Ellen Barry

MOSCOW -- Russian border guards on Saturday began taking up long-term positions along the boundaries of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, an arrangement that will probably mean sustained tension in the two breakaway Georgian territories.

[...]

The territories were at the heart of a war last August between Russia and Georgia; the conflict raised tensions between Moscow and the West to a level not seen since the end of the cold war. Heavy Russian armor poured into both territories after Georgia attacked Tskhinvali, the capital of South Ossetia.

By Yuri Zarakhovich

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For Russia, May 9 remains the Victory Day â€" this country's only meaningful national holiday, its most sacred and bitter anniversary and the one most cynically abused by the authorities in pursuit of their own aims.

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And it is the most bitter because Soviet policies had strengthened Hitler in the first place, allowing him to grab lands that were liberated only after four years of desperate combat, which cost the lives of some 27 million Soviet citizens.

Judith Latham

Moldova's Constitutional Court has upheld the results of a vote recount that confirmed the victory of the ruling Communist Party in the nation's April 5th parliamentary elections. The recount was initiated by the Communist Party of President Vladimir Voronin.

[...]

The opposition refused to participate in the recount of the vote, insisting instead on checking the electoral lists, according to Moldovan political analyst Vlad Lupan, who has a radio show in the capital city, Chisinau.

Discussions over the many conflicts between Ukraine and Russia have focused on the more well known: the status of the Russian language, unpaid energy bills and gas pipelines, withdrawal of the Black Sea Fleet, Russia's invasion of Georgia, support for Crimean separatism, and future NATO membership. What is less widely known is the undeclared Ukrainian-Russian cultural war that is as bitter as any other aspect of the poor state of the bilateral relationship between Ukraine and Russia.

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."

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.

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.

Overview of political events of the week

March 23

President Viktor Yushchenko, Premier Yulia Tymoshenko, Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs Volodymyr Khandohiy and other high-ranking officials arrived in Brussels to participate in the Ukraine-EU International Joint Conference to discuss Ukraine's potential in the energy sector.

POPULIST WRITERS IN RUSSIAN-RULED UKRAINE (LATE 19TH AND EARLY 20TH CENTURY) (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.

By Roman Olearchyk

Yulia Tymoshenko, the Ukrainian prime minister, said her government had unilaterally adopted initiatives needed to unlock an International Monetary Fund loan for her recession-battered country after MPs failed to adopt conditions.

The development comes after months of tough talks with IMF officials and amid heightened concerns that Ukraine may plunge deeper into financial disarray without IMF support. Kiev's feuding lawmakers have, in recent months, failed to adopt legislation needed to unfreeze a $16.4bn IMF standby loan granted last autumn.

Taras Kuzio

Ukraine's gas pipeline deal with the EU on March 23rd led to an avalanche of Russian outrage that had less to do with the agreement, but exposed the Kremlin's use of Russian national identity.

Russia apparently felt 'betrayed' by Europe and Ukraine. Russian state-controlled media attacked its exclusion from the negotiations, maintaining that without Russia the modernization of the pipelines would not be viable, cast doubt on the viability of the plans and vilified the 5 to 7 billion promised by the EU as far too little. On March 23 Rossiya TV said the EU had forgotten that the pipelines are "mere junk without gas." Far more was involved than a show of anger over Moscow's exclusion from the deal.