[Hannia]

Dear Joyce,

I'm at that point in my life, where I look at politics anywhere and everywhere as Hollywood for ugly people.

Don't stress out too much re what is currently happening in Ukraine. Since independence, Ukraine, for all intents and purposes, has been governed by cartoon-like characters. Just take a closer look at Tymoshenko, the only man in Ukrainian govt, as she likes to refer to herself. By the looks of the Ukrainian parliament, she is also the only woman.

I am not terribly concerned about Yanukovych. His origins, his career in Donetsk, and his populist endorsement of Russian as a second language, does immediately lead one to question his commitment to Ukraine's independence. BUT his very close connections to the Ukrainian oligarchy make any political or economic move toward a union w/Russia highly unlikely. Oligarchs like Aktemov, the steel industry captain and chief Yanukovich backer, have no reason to expose themselves to the competition of Russian businessmen and to the scrutiny of Russian police.

I think that Yanukovych did not become president of Ukraine in order to cede his authority to the Kremlin over questions such as transit fees for Russian natural gas and basing rights for the Russian Black Sea Fleet at the Ukrainian port of Sevastopol. He is there strictly for the benefit of his financial backers. They want to get as rich as their Russian peers, if not richer.

Yanukovych is a tough guy w/a criminal backgd, and probably psychically very well equipped for the next five years of bruising encounters with the Kremlin.

I also suspect that in a short time, he too will become fluent in Ukrainian. Yanukovych may not understand the need for cultural polish, but his backers certainly do.

My final thought is that Ukraine does have a constitution, which includes a process that will protect Ukrainian history from any revision.