7-18-06, 9:02 am

We might not particularly like it, but we do live in interesting political times. In a time-frame of several months or years big changes take place. What used to take tens of years now seems to be compressed in a much tighter period.

It was not all that long ago that the “Orange Revolution” of October-November 2004 in the Ukraine was all the rage. Millions of people (according to the Western media) swarmed Kiev dressed in orange, festooning the streets with orange flags and balloons, demanding the overthrow of the government of Victor Yanukovich.

Fast forward to the present situation and you see the outcome: In the very next election barely 18 months later this “revolution” has collapsed and an anti-Orange Bloc has formed in the Ukrainian Rada (parliament) with 300 out of 450 deputies.

This bloc – labelled an “anti-crisis coalition” – was created at the beginning of July. For many months before that parliament could not decide on the distribution of positions and essentially could not function.

The pro-western, pro-NATO line cultivated by President Victor Yuschenko has led to huge anti-NATO actions in the Crimea and big protests and demonstrations around the country against the presence of NATO military ships.

As a result the authorities have had to backtrack and cancel planned joint naval exercises in the Black Sea. All the while with the Ukraine having no functioning government!

The promises made during the Orange revolution have not eventuated. Ordinary people have not seen any improvement in their living or working conditions. The bickering and unstable government could not govern effectively because of the conflicting interests of those within it.

So finally there seems to be some further realignment of forces with the majority of deputies moving to this newly-formed “anti-crisis coalition”.

“The situation is very dangerous for the President, because MPs have ceased to believe that he could be the guarantor of the stability of their business”, said Vladimir Litvin, ex-speaker of the Rada.

“So far as I know, numerous politicians from other factions, especially from [President Yuschenko’s] Our Ukraine Bloc, are already going over to the new coalition. These are business people, who realise that serious things are at stake and that the coalition will not handle them lightly.”

According to Litvin, the “anti-crisis coalition” has come as a surprise for President Victor Yushchenko. But Yushchenko will not take advantage of his right to dissolve the parliament, because in this case his Our Ukraine Bloc is sure to be defeated, Mr Litvin pointed out.

From The Guardian