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Furor over Tabachnyk appointment rising
March 19, 2010, 12:56 a.m. | Ukraine — by Natalia A. Feduschak
Nearly 5,000 protesters demanded the ouster of new Education and Science Minister Dmytro Tabachnyk in Lviv on March 17. Four regional councils called for his resignation in the past week, and thousands of signatures were collected by students.
© (Ukrainian photo)
LVIV, Ukraine – Faced with widespread protests and calls for his resignation, Dmytro Tabachnyk, Ukraine’s new education and science minister, said he would keep his highly controversial ideas about the country’s history to himself. Tabachnyk also promised not to backpedal on progressive educational reforms that have already been introduced.
“Ukraine’s education system will not be influenced by my personal views on the country’s history,” Tabachnyk told the Kyiv Post on March 17. “I will strictly follow the policy of President (Viktor) Yanukovych, the Cabinet of Ministers and will adhere to the Constitution. I am not crazy. The Bologna education system and independent testing are the only ways to develop our system of education. I won’t cancel them. I will only improve and modernize them.”
Tabachnyk, who is considered one of the few intellectuals in the president’s Party of Regions, came under immediate fire after being appointed Ukraine’s minister for education and science on March 11. Critics have slammed his views of national history, which includes the thesis that western Ukrainians aren’t really Ukrainian. They also fear he will annul independent testing, which objectively determines students’ knowledge and is a critical component in ensuring they can enter university without paying bribes.
At a protest that drew some 5,000 demonstrators on March 17 in Lviv, the de facto capital of western Ukraine, Vyacheslav Kyrylenko, leader of the “For Ukraine” parliamentary faction, said his group would work tirelessly to oust Tabachnyk from his post.
“We don’t have any other choice, but to remove this Ukraine hater,” he told the crowd, which began chanting “Down with Tabachnyk.”
Kyrylenko last week introduced a resolution asking parliament to dismiss Tabachnyk; the vote could take place as early as March 30, according to the body’s vice-speaker, Mykola Tomenko. The initiative is being supported by other opposition groups, including ex-premier Yulia Tymoshenko’s bloc, in which Tomenko is a member. Meanwhile, the Lviv branch of Kyrylenko’s group started collecting signatures in support of Tabachnyk’s removal.
But what has particularly outraged western Ukrainians is an article Tabachnyk wrote last year for the Russian newspaper, Izvestia.
“Halychany (western Ukrainians) practically don’t have anything in common with the people of Great Ukraine, not in mentality, not in religion, not in linguistics, not in the political arena,” he penned. “We have different enemies and different allies. Furthermore, our allies and even brothers are their enemies, and their ‘heroes’ (Stepan Bandera, Roman Shukhevych) for us are killers, traitors and abettors of Hitler’s executioners.”
The statement prompted Kyrylenko, a native of central Ukraine, to call Tabachnyk a “national security threat.” He repeated the sentiment on March 17 during an extraordinary session held by Lviv’s regional lawmakers to consider how to respond to Tabachnyk’s appointment.
By March 17, four of western Ukraine’s regional councils had passed resolutions calling for the minister’s dismissal. A host of civic and student organizations from all over the country (including Kherson in southern Ukraine and Donetsk in eastern Ukraine), authors and former Soviet dissidents have also signed petitions calling for his removal.
Fears of possible cancellation of independent testing has also united many and drawn criticism from the country’s two leading independent universities, the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy and Lviv’s Ukrainian Catholic University. Both issued statements condemning any changes that would regress the educational system and called for Tabachnyk’s resignation.
Independent tests are set by school graduates in special centers across the country, and are assessed at a central facility. Government officials said independent testing will stay this year, but entrance exams will also be re-introduced.
When independent testing replaced university entrance exams three years ago, students started to largely enter Ukraine’s universities based on their knowledge, rather than whether they could bribe their way in, which was an endemic practice in the Soviet era and the early years of independence.
Independent testing is part of the Bologna Process, which Ukraine signed in 2005. Established in 1999, the process is meant to make academic degrees and quality assurance standards more comparable and compatible throughout Europe.
“Getting rid of independent testing is a bad idea,” said Olesia Shoba, a first-year student at Lviv’s Ivan Franko National University. “This is the one way you can really judge someone’s ability.”
By abolishing or changing independent testing, Shoba said that people like herself would be unable to receive an education. Having grown up in a village in the Lviv region, both of her parents are handicapped and of limited means.
“Testing levels the playing field. Getting into university honestly is the only way to get an education,” she said.
Students at the Lviv protest signed a petition saying Tabachnyk would “return corruption” to the educational system.
Despite the widespread criticism, some have taken a more measured view of the minister. Anatoliy Ihnatovych, president of the Lviv-headquartered National Student Union, said that anti-Tabachnyk protests are premature.
“If we decide to fight, we need to know what we are fighting for. Tabachnyk held the post of the vice-premier on humanitarian issues when the independent external assessment was launched. He didn’t impede that.”
Anna Sashnikova, a first-year student at Kyiv National Economic University, who attended a protest in Kyiv on March 17 supporting the minister said: “Tabachnyk hasn’t had a chance to do anything yet but people already protest against him. It’s not fair. He deserves a chance. I don’t like the Bologna system that we have at the universities and I didn’t like the independent testing. It had many mistakes and the calculation of the points was wrong. I’m supporting the changes that the new minister would bring.”
Still, Tabachnyk’s March 17 statement about maintaining and improving testing indicates the new government has changed its tune on the exams in light of the protests. Yanukovych had campaigned on the promise to abolish testing. As late as March 15, his deputy, Hanna Herman, maintained they would be eliminated.
“It makes sense to return to the old system of examinations instead of the independent external assessment,” she told the Kyiv Post. “This would make the lives of the Ukrainian students easier. I know many students from the villages who have difficulties getting to the assessment centers, arrive nervous and tired, which hinders their performance at the test. We don’t need to copy blindly the educational approaches of the other countries, but work on our own system which works best for Ukraine.”
Adding to the already contentious debate, Deputy Prime Minister on humanitarian issues Volodymyr Semynozhenko said that students this year would be allowed to take the independent tests in their native language, whether it is Hungarian, Bulgarian, Ukrainian or Russian. Exams are currently administered in Ukrainian, the state language. Along with independent tests, entrance to universities would be determined by graduation certificates and additional tests administered by universities. Critics say the move opens the door to corruption.
In light of the growing dissent, Herman said Yanukovych had privately met with Tabachnyk on March 15 and put him on notice.
“He had to promise the president to hide under lock and key his personal views and anti-Ukrainian statements and strictly follow the education policy approved by the parliament and the Cabinet of Ministers. If he breaches that agreement, the president will take an adequate decision,” she said.
Two days later, however, in an interview with Ostrov, a Donetsk-based web site, Herman said given the protests, the right thing for Tabachnyk to do was to resign.
“His anti-Ukrainian statements provoke irritation in a considerable part of society. He could say, ‘As much as I became the apple of dissention, I should go.’ That would be honest…But I don’t think that is going to happen.”
For his part, Tabachnyk has remained defiant, saying of his critics, “My opponents have no legal grounds to accuse me of anything. If they don’t like my articles, they should turn to the editors who published them.” He dismissed mass campaigns against him as “witch hunts.”
Tabachnyk, who is considered one of the few intellectuals in the president’s Party of Regions, came under immediate fire after being appointed Ukraine’s minister for education and science on March 11. Critics have slammed his views of national history, which includes the thesis that western Ukrainians aren’t really Ukrainian. They also fear he will annul independent testing, which objectively determines students’ knowledge and is a critical component in ensuring they can enter university without paying bribes.
At a protest that drew some 5,000 demonstrators on March 17 in Lviv, the de facto capital of western Ukraine, Vyacheslav Kyrylenko, leader of the “For Ukraine” parliamentary faction, said his group would work tirelessly to oust Tabachnyk from his post.
“We don’t have any other choice, but to remove this Ukraine hater,” he told the crowd, which began chanting “Down with Tabachnyk.”
Kyrylenko last week introduced a resolution asking parliament to dismiss Tabachnyk; the vote could take place as early as March 30, according to the body’s vice-speaker, Mykola Tomenko. The initiative is being supported by other opposition groups, including ex-premier Yulia Tymoshenko’s bloc, in which Tomenko is a member. Meanwhile, the Lviv branch of Kyrylenko’s group started collecting signatures in support of Tabachnyk’s removal.
But what has particularly outraged western Ukrainians is an article Tabachnyk wrote last year for the Russian newspaper, Izvestia.
“Halychany (western Ukrainians) practically don’t have anything in common with the people of Great Ukraine, not in mentality, not in religion, not in linguistics, not in the political arena,” he penned. “We have different enemies and different allies. Furthermore, our allies and even brothers are their enemies, and their ‘heroes’ (Stepan Bandera, Roman Shukhevych) for us are killers, traitors and abettors of Hitler’s executioners.”
The statement prompted Kyrylenko, a native of central Ukraine, to call Tabachnyk a “national security threat.” He repeated the sentiment on March 17 during an extraordinary session held by Lviv’s regional lawmakers to consider how to respond to Tabachnyk’s appointment.
By March 17, four of western Ukraine’s regional councils had passed resolutions calling for the minister’s dismissal. A host of civic and student organizations from all over the country (including Kherson in southern Ukraine and Donetsk in eastern Ukraine), authors and former Soviet dissidents have also signed petitions calling for his removal.
Fears of possible cancellation of independent testing has also united many and drawn criticism from the country’s two leading independent universities, the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy and Lviv’s Ukrainian Catholic University. Both issued statements condemning any changes that would regress the educational system and called for Tabachnyk’s resignation.
Independent tests are set by school graduates in special centers across the country, and are assessed at a central facility. Government officials said independent testing will stay this year, but entrance exams will also be re-introduced.
When independent testing replaced university entrance exams three years ago, students started to largely enter Ukraine’s universities based on their knowledge, rather than whether they could bribe their way in, which was an endemic practice in the Soviet era and the early years of independence.
Independent testing is part of the Bologna Process, which Ukraine signed in 2005. Established in 1999, the process is meant to make academic degrees and quality assurance standards more comparable and compatible throughout Europe.
“Getting rid of independent testing is a bad idea,” said Olesia Shoba, a first-year student at Lviv’s Ivan Franko National University. “This is the one way you can really judge someone’s ability.”
By abolishing or changing independent testing, Shoba said that people like herself would be unable to receive an education. Having grown up in a village in the Lviv region, both of her parents are handicapped and of limited means.
“Testing levels the playing field. Getting into university honestly is the only way to get an education,” she said.
Students at the Lviv protest signed a petition saying Tabachnyk would “return corruption” to the educational system.
Despite the widespread criticism, some have taken a more measured view of the minister. Anatoliy Ihnatovych, president of the Lviv-headquartered National Student Union, said that anti-Tabachnyk protests are premature.
“If we decide to fight, we need to know what we are fighting for. Tabachnyk held the post of the vice-premier on humanitarian issues when the independent external assessment was launched. He didn’t impede that.”
Anna Sashnikova, a first-year student at Kyiv National Economic University, who attended a protest in Kyiv on March 17 supporting the minister said: “Tabachnyk hasn’t had a chance to do anything yet but people already protest against him. It’s not fair. He deserves a chance. I don’t like the Bologna system that we have at the universities and I didn’t like the independent testing. It had many mistakes and the calculation of the points was wrong. I’m supporting the changes that the new minister would bring.”
Still, Tabachnyk’s March 17 statement about maintaining and improving testing indicates the new government has changed its tune on the exams in light of the protests. Yanukovych had campaigned on the promise to abolish testing. As late as March 15, his deputy, Hanna Herman, maintained they would be eliminated.
“It makes sense to return to the old system of examinations instead of the independent external assessment,” she told the Kyiv Post. “This would make the lives of the Ukrainian students easier. I know many students from the villages who have difficulties getting to the assessment centers, arrive nervous and tired, which hinders their performance at the test. We don’t need to copy blindly the educational approaches of the other countries, but work on our own system which works best for Ukraine.”
Adding to the already contentious debate, Deputy Prime Minister on humanitarian issues Volodymyr Semynozhenko said that students this year would be allowed to take the independent tests in their native language, whether it is Hungarian, Bulgarian, Ukrainian or Russian. Exams are currently administered in Ukrainian, the state language. Along with independent tests, entrance to universities would be determined by graduation certificates and additional tests administered by universities. Critics say the move opens the door to corruption.
In light of the growing dissent, Herman said Yanukovych had privately met with Tabachnyk on March 15 and put him on notice.
“He had to promise the president to hide under lock and key his personal views and anti-Ukrainian statements and strictly follow the education policy approved by the parliament and the Cabinet of Ministers. If he breaches that agreement, the president will take an adequate decision,” she said.
Two days later, however, in an interview with Ostrov, a Donetsk-based web site, Herman said given the protests, the right thing for Tabachnyk to do was to resign.
“His anti-Ukrainian statements provoke irritation in a considerable part of society. He could say, ‘As much as I became the apple of dissention, I should go.’ That would be honest…But I don’t think that is going to happen.”
For his part, Tabachnyk has remained defiant, saying of his critics, “My opponents have no legal grounds to accuse me of anything. If they don’t like my articles, they should turn to the editors who published them.” He dismissed mass campaigns against him as “witch hunts.”
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I hope these poor starving Ukrainians got treated to at least a hot soup for standing in the cold for the protest, that means asolutely nothing to them..
They would be much happier if they had a job, and money so they could afford heatng in their freezing apartments, as gas bills shut up 4 times over in the orange teroorists ' government
Tabachnyk is a tumor that needs to be cut out.
I hope mother muscovy and Putin mean something for you when you get sent to Chechnya to do his dirty work.
Yes, the orange supporters were not given a good deal but the real terrorists backed by the muscovite machine are now going to demonstrate what real censorship, dictatorship, anti-Ukrainian repression is all about. Anf this is thanks to those morons who accepted 10 dollars to vote for a ex criminal to become president.
Not to mention a donetsk mafioso backed by the oligarchy who should have been jailed or executed years ago.
The newly appointed Minister of Education of Ukraine Dmytro Tabachnyk
states in this Russian film that, in particular, the biggest dream of a Lviv Halychanyn was always to become a waiter.
http://rutube.ru/tracks/2642338.html?confirm=3823091f9c23519627f314b058159bb3&v=0f3dcd8e884d82ed62631bf0efce4346
Подивіться (можливо, ще раз) цей російський фільм про Україну. Тут Д. Табачник каже, зокрема, що найбільшою мрією львівського галичанина завжди було – стати старшим кельнером.
http://rutube.ru/tracks/2642338.html?confirm=3823091f9c23519627f314b058159bb3&v=0f3dcd8e884d82ed62631bf0efce4346
This is the moron who made up the lies about Hitler giving Roman Shukhevych the Highest Military Reich Award !!!! Since we know Dmytro is NOT hallucinating because he is not in the asylum where he belongs,we now know without ANY doubt that he is a LIAR ! A remarkable transformation from lowly Disinformation agent for the forces of EVIL to a MINISTER of "science and education"!
It is painfully obvious that the KP is a biased mouthpiece for the Galicians and the diaspora. It is not a "fair and objective" newspaper. When you see the articles, know that it is slanted and biased against Yanukovich and his cabinet.
Recently there were articles in the local Ukrainian and Russian language press about many university rectors and other teachers and scholars coming out in support of Tabachnyk. Do you think there was any mention of this in the Post? Of course not, it is one-sided in its reporting.
Tabachnyk is correct. The Post is a part of that "witch hunt." Shame on the owner, editors and staff for their unfair and grossly one-sided reporting. They are involved in politics and not in fair and objective reporting.
K P is an American State Department;s propaganda tool financed by the US and CANADIAN taxpayers,it is not meant to be fair, by default it is bias, it is false reporting to acheve false results,,, defraudng the Ukrainian people, as they did with their orangre Coup wich was aggresively supported by the K P.
As Americans warm their relationship with russia due to the coming bombing of Iran, K P and likes will be laying low
I think it's time for you to pay attention to what's happening in your country (Russia) because you don't know what is going on in Ukraine. For one, KP's owner is from Donetsk. Why don't you research before you embarrass yourself. This was funny, when I read your comment. Better than a circus. Now let's see your typical response.
It was founded by an an American and sold to the current owner who is a british citizen, originally from Pakistan. The editorial policy is generally western in orientation, which is logical considering the viewpoint of its executive figures. As such, it generally adheres to western journalistic standards, which can be either a virtue or a vice depending on the readers predjudice.
You don't know what you're talking about:
The Kyiv Post is Ukraine's leading English-language newspaper. It was founded in 1995 by American Jed Sunden, who sold the newspaper to British citizen Mohammad Zahoor on July 28, 2009. Zahoor owns the ISTIL Group and is a native of Pakistan and a former (since 2008) trader in steel production in Donetsk. Zahoor publishes the newspaper through his Public Media company. The paper covers politics, business and entertainment. The staff is a team of Western and Ukrainian journalists. Historically, the editorial policy has supported democracy and free markets. It has published investigative stories including coverage of the 2000 murder of journalist Georgiy Gongadze, the 2004 Orange Revolution and political corruption. The newspaper's motto is: Independence. Community. Trust.
aww, are you pissed off the journalists here haven't been beaten up yet by your precious Yanokovych? Perhaps they should be killed?
If its pro Ukrainian, it must be one sided. LOL
its not pro ukrainan but anti ukrainian, it is pro israeli and pro american as they own it finance it and run it
Really? Is that why there were protests against him even in his hometown?
Is there anything in the paragraph below which is not true?
“Halychany (western Ukrainians) practically don’t have anything in common with the people of Great Ukraine, not in mentality, not in religion, not in linguistics, not in the political arena,” he penned. “We have different enemies and different allies. Furthermore, our allies and even brothers are their enemies, and their ‘heroes’ (Stepan Bandera, Roman Shukhevych) for us are killers, traitors and abettors of Hitler’s executioners.”
If he wants to remove independent testing, then that would be very wrong. If he doesn't then he is a big plus for Ukraine.
Western & Eastern Ukrainians Unite every chance they get ...its ALWAYS the Russians and Poles that interfere!
“Halychany (western Ukrainians) practically don’t have anything in common with the people of Great Ukraine, not in mentality, not in religion, not in linguistics, not in the political arena,” he penned. “We have different enemies and different allies. Furthermore, our allies and even brothers are their enemies, and their ‘heroes’ (Stepan Bandera, Roman Shukhevych) for us are killers, traitors and abettors of Hitler’s executioners.”
This is because the people living in "Great Ukraine" are not Ukrainians but Russians who were settled in Ukraine after the Soviet Russians committed GENOCIDE against the Ukrainian nation.
Is our soviet anti-Ukrainian correspondent above still continuing to live in the glorious imperialist stalinist era?
russia is a large place comrade. Go back and sput your bulldust there!!!
grow up mr. muscovite. If you need to see abbettor's of hitler's executioners then look at the picture of comrade stalin and hitler sitting side by side signing treaties to decide the future of millions of citizens. Muscovy is your terrorist threat and musrderer of millions.
yes, plenty. just b/c some people don't like communists doesn't make them nazis and vice versa. this extremist bullshit has to stop
Tabachnyk needs to resign or be removed because not only is he anti-Ukrainian, but he also is a divisive element in Ukraine rather than a unifying element that can bring all of Ukraine together. He is causing and stirring up ethnic hatred rather than reconciliation and so he must GO!
You must be mistaken. Do you mean Yushenko?
Yushchenko was democratically elected by majority of Ukraine, Tabachnyk was appointed by a man whose represents 48% of ukraine (less than half) and whose party represents only a third of ukraine
So who should appoint the Minister for Education? Yulya because she got less votes than Yanukovych? Yuschenko because he got 5% of the vote?
Stupid statements, stupid gestures and I am sure that Yanukovych will disregard them completely
I suppose you think you should appoint him?
Wouldn't it be better that the Halychany build a little country, centred around Lviv which should satisfy their wishes in terms of language, history, religion, politics etc It might cause a little friction with the countries to the north, south, east and west of the area, but it would be answerable to their own nationalistic desires, and no one can quibble with that.
I like that idea except for the fact that we'd be landlocked. Not really, it would be bad for out economy, we don't have any industries, they're all located in the east.
very good !
No it would be better if Ukrainians stopped pretending that they are something other than Ukrainians. Especially that most pathetic of creatures called mallorossiani... Worthless toadies like Tabachnik.
Wouldn't it be easier if all the Russians in Ukraine just hopped to the other side of the Don and we can get on with our lives outside of Soviet Russia?
dont worry folks the soviet generation of Ukraine will soon die out, either of old age or alcoholism. Their backward views on society shall perish with them. They only long for Soviet lifestyle, because they know no other, they have never been outside "muhosransk" to know any better and certainly reading books is not as fun as drinking vodka for such people. They are used to un-competetive jobs where you dont need an education or even the will to work hard, since the job is guranteed by the state no matter how bad you screw up or how drunk you get. Puppet masters need drunk un-educated masses to keep them in power and for that they will knock a few kopecks of the gas bill and keep the prices of vodka the same.
this is a cheap comment
but painful, isn't it?
no. simply cheap
I agree.
Interesting, when I post comments half as offensive to the diaspora, they get deleted. But this stays? Keep it up Kyiv post...
Ive had some choice comment directed at the nazhis redacted too... I find the KP's selective censorship rather inconsistent, and generally unnecessary. Usually the most aggressive comments only serve to undermine the author anyway... so whats the point?
Calling opponants Nazis should be enough to get the comment deleted. Why use that term? It should be reserved for the Nazis themsevles.
I think the above post, though crass, is on the money in describing the lumpen proletariat that is the Party of Regions' most reliable vote. Don't take it personally, or offensive. Live in Ukraine and work there (as I did) and this one is close to the mark.
I have seen Tabachnyk speaking on TV many times and based on his statements, he is far from the extremist that he is being characterized as. First of all, the guy speaks very literate and normal Ukrainian. There are definitely Ukrainophobes in the POR, but i don't believe Tabachnyk is one of them.
It's pretty clear that Tabachnyk was appointed as a diversion tactic, with the intention of sacrificing him. Yanukovich will withdraw his appointment, but he'll expect something from the nationalists in return. Maybe it would be wiser to let Tabachnyk go to work and judge him based on his job performance rather than some pre-conceived ideology?
Tabachnyk's main previous contention that Galicians have a very different history than the rest of Ukraine is basically correct from a factual and intellectual point of view. This view, on its own, does not qualify Tabachnyk as a Ukrainophobe.
http://www.izvestia.ru/politic/article3133320/
In the same article, Tabachnyk wrote this:
"Зато украинскому государству (если, конечно, быть последовательным) придется отказаться от всех территорий за Збручем (которые должны вернуться к Польше), от Северной Буковины и Южной Бессарабии (необходимо вернуть Румынии), от Закарпатья (до 1939 года входило в состав Чехословакии, в 1939-1945 годах принадлежало Венгрии)."
Roughly translated, it is a recipe for the division of Ukraine — with western parts to return to Poland, Romania, and either the successor states to Czechoslovakia or Hungary. The sentence that precedes the one I've cited explains how that division might be triggered by Moscow's denunciation of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and all secret bilateral accords between Nazi Germany and Stalin's Soviet Union — and that this would not result in the loss of any territory by Russia. (Whether it would open up the Russian Federation to reparations litigation, however, isn't something he addresses — and in my view, the forced resettlement of millions, the liquidation of tens of thousands, would.)
There's little doubt that Galician attitudes are different from their cousins in the East — but it's a rather strange formula for a serving Minister of the Ukrainian state to be offering up.
Later in the article he writes about Crimea and this about Ukrainian nationalists:
"Они клеймят позором национальную политику Сталина, но хотят жить в украинском государстве, границы которого были определены именно при СССР."
"They brand a disgrace the nationality policies of Stalin, but wish to live in a Ukrainian state, the borders of which were fixed precisely by the USSR."
This is an accurate assessment.
The problem is that Tabachnyk the historian now needs to cede to Tabachnyk the Minister in the government of the Ukrainian state — where his academic formulae carry consequences.
Tabachnyk is right.
Perhaps, but it would be strange to hear a Minister in the Russian state lay out a formula for the separation of the North Caucasus and Central Asian republics — which are linguistically, culturally and by confession worlds apart from the Russian ethnos. The difference between a Russian and a Chechen, Ingush, Avar, Dargin, Kumyk, Lezgin and Bashkir make Eastern and Western Ukrainians seem like twins.
dude, he denies the holodomor, seriously come on. and he barely speaks Ukrainian
The answer is simple and balanced: make Tabachnyk a Hero of Ukraine.
Everybody wins. The award would become as worthless for Western Ukraine as it has for Eastern Ukraine. Europe and Russia will finally get the joke — and everybody will just slap their thighs, shake their heads, shrug their shoulders and say: "Aie! Those crazy Ukrainians!"
Only if Tabachnyk is willing to lay down his life for a free Ukraine.
Like Popel in Munich in 1958-
That's a great idea!
LOL
This Ukrainophobe must be removed, plain and simple.
But he is right that the Ukrainians of Western Ukraine are not
the same people as the "Ukrainians" in Eastern Ukraine as these
Easterners are like the Palestinians in Israel who moved into
Ukraine after the Holodomor from Russia. Better they just
go back to where they came from if they don't want to be a
part of Ukraine linguistically and culturally.
Is Dmitri Tabachnyk related to the great accordion player Yan Tabachnyk? Yan Tabachnyk rocks on the accordion!
yes he is
Diaspora are not Ukrainians.
The Ukrainian diaspora, especially those who were forced to
flee before the so called "soviet liberation forces" invaded
Ukraine and imposed their even more evil occupation after WW II, are FAR MORE Ukrainian than the "Samaritans" of Eastern Ukraine
ever will be.
They even know how to speak Ukrainian and they know that Mazepa,
Vyhovsky, Petliura, Bandera, on and on, are TRUE UKRAINIAN
HEROES.
Terrific. Astonish us with your command of the language.
Write in Ukrainian how it is that Mazepa, who did everything in his power to wrest power from the Poles and consolidate Peter the Great's hold on Ukraine before jumping to Sweden's side — was a TRUE UKRAINIAN HERO.
One of the funniest tidbits from the Tabachnyk dust-up is an interview where he points out that a portrait of "Ivan Mazepa" distributed by nationalists to classrooms is, in fact the portrait of a Polish prince, dead 50 years before Mazepa became het'man.
It's hilarious stuff — and Ukrainian nationalists have themselves to blame — for chronically allowing emotion to trump hard work, disciplined scholarship, diligent study.
Sorry, folks — every nation on earth has tragedy inscribed in its bones and pain flowing through its bloodstream. The nations who tumble and fall are those that make it a point to worship it.
Krivo, you need to write the book on this stuff. I'm serious.
I agree with you
Write in Ukrainian, then you could not read it. But if you're such a genious, you should be able to figure out the answer to your stupid question by seeing that it took the Ukrainian UPA and its Ukrainian sympathizers another 45 years to wrest Ukraine out of the hands of the Evil hands of Moscow after the end of WW II. But then the Russians and people like you can't seem to understand why Bandera was a Ukrainian hero either.
umm, Mazepa tried to get us AWAY from Peter the Great. you really are a total moron aren't you?
Diaspora are more Ukrainian than you.
Please do elaborate, Matei.
they are a hell of a lot more ukrainian thatn the nazhi trolls that pollute this forum with their kremlin propaganda
Once a Ukrainian, allways a Ukrainian.
Your country of dwelling may change, but in your heart, ou will cherish the land you were born.. and do nice things for it whenever you can .... it is quite natural
"I don’t like the Bologna system that we have at the universities and I didn’t like the independent testing. It had many mistakes and the calculation of the points was wrong. I’m supporting the changes that the new minister would bring.”
What's wrong with indepedent testing? It had too many mistakes that can't be corrected? It made it impossible to "pass" exams by bribery?
time to evolve and leave the Dark Ages behind
Question for diaspora pseudo-patriots: If you love Ukraine so greatly why do not you live here? You can vote, work, pay taxes, and be more than an internet representative of ex-Ukrainian refugees.
that is true ...
Because abroad they can earn a real wage, and thus send actual money back to their family members who are stuck back home and are unable to get a visa. The money that get sent back home from Ukrainians abroad is what keeps many Ukrainians alive... Diasporans do more for actual Ukrainians than the criminal Oligarchs in the government (Orange OR Blue) will ever do.
It's difficult to argue if what you say is simply clearly untrue. If to you Ukraine is some hell-hole then stay away from it, and enjoy your American/Canadian wages. Don't stick your nose in our business. The only money that comes from these "Diasporans" is for Bandera statues and they can have that back, along with Yushchenko.
And in case of confusions when i say diaspora i am refering to WW2 era refugees, or earlier (not 1990s immigrants).
ps: a visa is easily obtained, if you or your family have some sort of issues or criminal records that does not apply to the general public.
excuse me, we have as much right to say what happens as you do. it's still our country too. you don't mind telling americans what to do I see
VERY VERY TRUE!!
So judging from the abusive comments here, all these protests are being backed by diaspora? Absurd.
Why are these lunatics so anti-diaspora? Canada, Australia, America etc. have an actual LEGAL SYSTEM which PROTECTS their people! Wow! What a bizarre concept! In these countries food is cheaper than Vodka and cigarettes too, not the other way around.
You should be thankful that there are people outside the country who are working to raise standards, reclaim an identity and open Ukraine to better opportunities. Is Russia offering this? Dream on!
And me, well I'm not Ukrainian but I live here, employ people and pay taxes (for which some consider me an idiot). I guess for the self-loathing, narrow-minded Ukraine haters I should 'go back to where I came from' right?
Shame on you bastards.
PS: I normally wouldn't use such language but KP doesn't care about that or they wouldn't allow such blatantly racist and inflammatory comments to be posted here. Shame on you too KP
The only thing the diaspora is working to do is impose their heroes and their politics on Ukraine. Where were they in 1992 when 90% of the country was starving? What did they do to contribute to this "raising of standards"? (let me guess, they gave us democracy...lol)
The only problem i have is with people who have never even seen (or want to see) Ukraine and yet they portray themselves as great patriots and as higher beings then regular Ukrainians.
we've done a lot more than you have
The current administration is not the only administration that has been out to destroy the intellectual people power of Ukrainians.
>> 1920’s The kremlin kills 8,000,000 – 9,000,000 Ukrainians during lenin’s famine, and the forced “collectivization” of Ukraine, etc. In their continuing GENOCIDE of the Ukrainian people, culture and language, they called Ukrainians – Kulaks or “enemy of the people”, rather than Ukrainians, to rationalize their GENOCIDE of the Ukrainian people. Also, the kremlin attacked the Ukrainian churches when the Ukrainian churches were helping the millions (1,000,000’s) of Ukrainians that were starving to death.
In the decade of the 1920s, the Ukrainian Republic experienced a period of Ukrainiazation. Ukrainian communists enjoyed a great deal of autonomy in running the republic, and Ukrainian culture and language dominated. Stalin's rise to power, however, halted the process of Ukrainiazation. Consequently, Ukrainian intellectual and cultural elites were either executed or deported, and leading Ukrainian party leaders were replaced by non-Ukrainians. About 80% of the UKRAINIAN intelligentsia was massacred.
The peasantry was forcibly collectivized, leading to a mass famine in 1932-33 in which several million peasants starved to death. Pointing to the fact that grain was forcibly requisitioned from the peasantry despite the protests of the Soviet government in the Ukrainian Republic, some historians believe that Stalin knowingly brought about the famine to stop national ferment in the Ukrainian Republic and break the peasants' resistance to collectivization. When western Ukraine was incorporated into the Soviet Union following the Nazi-Soviet Nonaggression Pact of 1939 {MOLOTOV-RIBBENTROP PACT}, the population suffered terror and mass deportations. About 80% of the UKRAINIAN intelligentsia was massacred {AGAIN!} {|PRONOUNCED GENOCIDE!} !