By Patricia H. Kushlis
Now that the Christmas week is over, others have taken my place in the chairlift lines, and I’ve almost finished reading “Imperial Hubris," its time to turn back to whirledview.
I’ve been thinking a lot about democracy and freedom since the St. Stephen’s Day Ukraine elections rerun reversed the order of the Viktors, the democracy at U.S. bayonet-tip Iraqi elections are scheduled for January 30, and Vladimir Putin’s Russian Federation has slid from “partially free” to “not free” in Freedom House’s annual 2004 “Freedom in the World” ranking of 192 countries and 14 territories.
Frankly, I’m not surprised about Putin’s Russia Freedom House ranking. I never saw him as the country’s greatest democrat – and anyone who has followed the Russian media scene since he became President has seen the freeze out of independent television and the squeeze out of questioning and critical Russian reporters who find it ever more difficult to remain in print.
The Freedom House report points to a growing trend under President Vladimir Putin to "concentrate political authorities, harass and intimidate the media, and politicize the country's law-enforcement” according to its Executive Director Jennifer Windsor who is cited in RFE/RL’s account December 21 and warns us that this is Russia’s worst ranking since 1989 – when the country was still part of the Soviet Union. The FH report fingers continuing Russian military activities in Chechnya and the recent massive Russian election interference in Ukraine.
I only caught pieces of televised excerpts of what I remember as a bitter Putin press conference a few days ago in which he derided the U.S. for its role in Georgia’s rose revolution, Ukraine’s orange revolution and questioned whether a “blue” revolution would be next. Could a future “blue” revolution cut a bit close to home? Is this perhaps why the Russian Government is so concerned about a Yushchenko victory in Ukraine? Or is it fear that a Yushchenko Ukraine will scurry into a supposed U.S.-supported Polish camp and, therefore, from the Russian viewpoint, upend Ukraine's centuries old Russian roots? Or both? Or neither?
Perhaps the greatest irony and best hope, in my view, however, is the way the democratic game seems to be playing out in Ukraine. Despite dire warnings that if Yanukovych lost as predicted, violence would erupt, it appears as if this may not be in the cards, or even on the board.
The Russians – excellent chess players that they are – have apparently backed away from backing the loser and grudgingly stated that they could work with the victorious Viktor – who after all was earlier known for being the cautious head of Ukraine’s Central Bank. Meanwhile, last month’s victor, this month’s loser Victor Yanukovych promptly announced his intent – in good American fashion - to contest the election results in court.