The Ukrainian Congress Committee of America (UCCA) welcomes the recent White House announcement of Vice President Joe Biden's upcoming trip to Ukraine at the end of July 2009. His discussions in Ukraine would prove fruitful for enhancing the bilateral dialogue between Ukraine and the United States.

On 25 - 27 November 2009 the International Contest on Ukrainian Studies for Students and Young Scientists will be held by Ukrainian Studies Research Institute and Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine.

YURIY FEDKOVYCH CHERNIVTSI NATIONAL UNIVERSITY 27-29 NOVEMBER 2009 The Ramon Hnatyshyn Canadian Studies Centre at Yuriy Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University in cooperation with the Embassy of Canada in Ukraine is pleased to announce a conference First Bi-annual Conference on Canadian Studies, to be held from 27 to 29 November 2009 at Chernivtsi National University ( 2 Kotsiubynskyj Str., Chernivtsi, Ukraine).

Marco Levytsky The unfortunate comments Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff made about Ukrainians in his 1993 book, Blood and Belonging, are a recurring nightmare that never goes away. Most recently, Manitoba's senior cabinet minister, Vic Toews, sent flyers out to his constituents in which he reprinted a couple of excerpts from that book, which included the comments: "Ukrainian independence conjures up images of embroidered peasant shirts, the nasal whine of ethnic instruments, phoney Cossacks in cloaks and boots, nasty anti-Semites;" and, "Somewhere inside, I'm also what Ukrainians call a Great Russian, and there is a trace of old Russian disdain for these 'little Russians.'"

EDMONTON -- Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff says comments he wrote about Ukrainians 15 years ago have been misinterpreted by the federal Conservatives. He told reporters after a town hall meeting in Edmonton on Tuesday night that some of the terminology he used was derogatory, but said it was done in an "ironic" manner to describe some of the prejudices about Ukrainian people.

Professor Harry Reicher is wrong about John Demjanjuk and wrong about the U.S. Justice Department's Office of Special Investigations (which he mistakenly calls the Office of Special Prosecutions). ["Demjanjuk deportation: a milestone," NLJ, June 8 http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1202431360012.]

One of the great difficulties of the Mikhail Lennikov case is the shortage of detailed information and direct evidence of exactly what he did - or didn't do - for the KGB for five years. Lennikov, of course, is the failed refugee applicant now seeking sanctuary in an East Vancouver church in defiance of a deportation order over his past employment by the KGB, the notorious spy agency and secret police of the former Soviet Union.

The Canadian Press The Canadian Press title given to Mr.Odynsky in this article is incorrect. Being Ukrainian, Wasyl Odynsky, could not have been "a former SS guard" - only Germans could belong to the SS. OTTAWA -- The Federal Court of Canada has rejected a Jewish group's attempt to revoke the citizenship of a former Nazi guard, saying the decision to allow the man to stay in Canada was reasonable and in keeping with the Charter of Rights.

A Jewish-Canadian author is in a battle of words with the Canadian Jewish Congress after alleging the organization props up neo-nazi groups to get "hate crime" legislation passed and expand the role of the country's Human Rights Commission. Neo-conservative author Ezra Levant claims in his latest book, Shakedown, that the Canadian Jewish Congress hired ex-cop John Garrity to work for the Canadian Nazi Party in the 1960's. In 1965 and 1966, Garrity was put in charge of membership for the group and organized the dozen or so "rag-tag band of losers" into an outfit that garned a lot of press coverage.

Paranoid, mischievous and heading in the wrong direction, Russia is an awkward prospect for Barack Obama Over the past ten years, under Vladimir Putin's leadership, Russia has become more nationalistic, corrupt and corporatist. Its economy, although much bigger than a decade ago, is even more dependent on oil and gas, an industry now controlled by a small group of kleptocratic courtiers and former spies. The decision by Ikea, a well-known Swedish furniture supplier once bullish about Russia, to suspend investment because of graft is an indictment of the dire commercial climate (see article). Its non-energy exports are smaller than Sweden's.

Zbigniew Brzezinski President Barack Obama should have three central goals in mind when he meets Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin next week: first, to advance US-Russian co-operation in areas where our interests coincide; second, to emphasise the mutual benefits in handling disagreements between the two countries within internationally respected "rules of the game"; and third, to help shape a geopolitical context in which Russia becomes increasingly conscious of its own interest in eventually becoming a genuinely post-imperial partner of the Euro-Atlantic community.

Interviewee: Stephen Sestanovich, George F. Kennan Senior Fellow for Russian and Eurasian Studies, Council on Foreign Relations Interviewer: Bernard Gwertzman, Consulting Editor, CFR.org President Barack Obama's trip to Moscow from July 6-8 takes place at a time when both sides have said they want to improve relations. But CFR's top Russia expert, Stephen Sestanovich, says there are indications the summit could be marked by some hard bargaining on arms control issues, which are at the center of the talks.