LETTERS TO THE EDITOR (01/25/04)

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Pulitzer campaign and "Durantyism"

Dear Editor:

The Pulitzer Committee during its November meeting decided not to revoke Walter Duranty's Pulitzer Prize for his cowardly and shameless reporting from Moscow to The New York Times about Stalin's disastrous political and economic policy, and for denying the genocidal man-made Famine, when between 7 million to 10 million men, women and children in rural Ukraine died of starvation in 1932-1933.

However, the Ukrainian American community's effort to revoke it was not for naught, and did not pass unnoticed. Many newspapers and weeklies carried to the American public the message about the Famine-holocaust in Ukraine and its denial by Duranty. Also because of recent publicity a new word is entering the vocabulary and dictionary in regard to Duranty's ill-gotten reporting: "Durantyism."

Max Boot a senior fellow of the Council on Foreign Relations, in his commentary in The Providence Journal on December 4, 2003, "Durantyism is alive and well - 'Progressives' love anti-U.S. tyrants" writes that Duranty's very name became the byword for "craven stooge."

He also writes that "You would think there would be a lesson here for the present day, but Durantyism - 'progressive' Westerns' habit of licking the boots of tyrants - has long outlived Duranty himself." Mr. Boot is referring for example to strongman Fidel Castro, who in spite of recent jailing of many dissidents received laudatory reports from some American journalists. He also writes about the ill treatment of President George W. Bush during his recent visit to London by war protesters, who were indifferent to the fact that dictator Saddam Hussein murdered more than 300,000 of his own people.

So here you have a definition of Durantyism in a nutshell: "Licking the boots of tyrants" for whatever reason.

Hopefully there is also a message to some Ukrainian journalists, (who for example in unison with their Russian counterparts were outraged when U.S. and NATO forces attacked the former Yugoslavia in order to get rid of the brutal dictator Slobodan Milosevic), to think for themselves and have independent judgement concerning Ukraine's internal and international affairs.

Gregory M. Burbelo
Westerly, R.I.

Tymoshenko's golden faucets

Dear Editor:

In his December 28, 2003, letter to the editor, Zenon Mazurkevich takes to task Adrian Karatnycky for using "spin" in his analysis of developments in Ukraine. I won't even begin to comment on that, because I know that Mr. Karatnycky will not lose even one of his millions of readers as a result of Mr. Mazurkevich's charges.

What did catch my attention was Mr. Mazurkevich's shoot-from-the-hip statement: "When you read about Yulia Tymoshenko's golden faucets you are reminded of Saddam's palaces with their golden faucets."

Something doesn't ring true here. I have read a lot about and by Yulia Tymoshenko, I have talked with her and I have never come across any mention of golden faucets in her residences. I have driven by the house she rents in a Kyiv suburb and, at least from the outside, it doesn't look like something with gold-plated plumbing. But even if Mr. Mazurkevich were to show me a clipping mentioning her golden faucets, I would be dubious. (What the newspapers don't write! Why, even the December 28, 2003, issue of The Weekly now will serve as some readers' source of information about Tymoshenko's alleged plumbing!) And yet, it's not her style. "Pani Yulia" is more partial to silver than to gold. Her jewelry, for example, is understated, and mostly silver, although she could easily afford something bold and shiny in 18-karat gold.

Personally, I wouldn't begrudge the quality of her faucets, because just three years ago she spent over a month in Kyiv's historic Lukianivsky prison, without provision for bail, and there, plumbing - I imagine - is closer to that in some of our urban "affordable housing" buildings. It's also worth noting, that two of Ms. Tymoshenko's closest political allies are Anatolii Matvienko and Levko Lukianenko. The first - former Komsomol chief of Ukraine, a fiery orator, and now head of the opposition Sobor party; the second - a political prisoner with a long pedigree, who more than 40 years ago was sentenced to death because he dared to challenge the monopoly of the Communist Party. Their views of her differ drastically from those of Mr. Mazurkevich.

And as for golden faucets: I would not dwell on them, whether they are in Saddam's, or the Kuwait Sheik's palace. We all know - and Mr. Mazurkevich certainly does - that the type of fixtures in one's home is more a function of the architect, than the owner. One could write an essay on the tyranny of architects when it comes to designing a building. They listen to your ideas and wishes, smirk, then open a catalogue and show you what you need and are going to get (and since they are pros in this sphere, they're usually right). I remember reading that after the first Gulf war it was our own U.S. Corps of Engineers that installed golden fixtures in the Kuwait palace. The Sheik himself was still hiding somewhere outside his city-state during the "remont."

R.L. Chomiak
Washington

Information sought about Kolomyia fund

Dear Editor:

In September I met with Yosip Matkovsky, the newly appointed headmaster of the Kolomyia Gymnasium. He asked if I could obtain information about The Fund to Support the Kolomyia Gymnasium. He told me it had been established in Philadelphia in 1972 by a group of 19 school alumni - 11 Americans and eight Canadians - from the class of 1922. But that is the extent of any information he had.

I know he would appreciate any help you or your readers might be able to provide in locating this fund.

Anyone with information should contact the Kolomyia Gymnasium at 19 Ivan Franko St., Kolomyia, Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast, 78200 Ukraine (e-mail gymnasium@km.if.ua), or me at P.O. Box 121, Putney, VT 05346-0621.

Anne Linden
Putney, Vt.

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