UACC asks: Will we lose the Cold War victory? (02/01/04)

UACC asks: Will we lose the Cold War victory?

by Ihor Gawdiak

The Bush administration is sending the message that it has no strong objection to Russian President Vladimir Putin's imperial designs on Ukraine. The administration's message may or may not be intentional. But, if the U.S. approach does not change dramatically - and very soon - it will not be long before people outside the Ukrainian American community will realize that George W. Bush's inaction in the former Soviet republics during 2003 could have the result once sought by the elder George Bush's 1991 "Chicken Kiev" speech - locking these countries under Kremlin control.

You may have seen yesterday's [January 12] Washington Post editorial, "A Resolution for Ukraine." [A copy was appended.] The Post expressed the hope that the Bush Administration's professed intention "to expand" and support the "consolidation of freedom in many new but often fragile democracies" includes Ukraine and the other former Soviet republics. Unfortunately, the evidence strongly suggests that the administration has no intention of making a responsible investment in Ukraine's fragile democracy and the potential for Ukraine's integration into the West.

As the Post accurately says, this is a critical year for Ukraine in that a presidential election is scheduled for next October. However, with polls showing a likelihood that the highly popular reformer Viktor Yushchenko would win any fair election, Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma and a complex network of corrupt oligarchs are aggressively moving to see that either there is no election or that they can control the outcome. Mr. Putin and his allies are deeply involved and Russia's interests are not for reform, Western integration, or the "consolidation of freedom" mouthed by the U.S. administration.

In Ukraine's last parliamentary elections the citizenry showed that it wants reforms and a legitimate democracy. Given the opportunity, the voters of Ukraine manifested a major shift in previous voting patterns, in spite of corrupt manipulations by the government. However, thus warned, the government and its oligarch beneficiaries have been moving to choke off opposition. The critical factor is that they maintain control of essentially all of Ukraine's media outlets. Thus, much of Ukraine's population is unaware of the illegal steps being taken to keep Mr. Yushchenko from winning. We in this country have much greater access to news of the extra-legal maneuverings of Mr. Kuchma and his so-called Constitutional Court than do the citizens and voters of Ukraine.

What is the United States doing for freedom and its own long-term best interest in the region? Very, very little. Though in the words of one administration official "we have put together the largest election aid package ever," the suggestion is laughable. First, the "package" is the product of a familiar game of bundling any and all current programs and giving them one title so that they look as if they have something to do with this year's election. Second, even accepting all of these unrelated projects as "election-related," the combined investment is less than many congressional candidates have in the bank at the beginning of our election year. And, Ukraine is a country of some 50 million people!

This year's election in Ukraine is critical to Ukraine's future and to United States interests in the region. Mr. Yushchenko is standing for election and against the corrupt and autocratic power structure desperate to protect its interests. It is not too much to say that Mr. Yushchenko is risking his life in the hope of being able to change his country and to secure freedom for the people of Ukraine. What he and the opposition have asked for from the West is assistance to see to it that the elections are fair. You wouldn't think that was too much to ask from an administration whose "first foreign policy resolution for 2004 is 'to expand freedom.' "

But so far the Bush administration's investment in support of fair and informed elections is an embarrassment. There is no time to lose. If Cold War concerns about the "Captive Nations" ever meant anything, the United States needs to step up and help secure the freedom so long sought and so often promised.

We urge you to press the administration for immediate action.

Ihor Gawdiak is president of the Ukrainian American Coordinating Council. This article was e-mailed by the UACC to all the members of the U.S. Congress as part of an effort to persuade the U.S. government to focus more attention on Ukraine.

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