Month: May 24, 2019 12:00 pm

Seventy years ago, on June 1, 1949, an article by displaced person Nickolay Didenko that appeared in the June issue of Plain Talk detailed Soviet crimes and the killing of 15,000 people in scientific experiments via lethal agents. (Plain Talk was a monthly American anti-Communist magazine published in 1946-1950.) 

On May 9, the Latvian Saeima (Parliament) adopted a resolution recognizing Soviet treatment of the Crimean Tatars as an act of genocide, an action in advance of the 75th anniversary of their deportation in 1944 and a response to an appeal by the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatars.

Whenever a leader sends signals that one group is preferred and all others are excluded, there is always the danger that those in the “preferred” group will take that as a signal that they can attack others precisely because their ruler has sent that signal. That has now happened in Russian-occupied Sevastopol – and tragically it is likely to happen elsewhere.

“Oligarch’s Return Raises Alarm in Ukraine,” by Andrew E. Kramer, The New York Times, May 16, (https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/16/world/europe/ukraine-zelensky-kolomoisky.html?smtyp=cur& smid=tw-nytimesworld):…The Ukrainian government took over … PrivatBank, [co-owned by Ihor Kolomoisky] in the course of a $5.6 billion bailout at a time when lending by the International Monetary Fund, the European Union and the United States was propping up the government.

Lest we forget – Moscow continues to engage in appalling behavior in Ukraine, violating international norms of civilized behavior with impunity.   It seems that with all of the understandable focus on Ukraine’s elections and the inauguration of the new president, Russia’s ongoing aggression and human rights violations in Ukraine have taken a back seat.  During my recent stint in Ukraine as an OSCE first-round election observer, there was little indication of a country at war.  It is now in its sixth year.  It is low-intensity, with fewer casualties than during its first few years. 

Following is the full text of President Volodymyr Zelensky’s inaugural address, in English translation, as posted on the official website of the president of Ukraine on May 20.

WASHINGTON – The Kyiv Chamber Choir began its 2019 North American concert tour May 17 in Washington, at the National City Christian Church, in front of a large audience, including a large group of Ukrainian Americans.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – For the last concert of The Washington Group Cultural Fund’s 25th anniversary season (www.twgcf.org), soprano Stefania Dovhan, who lives in Berlin with a thriving operatic career in Europe, sang arias and songs in five languages to a full house of avid admirers. 

Lawmakers decline Zelensky’s proposals Ukraine’s Parliament has defied new President Volodymyr Zelensky a day after he issued a decree to…...

SOCCERMoraes cleared to play for national teamThe UEFA Control, Ethics and Disciplinary Body reached a verdict on May 3, rejecting the protests of Portugal and Luxembourg soccer federations, and dismissed the case against Junior Moraes. The 32-year-old Shakhtar Donetsk player from Brazil was granted Ukrainian citizenship by President Petro Poroshenko and the CEDB determined that Moraes had legally obtained Ukrainian citizenship and was eligible to compete for the Ukrainian national team in its UEFA Group B European qualifiers. The matches will determine who from Group B will advance to the final stage of the Euro 2020 championship. 

CARNEGIE, Pa. – More than 140 students, teachers, parents, and guests ranging in age from babes in arms to centenarian Mary Ann Steranka attended the concert-“zabava” (dance) celebrating the end of the 2018-2019 academic year of Ridna Shkola of Pittsburgh Inc. at the Ukrainian American Citizens Club of Carnegie, Pa., on Saturday, May 11.