Quotable notes (10/03/04)

Quotable notes

"Do you know that, in accordance with the law, a man may not be promoted to the rank of a police sergeant if he has a criminal record? He may not become a sergeant, but he may become the president of Ukraine. Is this not an absurdity?"

- Oleksander Zinchenko, manager of the presidential election campaign of Viktor Yushchenko, to voters in Lviv, in an apparent reference to Mr. Yushchenko's main rival, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, who was twice sentenced for criminal offenses (the sentences were later annulled), as quoted by the Ukrainska Pravda website on September 6 and cited by RFE/RL Belarus and Ukraine Report.

"As regards [presidential candidate] Viktor Yushchenko [and the fact that his wife is a U.S. citizen] ... Unfortunately, we live in a society that has been indoctrinated with Soviet ideology [and] ideologically poisoned, therefore, it reacts inadequately to some elementary things. Well, he [Yushchenko] has an American wife. But excuse me, we have dozens of people, dozens of power-wielders, ministers and even the president himself, who have wives of Russian origin. What, are all of them Russian spies? What conclusions should we make of that? This is a sort of madness. This anti-Americanism [in Ukraine] simply scares me, because it testifies to some pathology in society. On one hand, our government and our authorities swear that they are strategic partners of the United States; they sent troops to Iraq to help [U.S. President George W.] Bush or save [Ukrainian President Leonid] Kuchma from international sanctions. ... On the other, they blame Yushchenko for a mortal sin - his pro-Americanism. This is paranoia."

- Ukrainian political scientist Mykola Ryabchuk commenting on anti-American sentiments in Ukraine and their possible influence on Mr. Yushchenko's presidential bid, as quoted by RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service on September 3 and cited by RFE/RL Belarus and Ukraine Report.

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