----- Original Message ----- From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Yugoslavia list" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Tuesday, 1 February 2000 3:22 AM Subject: IAC special report: U.S. behind 'quiet coup' in Ukraine? > INTERNATIONAL ACTION CENTER SPECIAL REPORT > > IS US BEHIND 'QUIET COUP' IN UKRAINE? > > Ramsey Clark, IAC Protest Move to Set Up Presidential Dictatorship > > KIEV, Ukraine--US officials and Ukrainian president Leonid Kuchma > are collaborating in an effort to break up Ukraine's parliament and > concentrate power in the president's hands, Ukrainian opposition > leaders told International Action Center representatives last week. > IAC members Larissa Kritskaya and Bill Doares were in Kiev to > attend a hearing of the International Peoples Tribunal on NATO War > Crimes in Yugoslavia (English translation; see accompanying > dispatch). It appears that Washington's goal is to bring Ukraine into > NATO and to smash parliamentary resistance to the privatization of > land and other measures demanded by the International Monetary > Fund. > > This former Soviet republic now has two rival parliaments in the wake > of an attempt by Kuchma to illegally oust parliament speaker > Oleksandr Tkachenko and deputy speaker Adam Martynyuk. The > two have accused Kuchma of falsifying the results of last November's > presidential election. Their charges were borne out by European > Union electoral observers. > > GORE AND KUCHMA--PARTNERS IN CRIME The regime's > action came on the heels of a private meeting in Washington between > Kuchma and US vice president Al Gore. Kuchma was first elected in > 1996 with considerable support from the CIA-linked Soros > Foundation. > > To engineer Tkachenko and Martynyuk's removal, rightwing > Verkhovnye Rada (parliament) deputies and their allies held an > extralegal gathering in a nongovernment building Jan. 21 at the same > time as an official Rada session was in progress. The unconstitutional > gathering voted to oust Tkachenko and Martynyuk and replace them > with Kuchma allies and to abolish the basic democratic right of > parliamentary immunity. It also named a new head of the central bank. > Tkachenko and Martynyuk were not invited to the session or told of > the charges against them. The only record of the vote and attendance > at the rightwing gathering is the claims of its organizers. Previous > attempts to remove Tkachenko and Martynyuk by constitutional > means had failed. > > As of this writing, Tkachenko is refusing to leave his office. His phone > and fax have been disconnected and state television is refusing to air > his statements. His official security has been removed and he is being > guarded by Communist, Socialist and Peasant Party deputies. > Tkachenko is a member of the Peasant Party and Martynyuk is in the > Communist Party. The confrontation may come to a head Feb. 1 > when the Rada is scheduled to reconvene after winter recess. > > "There has been considerable pressure to forcibly Westernize > Ukraine," speaker Tkachenko told the IAC. "The presidential election > was determined by force and now the president wants to use force > against parliament. He is trying to create an artificial majority in order > to concentrate power in his hands. Our constitution has been violated > at every step." > > Kuchma's ultimate aim is to abolish the existing single-chamber Rada > where many "reforms" demanded by US bankers and Kuchma's > wealthy allies have been blocked. He wants to replace it with a a > smaller, two-chamber body with an upper chamber comprising > regional governors appointed by himself. To achieve this, he has > ordered a "popular referendum" that will presumably be as controlled > as last year's presidential election. > > WALL STREET RULES With nearly 50 million people, Ukraine is > the second-largest former Soviet republic. It was one of the USSR's > most productive agricultural and industrial regions. Today, like other > former Soviet republics, it has been devastated by "economic > restructuring" dictated by the International Monetary Fund. Since the > fall of the USSR, Ukraine's industrial production has dropped 70 > percent. Its population has fallen by 2 million in just the past two > years. The old-age pension is $13 a month and millions of workers > are not being paid. While hunger stalks many regions, one-third of the > state budget goes in interest payments to Western banks. The > country's debt has risen 30 times since Kuchma took office in 1996. > > The Kuchma regime has tried to create a fascist-like atmosphere by > exploiting divisions similar to those used to break up Yugoslavia. It > has whipped up Ukrainian nationalism on an anti-Russian basis (one- > quarter of the population is Russian). Soviet-era books have been > burned in public squares and opposition activists attacked by fascist > gangs. The regime's alleged nationalism does not stop Wall Street > from dictating its economic policy. It has agreed to raise food and fuel > prices, rents and gas and electricity rates on a schedule dictated by the > International Monetary Fund. > > "It is obvious that the United States has designed the Ukraine's > political landscape," Oleg Grachev, Kiev regional secretary of the > Communist Party of Ukraine (KPU), told Kritskaya and Doares. > "You cannot speak about injustice and electoral falsification in this > country without speaking of the domination of the International > Monetary Fund." > > MARKED BALLOTS AND HAND GREANDES KPU general > secretary Petro Simonenko, who calls for Ukraine to withdraw from > the IMF, was the runner-up in November's presidential election. He > got an official 38 percent of the vote. The KPU brought evidence of > marked ballots, ballot-box stuffing and vote-buying to Ukraine's > criminal court but was told such matters were outside the court's > jurisdiction. In the first round of the presidential election, Progressive > Socialist Party candidate Natalia Vitorienko, who also condemns the > IMF, was injured by a hand grenade tossed into a rally she was > addressing. > > "Kuchma is trying to make a coup to gain absolute power," said > Ukraine Socialist Party leader Pavel Moroz. "He is acting on behalf of > powerful private groups that support him. Since Kuchma came to > office, Ukraine has gotten poorer but his friends have gotten rich. > They now want to get even richer by selling shares in land and > grabbing control of basic industries like steel, petrochemicals and even > oil and gas, which is now forbidden to be privatized." > > On Jan. 29, workers across Ukraine marched to protest the IMF- > Kuchma program and to demand unpaid back wages. Jan. 29 is the > anniversary of the 1918 uprising by Kiev's Arsenal workers that was > drowned in blood by the Western-backed regime that then ruled > Ukraine. The opposition has called for mass demonstrations outside > parliament on Feb. 1 in support of Tkachenko and Martynyuk. > > Former US attorney general and IAC founder Ramsey Clark sent > letters of protest to president Kuchma and the Rada. > > An IAC statement said, "Like the war against Yugoslavia, the > attempted presidential coup in Ukraine is part of the NATO-Pentagon > drive to the east, which carries great danger for all humanity. The US > corporate media, which so obediently repeated Pentagon-State > Department lies about Kosovo, appears to have imposed an > information blockade on the events in Ukraine and US involvement > there. We must break that blockade. The democratic forces in > Ukraine deserve the support of antiwar and justice-loving people in > this country and around the world." > > Letters of support can be faxed to Deputy V.N. Romashenko at 011 > 380 44 293 2792 or 011 380 44 229 7228. > > International Action Center > 39 West 14th Street, Room 206 > New York, NY 10011 > email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > http://www.iacenter.org > phone: 212 633-6646 > fax: 212 633-2889 ---------------------------------------------------------------- This is the Neither public email list, open for the public and general discussion. To unsubscribe click here Mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Subject=unsubscribe To subscribe click here Mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Subject=subscribe For information on [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.neither.org/lists/public-list.htm For archives http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]
