UKRAINE'S POLL: 'THE REAL STORY'

New York City

Re The Nation's coverage of the elections in Ukraine and Stephen F. Cohen's "The Media's New Cold War" [Jan. 31]: While I share Cohen's concerns about the manipulation of the story by ideological pundits and their eagerness to turn the elections into a revival of cold war rivalry between Russia and America, I fear he has missed the real story--that of the self-assertion of a majority of the Ukrainian citizenry and their rejection of the corrupt, criminal state that has ruled them since independence. Especially important for progressives has been the role of Ukraine's students and youth in preventing an electoral outcome that few doubted was illegitimate and fraudulent; the students, led by the remarkably disciplined organization Pora, risked their lives and health over several weeks in tent cities in Kiev and elsewhere--this after heavy-handed intimidation from educational and police authorities. The persistence and rapid spread of the protest belies nearly everything that native and foreign observers have asserted about a passive and cynical Ukrainian population. Eventually, the Ukrainian Supreme Court asserted its own independence, declaring the November 21 runoff election invalid and demanding a second runoff.

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