September 2007 Archives
It should not surprise anyone that there are already reports of some voting irregularities in the Ukrainian parliamentary election today. There are reports of empty ballots being stuffed into ballot boxes and laying around at polling stations in the country's Donetsk region. This is the area that most strongly supports Viktor Yanukovych and the Party of Regions. Are they trying to repeat what they did in the 2004 election?
Early reports from the exit polls indicate a statistical dead heat. A poll from the Democratic Initiatives Foundation shows the Party of Regions with 35.2% of the vote, and their Communist Party friends with 5.1%. The Orange group is led by the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc with 31.5% and Our Ukraine People's Self Defense Bloc with 13.4%.
A surprise is the People's Party, led by former Verkhovna Rada Speaker Volodmyr Lytvyn, winning enough votes to earn some parliamentary seats. It is not clear which side Lytvyn would back.
More news as it becomes available.
If you would like to learn more about the planned construction of the New Safe Confinement (NSC) at the Chernobyl Nuclear Plant, watch the following video. This short film also discusses how they will de-construct the original Sarcophagus once the NSC is in place. It's some fascinating technology!
If you would like to learn more about the Chernobyl Sarcophagus stabilization, watch this short video:
Protests occurred in Hungary last week, marking the one-year anniversary of riots after a recording of a speech in which Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany admitted to lying was made public. Gyurcsany admitted to lying in a private, profanity-laden speech at a Socialist Party function. The lies, hiding the bad state of Hungary's economy, were made to help win the April 2006 general election. After winning the election, Gyurcsany and the Socialist Party passed economic reforms that will cost citizens at least one additional month's salary.
Monday, September 17, 2007 -- a day that will be remembered for Ukraine's announcement that they have finally signed a contract for the construction of the New Safe Confinement that will cover damaged Reactor 4 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Plant.
The French firm Novarka will build the new structure at a cost of $1.4 billion. The project will take five years to complete. It will be constructed of steel, and stand 190 meters (623 feet) tall and 200 meters long.
With the Ukrainian Parliamentary election a mere two weeks away, I have decided to conduct a very unscientific poll. I want to get a feeling for people's opinions regarding which political group should win a majority of seats in the Verkhovna Rada.
I have published a poll in the Eastern European/Russian Affairs section of Suite101.com. I have also provided a very brief description of the five major political groups in my latest Suite101 blog.
Since the election is on September 30, the poll will remain open through September 29. Please take a few moments to read up on the election and political groups, and then take a moment to vote in my poll.
If you do not see radio buttons on the poll's page, try the E. European/Russian Affairs topic page (at the bottom).
Thanks for your help.
Earlier today, President Vladimir Putin dissolved Russia's government. Before you start thinking that Putin usurped power, all he did was accept the resignation of his Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov. By Russian law, when the Prime Minister leaves office, it automatically causes the dissolution of the government.
In a surprise move, Putin nominated little-known Viktor Zubkov as Fradkov's replacement. Zubkov used to work with Putin in the city administration of St. Petersburg in the 1990s. It will be interesting to see if Putin uses this activity as a way to setup a potential presidential comeback in 2012.
Russia has spent much of 2007 positioning themselves to be a major global energy supplier. Similar to Russia, but with a different strategy, Romania is taking steps to become a major regional energy supplier to the European Union.
The Romanian government recently announced it will create a new holding company that will consolidate state-owned nuclear, thermal and hydro-electric companies. This overhaul of Romania's energy sector is the first step in a plan that will ultimately allow the country to generate energy exports to other European Union countries by 2020.
It will be interesting to see Russia's response to Romania's plan. I can see President Vladimir Putin being very unhappy about this announcement. It steps on Russia's toes and will provide European nations with an alternative source of energy. Russia has used bullying tactics in the past to get what they want, but that approach will no longer work if viable alternatives exist.
Romania is not energy self-sufficient, depending on Russia for some of its current energy needs. I wonder whether Russia will lessen or discontinue gas and oil supplies to Romania as a childish response to the Romanian announcement. They have reacted like this before, so it would not be surprising to see it again.
I finally wrote my review of the 1999 Nicklaus Geyrhalter documentary film Pripyat. I had forgotten that this movie is fairly depressing. Then again, is there anything about Chernobyl that is not at least a little depressing?
I think what struck me most about this film is all the silence in the background. There is no soundtrack - if people are not talking, there is only silence (except for several vehicles and occasional birds chirping). It reminded me very much of my own experiences in the Zone. I still vividly remember a year ago standing in Pripyat's main square in front of the Palace of Culture and hearing absolutely nothing. Think about that - I was standing in the middle of a city that used to be home to almost 50,000 people and heard absolutely nothing!
My only complaint about the film is that it was shot in black & white. The B & W treatment makes the area look like a wasteland. I understand that Geyrhalter did this for effect (and it definitely worked), but the area is not a wasteland. The Zone contains a lot of life, but plant and animal. The only reason the area could be considered a wasteland is because over 100,000 people used to live there, and now they can't.
This film is a must see. If it is not playing locally, I think you can buy it online. If not, you can purchase it directly from the film company (warning: it is only available in PAL format). Just send them an email and they will provide you with purchase information.
On September 30, Ukraine will hold a special parliamentary election. This election was mandated by President Viktor Yushchenko after he dismissed the country's Parliament on April 2. The vote was originally supposed to take place in May, but Ukraine was caught in the midst of a political crisis, with opposing political entities unable to come to an agreement on how to deal with the dismissal. At the end of May, President Yushchenko, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, and Verkhovna Rada (Parliament) Speaker Oleksandr Moroz reached an agreement to hold a "valid and constitutional" election in September.
