The Sun was Shining
The sun was shining today in Kyiv. Literally, it was shining. Quite amazing for this summer. And--the three political parties that brought us the Orange Revolution have come back to the bargaining table following the president appearing before reporters with an endorsement of the negotiation process. He has generally stayed out of the process but this appearance today seems to have brought the three back together.
It may be difficult to understand why this upset us so much but many were truly upset by the thought of the president's party forming a government with the Party of the Regions. It is a betrayal of a very high ideal--not a political policy, not a shift on a particular issue or even a fundamental shift on the question of federalism (the Regions party advocates more power for local authorities). To me, none of that is very important at this point. The high ideal was the belief that government should not use its power to coerce the electorate or try to steal an election--the very thing the leaders of the Party of the Regions try to do. It's not their anti-NATO stance or pro-Russian position. No one would think that Our Ukraine has betrayed the nation if they agree to making Russian a state language. Many would be against this but it would not be considered a betrayal of the Orange Revolution. It's probably hard for westerners to understand the levels of corruption. Many just can't imagine that the situation can't be worse than what is in the US since there is such cynicism about politics. But it is worse. It is much worse. Especially what happened that led to the Orange Revolution. And that's why we were so upset. But fortunately, they have gathered today for talks and hopefully we will see a government form.
Today we had Craig and Leslie Altrock and their three boys over for lunch, showed them the Center, and took a walk. We also had an important church meeting tonight, a difficult encounter with someone who has been causing trouble. Hopefully, we were able to stop it before things got worse.
It may be difficult to understand why this upset us so much but many were truly upset by the thought of the president's party forming a government with the Party of the Regions. It is a betrayal of a very high ideal--not a political policy, not a shift on a particular issue or even a fundamental shift on the question of federalism (the Regions party advocates more power for local authorities). To me, none of that is very important at this point. The high ideal was the belief that government should not use its power to coerce the electorate or try to steal an election--the very thing the leaders of the Party of the Regions try to do. It's not their anti-NATO stance or pro-Russian position. No one would think that Our Ukraine has betrayed the nation if they agree to making Russian a state language. Many would be against this but it would not be considered a betrayal of the Orange Revolution. It's probably hard for westerners to understand the levels of corruption. Many just can't imagine that the situation can't be worse than what is in the US since there is such cynicism about politics. But it is worse. It is much worse. Especially what happened that led to the Orange Revolution. And that's why we were so upset. But fortunately, they have gathered today for talks and hopefully we will see a government form.
Today we had Craig and Leslie Altrock and their three boys over for lunch, showed them the Center, and took a walk. We also had an important church meeting tonight, a difficult encounter with someone who has been causing trouble. Hopefully, we were able to stop it before things got worse.
posted by Kyivmission at 1:05 AM
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