Mr. Yuschenko should take a hint from his dear friend Mr. Saakashvili and call an early presidential election in Ukraine, thus resolving a political stalemate facing the nation. He then should curtail his foreign trips and focus on doing his job and ensuring that the government functions effectively as the country prepares for a long winter. He may or may not seek reelection. If he does, he will surely find out that the people of Ukraine will find him unfit to govern.

Ukraine’s political battles are no longer newsworthy. Orange revolution was a breaking news, the reelection of September 30th was not. The ensuing period of political jostling mislabeled “coalition-building” is as pathetically boring as it is damaging to the nation reeling from the spiked inflation, economic and social unease, corruption and infrastructure decay. Ukraine may not be weak, but it is not that strong either. On Yuschenko’s watch it has gotten considerably weaker as its neighbors rushed ahead, be it to the NATO and EU, or the newly-found riches of oil manna. Mr. Yuschenko was not equipped to steer the country in a right direction and the political battles he fought weakened him both physically and emotionally. In Ukraine, any president, let alone Mr. Yuschenko, should not serve a full 5-year term. Ukraine’s realities differ from the life (and life spans) of other civilized nations, and a 5-year term for a president is a luxury a developing nation like Ukraine cannot afford. Mr. Yuschenko had his chance, and he blew it. The presidency does not belong to him, it belongs to the Ukranian people, and the latest political crisis in Ukraine could only be resolved by giving the presidency back back to the people.

Ukraine is sick. Its population is dying off or leaves for the foreign lands in essense becoming modern-day slaves there. For most Ukrainians, the survival is the only goal in life. The country that is so rich in human capital is being methodically run to the ground by a few thousand oligarchs and their servants who seek to enrich themselves at any cost. Mr. Yuschenko failed to stop the modern day genocide this country is facing. He sole responsibility as a president of Ukraine was to help Ukrainians to make their lives better. He did not do that. While there could be many justifications of this failure, it is apparent now that at this point Yuschenko no longer cares about serving his electorate. Rather, the signs abound that he had in fact began his reelection campaign.

Mr. Saakashvili may or may not be reelected as the Georgian president. Without going too much into the details of Georgia’s domestic situation, it is hard to judge him solely on the merits of his decision to step down. The fact is that he had the guts to do it, and in doing so he had shown to his supporters and critics alike that he is the man of action. Ukraine needs a president who can act. Mr. Yuschenko does not appear to be able to do so, not if an action involves any degree of principle stance or decisive and thought-through approach. This Thursday, Ukraine may face yet another travesty of the “coalition-building” in the parliament. As a growing democracy, Ukraine has been given many chances to start over. Despite the misery of last twenty years, Ukraine’s people had shown time and again that, when pressed, they would choose democracy and path forward. Mr. Yuschenko, once chosen to lead them, had not capitalized on his chance to be an effective and inspiring leader and thus must step down and call an early presidential election. This will enable the country to choose a leader that would be capable of uniting the nation and proactively steering it on its chosen path.