Wednesday, November 24, 2004
...go we. The events in Ukraine provide a stark warning for all those on every end of the American political spectrum - what can happen when the process is tampered with and people lose faith in it. Imagine if there weren't really any problems with the vote (as apparently there were), but one side just were just using people's suspicions for their own gain. It's not like it can't happen here. Once faith in the process starts bending, all bets are off.
WaPo: Rally Against Ukraine Vote Swells
"We strongly support efforts to review the conduct of the election and urge Ukrainian authorities not to certify results until investigations of organized fraud are resolved," the White House said in a statement.
Russia, which backed Yanukovych, dismissed foreign charges of electoral fraud as premature and arrogant. "We cannot recognize or protest results that are not yet official," President Vladimir Putin told reporters during a state visit to Lisbon. "Ukraine is a state of law. It doesn't need to be lectured."
With 99.48 percent of precincts counted, Yanukovych had 49.39 percent of the vote compared with 46.71 percent for Yushchenko. The results were official but not final. Exit polls had put Yushchenko well ahead...
Uh oh, exit polls. And isn't it ironic that it may be the Communists who play the role of Kingmaker?
Update: Anne Applebaum on "The New Iron Curtain," also in the Post:
The West, and especially Western Europe, can and should encourage them. To do so is not difficult, but it does require that we understand what is happening, call things by their real names, and drop any of our remaining illusions about President Putin's intentions in former Soviet territories. Beyond that, all that is needed is a promise -- even an implied promise -- that when the specter of this new iron curtain is removed, Ukraine too will be welcomed by the nations on the other side.
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