Political rigamarole (+ rap)

If the Ukrainians were hoping for national solidarity after the Orange Revolution, then they must be sorely disappointed by the haphazard conglomeration of political "blocs" now struggling for control.

The Ukrainian parliament is currently stuck in a deadlock over starting the NATO membership process (specifically, whether a referendum should be held first) and has consequently been in recess for over a month. In such a situation, the President does have the right to dismiss the parliament and hold new elections, but Yushchenko would be loathe to do so considering the increasing influence of his political rivals.

Primary among these is the remarkably attractive, sometime oil oligarch Yulia Tymoshenko, who is now Prime Minister and the head of a three-party coalition in the parliament which bears her name. Just last year Tymoshenko and Yushchenko agreed to join forces to form a governing majority against the pro-Russia Party of Regions. They had, after all, both been crucial players in the Orange Revolution. The agreement has proved quite tenuous, however, and at times the two figures initiate contradictory legislation and offer opposing viewpoints on major political issues (most recently, they sparred over the role of intermediary companies in Russia-Ukraine oil relations).

The left-populist Party of Regions, although it certainly endured a setback after the revolution, has recovered well. Naturally, this is the party of choice in the southeastern region of the country, where numerous ethnic Russians make a living near the Dunbas mines. They had the best performance of all the parties and blocs in the 2006 election, with some 32% of the vote, and and the same occurred in 2007, when they received 34%.

Here's a multi-colored representation of the current Ukrainian parliament (for my far-sighted readership: click on it and you'll actually be able to read it):


Recently Yushchenko's Chief of Staff, Baloha, resigned his membership in the President's Our Ukraine bloc. The party's popularity has dropped off dramatically since coming to power, amid scandal and serious questions about whether numerous mini-parties that constitute the bloc can actually unite. It is speculated that Baloha will attempt the formation of a new centrist party, one that could actually secure Yushchenko's re-election in 2010. Although few politicians so quickly abandon the organizations they themselves founded, it is probably a wise move. According to one survey, a mere 10% of the Ukrainian electorate would be willing to vote for the Our Ukraine bloc if an election were suddenly to be held (compare that with 30% for the Tymoshenko bloc and 23% for the Party of Regions).

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On an entirely unrelated and slightly more risqué note, here's a video of Seryoga, who is without a doubt the most successful rapper in the Russian-speaking world and a resident of the increasingly flashy Ukrainian capital, Kyiv (or "Kiev", for the uncultured). Coming from a very working-class Belorussian neighborhood, he has risen to become an award-winning artist and, more importantly, the composer of the most popular ring tone in Russia. This video is especially noteworthy for its trio of comely women, wearing fur hats and very little else. (And who could resist?)

The Epic Search for a Famous Ukrainian (or even a Half-Ukrainian)

If you wander through various lists of "Famous Ukrainians" gathered on the internet, a couple of facts will immediately become apparent.

1. You have never heard of any of these people.
2. Those people you have heard of (the brilliant Soviet-era composer Prokofiev...the witty, yet disturbed Gogol...the beautiful young actress Milla Jovovich...the former Prime Minister of Israel, Golda Meir) were born in Ukraine, but are not of Ukrainian descent and eventually emigrated elsewhere.

That said, there are a few Ukrainians (or, at least, semi-Ukrainians) that the average American may have encountered at some point in their life (a high standard, I am aware):

• If nothing else, Ukraine can lay claim to the world's tallest living man. Leonid Stadnyk is a whopping 2.59 meters tall and still growing. Here's some photo ops the Ukrainian president managed to snag with him. Speaking of which...
  
• Viktor Yushchenko, currently the President of Ukraine, became among the more famous Eastern European heads of state after his infamous poisoning, supposedly by the pro-Russia political opposition.
• The great Tchaikovsky was Ukrainian on his father's side.
• Ruslana, the winner of the 2004 Eurovision contest, has had a few hit songs popular across Europe. She was apparently also, briefly, a member of the Ukrainian parliament...
• For sports fans, it's worth noting that the third highest goalscorer in the history of the European football club is none other than Ukraine's Andriy Shevchenko, now playing for Chelsea.
  
• There are a number of famous actors whose parents or grandparents came from Ukraine, although they were not necessarily ethnically Ukrainian: Steven Spielberg, Dustin Hoffman, Jack Palance, Walter Matthau, Alex Trebek. Also of note: the Gershwin brothers.
  
• General Secretary of the Soviet Union Leonid Brezhnev was also born in the country, to a Russian father and a Ukrainian mother. Considering Brezhnev's infamously limited mental capacity, no country would probably care to claim him--although, in all fairness, he had some stellar eyebrows. (See above photograph for empirical evidence.)
  

A lot of numbers

Here, for rapid modern consumption, are the basic numerical facts about Ukraine:

The population stands at about 42.3 million people, with 78% of those claiming to be ethnically Ukrainian, 17% Russian (concentrated to the south and east), and the remainder coming primarily from neighboring countries. However, expect this number to decrease, as Ukrainians (like most Europeans) are not reproducing as fast as they're dying and there is not enough immigration to counteract this declining fertility rate.

Religion is a somewhat complicated subject, since there are several different sects of Ukrainian Orthodoxy, in addition to those people who consider themselves Orthodox but who refuse to jump on the specific affiliation bandwagon. There are also Jewish populations, protestant and Catholic groupings, and a sizable chunk of people who still haven't forsaken the spiritual simplicity of old-fashioned Soviet atheism.

Language is also a complex matter. Ukrainian is the official language, with about 67% claiming it as their first language. However, there are quite a few such people who nevertheless use Russian for everyday public affairs (and there are about 24% who openly claim it as their primary tongue). Another 9% of the population speak various other Eastern European languages.

The Ukrainian economy is chugging along at a (very relative) good pace. GDP growth was 7% for 2007 and this trend is expected to continue--if the government doesn't backtrack on its new laissez-faire economic policies. Some of this new financial strength is due to high demand for steel, Ukraine's main export. Other important exports include the typical Soviet-style mix of fuel and petroleum products, chemicals, machinery, and food (grain, sugar beets, etc.). Industry is continuing to expand at about 6%.

None of this is to say that Ukraine is a just a bed of roses, risqué nightclubs, and borscht. Over a third of the population is living in poverty. And although the government puts unemployment at an impressive 2.5%, the Intl. Labor Organization would pin it at a much more realistic 7%. GDP per capita is only about $6,900 (compare the UK at $35,300 ; Russia at $14,600; and Romania at $11,100). Furthermore, there's a negative trade balance to be dealt with and many Western countries worry about Ukraine's economic reliance on its moody primary partner: Russia.

For the curious among you, the currency of Ukraine is the hryvnia. Who knew. But don't belittle the hryvnia, just because you've neither heard of it nor would even attempt to pronounce it. At 5 hryvnia to the dollar, it's doing much better than Russia's ruble, which, on a good day, can be traded for about 4 cents.

Gazprom déjà vu

Last week the state-controlled behemoth of Russian oil, Gazprom, once again decided to test its muscle against neighboring Ukraine, threatening to cut off their supplies if Ukraine could not pay its $1.5 billion debt to the company.

Currently one quarter of Ukraine's oil is purchased from Russia, a jump from previous years, when they were more reliant on Central Asian supplies (inclement weather in that region has led to lower production). This is bad for Ukraine, given the relative expensiveness of Russian oil. In addition, as the country learned in 2006, the Russian government and its business offshoots can make for temperamental business associates. The rift between Russia and its former Soviet enclave has only widened with the appearance of a new pro-Western Ukrainian politics (including recent admittance to the WTO and a bid to join NATO). This continual crumbling of the old Eastern Bloc in the face of Western-style democracy and capitalism may tempt Russia to utilize what limited power it still has over Ukraine in terms of oil and military might.


The shut down of oil supplies, which had originally been scheduled for Monday morning, was thankfully averted by a political tête-à-tête between Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko and the increasingly curmudgeonly Vladimir Putin. Both sides have agreed on a plan for the repayment of the debt as well as the formation of a new, more direct process for organizing the purchase of oil from Russia. Said Yushchenko, "We have to get rid of intermediaries that could have a negative impact on our relations." It remains to be seen, however, whether the removal of middlemen can ease conflict over oil in Eastern Europe, or if something deeper lies at the root of all this.

Eurovision

As politically correct as the judges might want Eurovision to be, it's sometimes impossible to divorce even pop music from deeper meaning. "Razom nas bahato" by Greenjolly, the Ukrainian entry for 2005, was the unofficial anthem of the Orange Revolution. The song is sung primarily in Ukrainian and the "international" language of English, but the main chorus is translated into a few different languages (all of them Western European) and perhaps provides evidence for popular support of further integration into the West, an ideology that has been expounded by Ukrainian politicians since the "revolution", but which many Russians staunchly oppose in favor of continued Eastern unity.



Ukraine's entry to Eurovision last year also brewed up some political controversy. Verka Serduchka, the eccentric middle-aged female stage persona of comedian Andriy Danylko, originally submitted his song under the title of "Danzing". However, when the Eurovision judges heard the words "Russia, goodbye!" in the lyrics, he explained that he was actually singing "Lasha Tumbai" and so added those words to the title. According to Danylko, "Lasha Tumbai" is supposed to mean "milkshake" in the Mongolian language. (Actual Mongolians assert that it doesn't mean anything at all.) Regardless of semantics, it's difficult not to notice that along with the glitzy silver dress he wears (a provocative 69 written on the back), he is also sporting some strange headgear in the shape of a famous Soviet symbol, the Red Star. Clearly, Danylko's performance, with its gender bending, overt sexuality, and profane use of communist symbolism, demonstrates just how far Ukraine has moved towards a liberalized Western culture from the strictly-controlled society of their neighbor to the east.

A Geography of Ukraine...and a minor detail

Ukraine is a former Soviet republic, now a member of the Commonwealth of Independent States, located to the north of the Black Sea. It touches borders with a number of other Eastern European nations: Belarus, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Moldova, as well as with the massive Russian Federation to the east. After "European Russia", Ukraine is accounted the second largest country in all of Europe.

There are a few important geographical features worth mentioning. First, the Carpathian Mountain range, which stretches up into the Western region of Ukraine and forms the highest point in the country at the peak of Hoverla (2061 meters). There are also some considerable elevations on the Crimean, the southernmost area of land that juts into the Black Sea. However, most of Ukraine's terrain is taken up by the Eurasian Steppe, a vast treeless plain covered with short grass. There are also a number of rivers tracing their way through the country--the most notable being the Dniepr, which is 2,290 km long and cuts through the entire north-south length of the country.

On a side note, when referring to the country, "Ukraine" is preferred over the still somewhat common form "The Ukraine". First, there is no grammatical precedent for it in English (we would never say "the Germany" or "the Kenya"), and it seems even more silly in light of the fact that the Ukrainian language lacks all articles. For a fuller discussion of this minute matter, see Andrew Gregorovich's essay.