivan includes Yanukovych,
Putin, Chirac "and those European leaders who want the European Union
to be an anti-American counterweight to America. International crises involving
Russia tend to remind Europeans that the United States remains a very valuable
ally in a dangerous and unpredictable world. Fantasies of a superpower Europe
seem insubstantial delusions by comparison with this tested alliance."
”
Lead and comment from the Bad
hair blog
meanwhile,
the un mistily considers reform among a sea of troubles
The proposals are so far a bit squishy, but it is
movement.
For their ever deepening troubles and scandals, a
useful summary can be seen here.
but
in the backstreets of the ukraine, it is not all fun
“slaughter” seems excessive language....
“Barely 5 minutes had passed when a huge crowd with banners and
signs reading "For Yanukovych" came out onto the square. Around
60 thugs with bats and brass-knuckles ran out from their ranks and without
further ado began to pummel the attendees. Result of the slaughter: broken
arms, fractured skulls, smashed noses.
“The police posted nearby DID NOT REACT IN ANY WAY to what was happening.
This, however, hardly comes as a surprise. According to our information,
police officers have an order NOT TO NOTICE attacks of thugs on people in
orange. In addition, there were eyewitnesses to personal participation of
employees of the city police department in the assault.
“Right now, today, to wear orange in Luhansk means facing a mortal
danger [...]”
Note that the
lobowalk blog is compiling a list of other useful blogs on the Ukraine
situation.
the web address for the article above is
https://www.abelard.org/news/politics0411.php#free_ukraine |
| every
week that goes by my respect for america grows
Three daft metaphors of the sleazy and morally bankrupt
left pointed out by Victor Hanson:
- THE POTTERY BARN RULE
"You break it, you bought it"
- "WE HAD TO DESTROY A VILLAGE TO SAVE IT"
An exhaustive investigation by the Pentagon never found any such official
who said anything such thing.
- THE MERCURY METAPHOR
the cleansing of Fallujah was a terrible setback for all the wreckers both
jihadis and socialists.
“Finally, on this Thanksgiving let us remember that, for all their
snarls and snipes, the now-freed peoples of France, Germany, Japan, Eastern
Europe, Korea, the Balkans, Panama, Grenada, Afghanistan, and Iraq owe
a great deal to thousands of dead Americans, too often forgotten, who
in awful places like the Hürtgen Forest, Tarawa, Monte Casino, Chosun,
Hue, Panama City, Mazar-e-Sharif - and Fallujah - battled and defeated
Nazis, militarists, Fascists, Communists, and Dark-Age Islamists so that
millions of others might have the freedom that the rest of us lesser folk
too often take for granted as our birthright.”
What stories will be told of America, and its allies, who
have brought so much good to the planet and continues to pursue its mission
of spreading freedom.
How the Coalition of the Unwilling free-loaders will ache
in shame that their cultures were not there on Saint
Crispin’s Day, at the side of America and fighting for a better
world.
end note
He which hath
no stomach to this fight,
Let him depart; his passport shall be made,
And crowns for convoy put into his purse:
We would not die in that man's company
That fears his fellowship to die with us.
This day is called the feast of Crispian:
He that outlives this day and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when this day is named,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say, 'To-morrow is Saint Crispian:'
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars,
And say, 'These wounds I had on Crispin's day.'
Old men forget: yet all shall be forgot,
But he'll remember with advantages
What feats he did that day. Then shall our names,
Familiar in his mouth as household words,
Harry the King, Bedford and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester,
Be in their flowing cups freshly remembered.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be rememberèd;
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile
This day shall gentle his condition:
And gentlemen in England, now a-bed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.
Henry V (1599) act 4, sc. 3, l. 35 by William Shakespeare
the web address for the article above is
https://www.abelard.org/news/politics0411.php#gba |
| fallujah
as part of a greater story
Recommended reading.
“Every campaign has a political dimension. The campaign in the Sunni
Triangle is probably aimed at convincing the enemy that resistance is now
futile and their best hope lies in participating in the new Iraqi government
through elections. Personally (speculation alert!) I doubt it can achieve
as much. The campaign will absolutely gut the enemy as a guerilla force,
but it will not be enough to prevent them from terrorizing Sunni politicians
who may wish to participate in the coming elections. But this will only
postpone unconditional Sunni defeat for another year because a terrorist
enforced boycott will mean that Kurds and Shi'ites will dominate the new
administration and most importantly, its Army. By next year, the regular
Iraqi Army will be a far more potent force and the Sunni insurgency a far
weaker one. But that's the old sad human story; to miss the chance when
it comes and pine for it ever afterward.”
the web address for the article above is
https://www.abelard.org/news/politics0411.php#fallujah |
think
very carefully on the between-the-lines implications of this
“Jacques Chirac, the French president and a harsh critic of the war
in Iraq, brushed aside appeals for better transatlantic ties after George
W Bush's re-election triumph and instead called for a stronger EU to confront
Washington.
...
“In today's Wall Street Journal, France's Foreign Minister Michel
Barnier weighs in with a conciliatory op-ed piece:
“America needs a capable, responsible Europe. And Europe needs
a strong America, engaged in world affairs. Transatlantic cooperation
has always been an essential condition for peace. Today, in a world that
has become more unstable and more dangerous, our alliance is more necessary
than ever. Let us make sure that it is able to meet the challenges that
await us.
“Is Jacques Chirac listening?”
the web address for the article above is
https://www.abelard.org/news/politics0411.php#shirak |
| the
new wave of politically active blogs
Many of the new blogs are useful news-reading services that save one the
time of reading dozens of sources.
I didn’t have time all the while in the midst of the US presidential
election campaign to acknowledge my sources, so here goes:
the
auroran sunset [tas]
During the recent election, this is a blog I used most regularly for fast
response to the latest bullshit from boltneck central. This blog is particularly
useful in that it takes stories from a wide range of the type of blogs mentioned
above and selects with considerable judgement, while often adding short commentary.
There is another class of blogs that tend to do original analysis of which
I particularly find the
belmont club and belgravia
dispatch useful. Both of these blogs (and several others) I found via
the auroran sunset gateway.
It is impossible to thank and mention all of the sources, but these above
have been the most important.
Today, tas brings up another useful story on the incredible breakdown of
trust in the fossil media, generated by their disgraceful partisan behaviour
during the presidential election. There is also reference
to stuff on a blog inside the US State department!
While distrust of the fossil media has been slowly building over decades
and in any case trust was very little earned during recent times, it is the
independent blogs that have consistently shredded the fossil media and left
them reeling during this recent election.
This has been, in my view, a considerable contribution to the eventual runaway
victory of Bush and the improvement of public education.
If you are still reliant on the fossil media, you are rapidly losing track
of where the serious and independent commentary and analysis is developing.
The above links are the sort of places you should be starting from to work
your way into this new and more reliable news medium.
Note: there is also growing a way of scanning
and reading your favourite blog outlets. It is called RSS.
rss feeds -
reading the news, or anything! describes how to get tooled up.
With this system, you can easily customise your news reading to bring up your
favourite sources’ headlines as new stories emerge, whence you can skip
down the list and open those items of interest to you.
the web address for the article above is
https://www.abelard.org/news/politics0411.php#blogs |
why
millions of decent people came out to vote for anyone but kerry
From
a voter who claims to have been open to voting Democrat:
“- I voted against a man that would say anything, anything at all,
no matter who it hurt to become President, simply to stoke his enormous
ego. I voted against a man that accused the incumbent of having "secret
plans" to bring back the draft, in order to frighten younger voters
and their parents into voting for him. Cutting Social Security, dairy subsidies,
whatever - Bush had a "secret plan." These accusations from a
man who had a "plan" for everything, with the exception of having
a plan to deal with the Swift Boat vets, who clearly stated their plans
well in advance. This from a man who could not or would not provide ANY
details about his plans.
“- I voted against the "whatever Bush has done, I would have
done better" load of drivel. 20-20 hindsight is not a quality I look
for in a presidential candidate; I prefer one that can look ahead and see
opportunities. I look for one that can decisively address unanticipated
challenges without having to check the polls first.
“- I voted against a man that has vacillated on the most important
issue of our time, the war on terror. I voted against the man that has repeatedly
denigrated our military leadership in a time of war to score political points
with his far-left base. I voted against a man that believes the duplicitous
and cowardly French and Germans are more desirable allies than the steadfast
British, Australians, and others. I voted against the man that believes
killing 3000+ civilians in cold blood, in an attempt to destroy our national
will, is a "law enforcement" issue, not an act of war.”
And plenty more.
Until lefties start to realise this behaviour disgusts
decent people they will continue deservedly to remain on the margins of civilised
society.
And here you have Reynolds
reporting an influential left-wing source:
“Marching order #1, therefore, is this: No matter whom you talk
to outside our circles, begin to perpetuate the (false, exaggerated) notion
that George Bush's victory was built not merely on values issues, but gay
marriage specifically. If you feel a need to broaden it slightly, try depicting
the GOP as a majority party synonymous with gay-haters, warmongers and country-clubbers
[...]”
And here you have some
analysis showing that last claim is more leftist
garbage:
“It's true that states with bans on the ballot voted for Bush at
higher rates than other states. His vote share averaged 7 points higher
in gay-marriage-banning states than in other states (57.9 vs. 50.9). But
four years ago, when same-sex marriage was but a twinkle in the eye of the
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, Bush's vote share was 7.3 points higher
in these same states than in other states. In other words, by a statistically
insignificant margin, putting gay marriage on the ballot actually reduced
the degree to which Bush's vote share in the affected states exceeded his
vote share elsewhere.”
—
“ These differences hold up at the state level even when each state's
past Bush vote is taken into account. When you control for that variable,
a 10-point increase in the percentage of voters citing terrorism as the
most important problem translates into a 3-point Bush gain. A 10-point increase
in morality voters, on the other hand, has no effect. Nor does putting an
anti-gay-marriage measure on the ballot. So, if you want to understand why
Bush was re-elected, stop obsessing about the morality gap and start looking
at the terrorism gap.”
Read the independents if you want serious news and analysis,
stop wasting so much time with the fossil media-dependent hacks.
the web address for the article above is
https://www.abelard.org/news/politics0411.php#voting_choice |
|
political
legitimacy—a neat clean statement
“The ultimate legitimacy of the war, however, and of American behavior
more broadly, will depend on the course Iraq takes. If the United States
is seen to have fostered liberal democracy in Iraq; to have eliminated a
security threat to the region and beyond; and to have undertaken the war
not only for its own interests but also in the interests of others, then
the question of legitimacy will be settled largely in America's favor. If,
however, Iraq is unstable and undemocratic, and the stability of the region
as a whole has not improved, then the legitimacy of American actions and
of American foreign policy in general will be eroded.
“The problem of legitimacy, like most international problems, can
never be definitively solved. Perhaps the best test of American foreign
policy in the coming years will therefore be whether, through an active
and generous diplomacy and through successful actions in the common interest,
the United States can win the argument that it has acted in the common good
more often than it loses it.”
The argument is of course about more than just ‘diplomacy’.
It also requires hard power.
the web address for the article above is
https://www.abelard.org/news/politics0411.php#legitimacy |
