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10.02.2013


Almost everyone has favorite lists this time of year-- best movies, books, persons… For the10th year, here is my annual list of the BEST and WORST issues, events and personae that have impacted on the global Ukrainian community in 2012. BEST LIST • Ukraine’s opposition leaders --for agreeing back in January 22, 2012 --Ukraine’s historic day of unification-- to offer a single list of candidates in the October parliamentary elections. It worked! • Ukrainian diaspora women’s organizations --for catching fire after Rada Speaker Mykola Lytvyn opined that women are on a lower rung of development than men. He cited Christian teachings as a basis for this ‘fact’ on the eve of International Women’s Day, the ‘holy’ day of Communism, a system that oppresses women but mouths equality. • Government of Canada --for continuing to demonstrate Canada’s friendship for Ukraine while taking a tough stand on its government’s disregard for democracy. • The people of Mykolajiv, Ukraine --for their rage and protest against government inaction when sons of justice and government officials beat up burned Oksana Makar. She has since died. • The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church leadership; its Patriarch Sviatoslav (Shewchuk) -- for welcoming...

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26.12.2012


The results of the parliamentary elections in Ukraine were published on November 13 in the official parliamentary newspapers – Holos Ukrainy. Under the Law on the Election of People's Deputies of Ukraine, the deadline for the official publication of the parliamentary election results in the Holos Ukrainy and Uriadovy Kurier newspapers is set until November 17, 2012, inclusively. The October 28, 2012, election was conducted under a mixed system, with 225 MPs elected on party lists and 225 in single-seat constituencies (the election in 2007 was held under a proportional system). The Central Election Commission announced the results of count of party list ballots on November 10. Winners in single-seat constituencies were declared on November 12. Overall, 225 deputies have been elected on party lists...

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26.12.2012


President Viktor Yanukovych’s Regions Party following recent elections has failed to secure a simple majority in Parliament and will have to rely on independents and communists to form a pro-government coalition. The Regions Party will control 185 seats in the 450-seat Parliament, while three opposition parties will control a total of 178 seats, according to figures officially released by the Central Election Commission on Sunday. The Communist Party is set to control 32 seats, while independent lawmakers will hold 43 seats. Another 7 seats are to be controlled by four small parties, the figures show. Five seats will be decided at new elections in five majority districts after the CEC has failed to establish results there amid allegations of sweeping election fraud. The elections will take place after special legislation is approved, which may take months. The released data underscore a setback for the Regions Party, which has originally hoped to secure between 230 and 240 seats in the new Parliament, according to people familiar wit...

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27.08.2012


The Russian language is swiftly gaining official status as a “regional” language across eastern and southern regions of Ukraine. About a dozen regional legislatures in Russian-speaking regions of Ukraine have granted it official status as a “regional” language since President Viktor Yanukovych on Aug. 8 signed controversial language legislation into law...
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13.07.2012


Were it not for Ukrainian-language signs on post offices and other state institutions, one could easily mistake Donetsk, the industrial centre of eastern Ukraine and the power base of the ruling Party of the Regions, for a Russian city. The language of Ukraine's former Soviet overlord dominates the city of 1 million - nearly half of them ethnic Russians - where a statue of Communist leader Vladimir Lenin still graces the main square two decades after the Soviet Union collapsed...
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06.07.2012


Hundreds of protesters clashed with riot police in central Kiev and Ukraine's parliament speaker offered to resign on Wednesday amid uproar after a move to boost the status of the Russian language in the former Soviet republic. Riot police fired tear gas and used batons to push back protesters, led by opposition members of parliament, who had massed in front of a building where President Viktor Yanukovich was due to hold a press briefing. They urged Yanukovich - who had planned a celebratory statement to crown the successful co-hosting of the Euro 2012 soccer tournament - to veto the bill, which was rammed through parliament late on Tuesday by the majority Party of Regions...
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06.07.2012


Members of the Public Humanitarian Council under the president of Ukraine have spoken out against "legalizing Russian as a second state language in Ukraine" and demanding that President Viktor Yanukovych express his position on the language law...
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29.06.2012


The Euro 2012 soccer (football) championship has resulted in renewed interest in Ukraine. Visiting fans are raving about Ukraine’s friendly people. But the fans’ foreign football jerseys and foreign languages shield them from the horrors that still exist in this “post-Soviet space”. They are perforce deaf to the voice of colonial oppression. Some are vaguely aware of the more photogenic political prisoners in Ukraine, but few appreciate the full breadth and depth of colonial political repression that has characterized the Yanukovych regime...
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22.06.2012


President Viktor Yanukovych’s Regions Party will seek to amend the constitution to officially make Russian the second state language in Ukraine, a senior pro-government lawmaker said Thursday. The amendments will aim to make Ukraine officially a bilingual country, but this would most likely lead to a wave of clashes and standoffs, de-facto splitting the country along geographical and cultural lines. At least 9,000 protesters turned out in front of Parliament on June 5 when Parliament, led by the Regions Party, voted to approve in the first reading a bill that effectively makes Russian the second state language in the country’s many regions. The second, and the final, reading is expected either July 4 or July 5, pro-government lawmakers said, but opposition groups have been preparing to disrupt the sessions to make sure the bill fails...
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01.06.2012


The Nazi officers stroll down Kiev's main boulevard through cheering crowds and accept the welcoming gift of bread and salt offered by women in Ukrainian national dress. A man in the crowd nods approvingly. "There will be order," he says in Ukrainian. This is one of many scenes in a World War II soccer film that have riled Ukrainians as their country prepares to co-host the European Championship, the world's second-biggest soccer tournament after the World Cup. The film, Match, which was made in Russia and released earlier this month in Ukraine, tells the story of a soccer game organized in Kiev in 1942 against the backdrop of the Nazi occupation of what was then the Soviet Republic of Ukraine. A team of locals beats a team comprised of Germans — and some of the players are later killed for refusing to throw the match...
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