Roundtable:
Perspectives on Media and Communications
in Ukraine

Monday, April 27, 1:00-5:00pm
Room 108, North Building,
Munk Centre for International Studies (1 Devonshire Place)
University of Toronto
Toronto, ON

Ottawa - On March 30, 2009 Liberal MP Borys Wrzesnewskyj (Etobicoke Centre) rose in the House of Commons in a follow up to his question of March 4, 2009 to Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minster Jason Kenney about Conservative cuts to staffing at the Canadian Embassy in Kyiv.

In a March 5, 2009 press release entitled "Wrzesnewskyj misleads Ukrainian-Canadians about immigration from Ukraine" and under the heading "The facts," the Minister stated:

"Since mid-2006, there have been no reductions in staffing in the visa section of the Canadian Embassy in Ukraine."

Posted By Peter Worthington

[...]

Germany, which refuses to allow its own citizens to be extradited for Nazi war crimes in other countries, is extraditing Demjanjuk from the U.S. to face charges of "accessory to murder"of 29,000 Jews at Sobibor death camp in the Second World War.

Born in Ukraine, Demjanjuk, now 89 and in frail health, came to the U.S. around 1952. He settled in Ohio where he raised his family while working as a mechanic at Cleveland's Ford auto plant.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. court on Friday blocked the deportation of accused Nazi death camp guard John Demjanjuk, two days before he was to have been sent to Germany to face charges in the deaths of 29,000 Jews.

"It appears there will be no deportation Sunday.

MOSCOW -- The leader of a prominent Russian human rights group was beaten by a group of men outside his Moscow home late on Tuesday night, in an attack that the police and colleagues say was very likely linked to his professional activities.

Paul Goble

Vienna - Vladimir Putin because of his hatred for Ukraine, Estonia, and Georgia has managed to leave Russia without any allies in the former Soviet space, a remarkable performance and one that means Moscow now must try to intimidate these countries to get its way or yield to others in ways many Russians would fine offensive.

This is a remarkable performance, Vladimir Nadein points out in today's "Yezhednevny zhurnal," one that is almost unprecedented. "Even Hitler," even when it was obvious that he was losing the war "retained allies up to the end of 1944.

Jim Kouri, From Himalayan villages to Eastern European cities, people - especially women and girls - are attracted by the prospect of a well-paid job as a domestic servant, waitress or factory worker. Human traffickers recruit victims through fake advertisements, mail-order bride catalogues and casual acquaintances. Upon arrival at their destination, victims are placed in conditions controlled by traffickers while they are exploited to earn illicit revenues. Many are physically confined, their travel or identity documents are taken away and they or their families are threatened if they do not cooperate.

On 200th anniversary of literary giant Nikolai Gogol's birth, both countries lay claim to writer.

First, it was politics, then it was gas. Now the protracted antagonism between Russia and Ukraine is taking on a literary tinge, as the bickering neighbours vie for the legacy of Nikolai Gogol on the 200th anniversary of his birth.

INTERNET ENCYCLOPEDIA OF UKRAINE FEATURES
April 2009

Populist ideals, which began to crystallize in Russia and Ukraine following the Crimean War during the reign of the Russian tsar Alexander II, had a profound impact on Ukrainian literature in the second half of the 19th century. The main tenets of Ukrainian populism (narodnytstvo) were federalism, the emancipation of the peasantry, and the recognition of the cultural distinctiveness of the Ukrainian people. Study of the Cossacks induced romantic visions of rebellions against landlords and national oppressors and of the existence of a Cossack republic based on equality and brotherhood.

The Kule Centre for Ukrainian and Canadian Folklore and International House at the University of Alberta sponsored their second workshop for students from around the world on Wednesday, March 18. The workshop was arranged by Ukrainian Folklore Program graduate student and International House resident Huseyin Oylupinar.

By Roman Olearchyk in Kyiv

Ukraine's president Viktor Yushchenko yesterday called for urgent economic and political reforms in response to a huge drop in the country's output, and launched a bitter attack on the prime minister, his fierce rival, over her handling of the crisis.

In a state of the nation address to parliament, Mr Yushchenko claimed Ukraine's gross domestic product had plunged by an annual 25-30 per cent in January and February.

The Ukrainian - EU agreement on renovating the main Ukrainian gas trunk pipeline signed in Brussels on March 23 was greeted with a virulent reaction from Moscow. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who runs his countries gas sector with an iron fist, threatened to "review" existing gas supply contracts and prices with EU states and Ukraine (UNIAN press agency March 24) as well as relations with the EU and Ukraine. The ostensible reason for Putin's reaction was that Russia was not included in the deal.