Ukrainians' minds already made up on Holodomor

Portions of an article on Holodomor memorial from 'Donbass' newpaper:

"..The Day of Remembrance for Victims of Holodomor and political repressions in Ukraine is marked the fourth Saturday of each November.

On January 21st, 2010 a ruling of the Court of Appeal in Kyiv came into force prescribing blame for the organization in 1932-1933 Famine-Genocide in Ukraine on the Bolshevik leaders of the USSR and the USSR. A corresponding decision was made by the Court on 13th January 2010.

The Court decision confirmed the findings of investigators of the Security Service of Ukraine on the organization of and commission, in 1932-1933 on the territory of the Ukrainian SSR, of the leadership of the Bolshevik totalitarian regime [the general secretary of the CPSU (Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union) Joseph Stalin, member of the CPSU, chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR Vyacheslav Molotov, secretaries of the CPSU, Lazar Kaganovich, and Paul Postyshev, member of the CPSU, General Secretary of the Communist Party in Ukraine, Stanislav Kosior, member of the CPSU, chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, Vlas Chubar, Second Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine, Mendel Khatayevich] in the "genocide of the Ukrainian national group (gruppa), i.e. artificially creating conditions calculated to bring about its partial physical destruction."

The court determined that Stalin, Molotov, Kaganovich, Postyshev, Kosior, Chubar and Khatayevich committed the crime of genocide, according to article 442 Part 1 of the Criminal Code (genocide), and closed the criminal case in connection with their deaths.

As a result, the genocide in Ukraine of three million 941 thousand people was perpetrated (according to the findings of a pre-trial forensic demographic investigation by the State Academy of Science Institute of Demography and Social Studies im. Ptukhi) .

Criminal charges of genocide in Ukraine in 1932-1933, were initiated in May 2009, by the SBU under Part 1 of Art. 442 of the Penal Code."

Quite clear then, where the editors of 'Donbass' (and a good portion of its readership?), who can hardly be considered 'anti-Russian', stand on this issue.

So why are the Russians so upset by the "g-word"?

Some current events TV programmes deliberately introduce lengthy aggressive debates on the Holodomor and kick awkward topics for the government, such as current demonstrations by small-scale entrepreneurs against the passing of a new tax laws, into the long grass.

p.s. Watch and listen to truly moving eye-witness accounts of the Holodomor, with English sub-titles, in Anna Gin's film, 'Zhernova' [The stone mill] here.

Rich get richer..you know about the poor..

According to a recent O.P., details of which appear in 'Segodnya':

10,5% of Ukrainian families do not have enough money, even for food. 41,2% have enough money for food, but have find it difficult to buy clothes or shoes. Almost all Ukrainians, 96,7%, are worried, in varying degrees, about rising prices.

46% of those questioned believe that the culprits responsible for the current skyrocketing prices are both the current and the previous administrations in equal measure. The proportion of citizens who believe that price inflation is the more the fault of the current government than the previous government is 21.9%. 16.2% think that the previous government is more to blame.

In contrast, president Yanukovych, not content with building himself a clubhouse at Mezhyhirya, which could cost an eye-watering $200M, and acquiring a private Monaco - in Crimea , 'Segodnya' also reports a 'grandiosnyi remont' has been taking place at the ugly 'Synyohora' state dacha in the Carpathian mountains for over a month, so that the president may spend his Christmas and New Year vacation there.

Cranes, concrete mixers and excavators are working flat-out, and locals are peeved that just men from Poland other parts of Ukraine are being employed. Granite, stone, concrete and pipes are being delivered, and new plumbing and wiring is being installed. Unofficially everything is being payed for by 'biznesmyeny'...

Parliament now Yanuk's toe-rag*

Video here of how just a few dozen PoR regions parliamentary deputies voted through the controversial new tax code today.

The records will show 269 deputies voted in favour of the motion. Voting for absent colleagues is unconstitutional, but small matters like that don't seem to matter in the Ukrainian parliament.

The small-scale entrepreneurs that will be hardest hit by the new tax laws look determined to continue their actions. The callous manner in which these laws were enacted by the authorities will stiffen their resolve.

This same bunch of PoR tossers also bulldozed through procedures enabling changes to be made to the Ukrainian Constitution in parliament without the need for signed personal voting slips to be placed in ballot boxes during voting so it will not be necessary for deputies to attend parliament in person to make changes to the country's Constitution.

The president signed off these new parliamentary procedures just a few hours later.

The same few dozen parliamentary deputies will now be able to vote through changes to the Constitution...with no discussion, no referendum..nothing...

They have no shame...no respect to the electorate...Can any serious international body take the Ukrainian parliament or its president seriously from now on?

*Toe rag

Only the poor pay taxes [2]

President Yanukovych considers yesterday's protests by small-scale traders and entrepreneurs against the introduction of a new tax code, were prompted by "their unwillingness to pay taxes "

How ironic that the daughter of Deputy Prime Minister Serhiy Tihipko who headed the working committee drafting the tax code , as well as other prominent officials, was involved in a $3,000,000 tax scam involving prestige automobiles just a few months ago.

As someone once told me: "Ukrainian prisons are for poor people only .."

Winter of discontent brewing?

Big demo's were staged in Kyiv today by market traders and other small business owners protesting against proposed new tax codes.

'Segodnya' estimated between 30,000 and 50,000 took part in noisy but peaceful protests.

Similar scenes were seen in Khmelnytskyi, were maybe 10,000 protested in the main square [see photos here] Smaller demo's took place in other cities too.

These small-scale entrepreneurs form an important segment of the economy, providing employment for millions, particularly where other jobs are not available.They are now organising the biggest demo's seen since 2004.

These guys know that right now, the proposals in parliament are just that - proposals...Once the laws are passed there's no way back, hence today's big push.. The Azarov cabinet have ignored 'straws in the wind'.

'Nezavisimaya Gazeta' claims most analysts agree that the country is on the brink of default. The external debt of Ukraine at the end of the year will make up 41% of GDP: the load on the state budget on debt service is growing steadily and will reach its peak in 2013. The government is being tightly squeezed by its main creditor, the IMF, so, as in other countries, they are being forced to comply with the fund's demands and take very unpopular decisions, otherwise it will be impossible to keep within planned budget parameters.

'N.G' concludes: "But the attempt to pass these problems onto the shoulders of the most socially active [and resourceful?] ordinary citizens who were able to build up their own business in recent years could turn into a revolution, in which new political leaders could appear, experts admit."

Scary metaphors

While on a visit to Kalush in Western Ukraine today, at a meeting with administrative representatives of the Ivano-Frankivsk oblast', Viktor Yanukovych said that representatives of the opposition who were elected heads of local government in the local elections on October 31, should not be in opposition either "to any government or to its nation."

"Democracy - is not self-mockery. It is a kind of constructive approach to life. If you have a competitive programme - go ahead, realise it, we can create the conditions."

"But when it is considered, for example, in one region, that five heads of cities of one party were elected - and the party is in opposition, that these five heads will be in opposition? I myself can not imagine this ... I will twist off his head if he does not deal with the sewage or with water, and gas [problems], " added Yanukovych clumsily.

He doesn't get it. These five city mayors were democratically elected by voters in their cities just a few days ago...if they do not deliver on their promises they will be kicked out at the next elections...If Yanukovych doesn't deliver on his promises does he imagine someone will "rip his head off"?

"All political lives, unless they are cut off in midstream at a happy juncture, end in failure, because that is the nature of politics and of human affairs." - Enoch Powell - British politician and Conservative Party MP

Presents for the president

Last night, president Yanukovych's wife Lyudmila attended a cultural East-West Ukraine cultural project at the Donetsk National Opera and Ballet Theatre.

She was presented with an ornamentally inlaid cassette box by the Ivano-Frankivsk oblast governor, who expressed a wish that: "it would be filled with Viktor Fedorovych's awards."

LEvko expected the box be the size of a dumpster on castors, but no, in the photos it looks quite small.

Problem is, what do you give the Yanukovychs as a present?

His 'club house' in Mezhyhirya, about which he bragged in Berlin earlier in the year, is nearing completion.

At the peak of construction, 500 workers per day were passing through the site. The garage alone holds 70 vehicles.

Just two internal doors cost $158,000, and one door, made of Lebanese cedar cost $64,000. $81,000 was spent on a ballustrade for the winter garden. The estimated total cost of the internal trim and fittings exceeds $10,000,000; and the cost of the entire project could be a staggering $200,000,000.

And if that was not enough, Yanukovych is "Building himself a private Kingdom of Monaco - in Crimea", complete with a 900 metre length of private beach along one of the most desirable parts of the coastline.

Where will the little cassette box go? What did it have carved on it? "Ukraine for the people" -Yanukovych's election campaign slogan, perhaps?

Dirty man for a dirty job?

President Yanukovych today proposed his old pal from the 'bad old days in Donetsk', Viktor Pshonka, for the position of Prosecutor-General of Ukraine.

Parliament will certainly 'rubber stamp' and approve his appointment Thursday.

The big-selling 'Segodnya' newspaper, carries a piece entitled: "Pshonka could probably throw Tymoshenko behind bars, says source".

'The source' considers Pshonka's main task will be to provide a "final solution to the problem Tymoshenko" by "bringing the investigation of abuses in the government of Yulia Tymoshenko to their logical conclusion", and that he will not waver in this matter.

The current 'vlasti' are apparently annoyed that their recent politically inspired, high media profile audit/witch-hunt of Tymoshenko’s government was not as successful as hoped, and did not produce the results they had expected in last Sunday's regional elections.

Pshonka background is distinctly "chequered" to say the least. I have written several blogs in the last few years about this character. Type in his name into this site's search engine for more...

Computer to blame, as usual

'Lyeviy Bereg' reports: "The computer with the Kharkiv voting results at the city's Electoral Commission has burned out

The [city's] 'Obyektiv' Media Group stated that information on the last three and a half hours [counting?] has been destroyed. Commission members say that until data is restored, there will be no news on the voting results in Kharkiv [Ukraine's second largest city].

Data on the results of ballot counting has not been updated since 14.00 hours. Meanwhile, the chairman of Kharkiv Oblast State Administration Mykhailo Dobkin has already declared that his [ahem..ahem..] mate and close business partner, Hennadiy Kernes, is victor of the mayoral elections, without waiting for the count to be concluded.

Head ofthe regional headquarters of the "Batkivshchyna" opposition party, Yuriy Prav, said: "I'm surprised that even though a certain party and its people in the city's electoral committee made no small effort to falsify the Kharkiv mayoral election results, this did not help, and they had to" burn the bridges behind them."

Counting is very slow in Kharkiv - it's rumoured the electoral commission has even had to take its shoes and socks off....

p.s. Check out mayoral opposition candidate Arsen Avakov's blog for photos of the chaos, damaged sacks containing torn voting slips, and video illustrating the 'don't give a damn' attitude of guards and counters in Kharkiv.

Vote - then tea and biscuits, on the house

'U.P' and others report that today president Yanukovych, during a conference with oblast governors, urged local authorities to "create a festive mood," for citizens on Sunday, the day of national local elections.

"I would like for us think about the people on this day, organize, as always, a festive mood for people at each polling station," said the president.

"Where there is a possibility, at polling stations where such conditions have been prepared, to arrange catering facilities so that people see that the government is thinking about them."

He stressed that this was, "Not a means of pressurising people."

"Our responsibility is to create conditions for the [voting] commission members, and for those who did not have time for a drink of tea at home, to have such an opportunity at the polling station." What a nice chap he is...

p.s. My dad clearly remembers that in the days of Stalin, on "election day", tables were frequently laid out near voting stations. Everyone casting a vote would receive a crumby 'pryanik' or a small 'konfeta'...It would be the only day when sugar was available in shops..

Azarov booed by entrepreneurs

'Segodnya' reports one thousand entrepreneurs in Vinnytsya confronted Prime Minister Mykola Azarov today to protest against the possible adoption of new Tax Code.

The rally took place near the administrative building of the Vinnytsya Regional State Administration [150 km. south-west of Kyiv] when the PM was attending a meeting on problematic issues surrounding the socio-economic development of the region.

The protesters were addressed by leaders of public organizations and political parties, as well as by businessmen. They held placards with slogans such as 'The country for the people', 'The authorities are killing small business', 'Privileges for olіgarchs - handcuffs for entrepreneurs', and others.

Azarov's response? - "We always listen to people, of course - even if only 100-200 people turn out into the square we always listen to them. I never dismiss the problems. We know who organized these rallies, but we need to listen - even to a 'paid' rally, [maybe] adjust decisions , but the main thrust of the government [policy] is reform and tax reform - one of global reforms."

p.s. 'Segodnya' also reports that 'dodgy' voting slips for next Sunday's local elections have been found by Yulia Tymoshenko's 'Bat'kivshchyna' party in a fourth oblast. "Voting slips are being illegally printed in the Odessa oblast", it says.

Just wait until the counting starts...

Yanik's boys in dodgy land deals

Donetsk-based website 'Ostro' reports that on Friday the deputies of Donetsk City Council approved the sale of two plots of land to Viktor Yanukovych's sons, Alexander and Viktor.

Viktor Yanukovych, Jr. was sold a plot comprising 610 square meters in the Budennovsk area of Donetsk for 244,375 hryvnia, i.e. at about 151 hryvnia per sq.m.

At the same time, Alexander Yanukovych was sold 7,373 square meters for 1,800,184 hryvnia, i.e about 146 hryvnya per sq.m. It is not clear whether there was an open tender for these plots.

'Ostro's' enquiries indicate the true market value of similar land nearby is about 480 hryvnya per sq. m.

Friday's Donetsk City Council session was the last of this convocation. New city council members will be elected in next week's elections - on Oct. 31st 2010.

Meanwhile, their father, speaking in Kirovohrad today, was quoted as saying,"We are commencing a systemic fight with corruption in Ukraine. Corruption is the enemy of the Ukrainian nation..we need to accept this system and root out corruption with red hot iron...No one in the state will make business on the [state] budget. And we'll clip the pockets the've sewn down to their heels. How do surgeons say it?..We'll cut them off! - amputate them!"

LEvko says that by the standards of dodgy deals in Ukraine this is small potatoes. But why push through the land sale in Donetsk on the last sitting of the council before the elections?

Yanik should see psychiatrist

Yanukovych's reaction following last Tuesday's dreadful accident in Marhanetsk in which over 40 people were killed when a commuter bus was struck by a train? - "Drivers who run red lights should see a psychiatrist."

Maybe he should see a psychiatrist himself and set a better example. Last April, the driver of a vehicle escorting the president killed the totally innocent driver and seriously injured passengers of another vehicle, during his cavalcade's regular mad dash through specially closed-off Kyiv roads.

While he's there, he should book in some of his pals and also some VR deputies..

Pathetic parliament

Last Friday, the Ukrainian Constitutional Court decided to nullify the 2004 constitutional amendments which had been voted in at that time by over 400 Verkhovna Rada deputies. The CC judges also took it upon themselves to resurrect the 1996 version of the Constitution; whether they had the authority to do this is highly 'iffy', to say the least.

This Thursday, VR deputies meekly voted through a motion to reduce their own powers and to increase the powers of the HWMBO president.

The pathetic state of the current Ukrainian parliament, and the cynicism of its deputies, was well illustrated by the evening session when the decision was made.

It was attended by less than 100 deputies. Deputy parliamentary speaker Adam Martynyuk bitterly opened the session, no doubt through gritted teeth, declaring: "300 voting cards had been registered - the evening session can begin.." So less then a quarter of them had even bothered to turn up to carry out this self-castration.

"This is the way the world ends,

Not with a bang but a whimper". The Hollow Men - T. S. Eliot

Judges kept their fingers crossed

On 5th February 2008 the Constitutional Court of Ukraine [CCU] rejected an appeal by 102 parliamentary deputies to re-examine the constitutionality of law No 2222 of 8th December 2004 "On Amendments to the Constitution of Ukraine".

Law No2222, which diluted the authority of the president, was passed at the height of the Orange Revolution by over 400 votes in parliament. What is often overlooked is that discontent about excessive presidential powers had been growing rapidly in the early years of the first decade of this century, both in parliament and throughout the country.

In 2008 the CCU judges were entirely satisfied that the December 2004 changes were a valid part of the country's constitution. Their official ruling included this: "The position of the law on introduction of changes to the Constitution of Ukraine, [is that], on gaining validity, [it] becomes an integral component of the Constitution of Ukraine ...and the law's function is exhausted.. ". "The decision of the Constitutional Court is final", they concluded.

Last Friday, the CCU made a final, final decision, overturning the 2008 'final' decision and declared that law No 2222 unconstitutional after all, returning the country to the 1996 Constitution.

p.s. Among school children, a lie told with the fingers crossed 'doesn't count'.

p.p.s When the representative audience on last Friday's Savik Shuster show were asked what kind of government they would prefer, 72% chose parliamenary/presidential - 28% chose a presidential/parliamentary..

Gangster state

On Friday, on the 'Savik Shuster Live' TV program, former minister of Defence Anatoliy Hrytsenko, who presently heads the Parliamentary National Security and Defence committee, suggested that current Deputy Minister of Defence, Oleksandr Cherpitsky, could be out of a job by the end of the week. Hrytsenko's committee has written to both president Yanukovych and to PM Mykola Azarov demanding his dismissal.

Hrytsenko alleged the SBU, [Security Service of Ukraine] had twice refused Oleksandr Cherpitsky access to state secrets, therefore he was not allowed to attend a recent meeting of his parliamentary committee.

[Incidentally, Oleksandr Cherpitsky's brother, Oleh, was until recently a BYuT deputy but switched loyalties and is now part of the PoR-led ruling parliamentary coalition. Last year he was in the headlines for seriously assaulting a journalist.]

Oleksandr Cherpitsky was appointed deputy Minister of Transport in February this year by the-then PM Yulia Tymoshenko to gain loyalty and support of his sister-in-law i.e. brother Oleh's wife, who was a judge in the Higher Administrative Court. She may have been useful to Tymoshenko when Yulka T. was challenging the result of the presidential elections, having lost to Yanukovych, earlier this year. In the event, the lady judge went 'AWOL' and was of no help.

In April this year, the authorative 'Dzerkaly Tyzhnya', citing official police records, published an article revealing Oleksandr and Oleh Cherpitsky's sinister past.

In 1991 Oleksandr, nickname 'Chepchyk', was a member of a criminal gang 'Kuponshchyky' - and was sought by the police for extortion and other crimes. Two years later he joined the 'Akademiky' gang, and sought refuge in the Czech republic or Slovakia. In 1997 he was placed on an Interpol wanted list and was detained in 1999. In 2001, as member of the 'Vosmynohy' gang, he was linked in police reports to violent robberies.

Many other websites provide lengthy rap sheets for this despicable pair of villains.

Anyhow, perhaps in recognition of his expertise in these fields, newly-elected president Yanukovych quickly appointed brother Oleksandr as Deputy Minister of Defence, and also director of the State Department responsible for "disposal" of surplus land and other military assets. These amount to thousands of vehicles, buildings, many thousands of hectares of land, and most alarmingly, hundreds of tons of weaponry etc. etc.

How may more 'Chepchyks' are are walking through the corridors of power in Ukraine right now, I wonder?

P.s. On the above-mentioned Shuster programme Cherpitsky confronted Hrytsenko and denied that he was ever in jail, or ever associated with such a criminal past. The looks on the faces of most of the guests in the studio suggested otherwise..

Ukrainian soldiers disgrace themselves again..

The current 'Dzerkalo Tyzhnya' weekly reports that the Ukrainian peace-keepers who are part of the NATO-led KFOR troops in Kosovo, have been involved in a gigantic fuel scam.

[See the damning documents, in English, here]

In four months in 2009, the 181-strong Ukrainian contingent, equipped with 47 vehicles, used 1,600,000 litres of fuel - over 34,000 litres per vehicle. They claimed each vehicle was driven over 400km every day i.e. about the same distance as the perimeter of Kosovo itself, and their generators were producing almost as much power as all of the generators at HQ KFOR.

KFOR comprises just under 10,000 troops in total.

Ukrainian soldiers also attempted to smuggle 1.5 tons of cigarettes from FYROM. These scams made millions of euros - it is reasonable to assume that it went all of the way to the top of the chain of command.

However, 'Zerkalo Tyzhnya' questions whether Ukraine's Prosecutor General wants to get involved...no surprise there then..

Spetznaz in parliament?

On Friday, Verkhovna Rada Speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn told journalists that the VR should approve a resolution allowing State Security Service [SBU] and the State Defence Administration [UDO] forces to be employed to maintain order during parliamentary plenary sessions, in direct contravention of the consitutionally approved immunity provided to VR deputies.

Serhiy Leshchenko, comments on this matter in his blog today.

Almost exactly a year ago, when PoR were in opposition and were blocking the VR tribune, speaker Lytvyn declared: " I must tell you that a deputy is immune and you understand very well that no-one is going to introduce bailiffs, spetznaz, or other forces [into parliament]..."

In 2008 the-then PoR opposition and their Communist allies paralyzed the working of parliament for nearly two months. In recent times BYuT have frequently blocked parliament too, but not as many times as PoR.

BYuT deputy Oleh Lyashko doesn't seem to be too worried by Lytvyn's threat. He claims: "It's like trying to frighten a hedgehog with a naked a**hole." Just bravado?

People are not idiots

Valeriy Portnikov, a well-known independent journalist who frequently appears on Ukrainian television, in an article in Glavred entitled, "Why should we be idiots?", concludes:

"When President Viktor Yanukovych says that he is not aware of any problems with freedom of speech in the country, he takes us for idiots.

When the head of the Presidential Administration [Levochkin] declares he does not understand that there is a problem of conflict of interest when a [prominent] businessman also heads the [Ukrainian Security Service] SBU, and adds that Constitutional rights protect this businessman - he takes us for idiots.

When Levochkin claims that the decline in the Party of Regions' ratings is merely an example of poor work by sociologists, he takes us for idiots. When deputies from the ruling party call journalists who talk of internal squabbles between them slanderers, they take us for idiots.

Why should we be idiots? To make it easier for them to live? So that they can accumulate even more assets, factories, and wealth? A strange explanation for our total stupor. A stupor which they will not await to see in Ukraine."

Pensions in the Bermuda Triangle

"Ukraine has agreed to make tough changes to its pensions system as part of a deal to qualify for loans worth $15.15bn from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Under the terms of the deal, Ukraine will introduce a raft of measures to keep people in the workforce for longer, including increasing the retirement age. In the longer term the IMF will work with the Ukranian government to draw up detailed plans for reform." [ Source ]

And yet Ukraine has the second-shortest life expectancy in Europe. One demographer calls Ukraine "a Bermuda triangle for males aged between 40 and 60."

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"Donbass" newspaper has been running stories almost daily about rapid increases in the price of foodstuffs and services

Buckwheat, a staple product in the country, has increased in price by up to 70% in a year. Further increases of 10% or more are predicted this month. Officially, speculators are to blame.

[Incidentally, if every country has its own characteristic smell, then IMO Ukraine's is the smell of buckwheat...LEvko]

Over the past two months the price of cheese and other dairy products has risen by 15-20%

Rises of over 8% are predicted in price of bread and pasta, and sunflower oil is set to go up significantly too. Yesterday's 'Donbass' publishes comparison tables showing increases in bread prices in the region.

And bus ticket prices in Donbass are being increased by about 20%

Yesterday's 'Segodnya' reports: "Bread bagettes, meat and butter may become 'elite' products" as these products are removed from lists of items whose prices are regulated by the government.

And there's trouble brewing in Mariupol following Rinat Akhmetov's Metinvest acquision of 75% of Mariupolskiy Metallurgicheskiy kombinat imeni Ilicha (MMK Ilicha)

The current CEO of MMK Ilicha, Voldymyr Boyko, retains 23% of the shares whilst a measly 2% is left for the other shareholders, many of whom are employees and members of the Independent Trade Union at the huge plant. Last Thursday a protest was to be staged directed against Boyko, but on Tuesday four top union activists were detained on, it seems trumped up charges, and their apartments and union offices raided.

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Hindering law enforcement agencies from carrying out their duties is a criminal offence in most countries yet Yulia Tymoshenko publicly declared she is protecting former ministers and other highly-placed officials currently on police wanted lists from what she calls political persecution.

With 50% gas price increases and big increases in community charges looming within weeks, it could be a winter of discontent..

p.s. Watching last Friday's 'Shuster Live', the constant barracking by supporters of the ruling coalition of former PM Yulia Tymoshenko, and their persistent dismissal of complaints from journalists present in the studio about challenges to free speech in the media, it's pretty clear in which direction democracy is headed in Ukraine, particularly as president Yanukovych recently boasted that Ukraine is like a big automobile...and that today there is only one driver at the wheel.. .

Shuster, at times, was not able to control the studio guests. At one point, at the end of his tether, he seems to lose it: "Gentlemen, you're ruining the country! I've worked with lots of politicians, but I have never seen such a thing [spectacle]! He shouts at one PoR deputy: "You need treatment.."

Tymoshenko may be needing that bag she claims she has already packed for prison if this carries on..