Taras Kuzio’s Blog

Which President Would You Vote For?

http://www.kyivpost.com/news/opinion/op_ed/

Posted in Ukraine's 2010 Presidential Elections | No Comments »

Yushchenko Believes he is a Mazepa Descendant

http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/4b1bf4125657d/

Only psychologists would be able to diagnose this phenomenon. Wonder what Freud would have said?

Posted in General Articles | 29 Comments »

NATO MEMBERSHIP FOR UKAINE: DEBATE

Sponsor:          The Kyiv Post

Date:               Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Time:               9.30-10.50 AM

Venue:             Kiev Institute of International Relations

Ulitsa Mel’nikova 36/1

Moderator:      Kyiv Post journalist TBA

Speakers:         Anthony T. Salvia, American Institute in Ukraine     (5 minutes)

XXX                                                                           (5 minutes)

Debate:            James Jatras, American Institute in Ukraine               (20 minutes)

Dr.Taras Kuzio, Chair of Ukrainian Studies, University of Toronto                            (20 minutes)

Q & A:            Media, students and guests                                        (30 minutes)

Total time:       1.2 hours  (time allotments subject to change if KIMO officials wants to make welcoming remarks)

Theme:            Ukraine and European Security: Priorities for the Next President

The next Ukrainian president will have to set the nation’s course in world affairs in a dangerous and shifting international political environment.     Russia has made clear to Ukraine that it finds some potential policy moves unacceptable, without specifying how it would respond if Kiev were to adopt such measures, and accuses it of an unfriendly attitude; the United States, which has played an important role in Ukrainian affairs since independence, but especially since the last presidential election in 2004, faces unprecedented foreign policy challenges of its own, remains mired in economic difficulties and faces crucial mid-term elections in 2010.  Many Americans feel the US is overextended.  Partially as a consequence of this state of affairs, Washington appears keen to seek improved relations with Moscow.  As for Europe, it remains deeply and openly skeptical of Ukrainian entry into the European Union anytime soon, although such membership would be a boon to Ukraine’s economy and would anchor the nation firmly in the West.

The challenges are great, and so is the need to shed light on Ukraine’s place in world as the nation prepares to elect new leadership.

This event, at the Kiev Institute of International Relations (KIMO) of the Kiev National Taras Shevchenko University, Ukraine’s leading training ground for diplomats and foreign affairs specialists and practitioners, is intended to do just that.   As such, it will feature a debate between qualified Western experts in the these matters.

Anthony Salvia, Director of the American Institute in Ukraine, and XXX will frame the discussion with concise opening statements setting forth their competing visions for Ukraine’s foreign policy future.

These statements will be followed by the main event—a forty minutes debate between Dr. Taras Kuzio of the University of Toronto and James Jatras, Deputy Director of the American Institute in Ukraine.  Dr. Kuzio is well known in Ukraine and the West for his commentary on and analysis of Ukrainian affairs; Mr. Jatras served in the US Department of State as a Foreign Service Officer and as a senior foreign policy adviser to the Senate Republican Policy Committee.  He expertise is in Soviet and post-Soviet affairs.

Students and guests will have a chance to pose questions to the speakers in the Question and Answer session that will follow the debate.

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Yanukovych-Yushchenko Stop Tymoshenko! Alliance

http://eng.weekly.ua/pulse/economy/2009/11/19/060635.html

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Weekend Diary

Weekend Diary
On Saturday I decided to take a break from Ukrainian politics and “escape” from Ukrainian politics by going to see the film “2012”. What better way to “escape” from reality than going to see a film about the end of the world!?
Little did I realize that even outside – and inside – the cinema “escaping” from Ukrainian politics would prove to be impossible.
As I waited to go into the cinema three young people called my name and, because I did not know them, they explained that they knew me from five years ago when they had been members of Pora. Because of this connection to the Orange Revolution I could not resist asking what they thought of the last five years. Without even thinking about the question they replied in the negative.
We then moved on to the candidates in the upcoming elections. After discussing the second round as one with “no choice” (that is, they could never vote for Viktor Yanukovych) I asked them what they thought of Arseniy Yatseniuk’s 180-degree change in views from those he had until 2008 as a member of NUNS, as Foreign Minister and Parliamentary Speaker?
One former Pora member replied that “Maybe he had no views in the first place”. Maybe she is right? As a Westerner I assume – wrongly – that everybody has a viewpoint (especially a “representative of the younger generation”) and stands for something. This is obviously the wrong conclusion to reach in a post-Soviet country like Ukraine.
During the commercials prior to the beginning of the film in the Ukrayina cinema, the packed audience were surprised to see a political advertisement by presidential candidate Yatseniuk. This was the first time in my life I had seen a political advertisement in a cinema; such a feature is uncommon in cinemas in the West.
The reaction of the audience was more interesting than the actual advertisement. They also, like myself, seemed surprised and bemused, but more importantly not very happy at the fact that Ukrainian political realities had intervened into each individual “escape” from Ukrainian politics.
I very much doubt that Yatseniuk obtained additional voters from the investment he made into the commercials shown inside Ukrainian cinema’s before the start of films. If anything, the opposite is true and he probably lost voters.
The following day I purchased a copy of newly published political magazines. The front cover of Ukayinsky Tyzhden said everything (http://www.ut.net.ua/) there was to say about how Ukrainians relate to Arsenii. UT’s depiction of him is the same as that found on the political satire Nedotorkani (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7bg306NQnw) that was prepared for TRK Ukrayina but was never aired on the channel.
Why Nedotorkani was never aired I have no idea. Maybe after watching the show TRK Ukrayina management decided to also take a time-out from Ukrainian politics. I recommend nevertheless watching it on the internet as it very well made.

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