In a hush-hush deal, longtime Republican lobbyist Paul Manafort signs on as a behind-the-scenes campaign adviser for the much-maligned Ukrainian opposition figure and close friend of the Kremlin, Viktor Yanukovych, who earned the scorn of the White House during the 2004 Orange Revolution that brought his opponent to power in Kiev. (Via the Action Ukraine Report.)
Maybe this is good news. Bob Dole's campaign for president didn't impress anybody as being particularly effective. It obviously didn't impress enough voters in the end. He lost.
So maybe good things in store?
Why is it all "hush-hush"? Well, for one, Yanukovych has made a lot about Yuschenko's support from the US. He has played on some anti-American sentiment here before. And he seems to get "CIA" in every so often to spice it up.
There is also that meltdown by his wife during the OR that proved to be the gift that kept on giving. (The word "ridicule" doesn't quite describe the response.) She was the one who made the claim that the people on Maidan were being supplied by the US with boots and that they all had oranges spiked with drugs. So it was an orgy on the square in US-supplied boots.
Your babushka wore combat boots.
So hush-hush it has to be.
3 comments:
I wonder if the US campaign advisers you mention Scott, realize who they will working for. Partiya Regioniv, as we all know, is bank-rolled by Rinat Akhmetov, Ukraine's richest oligarch, and owner of Shakhtar Donetsk soccer team, which includes many very highly paid players from a variety of countries.
After loosing an important European Championship Cup match, a year or two ago, Akhmetov reputedly took a baseball bat and smashed all the wind-shields of the players' Ferrari's, Aston Martins, Mercs and Lexus's...
I think those are well established occupational hazards of being a political call-companion.
dlw
Reminds me of the film "Spinning Boris" and making Yeltsin a success. Just like the rest of us, campaign spin doctors, have a price. It boggles my mind, though that they chose a Republican (perhaps this exhibits Kremlin's perplexity over how Bush could still be in power.) Well, I hope Manafort is keeping a diary later to be released as a major Magazine story and feature film? I wonder who would be cast as Yanukovych? or his wife? What ever happened to her? Any sightings?
the babushka joke made me LOL!!!!!
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