Hail to the Viktors!

I'll confess that most of the past week I haven't paid much attention to the election controversy in the Ukraine. My first reaction was that the Russian-backed declared-victor Viktor Yanukovich was probably the legitimate winner--but that was based solely on the fact that Colin Powell was saying that he wasn't. Next, I was impressed by other bloggers who were impressed by the size and duration of the protests in Kiev. Then, I was a bit frightened by some expert talking on the ABC News on Sunday about how the dispute could lead to civil war. This was backed up by a multi-lingual Hungarian friend of mine, who said this was a real concern, and that Powell might be telling the truth on this one. Then I read Polizero's lengthy and informative post, which suggests that the "protests" in support of Viktor Yushchenko are more along the lines of a combination party and rock concert, well financed by western interests, and that there have been many large rallies in support of Yanukovich that don't get much coverage in the western media. Then, I read Joseph Kay's WSWS article on the subject, which brings me just about back to where I started--Colin Powell and the U.S. government have no standing or credibility in this dispute and should keep their oil-grubbing hands off of it!

So, now I'm a much-better-informed undecided! But one thing I really do want to know is: What happened to Yushchenko's face?



Apparently, things are currently going from bad to worse over there.