Maidan blogs

Gerard Kennedy confronted by police in Ukraine

Sat, 29 Sep 2007 02:44:47 -0400

Gerard Kennedy, a Canadian politician observing the election process in Ukraine, was confronted Friday by police who tried to interfere with the process.
The former Ontario education minister and one-time Liberal leadership hopeful told CTV Newsnet a squadron of police confronted the observers Friday at the election commission in Mariupol, an area of Donetsk. Kennedy said the police tried to hinder the observers from ensuring that the process was fair leading up to Sunday's parliamentary poll.

Cross-country culinary - Perogy pizza

Fri, 30 Jun 2006 14:17:46 -0400

Pani Orysya Tracz sent us this link

http://www.winnipegsun.com/Sports/WC2006/2006/06/30/1661058-sun.html

What happens when you mix a little Italian with a little Ukrainian?

Perogy pizza.

Ukraine: US Neo-Conservatives at the Gates

Tue, 02 Aug 2005 08:23:26 -0400

Take the worst of the worst mindless Bush supporters in the US, clone them in Ukraine, and you end up with an emerging religious cult that preaches high-minded ideals but believes in – and fully expects and hopes for – Armageddon, death, massive destruction, and the end of the world.

Given religious and political freedom under Ukraine’s Constitution, there’s nothing to stop them or deter them aside from rational thought. Otherwise, US neo-conservatives are a group largely driven by world domination, and who are largely supported politically – as in voting – by far right-wing ideologues who rarely if ever bother with independent thought and reason.

That ideology holds that these are the end times, the end of human civilization as we know it, that the Rapture is just around the corner, soon to be followed by Armageddon and an inferno holocaust that will teach everyone on Earth a lesson they’ll never forget. And then Christ will return.

There is the key: the hope and expectation of the return of Christ. But, certain things have to happen first. US right-wingers are taking it upon themselves to fulfill prophecy to speed things up. Two thousand years is a long time to wait for Christ’s return, after all, and they’re getting impatient.

So impatient, in fact, that most of the entire US right-wing are now referred to as “Rapturists” and “Armageddonists.” They’re tired of waiting for Biblical prophecy, as they understand it and assume to be the Absolute Truth for every person on this planet, to be fulfilled. Perhaps only America could breed such a do-it-yourself approach to the end of the world – and with the weaponry to back it up. In the meantime, they’ve supported America’s takeover by undemocratic-types of the Bush cabal, because the end of the world is just around the corner anyway.

To be clear, US right-wing Christians and US neo-conservatives are not exactly the same. Neo-cons intend to plant US values and way of life around the world, mainly for profit motives.

Right-wing Christians are natural prey to the neo-con scheme. They believe that their world view is the only possible natural order of things because it says so in the Bible according to them. Circular logic jumps out immediately, of course. The world must become according to their beliefs because they are correct, and their beliefs are correct because the world must become according to their beliefs: the Bible as they understand it.

Never mind reason and mere facts. Possibly the premier champion of the Christian right (right as in political right wing, not right as in correct) is Hal Lindsey. He wrote a book in 1970, “The Late, Great Planet Earth”, wherein he assigned himself as a key prophet in interpreting and making sense of the various prophecies throughout the Bible – not least the utterly incomprehensible Book of Revelations. Therein, Lindsey set upon describing contemporary and very recent world events in 1970 as indications of end-time prophecy being fulfilled. He extrapolated further to make predictions about how things would unfold over the next quarter century or so. Many simple-minded folks – but voters, nevertheless – in the US were taken in completely. Some took a wait-and-see approach, to see if his predictions were correct. Lindsey was wrong on almost every prediction he made, not least that Christ would return before the end of the millennium. Moreover, the Rapture and Armageddon didn’t happen.

Undeterred, the US Christian right took it upon themselves to help hurry things along by allying with US neo-cons in the neo-con world domination schemata that co-opted the entire US Christian right into neo-con dreams and ambitions of US hegemony around the world. The US Christian right see it as the natural order of things, because all of it is preparing the world properly for Christ’s return and fulfillment of their increasingly impatient and rabid beliefs.

Those beliefs mesh almost perfectly with the US neo-conservative agenda to plant Americanism all over the world, and make life Hell for anyone who gets in their way. Neo-cons are political; the religious right are the US religious faction in natural position to follow blindly – while making up roughly one-fifth of the US electorate. Both are fervently hoping for an excuse to pull the nuclear trigger, because for US Christian right-wingers that means Armageddon, and then Christ can be only a short time from His long overdue reappearance to save the world and bring peace. But first, vicious, nihilistic war and conflict must precede. For US neo-cons, pulling the nuclear trigger is a mixture of motives, primarily to remove opponents to their New World Order, and secondarily to fulfilling Biblical Armageddon “prophecy” to satisfy their right-wing Christian constituency. If neo-cons don’t deliver Armageddon, Christian right-wingers will be very disappointed. It must happen, because it says so in the Bible, at least according to them. Pulling that trigger is to them equivalent of fulfilling God’s word.

Strangely, or not, the religious right – a voting bloc without which Bush and his cronies would have no chance of power in the US – blithely ignore messy little facts inherent in such instances as the current war on Iraq. In that regard alone, Bush and his neo-cons have demonstrably broken at least four of the Ten Commandments:

Dark Humor: Putin Aide Touts Russia as a Haven of Freedom

Thu, 14 Jul 2005 23:34:11 -0400

The following would be humorous except that apparently it's a true story.

Source: Moscow Times

Ukrainian Uniates in the Russian Federation to be "Latinized"?

Mon, 11 Jul 2005 15:20:56 -0400

http://www.risu.org.ua/eng/religion.and.society/digest/article;6006/

Vatican Plays Uniate Card-- Fate of Ukrainian Greek Catholics in Russia in limbo
07.07.2005, [21:15] // Digest //

by Nadezhda Kevorkova, “Gazeta,” 5 July 2005

Footprint in Time: One American's controversial thoughts on Ukraine

Sat, 02 Jul 2005 01:55:23 -0400

Kyiv Post
by Terry E Hallman
May 22 2003

A 10 year-old girl with an infant in her arms rang my doorbell. She was barely alive, unlike the 9 year-old boy who died, frozen, on another American’s doorstep in Kherson a few months ago. The little girl was blue in the face and starved. She asked only for a small amount of food, nothing else. My wife, Olga, raided the fridge and gave her everything we didn’t need. I later found Olga in tears, not because of the little girl at our front door, but because we both knew that this pitiful girl is only one of many such children throughout Ukraine.

Doom and Revolution -- continued

Thu, 23 Jun 2005 06:08:27 -0400

Doom and Revolution -- continued

Question: Is it possible to impeach an entire administration for lying to Congress and the American people? That could be America’s last-ditch saving grace.
--Doom and Revolution, T. Hallman, 27 February 2005.

Answer: Apparently so.

Momentum in the US is building for exactly that. This all sounds very similar to Ukraine's Orange Revolution, in removing corrupt government from power and overcoming a rigged election, from pressure at citizens/grassroots level. Mainstream US media have tried their best to ignore the anti-war, anti-corruption, election fraud, impeachment movements, but Internet media has proved to be relentless and a force that cannot be ignored. Congratulations may be in order to Ukrainian citizens for reminding Americans what is possible.

The Orange Revolution -- Behind the Scenes

Tue, 14 Jun 2005 05:15:48 -0400

The Orange Revolution -- Behind the Scenes
compiled by Terry Hallman
USA/UK/Kharkiv, Ukraine

-----------------------------------------------------

Part One

On the turning away

Sun, 12 Jun 2005 06:21:07 -0400

Immersed in Artur Zheludkov's case, the following song and lyrics came to mind. Self-explanatory.

On the turning away

Orange Revolution! The Real Story

Sat, 16 Jul 2005 02:31:45 -0400

As a change of pace from my usually serious-minded posts, I’m going with something a little lighter for once.

Diligently exploring US online forums, including those involving US men looking to capture and marry unsuspecting Ukrainian girls and lure them back to Bush Incorporated for marriage and debt slavery, I’ve encountered the widespread (within the US) fantasy that George Bush’s international campaign for “democracy” was in large part responsible for the Orange Revolution. One argument was that it was only because of the courage that Bush demonstrated in his murderous rampage in Iraq that gave Ukrainians sufficient sense of confidence to carry out the Orange Revolution. Without that, the argument went, Ukrainians would never have had the gumption to insist on democracy inside Ukraine. Surprisingly (more or less), my predictable response (“idiocy too damned stupid for further discussion”) evoked broad agreement with the original poster, and damned me for my dissenting opinion. This calls for a strict journalistic response, gonzo-style. It’s the only possible response to such lunacy – a mental condition that is widespread within the insular domain of Cheney/Bush LLC, also known for the moment as the United States of America. I’ve even taken the liberty to invent html-style tags to denote where gonzo begins and ends. This is for adults only, preferably with a sense of humor. The easily offended and politically correct should stop here. You have been warned.

We need some fresh poll...

Thu, 24 Mar 2005 09:05:45 -0500

Who has any ideas what that poll could be about? What kind of issue close to our topic would be interesting to study opinions on?

Thanks
NZ

Democracy and “Democracy”

Tue, 22 Mar 2005 22:53:43 -0500

(updated to correct minor typos.)

Tonight I post stark contrast between democracy and “democracy.”

Ukraine faces democracy. By way of ordinary citizens standing up to demand citizen control of their own country, Ukrainians achieved a devoutly peaceful conversion of authoritarian rule toward the beginning of democracy.

"Voting", US-style

Fri, 11 Mar 2005 22:15:20 -0500

(Note to Ukr. readers: Mrs. Kerry in John Kerry's wife. Diebold is "Diebold", as mentioned in the 'Doom and Revolution' piece with the caveat to Edwards and Kerry: "Look out!")

Funny news piece - Ukrainian invents musical condom

Thu, 10 Mar 2005 13:47:22 -0500

Ukrainian invents musical condom

http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2005072264,00.html

By JACQUI THORNTON
Health Editor

A SCIENTIST has come up with a musical condom that gets louder as the sex gets more vigorous.

In the Beginning...

Fri, 11 Mar 2005 12:13:22 -0500

This weblog (blog) has to begin with the "Doom and Revolution" piece.

http://eng.maidanua.org/node/168

With that part done, and having read hundreds of English-language articles relating to the current state of affairs of US democracy since the time the above piece was published on Maidan, I have to select something that hits near the epicenter of my concerns about the US side.