Ukrainian authorities claim they want closer Euro-integration. They have a peculiar way of showing it.
Kyiv's Pechersky District Court Judge Rodion Kireyev has not allowed co-rapporteurs of the PACE Monitoring Committee to meet with former Prime Minister and Yulia Tymoshenko. The Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Thomas Hammarberg had also not been allowed to meet with the imprisoned opposition leader.
Jose Manuel Pinto Teixeira, the European Commission’s Ambassador to Ukraine, claims he was invited to take part in the widely viewed 'ShusterLive' programme on 14th October, but the invitation was 'pulled' at the last moment. The topic of Ukraine-EU relations has, not surprisingly, figured prominently in recent weeks on the programme so an appearance by the top EU man in Kyiv would seem entirely appropriate, it would seem.
After the snub he wrote a letter to Shuster again, offering to take part in his programme to present the EU's attitude to EU-Ukraine relations and ensure viewers were properly informed. He complained that no guest on Shuster's programme had done this in a competent or authoritative manner.
Now Shuster, whose programme appears on the state's own tv channel, has told him:
"I think you would agree relations between Ukraine and the European Union have been complicated as the result of the trial of opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko, and have become particularly tense after her conviction.
"Leaders of the EU Parliament have made harsh unambiguous statements directed to the Ukrainian authorities. We quoted these statements in our programme. We believe that, it is first of all Ukrainians, and particularly Ukrainian politicians who should indicate their views on relations with the EU, so this means it is an internal discussion."
In other words 'Thanks, but no thanks..'
He did offer Pinto Teixeira an opportunity to appear on his programme in late December, after possible initialling of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement.
This all seems very odd to LEvko...you can hardly see the strings..
p.s. The EU's ambassador did appear on Mykola Knyazhytsky's less widely viewed TV show last week.... 15 minute video clip here
p.p.s. Yesterday's protests in Kyiv and elsewhere may have been cleverly gently manipulated to by 'vlasti' to deflect blame away from the president. The protesters' ire all seemed to be directed against the impotent, neutralised parliament... and not against Yanik
3 comments:
I still remember when fat-ass The Pineapple was on the Savik Shuster show, and Mustafa Nayem, one of the best journalists in Ukraine (Serhiy - Serge - Leshchenko from Ukrainian Pravda is another one) asked the village idiot about Mezhihirya, the huge mansion that The Pineapple stole from the government - with Yushchenko's help, by the way.
Savik did everything but choke Mustafa Nayem - he did everything to shut down the questioning.
The Pineapple, who has a very, very tough time thinking, finally blurted out that he would "report" to the people - not to Mustafa.
We're still waiting.
Ol' Savik is not as unbiased as he pretends to be.
And he clearly knows which side his bread is buttered on.
He got his panties all in a was because he was accused of presenting a loaded question to the audience a couple of programs ago:
"should the EU dictate to Ukraine what its government should be like"
Of course it's a loaded question!
Especially because the EU is not dictating anything to Ukraine.
Knyazhytsky is far, far better than Shuster.
Knyazhytsky is very well-read, extremely literate and intelligent, fluent in Ukrainian and Russian (Shuster does not know Ukrainian), and far more even-handed.
In fact, TVi does a far, far better job of presenting the news than most other TV channels.
Jose Manuel Pinto Texexira gives voice to reason and rational arguments, but he is also frank and outspoken, that's why Shuster is so afraid of him. People listening may realize the PoR propaganda about EU trying to "dictate" something for Ukraine is not an accurate way of describing the EU position. Sorry to say, but Shuster serves the PoR. After the embarrassing Mezhyhiria "interview", he has lost all respect.
http://www.kyivpost.com/news/nation/detail/107825/
The servility of Shuster, Kiselyov and the others was painful to watch. Even when Yanukovych humiliated them by only ordering an umbrella for himself when heavy rain started and waited for them to be completely soaked by the rain until they also got umbrellas, Shuster smiled like a humble servant. Jump! said Yankukovych, and Shuster jumped.
"We believe that, it is first of all Ukrainians, and particularly Ukrainian politicians who should indicate their views on relations with the EU, so this means it is an internal discussion."
Whilst I believe that Justice should not be determined by mob rule or the direction of the political wind. Then fact is Ukraine needs to stand up and take responsibility for defending its own civil and human rights. The EU can support them but it is not in a position to do their fighting for them. That said Shuster's image is being tainted as a result. It makes sence that EU officials should be called on to outline EU policy.
I get the feeling that it is the battle of Poltava all over again. They declare war and Ukrainians refuse to partake in the battles..
I fail to see why the EU Huiman roghts commisioner has been refused the rtoght to meet with Tymoshenko. Urkaine is a member fo teh European Council and it is also a signatory to international conventiosn on Human Rights.
It would appear that Yanukopych is deliberatly seeking to provoke a negative responce. His appears to be acting more like a pirate then a head of state.
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