The White House Failing Office
// Victor Yushchenko attended a useless meeting with George Bush
George Bush refused to support Victor Yushchenko
Yesterday Ukraine’s President Victor Yushchenko finished his visit to the United States. According to the information of Kommersant, during the negotiations in Washington Mr Yushchenko attempted to convince the White House administration that it is him, rather than Yuliya Tymoshenko, that is the U.S. closest ally defending the “orange” ideals like no one else. But Victor Yushchenko’s positions turned out as weak as never before given the current governmental crisis in Ukraine. It is not ruled out that he will leave the Ukrainian political arena after consecutive elections.
The last straw
It was the fourth time within one week that Ukraine’s President Victor Yushchenko, who yesterday returned to Kiev after his two-day visit to the U.S., crossed the Atlantic Ocean. The thing is, Mr Yushchenko went to the U.S. at the early last week to address the UN General Assembly in New York on September 24. He accused Russia of “violating Georgia’s territorial integrity and military occupation of the country”. According to the information of Kommersant, Mr Yushchenko wanted to negotiate with Mr Bush at that time already, but the U.S. President didn’t find the time. In New York the Ukrainian head-of-state and Georgia’s president Mikhail Saakashvili were received by John McCain only.
Soon the Ukrainian President’s press service announced he will set off for Washington once again, on September 29, to meet with the White House Chief. The Ukrainian President was accompanied by Foreign Minister Vladimir Ogryzko and Defense Minister Yury Yekhanurov, as well as acting Chairman of the Security Service Valentin Nalivaychenko and Security Council Secretary Raissa Bogatyreva.
Victor Yushchenko’s willingness to see the U.S. President is easy to explain. Now is the Ukrainian President’s most challenging career period: his rating fluctuates between 4% and 6%, with the pro-presidential bloc “Our Ukraine – People’s Self-Defense”, which has recently quitted the coalition with the Yuliya Tymoshenko Bloc, being hardly more popular. Mr Yushchenko’s attempt to take advantage of the Georgian war to mobilize voters in the face of the Russian threat failed. “A visit to Washington is his last straw,” Russian Program Director with the Finnish Institute of International Affairs Arkady Moshes opines.
The President is silent
Arriving in Washington, Victor Yushchenko tried his best to demonstrate that the situation in Ukraine cannot undermine his positions. During breakfast, which was organized by the U.S.-Ukrainian Business Council, he stated with certainty that prime Minister Yuliya Tymoshenko’s plan to hold parliamentary and presidential elections simultaneously won’t work. According to interlocutors of Kommersant, who attended breakfast, the President attached all the blame for the crisis to Yuliya Tymoshenko. “He confessed that she “deceived” him, and she won’t be Prime Minister long,” the interlocutor of Kommersant said. “Yushchenko believes Yury Yekhanurov could substitute for Tymoshenko.” The sources of Kommersant added that the Ukrainian President was evasive when asked how he was going to pull it off. “Yushchenko openly stated he will not allow Tymoshenko to take his post. He said that in case she is nominated, Rada Speaker Arseny Yatsenyuk or someone else will challenge Ms Tymoshenko to win over some of her supporters,” the interlocutors of Kommersant said.
According to the information of Kommersant, Victor Yushchenko told George Bush about his plan in more detail during their talks behind closed doors in the Oval Office. Besides, the Ukrainian President informed the White House Chief that he has negotiated an opportunity to supply Azerbaijani oil via the Odessa-Brody pipeline with Baku. The Presidents spent two hours talking, and then went out to the journalists. The press conference began with rather a surprise.
“I was disappointed,” George Bush started causing Mr Yushchenko’s astonishment. But he went on as if he didn’t notice his Ukrainian counterpart. “I was disappointed in the vote with the United States Congress on the economic rescue plan. We put forth a plan that was big because we got a big problem. I'm going to be talking to my economic advisors after my meeting here with the President, and we'll be working with members of Congress – leaders of Congress on the way forward.”
Only after stating his view of the problem the American press was mostly concerned with, and making no secret of the fact that he had little time, George Bush paid his attention to Victor Yushchenko, who stiffened in astonishment. “Mr. President, welcome. I welcome you here to the Oval Office. I admire your steadfast support for democratic values and principles. A lot of Americans have watched with amazement how your country became a democracy. We strongly support your democracy. We look forward to working with you to strengthen that democracy.”
Reiterating “democracy” for four times, George Bush listed the issues on the agenda, including the NATO and Membership Application Process and energy independence. Then George Bush invited Mr Yushchenko to take the floor.
The Ukrainian leader had much more to say, “We touched upon the range of issues; special attention was paid towards Ukraine integration into European and Euro-Atlantic structures. We raised the issue of energy cooperation. And we believe that we've done excellent job on the adaptation of American nuclear fuel for our nuclear power units, and we intend to continue that. I also asked Mr. President to delegate the high-ranking delegation from the United States of America to participate in the commemorating event of the great famine in Ukraine of 1932 and 1933.” Then Mr Yushchenko passed over to the problems he was mostly concerned with, “We also discussed the domestic political situation in Ukraine, which in my opinion is far away from being tragic, and not dramatic. Ukraine has enough democratic resource and tools to give sufficient response to any crisis that may occur in the Ukrainian parliament.”
The Presidents had nothing to tell each other, and the journalists didn’t ask anything. So, the press conference was over.
George Bush only said in conclusion, “Thank you, sir.”
“Thank you,” Victor Yushchenko replied ardently.
“You're welcome,” the U.S. President flung angrily and left quickly.
So, Victor Yushchenko didn’t hear the desired words that the U.S. supports him and considers him a good leader.
Without the President
Curiously, the Ukrainian media didn’t pay due attention to the President’s visit – the press was mainly bothered with the financial crisis and negotiations about forming a new coalition in the Rada or holding new elections. “It’s no surprise – George Bush’s support of the lack of it can hardly influence Victor Yushchenko’s current position. Everyone understands it, except for Mr Yushchenko proper,” Arkady Moshes told Kommersant. “Whatever outgoing President Bush says, the lame duck will barely help Ukraine to get MAP. The visit to Washington was made in despair.” According to the expert, the cold welcome George Bush gave the Ukrainian President was natural. “He expressed the U.S. dissatisfaction at Yushchenko’s home policy line. Slogans cannot compensate for the lack of systemic reforms,” Arkady Moshes believes. So, the visit was pointless.
In her turn, Yuliya Tymoshenko, the President’s major rival in the struggle for the Presidential post, is going to make her foreign policy visit too – but she will set off for Moscow, rather than Washington. According to the information of Kommersant, at the beginning of October Prime Minister Tymoshenko will meet with her counterpart Vladimir Putin in order to foster settling the gas dispute between Moscow and Kiev. If Yuliya Tymoshenko manages to demonstrate that she is capable of resolving this critical issue, the Yuliya Tymoshenko Bloc can easily convert its leader’s success in additional votes during early elections, which the majority of Ukrainian politicians and experts call practically inevitable. It will allow Yuliya Tymoshenko to have advantage when negotiating for the future re-division of power in Ukraine. Apparently, her counterpart during talks of that kind will be Victor Yanukovich or someone else, but not Victor Yushchenko.
Alexander Gabuev; Dmitry Sidorov, Washington
All the Article in Russian as of Oct. 01, 2008
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