[Ohio UZO News] Ukraine: Note; NYT; KP; State Dept; CT

[Deychak, Orest]

Note:  In yesterday's mailing, which included excerpts pertaining to
Ukraine from the October 28, 2009 Helsinki Commission hearing
(www.csce.gov), the Rep. Smith who is cited is Rep. Christopher Smith
(R-NJ), the Commission's Ranking House Member and its former Chairman.
I clarify this as there are 4 US representatives with that surname.     

 

The New York Times

www.nytimes.com

 

SIMFEROPOL JOURNAL

Crimean Mosque Project Stirs Debate and Trauma 

By CLIFFORD J. LEVY 

30 October 2009

Late Edition - Final

Page 6

 

SIMFEROPOL, Ukraine -- Chunks of limestone, by the tens of thousands,
are strewn in piles on a waterside lot here where one of Europe's
largest mosques is scheduled to rise. But the only soul around is a
wizened caretaker in a tent, watching over what seems like another
grandiose project gone bust with the financial crisis.

The trouble with the project, though, has nothing to do with money.

It is hinted at in the pieces of limestone themselves, many of which
have been brought to the lot in protest and etched with the names of
people who once lived here on the Crimean Peninsula, were deported by
Stalin and never returned.

The mosque was supposed to signify the revival of those expelled, the
Crimean Tatars, a Turkic ethnic group that suffered as wretched a fate
as any under Communism. But with work held up by local authorities, the
plan has instead stirred up a dispute involving politics, communal
grievances, international tensions and historic traumas.

And so for the Crimean Tatars, the lot has become a site not for
construction but for pilgrimages -- and another reminder that here, as
elsewhere across the former Soviet Union, the sins of the past will not
be easily addressed.

''From each Muslim, one stone,'' Refat Chubarov, a Tatar leader, said
the other day as he offered an impromptu tour of the deserted lot.

Mr. Chubarov explained that for months, Tatars have been asked to
deposit pieces of limestone on the lot, each costing less than a dollar,
to demonstrate their displeasure. Thousands have done so, with many
creating mini-memorials by embellishing the limestone with the names of
long-dead relatives. The stones are generally 15 or 20 inches square and
7 inches deep.

The mosque, which is to have space for a few thousand worshipers, was
approved in 2004 by local officials. They agreed on a prime location at
22 Yaltinskaya Street in Simferopol, the capital of Crimea, a peninsula
in the Black Sea that is one of the most celebrated regions of the
former Soviet Union.

The mosque project was to cost more than $10 million, most of which was
to be paid by Turkish and other foreign donors, Mr. Chubarov said.

But in 2008, the Simferopol city council refused to grant final approval
for the project, voicing concerns about its environmental impact because
the site is near a reservoir. Officials said that traffic would
overwhelm neighborhood streets and that noise from the mosque would
bother patients at a nearby cancer hospital.

The city council, which is controlled by ethnic Russians, said its
stance was not influenced by ethnic or religious hostility. It suggested
other locations for the mosque.

''The mosque will be built, but only after taking into consideration the
views of the public,'' said Simferopol's mayor, Gennady Babenko.

But Tatar leaders said they did not believe that the city would follow
through on other sites. They said they doubted that the typical
not-in-my-backyard complaints were genuine, asserting that local
politicians simply did not want a prominent mosque in Simferopol.

''Everyone realizes that their opposition doesn't make sense, because
they had already given us permission,'' Mr. Chubarov said. ''Behind the
scenes, they are saying: 'Crimea is Russian Orthodox land. If they want
to build a mosque, they should build it where no one can see it.' ''

The Tatars, who have inhabited Crimea for centuries, were deported in
May 1944 by Stalin, who accused them of collaborating with the Nazis
(some did, but most did not). The entire Tatar population, more than
200,000 people, was transported in brutal conditions thousands of miles
away to Uzbekistan and other locations. Many died along the way or soon
after arriving.

The Soviets confiscated their homes, destroying their mosques or
treating them like warehouses. One was converted into a Museum of
Atheism.

It was not until perestroika in the late 1980s that most of the Tatars
were allowed back, a migration that continued after Ukraine became
independent with the Soviet collapse in 1991. More than 250,000 Tatars
now live in Crimea, about 13 percent of its population of 2 million
people.

The Tatars' return has repeatedly touched off legal clashes over
restitution of land and property, much of which is now owned by ethnic
Russians. Some have turned violent.

The situation is complicated by the political status of Crimea, which
would generally prefer to secede from Ukraine and rejoin Russia. Crimea
was transferred by Nikita S. Khrushchev, then the Soviet leader, to
Ukraine in 1954, a move then thought to be a formality, since it
remained in the Soviet Union and was populated mostly by ethnic
Russians.

Tatars have better ties with the Ukrainian government, and are often
seen by ethnic Russian nationalists in Crimea as Kiev's proxies. The
three sides jockey for power on the peninsula, and the mosque has been
one focal point.

Tatar leaders maintain that the mosque is being blocked in part to stoke
anti-Muslim and anti-Ukrainian sentiment, especially in advance of
presidential elections in Ukraine, scheduled for January.

''There are many, many political forces that want the strains to
remain,'' said Mustafa Dzhemilyov, chairman of the Tatar legislative
council. ''I am referring to the Russian-speaking and Russian separatist
organizations, which are supported by and fed by the government of
Russia.''

Ethnic Russians in Crimea noted that Ukraine's president, Viktor A.
Yushchenko, has supported the mosque, accusing him of meddling in local
affairs.

In the neighborhood around the project site, residents said the local
government had the right to insist that the mosque be erected elsewhere
-- or not at all.

''Let's remember that this is not Tatar land here, that the Russian
people have always lived here,'' said Larisa Tsybulskaya, 45, a
beautician.

''My father built that house,'' she said, gesturing to a nearby cluster
of homes. ''They are squatting on our land. Why do they have to cut all
this land off and give it to one nationality for a mosque? It's just
shameful.''

But Mr. Chubarov, who is 52 and was born in exile in Uzbekistan, said
Tatars would not relent.

He said the conflict had so united his community that more pieces of
limestone had been brought to the lot than were needed for the mosque.

And so the extra material is to be used for homes for Tatars, in an
effort to restore what was lost in Crimea 65 years ago.


Kyiv Post


Ukraine shuts schools, halts campaigning over H1N1


October 30, 2009

Ukraine closed schools and banned public meetings including election
rallies and restricted travel on Friday for a three-week period after
confirming its first death from H1N1 flu. 

Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko announced the measures, saying the virus
had reached epidemic levels in three parts of western Ukraine, where
there has been an outbreak of respiratory illness since mid-October.

The epidemic coincides with the start of campaigning for a presidential
election on Jan. 17. Tymoshenko, herself a front-runner, said the
emergency would affect campaign rallies. 

For full article:  http://www.kyivpost.com/news/nation/detail/51542/

US Department of State

United States and Ukraine Announce Bilateral Energy Security Working
Group 

Office of the Spokesman

Washington, DC

October 28, 2009

 

________________________________

The government of the United States and the government of Ukraine warmly
welcome the creation of a Bilateral Energy Security Working Group
(BESWG) under the auspices of the Strategic Partnership Commission. The
BESWG is co-chaired by Ambassador Richard L. Morningstar, Special Envoy
for Eurasian Energy, U.S. Department of State; and Sergiy Pavlusha,
Deputy Minister, Ministry of Fuel and Energy, Ukraine. On the U.S. side,
participants included representatives from the departments of Energy,
Commerce and Labor; the National Security Council; and the Agency for
International Development. On the Ukrainian side, participants included
representatives from the Secretariat of the President, Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, Energoatom, and the Embassy of Ukraine in Washington.

At the inaugural session of the BESWG on October 28, 2009, the two sides
discussed the importance of working together to strengthen energy
security for Ukraine and Europe. They evaluated results of the
implementation of projects in Ukraine aimed at enhancing Ukraine's
energy security. In particular, the meeting focused on Ukraine's energy
sector reform initiatives, ongoing U.S. technical assistance to Ukraine
in municipal heating reform and other sectors, and the potential for
enhanced U.S.-Ukraine cooperation in energy efficiency and other new
areas. The two sides also discussed promoting the participation of the
U.S. and Ukrainian private sectors in energy development and the
importance of successfully implementing cooperative projects in nuclear
power.

 

And on the lighter side:

Chicago Tribune

http://www.chicagotribune.com/

News

Bra helps you and a bosom buddy breathe 

Erika Slife 

29 October 2009

Chicagoland Final

3

To you, that cute pink bra with black lace trim might conjure up
thoughts of sexy lingerie. To Dr. Elena Bodnar, it represents a possible
lifesaver.

Behold the bra-mask -- a brassiere that in an emergency can be turned
into a pair of protective face masks.

Bodnar's invention won the Ig Nobel Prize, given by Annals of Improbable
Research magazine for achievements that "first make people laugh and
then make them think."

"The brilliance of my idea is that it's very simple," said Bodnar, of
Chicago, who is director of the nonprofit Trauma Risk Management
Research Institute.

To use the bra-mask, the wearer unsnaps the brassiere from under her
shirt, which breaks it in two. Because each cup has hooks on its side,
the strap is wrapped around the head and hooked to the cup, which goes
over the mouth. Bodnar said an experienced user can don the mask in mere
seconds.

The bra-mask could be used during such disasters as fires, terrorist
attacks, dust storms or a swine flu outbreak, Bodnar said. Indeed, she
first thought up the idea while treating victims of the 1986 Chernobyl
nuclear disaster as a medical university graduate in her native Ukraine.

Bodnar is now pursuing commercialization of her bra-mask. She hopes all
women will eventually have one.

But what about the men?

As Bodnar noted in her Oct.1 acceptance speech at Harvard University,
"Isn't it wonderful that women have two breasts, not just one? We can
save not only our own lives, but also a man of our choice next to us."

 

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