U.S. Rejects Ukraine Election Results

By William Branigin

The United States on Wednesday rejected the announced results of Ukraine's disputed presidential election and warned the government of the former Soviet republic to uphold democracy or face "consequences" in its relationships with the United States and Europe.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/artic...er=emailarticle

Based on exit polls!



What hypocrites!



They ought to get it right in this country before they start condemning another country's election!

I see the cold war freezing up again!

Hmmm, what do we have to do to get other countries to reject OUR election results?

I don't subscribe to the Washington Post.

What is the controversy with the Ukraine all about. I haven't been watching the news. Do you mean to tell me that the U.S. is upset with election results in ANOTHER country? Why? Did the liberal win?

US rejects results of Ukrainian election: Powell

50 minutes ago

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States rejected the results of Ukraine's presidential election, marred by allegations of fraud, while warning of unspecified "consequences" if Kiev does (sic) act.
"We cannot accept this result as legitimate, because it does not meet international standards and because there has not been an investigation of the numerous and credible reports of fraud and abuse," Powell told reporters.


"We call for a full review of the conduct of the election and the tallying of election results," Powell said of the vote...

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/a...us_041124225356


E-Mail for Colin Powell: secretary@state.gov

I can't get over the hypocracy of this administration. It's OK for a U.S. president to have stolen an election, but not for Ukraine?! They are worried that an anti-Bush administration may take power? Too Bad! There are millions of us in this country that are afraid of the type of government that has just been given a second term.

THIS IS AMAZING!!!

Since when is the U.S. in charge of all the world's elections.

Based on their reason for rejecting the Ukraine's election, they should also reject ours. MY GOD!!! This literally makes me even sicker.

These pompous asses never fail to amaze me with their hypocrisy.

US govt. - the pot calling the kettle 'sooty' It just shows what liars and cheats they are

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...raine_elections

Ukraine Opposition Leader Calls for Strike

The East-West stakes over Ukraine
Russian and Western leaders are sharply at odds over the country's
election crisis. By Fred Weir - and Howard LaFranchi -

http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/1126/p01s03-woeu.html?s=hns

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6374820/

Ukraine post election crisis deepens

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/23/internat...9cbc2ced25dcf12

Lugar Hints at Tough Measures on Ukraine Vote

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4039329.stm

Ukraine declares election winner

http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/story.jsp?story=586065

EU faces dilemma: the people vs. Putin

http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/story.jsp?story=586067

President forced to hold talks as people march for new government

http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/story.jsp?story=586066

Havel backs opposition leader's stance

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4035755.stm

Yushchenko calls for army support

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4035755.stm

Yushchenko calls for army support

Challenge the dogma - think independently.
-----------------------------------
NOVEMBER 22, 2004

Los Angeles Independent Media

Republicans Cry "Election Fraud" in Ukraine


WASHINGTON -- November 22 -- Bush's cronies would know election fraud, wouldn't they? However, unlike John Kerry, in Ukraine the anti-Bush forces haven't rolled over and played dead - they're defending their country from a hostile takeover.

Does this sound familiar: Republicans calling for activists to overwhelm the vote count and overturn the results? At a press conference the morning after the election, US Senator Richard Lugar (R-Indiana), Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair, with long-standing ties to the CIA, and Bush's official envoy for the Ukrainian elections, called on Ukrainians to take action against their government regarding the election results.(1)

Why? Quitely possibly the most important election this year might not have been in the United States, the European Union, nor even Venezuela, but in Ukraine this past Sunday, 21 November 2004. The outcome of this election will have a direct impact on the global balance of power between the United States, the European Union, and the Russian Federation for many years to come.

After a decade of "shock therapy" at the hands of US and European advisers designed to cripple the economies of the former Soviet republics, the ascendance of Vladimir Putin as Russia's president has caused a sea-change turn around, with the reestablishment of governmental authority over the oligarchs and their mafia, economic growth after the most catastrophic depression in the world, and the reemergence of Russia as a strategic power. Those former Soviet republics with heads of state that came from the old political-industrial mangerial class, such as Belarus, Ukraine, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and most of Central Asia, are gravitating back toward a reviving Russia after following devasting International Monetary Fund dictates while stranded on their own during the Yeltsin era.

Following the successful coup in Georgia in 2003 orchestrated by the US via George Soros's "Open Society Institute," every one of the ex-Soviet leaders who had been working with the Western powers realized that they could be next, and hence rapidly turned back toward rebuilding ties with Russia to protect themselves and their countries from Western takeover.

One of the top goals of the US and European governments in the region is to stop this trend by keeping apart the largest of these republics, Ukraine, severely damaging attempts at rebuilding economic, political, and military ties. Keeping apart the Ukraine, known as the "breadbasket" of the former Soviet Union with nearly 50 million people, would be akin to trying to rebuild the United States without the industrial heartland of the Midwest.

Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma, a former missile industry manager, began by continuing his predecessor's pro-Western approach, appointing American-approved choices for prime ministers who privatized most industries at firesale prices and caused average incomes to fall to levels even below the average in Africa, largely because there was no alternative during the "Washington Consensus" of the 1990s: the US and Europe together dictated economic austerity and political obedience to the rest of the world. This is what Bush has undermined and Kerry wanted to bring back, which is why Putin publicly stated that a Bush victory would be better for Russia. Obviously, four more years of Bush spells doom for many in Haiti, Iraq, and within the US (the foreign policy implications of Bush for the rest of the world will be the subject of a future column).

When Russia's turn around under Putin started to become clear in 2001 and Ukraine's disaster became too deep to continue along the previous path, President Kuchma dismissed the architect of these policies, Prime Minister Viktor Yushenko, and appointed Viktor Yanukovich in his place. Yanukovich, hailing from the industrial belt of eastern Ukraine, recognized that Ukraine's economy was still deeply tied with Russia's and set out to revitalize its industries. Fueled by Russian investment and the restoration of favorable oil and gas pricing by Russia, Ukraine's economy finally began to turn around again, with actual wage and pension increases for the first time since the end of the Soviet Union.

With Kuchma's term coming to a close, the 2004 presidential election became a showdown between the former and current prime ministers, Yushenko and Yanukovich, with the US and the EU backing the former and Russia backing the latter.

Heavy external interference, similar to what occurred in Venezuela during the recent recall election, brought in similar groups:

National Endowment for Democracy, International Republican Institute, National Democratic Institute, Konrad Adenauer Foundation ("Christian Democrat") and Friedrich Ebert Foundation ("Socialist") of Germany, European Peoples Party (the conservative Christian Democrats), all to mobilize Catholic Ukrainian cultural "nationalists" and the youth for Yushenko against Yanukovich, Ukrainian economic nationalists, and Russia. George Soros's Open Society Institute literally flew in experienced saboteurs (Otpor and Kmara) from his successful post-election coups against Yugoslavia and Georgia to lay the same groundwork in Ukraine.

During the first round of elections on 31 October 2004, Yanukovich and Yushenko each received 39% of the vote, both sides claimed victory in the runoffs on Sunday, 21 November 2004, and both sides claimed the other side engaged in fraud. Most likely, both did: while as Prime Minister Yanukovich could count on his supporters in government to try to do everything in their power to maximize their number of votes, Yushenko had the full logistical support of European intelligence agencies and political operatives to inflate their totals as well, such as having individuals vote multiple times using false passports and identity documents.(2)

The US and EU funded several polls that claimed implausibly massive leads for Yushenko, just as they did for the Venezuelan recall, and are now attempting to use these as part of their claim that Yushenko should have won.

So if both sides engaged in fraud, who should be the legitimate president? This question strikes at the heart of a very deep ideological issue that most progressives in Western nations have yet to reconcile: do elections legitimate governments? Put another way, is it legitimate for a nation attempting to prevent or liberate itself from Western domination to use non-electoral means to come to or keep power? And the flip side of the coin: does the fact that, despite massive fraud, Bush appears to have received a majority of the popular vote within the United States legitimate his government?

For many, whether considering a liberation movement in Africa, Southeast Asia, or Latin America, if they do not engage in what the Western corporate media call "free and fair elections" then these movements must be condemned. This would imply that the Viet Minh should not have fought against the US army but should have participated in the "elections" of South Vietnam and pushed for "reforms" that would have made those fraudulent elections more "free and fair." Should the Iraqis do the same?

This is a self-serving argument from armchair activists and agents of imperialism, used as a tool by the US and Europe to attack these countries and to prevent solidarity with them. If a government is forced to hold open elections, as Nicaragua and Yugoslavia did, Western countries impose massive external interference, funding, and sabotage to force them out. That is why some independent governments not under Western control, such as Vietnam, Cuba, Sudan, or Syria, organize their governments without Western-style elections. Others, such as Haiti, Zimbabwe, Belarus, and the Central Asian republics, have held elections that the US and European governments and their human rights agents relentlessly attack as "undemocratic" because the outcomes were governments that pursued a large degree of autonomy from Western control.

And it is no coincidence that the only international entity Bush officially invited to observe the US elections, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), gave Bush's election the seal of approval while leveling severe charges against Yanukovich but not Yushenko.

Does that mean elections should be ignored? No. Does that mean that elections should not be free from fraud? No. Elections can represent the will of an informed and empowered electorate. But anyone who believes that an election modeled after what we currently have in the United States would be "free and fair," where corporate money and media reign supreme, alternative choices are shut out through "winner take all" ballots, and partisan officials have unchecked control over the voting process, is either blind or lying. Clearly, for a leading Republican official from a state neighboring Ohio's widespread fraud to virtually call for a coup against another government over voter fraud is truly Orwellian.

And the corporate media's one-sided portrayal of election irregularities halfway around the world while engaging in a complete blackout of election fraud at home demonstrates their propaganda bias.

Challenge the dogma - think independently.

Ukraine Premier Is Named Winner; U.S. Assails Move
By C. J. CHIVERS
The decision to ratify the election results intensified the
differences between Ukraine's rulers and the emboldened
opposition.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/25/internat...ukraine.html?th

Powell Says Ukraine Vote Was Full of Fraud
By STEVEN R. WEISMAN
Secretary of State Colin L. Powell said Wednesday that the
United States could not accept a victory by Victor F.
Yanukovich as legitimate.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/25/politics/25diplo.html?th

http://csmonitor.com/2004/1126/p01s03-woeu.html

the East-West stakes over the Ukraine

the thing is it's not just the US... they are just joining the fray, and are in agreement with the world. But i agree it is very ironic...


There is not much world based news on most american networks.. but you couldn't miss this in Canada.

http://www.cbc.ca/story/world/national/200...rike041125.html

45 canadians were among the international observers that witness blatant and obvious fraud taking place.

if there has been election fraud in the US (and it looks more than suspicious) republican fraud was smarter, more insidious and harder to trace/prove than in the Ukraine. Cheating aside, I hold mainstream corporate media aka republican propaganda to blame. It is the underlying problem to solve or overcome.

I only hope the Ukraine has enough sense to reject our presidential election as well.

The "Ukranian Fake winner" should challenge the US election results as well. And threaten to "sever" relations with the US.

This might cause a chain reaction globally.

Ukraine Court to Rule on Election

KIEV, Ukraine-Justices will consider an appeal against the results
of a presidential vote deemed fraudulent. The opposition plans to
step up street protests. By David Holley.
http://email.latimes.com/cgi-bin1/DM/y/ekb...Io30G2B0GJic0AR

European Envoys to Mediate Ukraine Electoral Deadlock

http://enews.voanews.com/t?ctl=A23386:2F72C9D

Europe and United States say Ukraine risks isolating itself from the
democratic community of western nations if it fails to adequately
address the opposition's claims

Javier Solana European Union President Javier Solana and Polish
President Alexander Kwasniewski have arrived in the Ukrainian capital,
Kiev, Friday to try and help start a process of international
mediation to end Ukraine's electoral standoff.

Outgoing President Leonid Kuchma has said that the only way to end the
dispute over the presidential election is for both sides - the
opposition and pro-Yanukovych forces - to sit down and start talking.
He's never made clear whether he himself would be a party to such
talks and his potential role is still not known.

Viktor Yushchenko (l) and Yulia Timoshenko But Maria Yonova, the head
of opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko's international department,
tells VOA Friday that the opposition has received a call from
President Kuchma in the past 24 hours. But she says there was no
"official offer of talks."

Ms. Yonova declined to provide any further specifics, saying simply,
"give it time."

Opposition leader Yushchenko has indicated a willingness to negotiate.
But other members within his team have said there can only be
negotiations about the terms of a transfer of power and the
declaration of Mr. Yushchenko as Ukraine's next president.

Viktor YanukovychA possible break on the electoral front came late
Thursday. Ukraine's Supreme Court announced that it would cease to
officially publish the election results, in which Prime Minister
Viktor Yanukovych was declared the winner, until the opposition's
claims of widespread vote fraud could be examined.

The United States and Europe say Ukraine risks isolating itself from
the democratic community of western nations if it fails to adequately
address the opposition's claims.

There are also fears that if the dispute playing out on Ukraine's
streets this week is not addressed and soon, Ukraine could divide into
two halves, between the pro-Russia east, which favors Mr. Yanukovych,
and the pro-reform west, which supports Mr. Yushchenko.

That split is more widely evident in the streets of the capital Friday
as the demonstrations grow to include ever larger numbers of
pro-government supporters. They had been mostly absent from the scene
in the first days of the protests.

But their presence now, in many cases directly among opposition
supporters, is leading to some tense exchanges and a more volatile
feel to the situation.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...raine_elections

Ukraine rivals Fail to Resolve Stalemate

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...l_nm/ukraine_dc

Ukraine's Parliament to Debate Election Crisis

http://www.guardian.co.uk/ukraine/story/0,...1360926,00.html

Clashes feared as Ukraine talks break up

http://www.guardian.co.uk/ukraine/story/0,...1360817,00.html

Kiev ministries blockaded as protests swell

http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1101460...ats%5Fnews%5Fus

Ukraine Crisis Remains Unsettled

Rivals in Ukraine Agree to Negotiate Over Vote
By C. J. CHIVERS
The two candidates claiming to be president-elect agreed to
negotiations, the first sign of an easing of tensions that
have risked leading the nation toward civil war.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/27/internat...ukraine.html?th

Ukrainian Parliament Declares Sunday's Presidential Election
Invalid

http://enews.voanews.com/t?ctl=A26A25:2F72C9D

Lawmakers overwhelmingly approve resolution declaring runoff was
subject to many irregularities, failed to reflect intention of voters

Opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko, left, and Prime Minister Viktor
Yanukovych stand next to each other after negotiations in Kiev, Friday

Ukraine's parliament has declared the disputed presidential election
vote invalid. The non-binding resolution, adopted in emergency session
Saturday, comes amid increased calls for new elections.

Ukraine's parliament approved a resolution declaring that the runoff
presidential election was invalid and failed to reflect the intention
of voters. It also passed a vote of no confidence in the Central
Election Commission, which declared Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych
the winner of the November 21 election.

The speaker of parliament, Volodymyr Lytvyn, opened the session,
saying the best option to end the political crisis would be to hold a
new election. He said a new vote is needed in light of the numerous
allegations of fraud that marred the presidential runoff vote last
Sunday.

Some European Union officials are also saying holding new elections
would be the right course of action.

Tens-of-thousands of demonstrators backing western-leaning challenger
Viktor Yushchenko have been protesting in Kiev and other cities.

President Leonid Kuchma front with Javier Solana, center and Polish
President Alexander KwasniewskiMeanwhile, officials from the two
political camps were also expected to meet, one day after the two
rival candidates failed to resolve the crisis in a roundtable meeting
with various European mediators.

Mr. Yushchenko says he was cheated out of victory by massive fraud.
The reports of widespread irregularities led much of the international
community to reject the official results. Ukraine's Supreme Court is
to hold a hearing Monday on the opposition's claim the elections were
rigged.

Only China, Russia and some other former Soviet republics back the
official count.

Russia's position on a possible new vote isn't clear. But on Friday,
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov declared that certain Western nations
were trying to draw a new borderline through Ukraine by supporting the
opposition.

Russia openly backed Mr. Yanukovych during the election campaign, and
President Vladimir Putin was quick to congratulate him on what he
called his decisive victory, before official results were even
announced.

Moscow is angered by what it sees as Western meddling in the affairs
of a country that has long been firmly in Russia's sphere of
influence.

Bush: World Watching Ukraine Closely

http://enews.voanews.com/t?ctl=A26A28:2F72C9D

White House closely following events in Ukraine, saying US deeply
disturbed by credible indications of voter fraud

President BushPresident Bush says the international community is very
carefully watching events in Ukraine where he says allegations of
voter fraud put presidential election results in doubt.

President Bush says the world is watching how Ukraine resolves
disputed elections which have drawn huge crowds of opposition
supporters to blockade key government buildings in the capital, Kiev.

"There's just a lot of allegations of vote fraud that placed their
election, the validity of their elections in doubt. The international
community is watching very carefully. People are paying very close
attention to this, and hopefully it will be resolved in a way that
brings credit and confidence to the Ukrainian government," said Mr.
Bush

President Bush spoke to reporters outside a coffee shop near his Texas
ranch. The White House has been closely following events in Ukraine,
saying the United States is deeply disturbed by credible indications
of voter fraud and urging the government to respect the will of the
Ukrainian people.

The election pits pro-Russian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich against
opposition leader ViktorYushchenko, who is generally seen as being
more pro-Western. In statements leading up to the vote, the White
House said it supports Ukraine's aspirations to join the Euro-Atlantic
community, and if the election fails to meet democratic standards,
those aspirations would suffer.

If the result reflects what the White House calls the true will of the
people, it would open new opportunities for stronger U.S.-Ukrainian
cooperation and, the Bush administration says, offer the Ukrainian
people a brighter, more promising future as a sovereign, democratic,
and prosperous nation.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...raine_elections

Ukraine Parliament Calls Election Invalid

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...raine_elections

Ukraine Parliament Calls Election Invalid

here's the link to cnn's article:

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/europe/11/27...aine/index.html



I am very happy for them but also quite envious. I hope this makes more of us stand up and notice what is happening right here at home.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml...xportaltop.html

Ukraine 'catastrophie' looms

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/a289e4d8-4172-11d...000e2511c8.html

In a legal limbo

http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/1129/p01s01-woeu.html

Ukraine vote goes to court

http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=42021

Polish President: Split in Ukraine Realistic

Ukraine Crisis Deepens Amid Separatist Talk

KIEV, Ukraine-The political crisis over Ukraine's disputed
presidential election threatened to tear the nation apart as
leaders of eastern provinces pressed demands bordering on
separatism and opposition supporters pledged to block the outgoing
president's movements if he didn't meet their demands. By David
Holley.
http://email.latimes.com/cgi-bin1/DM/y/ekc...Io30G2B0GJnH0Ap

Premier's Camp Signals a Threat to Ukraine Unity
By C. J. CHIVERS
As many as 3,500 officials voted to seek autonomy if the
opposition continues to seek the presidency for Viktor A.
Yushchenko.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/29/internat...ukraine.html?th

good!

now let's see if we can have an honest election... the whole world would like to know this too...

and further, mr. putin has nothing to fear from the other candidate... i have all conficedence that the challenger is very interested in doing business with russia....

come on people....

- perry

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-1380657,00.html

Ukraine Supreme Court considers election appeal

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?t...storyID=6943582

Ukraine's PM Agrees to New Vote in Two Regions

http://www.mosnews.com/news/2004/11/29/yushchenko.shtml

Ukraine's Opposition Candidate Yushchenko Demands to Acknowledge His First Round Victory