LETTERS TO THE EDITOR (12/12/04)

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

"Chicken Kiev": the sequel?

Dear Editor:

At a press conference during his state visit to Canada on November 30, President George W. Bush was asked whether he saw President Vladimir Putin's recent "warnings" about foreign pressure on Ukraine as some sort of warning toward the United States, and whether Mr. Putin had lived up to his own words.

Mr. Bush replied: "I haven't seen his comments. I'm hesitant to talk about something that I haven't seen..."

Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin followed up a more substantive response" "...I absolutely agree that elections within Ukraine have got to be free from outside influence, and that includes Russia."

It appears that Mr. Bush is reluctant to confront Russia for its meddling. In contrast, Canada and European countries have condemned Russia for its interference.

This Mr. Bush looks alarmingly similar to the previous one, the one who didn't think it was wise for Ukraine to reach for independence. What is the unambiguous position of President Bush toward Ukraine? What is the position of the U.S. government? Why? These are questions to which Ukrainian Americans should be demanding answers. In fact, they should be helping to form these positions.

Ukrainian Canadians have been successful in making sure the Canadian government has gotten the message and that the government represents our views clearly and firmly.

The purpose of my message is not to boast as a Canadian, but to encourage Americans, to mail, e-mail and phone politicians and journalists because it really can bring results. Contact them repeatedly, not just once. Republicans, in particular, should make their voices heard within their party. It has made a difference in Canada and the same can happen in the U.S. Ukraine needs a firm, intelligent stand from the U.S. government now like never before.

Eugene Cholkan
Toronto

Kuchma is no Ukrainian leader

Dear Editor:

It is obvious that Leonid Kuchma is not a Ukrainian leader. A true Ukrainian leader would not speak Russian in interviews with the media. A true Ukrainian leader would not fly to Moscow to meet with his Russian puppetmaster, Vladimir Putin. I have something to say to Mr. Putin: Vlad, the puppet show is over. The Orange Revolution has tangled your puppet strings. The mafia-run puppet theater is out of business.

Mr. Kuchma appears to be a Pavlov's dog kind of guy; Mr. Putin has him well trained. Mr. Kuchma, if you love Russia and the Russian language better than the country you have pilfered, why not just become a Russian citizen and live in Moscow? When you move, please take your mafia car-accident-causing trucks, your journalist-beheading thugs, and your special state dinner expert cooks with you. You will go down as one of the most disgraceful figures in Ukrainian history.

The will of the Ukrainian people will be met. Ukraine will no longer be known solely for the Chornobyl disaster - it will go down in history because of the bravery, dedication and pride of Viktor Yushchenko's Orange Revolution.

Chrystia Wynnyk
Austin, Texas

Comments about Kuropas column

Dear Editor:

In his columns, Myron Kuropas frequently writes against the Jews, and I find it offensive. Let me respond to his piece "Jews for Yanukovych" in the October 31 issue (in Edmonton, I get The Ukrainian Weekly very late).

He writes: "...Jews were especially well represented in the Soviet secret police..., where their involvement was significantly larger than their percentage in the general population would suggest." This charge has appeared more than once in Dr. Kuropas's columns. It is true that Jews were at one time overrepresented in the Soviet secret police organs, but at that time so were the Poles, Armenians and Latvians, of whose role in Soviet service Kuropas never writes.

But as of 1937-1938 Jews (and the other three nationalities) began to be eliminated from the secret police, usually violently, until few remained. In their place, Stalin began to rely more on Russians and Georgians, and the percentage of Ukrainians also rose. By February 1941 Jews made up 5 percent of the Soviet NKVD leadership and Ukrainians 15 percent. In Ukraine by January 1945 Jews made up 4 percent of the total NKGB personnel and Ukrainians 30 percent. (See: N.V. Petrov and K.V. Skorkin, "Kto rukovodil NKVD 1934-1941. Spravochnik," ed. N.G. Okhotin and A.B. Roginskii [Moscow: Obshchestvo "Memorial," 1999], 495. Amir Weiner, "Making Sense of War: The Second World War and the Fate of the Bolshevik Revolution" [Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2001], 269 n. 101.)

As to the main point of the "Jews for Yanukovych" piece, Dr. Kuropas bases himself on a single columnist in a Baltimore Jewish newspaper to affirm that "Jews are backing the Kuchma gang." For better information, I advise The Ukrainian Weekly readers to check out what Lily Galil writes in Haaretz ( November 29): "According to sources following the election in Ukraine, most Jews supported the liberal Yushchenko. ..." Or look at The Jerusalem Post story (November 23) entitled "Ukraine's Jews Split in Vote."

I personally am ashamed to belong to a community where anti-Semitism is so blithely tolerated in its most representative newspaper.

John-Paul Himka
Edmonton

EDITOR'S NOTE: Opinions of columnists, commentators and letter-writers are their own. While we welcome discussion of a columnist's opinion, pro or con, we cannot accept the charge of anti-Semitism leveled at this newspaper, as we feel it is unfounded.

For the record, the article to which the letter-writer refers was not simply an article run by a local Baltimore newspaper. In fact, the article in the Baltimore Jewish Times was based on a September 24 news release that was disseminated worldwide by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA). That release was readily available on the Internet and, thus, The Weekly's editors were able to verify its contents before publishing Dr. Myron B. Kuropas's column.

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