Anyone know much about Moroz? Is he a bought off lap dog of the West.
This is the easy part, if he has been bought off I don't know.
-Am
Oleksandr Moroz: Ukraine 1999 Oleksandr Moroz, head of the Socialist party of Ukraine, current Deputy and former Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian Parliament), and a presidential candidate of Ukraine Author: Nancy Popson Back to Document List
Ukraine's industrial and financial spheres are currently in a state of economic catastrophe, said Oleksandr Moroz, head of the Socialist Party of Ukraine, current Deputy and former Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian Parliament), and a presidential candidate of Ukraine, at a Kennan Institute lecture on 27 April 1999.
According to Moroz, a very high social price has been paid by the Ukrainian population in this catastrophic situation. He cited statistics that show that of twenty-four million members of the employment-age population, only nine million are permanently working. In addition, he noted that teachers and factory workers have not been paid for up to several years. He lamented that pension arrears add up to one-half of total budget revenues, and that Ukraine's population has significantly declined due to out-migration and health factors.
Moroz, when asked, took some of the blame for this situation on himself, saying that he had foreseen the impossibility of the proposed reforms but was unable to convince others of that fact. However, he placed the majority of the blame on the legacy of the USSR and the decisions of the executive branch of government. He noted that Ukraine inherited only parts of a large economy--a situation that, in his view, led inevitably to a certain level of economic degradation. However, he noted that the extent of the catastrophe should be attributed to the lack of a well thought through economic policy.
In order to pull out of the crisis, Moroz suggested a plan that would use Ukraine's own resources and traditions while taking into account the experiences of other countries who have gone through social and economic transformations. He recommended accenting Ukraine's ability to attract investment rather than its credit needs. In the economic sphere, Moroz sees Ukraine moving toward a market economy with government regulations that can determine the implementation of market relationships.
Regarding privatization and ownership of land, Moroz discussed the Socialist Party program, which states that all forms of ownership should be equal. He noted that legislation for privatization was passed by the Verkhovna Rada and foresees that all aspects of the process be undertaken openly and transparently. According to Moroz, the reforms being implemented by the executive branch countermand that legislation and have created an opaque process that encourages corruption.
Moroz remarked on the situation of agricultural land ownership as well, noting that laws allowing the lease of land to Ukrainian citizens and foreigners alike have been put into effect. The main problem now is to make sure that all farms, regardless of the type of ownership, can survive the current crisis. In order to facilitate their survival, Moroz explained that reducing tax pressure for farmers, regulating influences on pricing for goods according to European Union standards, and providing access to credits are crucial.
Moroz stressed that Ukraine is in a deep crisis, the population lacks money, the monetary unit is devalued, and foreign currency floats freely around the country. Under these conditions, Moroz stated that it would be a "basic crime" to make land a commodity in the same way that state property was made a commodity through privatization.
According to Moroz, Ukraine should become a democratic country with a multi-party system and full freedom of expression. He pointed to the need for all citizens to live in accordance to the rule of law as the most complicated problem in Ukraine today. He claimed that violations of existing legislation and the constitution--which according to Moroz are being perpetrated by the president of Ukraine and his administration--stimulate the phenomenon of corruption in Ukraine.
Moroz also directed several comments toward issues of Ukraine's foreign policy. His analysis of the geopolitical situation in the region led him to conclude that Ukraine must be a "strong, modern, independent state." He stressed that Ukraine therefore should not be pushing to move either to the east or the west, but simply to move "up" and out of the crisis situation.
Ukraine should continue to work with NATO within the confines of the Partnership for Peace program, said Moroz. He noted, however, that NATO must transform itself in the future, and should not be seen as a replacement for the United Nations.
Moroz advocated holding a European conference on the topic of security and cooperation which could establish mechanisms to address conflicts such as those in Yugoslavia. He noted that plans had been made to hold the first of these conferences in Kyiv in March 1998, but were canceled by the Kuchma administration. Moroz claims that the cancellation was due to the conference's proximity to parliamentary elections and concerns that opposition parties would gain too much publicity in Ukraine were it to take place.
As to relations with Russia and questions of a Slavic union, Moroz stated that Ukraine and Russia are and should be the closest of neighbors, and that it is their fate to live as brothers. He stressed that in doing so it must be made clear that Ukraine not lose "one single gram of sovereignty."
While trying to find something on Oleksandr Moroz I did find this.
Like previously posted Yanukovych is not that great an ally of Russia, Put apparently backed him because he is least likely to join NATO. Again this is in large part about NATO. The idea is to disperse NATO troops throughout Europe, the South Caucasus and parts of Asia. Once NATO bases are established it is easy to convert to American bases. This be a humongous war they are preparing.
How closely will Yanukovych cooperate with Russia? A number of analysts (including those in Moscow) believe that Yanukovych, after becoming president, will promptly distance himself from Russia, the way Kuchma did in 1994. Of course, Yanukovych will find this more difficult to accomplish. Moscow will demand a reward for its support. In addition to building a “single economic space,” Russia will mount efforts to lure Ukraine into a “single defense space.” What makes the situation paradoxical is that the West, by supporting Yushchenko, is pushing Yanukovych into Russia’s embrace.
The way Russia and the West are behaving under the circumstances is a very important factor. After the presidential elections, US strategic centers, media, and foundations will have their hands free, and they will be following the Ukrainian campaign even more closely, although there is no evidence that newly re-elected President George Bush will seriously counteract Leonid Kuchma’s protege Viktor Yanukovych. After all, Kuchma and Yanukovych dispatched a Ukrainian battalion to Iraq, whereas Yushchenko took a markedly restrained stand toward the US war in that region. America, however, supports Yushchenko in principle because he is much closer to the West. Yushchenko’s presidency would once again bring Ukraine closer to NATO. - 16 November 2004 http://216.239.57.104/search?q=cache:toc5hx3GBP0J:www.day.kiev.ua/127579/+Oleksandr+Moroz+west&h....
Reposts:
"So the New World Order strategists are determined to put their man in control of Ukraine, at the presidential election on 31st October. Huge influence, and presumably money, is being pumped in to ensure a victory for Victor Yushchenko. Paul Wolfowitz said in Warsaw on 5th October that Ukraine should join NATO. Mark Brzezinski and Richard Holbrooke have rattled their sabers over Ukraine, and Anders Aslund, the architect of Yelstin's mass larceny, has eloquently outlined the West's strategic interest in that country. #msg-4674009
US Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz on Tuesday said it was important to expand NATO to Ukraine, where a pro-Western opposition candidate is tipped to win presidential elections later this month.
But there is another objective NATO is the means by which the United States will attempt to contain Russia and the Ukraine is strategically placed for such a purpose.
Perle, who believes that the White House should contain the Kremlin rather than cooperate with it, has criticized the campaign against Yukos shareholders from the beginning. http://www.sptimes.ru/archive/times/915/news/n_10814.htm
RBC, 08.12.2004, Moscow 18:33:00.The Russian Chief Military Prosecutor's Office has sent additional information to Interpol regarding accusations against Ukrainian opposition leader Yulia Timoshenko. Chief Military Prosecutor Alexander Savenkov told journalists that his office had responded to Interpol's inquiry about some details of a criminal case filed against Timoshenko in Russia. According to the prosecutor, Timoshenko is still on the wanted list.
No wonder they are so desperate to get Yushchenko elected the oligarchs require state support to realize future profits from their criminal activities. Yushchenko as part of the scandal had to have benefited personally or was somehow compensated. Who are they kidding? This is why they picked him, their old friend and business associate, to back for office.
Surprising Timoshenko and Yushchenko are still alive, everyone must be after them. It's not nice to fool the IMF.
-Am
Yushchenko is a creature of this system, and his tenure at the National Bank of the Ukraine was marked by the corruption so characteristic of the political culture: a scandal involving falsification of the country's credit ledger – essentially lying to the International Monetary Fund about the quantity of Ukrainian cash reserves. As the Financial Times reports:
"Under his control, the bank was involved in a damaging row with the International Monetary Fund over the use of IMF loans to falsify the country's credit position - allowing some politicians, but not Mr Yushchenko, to benefit personally. He survived the ensuing scandal."
A PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) audit confirmed the suspicions of IMF officials that Western lenders have been systematically deceived by Yushchenko's NBU:
"By giving a misleading impression of the size of Ukraine's reserves, the NBU's reserve management practices may have allowed Ukraine to receive as many as three disbursements under the stand-by arrangement in effect at that time that it might not otherwise have been able to obtain. … The three disbursements in question that would have been affected by the transactions examined in the PwC report were based on October, November, and December 1997 figures. They total SDR 145 million (about US$200 million)."
What happened to all that money? Pavlo Lazarenko knows, and he hasn't been shy about telling us what he knows. But is anybody listening?
According to Lazarenko – formerly prime minister, and a key figure in the oligarchy – $613 million of the IMF's money was embezzled and then laundered in December 1997. Like many other Soviet era bureaucrats, Lazarenko took advantage of the extensive network of overseas secret accounts established by the nomenklatura once the old Soviet Union started to unravel. With state funds secreted abroad, the oligarchs bought up the remnants of the old state industries, and divided the economic assets among themselves. Lazarenko was the chief patron of one of Yushchenko's biggest supporters, Yuliya Timoshenko of the United Energy Systems of the Ukraine (UESU), who made fantastic profits at a time of economic recession. However, Ms. Timoshenko, and her fellow oligarchs, as Alexander's Gas & Oil Connections explains,
"Could realize these profits only with the help of state support. … The amount of money involved has been highlighted by the Lazarenko affair. According to a report by the Financial Times, Pavlo Lazarenko, who was Ukraine's prime minister in 1996-97, received at least $ 72 mm in bribe money from gas importer UESU. In return, Lazarenko helped UESU to become one of Ukraine's leading companies with an annual turnover of $ 10 billion."
"When Lazarenko was sacked as prime minister, his successor Valery Pustovoitenko started a comprehensive investigation into the business of UESU, which led to the first accusations. In December of 1998, Lazarenko was arrested in Switzerland on charges of money laundering. He fled to the United States, where he was again arrested and charged with the laundering of $ 114 mm received as bribe money during his time in office.
"This June, while still being held in the United States, Lazarenko was sentenced for money laundering in Switzerland. Yuliya Tymoshenko, who was president of UESU when Lazarenko was prime minister, has so far avoided criminal prosecution. In 1997, she left the company and went into politics."
Ms. Timoshenko went on to become a deputy prime minister, in 1999, with special authority over energy matters. Her husband, still is a member of the board of UESU, was arrested on charges of embezzlement of state property. Ms. Timoshenko, too, was arrested, and – after much posing and posturing as a "political prisoner" – was freed.
It is entirely appropriate that the "gas princess," as Ms. Timoshenko is known, should become the La Passionaria of Ukraine's phony "velvet revolution." As she leaps atop the stage at the massive rallies taking place in the middle of Kiev, she speaks with Amazonian forcefulness and the authority of someone used to being obeyed, as The Australian reports:
"'Form a column and come with us to the presidency,' she shouted to a crowd on Wednesday. 'Once we arrive at the presidency, we won't leave until Yushchenko enters it as the new Ukrainian president and occupies his post.'"
The Lazarenko-Timoshenko wing of the oligarchy is naturally grateful to Yushie – after all, he fronted for them in bilking the IMF. Now they are paying him back with their fulsome support. This isn't the struggle of valiant pro-Western "democrats" versus sinister pro-Russian neo-communists: Timoshenko's histrionics represent a falling out among thieves.
In any case, from the Gas Princess to the Boadicea of the "democracy" movement in Ukraine is a fanciful transformation, at best, but Western propagandists are counting on the American public's ignorance of the Ukrainian scene to pull off one of the biggest frauds since the selling of convicted embezzler Ahmed Chalabi as the Iraqi George Washington.
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