EDITORIAL: Seven years after (08/23/98)

EDITORIAL

Seven years after

This year as we mark the anniversary of Ukraine's independence, we find ourselves asking: What can we say about independent Ukraine as it turns seven?

Certainly we can point to some of the positive developments for Ukraine in its seventh year of independence - they all are proof that Ukraine is making progress in being accepted as a member of the international community.

Ukraine's Foreign Affairs Minister, Hennadii Udovenko (who later resigned his ministerial post when he took his seat in the Verkhovna Rada), was elected president of the 52nd session of the United Nations General Assembly.

A Ukrainian cosmonaut, Col. Leonid Kadenyuk, went into space aboard the Columbia, in the process becoming not only the first Ukrainian to fly aboard a U.S. shuttle, but also the first Ukrainian to fly in space since Ukraine declared independence.

First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton visited Lviv; at that city's recently erected memorial to victims of Soviet repression, she delivered a major address in which she spoke out forcefully about empowering women and protecting their rights.

The U.S. State Department's annual report on human rights said Ukraine had continued to made progress in that sphere, and the chief rabbi of Ukraine, Yaakov Bleich, praised the Ukrainian government for its positive position on minorities.

Athletes from Ukraine made a good showing at the Winter Olympics in Nagano, and turned in an even better performance at the Goodwill Games, coming in eighth in the medals count.

Ukraine's relations with the European Union were upgraded via an agreement on partnership and cooperation.

A new Verkhovna Rada was elected and, finally, after two months of wrangling, voted in a chairman who promised, believe it or not, that he will work with - not against - the executive branch.

Perhaps the most significant reality is the one cited by Vice-President Al Gore before he left on his recent trip to Kyiv for a meeting of the Kuchma-Gore Commission: Ukraine's independence is no longer an issue; there is no going back to the Soviet Union. Today, it's Ukraine's economic and political vitality that is the central issue, he observed at a meeting with Ukrainian American community leaders.

Indeed. Ukraine, at age 7, faces myriad problems - tough problems for which there are no quick fixes. The economy is in need of serious corrective measures, corruption looms large and the Verkhovna Rada still has not done its job to provide a legislative basis for a better tomorrow. Journalists find themselves to be targets of those who do not like what they report, miners and teachers are not getting paid, senior citizens - the forgotten stratum of society - barely survive on their measly pensions, and parents wonder whether there will be enough money to provide for their kids.

The people of Ukraine, as we see from the comments of several passersby interviewed this week on the Khreschatyk in Kyiv, once had dreams of a better life in independent Ukraine but now are full of disillusionment, disgust and dismay. And what's most distressing is that their leaders do not seem to care.

Still, a glimmer of hope remains. Maybe, just maybe, the Parliament will come back from its summer recess and get down to brass tacks. Perhaps the national deputies will hear the voices of the people and realize that they, as the elected representatives of the people, must take the lead in securing the future of Ukraine and Ukrainians of all backgrounds.

To be sure, the promise of the independence proclaimed and affirmed in 1991 remains to be fulfilled. And yet, as we observe this seventh anniversary of the Parliament's declaration of Ukraine's independence, we must look back to see where Ukraine has been in order appreciate where it is today and where it is headed.

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