www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall Ukraine

I know it's a shock, but some of us are grateful to not be Irish, Ukrainian, or Canadian. Anhelyna, for what it's worth, I buy all my tea from England. And yes, there was tea in 19th century Russia. No outrage there.

Mikey ,

Hmm - try this

http://www.holmesonhomes.com/?fuseaction=episodes.showEpisodesShort

scroll down till you get to 'wash and weep'

And there you have it - click on trailer and if you are lucky - you will actually see him for a couple of secs

Aha! There we go! Thank you, my dearest Anhelyna!

Funnily enough, my sister gave me that self-same Sherlock Holmes book twenty years ago. I still read it on an annual basis

Well, it looks like the Ukrainians will get to vote again. I hope this resolves things.

New Vote [msnbc.msn.com]

today's comment on the BBC News page seems to be a fair comment on what I had gathered yesterday

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4073691.stm#

There is a short Video clip - quality is not the greatest - but it does help

The government and opposition in Kiev have failed to reach a comprehensive deal, despite lengthy overnight talks.

But the two sides did agree to appoint a new central election commission, and on the need for electoral reform before the re-run of the presidential poll.

The sticking points are the question of constitutional reforms and opposition demands to sack the government.

and further down the same article

Monday's talks in Kiev represented the first time since the supreme court ruling that the two rivals had sat down together to negotiate.

President Kuchma announced that both sides had agreed on key opposition demands to reform electoral rules and appoint a new electoral commission.

But he refused to sack the government - another key opposition demand - even though it lost a parliamentary no-confidence vote last week.

The two sides also failed to agree constitutional reforms to weaken the powers of the president, a move favoured by Mr Kuchma.

But Mr Yuschenko - who believes he was the rightful winner of November's poll - says they would leave the president as a mere figurehead.

The opposition has said that unless all its demands are met, the street protests that have lasted for more than two weeks will continue.

Mr Yanukovych vowed on Monday to contest the re-run of the disputed poll, saying he had come under pressure to withdraw.

He said he had the support of millions of Ukrainians and was confident of winning, adding that he was going to take time off from government for the campaign.

Anhelyna

Dear Anhelyna,

Whatever happens in Ukraine, one thing is certain - there is no going back.

I was going to go to Ukraine to be an observer (actually received an invitation to come over from someone a number of people know here) but, today, my plans were cancelled due to an unforeseen circumstance.

I've never been more proud of my Ukrainian roots and identity - never.

Alex

Hey Alex,
Now I know what you look like. I was expecting someone older with a white beard and glasses with a high forehead and smoking a pipe.
You really fooled me.
Lauro

I am going as an observer, as of last nite.

Donbas, here I come!

I know what you mean. I was expecting him to look more --- I guess Patriarchal?

Charles

Please allow me to second that.

Разом нас багато - нас не подолати!

Yours,

hal

I asked a former student of mine, who is from Ukraine, what she thought about the current situation in Ukraine. She told me she is a Yanukovich supporter for two reasons. First, she said that Ukraine gets electricity and other basic utilities from Russia, so friends there are necessary. Also, she said that the Russian language would not be made the second official language, and she feels it should be. Are either of these reasons facts? I should point out that this student is from Kiev, but her father is Russian.

I hope Alex doesn't mind but here is a picture of Alex:

http://www.holmesonhomes.com/index....ture&pictureID=1361&galleryID=45

Dear La Familia,

Yes, Yanukovich would have made Russian a second official language of Ukraine.

His platform ALSO includes giving automatic dual citizenship to all Ukrainians with Russia, keeping Ukraine within the Russian imperial orbit for good.

Yanukovich is a criminal, saved from prison by Kuchma and the two of them are war-lords over the gangster capitalist system in Ukraine.

Russians are fond of telling Ukrainians that they should be able to understand Russian, if not already speak it since they are from "Little Russia."

Now the time is coming when the Russians will have to squint hard to pick up on the Ukrainian words - which they will doubtless do excellently.

But Russian and other language rights are already protected and no one questions that.

Forcing Russian on succeeding generations of Ukrainians in a democratic Ukraine - that is what is being questioned.

I spoke with a number of relatives in Ukraine, all of whom were exhausted from the long demonstrations in Kyiv.

These are MY relatives, normally easy-going, timid people (like me).

They all said that they are going for broke now and that they cannot put up with the kind of economic rape that is going on thanks to the government.

As for electricity, the real sparks have yet to fly . . .

Alex

Dear Father Deacon,

And what does that picture have to do with this thread?

If I were wearing an orange scarf, maybe . . .

And, of course, the Administrator will probably let you off and not comment on coming into a thread on Ukraine with my picture . . . doubtless because you are a deacon . . . real discrimination in favour of clergy here . . . now I really feel like that orange scarf. . . wait, I have it on already!

God bless,

Alex

Dear Father Deacon,

I hope you know I was joking with you in the post above.

I apologise if you didn't!

Alex