Year: December 13, 2019 7:22 am

Seen above, at the 22nd Regular Convention of Ukrainian National Association, which was held on May 22-27, 1950, in Cleveland, are the newly elected members of the UNA Supreme Assembly, at their first post-election meeting. Elected to the new Supreme Assembly were: Supreme President Dmytro Halychyn, Supreme Vice-President Joseph Lesawyer, Supreme Vice-Presidentess Genevieve Zerebniak, Supreme Secretary Gregory Herman, Supreme Treasurer Roman Slobodian (who are seen at the head of the table), Supreme Auditors Dmytro Kapitula, Stephen Kuropas, Walter Hirniak, Walter Kossar and Ambrose Kibsey, and Supreme Advisors Dmytro Szmagala, John Romanition, John Wasylenko, John Kokolsky, Peter Kuchma, Walter Didyk, Nicholas Dawyskyba, Taras Shpikula, Olena Shtogryn, Anna Wasylowska and William Hussar. Also in the photo are Svoboda Editor-in-Chief Luke Myshuha (partially hidden) and The Ukrainian Weekly Editor Stephen Shumeyko.

The front page of our December 1 issue carried a news story that is of major significance for the Ukrainian American and Ukrainian Canadian communities. The story by Jurij Dobczansky of the Library of Congress and the Shevchenko Scientific Society and Andrew Fedynsky of the Ukrainian Museum-Archives of Cleveland (who is also one of this newspaper’s columnists) was about the sixth conference of the Ukrainian Heritage Consortium of North America held at the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute. The UHCNA was described as “a voluntary group that coordinates the exchange of information, fosters friendships and cooperation among Ukrainian cultural heritage institutions and professionals in the United States and Canada.” The consortium brings together leaders of museums, libraries and archives; it originally held annual meetings, but now meets biennially, with the next such gathering scheduled for 2021.

Four years ago, on December 16, 2019, Gen. Wesley Clark (U.S. Army, ret.), former NATO supreme allied commander, Europe, was interviewed by Diane Francis of The Atlantic Council about the situation in Ukraine and its broader impact.
Gen. Clark stated: “We should have given defensive lethal weapons to Ukraine. If we’d given them defensive weapons, many lives could have been saved. There are major human consequences here.”
Echoing Gen. Clark’s statements, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Samantha Power, who was acting chair of the U.N. Security Council, bluntly stated on December 11, 2015, “Russia continues to arm, train, support and fight alongside separatists in eastern Ukraine.”

Dear Editor:
For Ukrainian Americans, it’s no exaggeration to say that these are remarkable times. Our ancestral homeland finds itself at the center of U.S. domestic politics in a crisis involving the highest levels of our government. Regardless of our views about these developments, it’s reasonable to be concerned about the impact this crisis will have on America’s longstanding bipartisan support for Ukraine. Therefore, we must speak out to prevent a reduction in this vital assistance.

Dear Editor:
In a lengthy first paragraph, the statement of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America (November 10) makes the claim that anti-immigrant forces opposed United States entry into World War II and implies that anti-Semitic sentiments played some important role in this aversion to foreign wars. An exhibit at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum suggests otherwise, unless one wishes to believe the overwhelming majority of Americans at that time were anti Semites. The exhibit features results of Gallup polls from the beginning of September 1939 through November 1941 (from the beginning of the war in Europe until just a few weeks before United States entry into the war).

Dear Editor:
I was pleased to receive the book “Atlas of Ukrainians in the United States” that Oleh Wolowyna produced in conjunction with the Shevchenko Scientific Society (NTSh), which was recently written up in The Ukrainian Weekly (September 29). Having known Dr. Wolowyna since our doctoral study days, it is no surprise that he has produced a classic work on Ukrainian immigration and assimilation in the U.S. The Shevchenko Scientific Society should be commended for sponsoring such important work.

Dear Editor:
Ukrainian Americans should be appalled by the statement made by television personality Tucker Carlson during his November 26 broadcast on the Fox network when he stated: “Why do I care what’s going on in the conflict between Ukraine and Russia? And why shouldn’t I root for Russia, which I am.”
Mr. Carlson later walked back this comment (weakly and unconvincingly) as a “joke.” This too is inexcusable. Russia’s aggression against Ukraine is no joking matter. Its 2014 invasion of Ukraine’s Donbas region has caused the deaths of 13,000 people, wounded thousands more and forced more than 1.3 million people from their homes. Mr. Carlson’s shameful ignorance and callous disregard for the human cost of this war is outrageous. It should provoke us to action.

Dear Editor:
On November 8, President Donald Trump announced that he was seriously considering accepting Vladimir Putin’s invitation to attend the 2020 Victory Day (May 9) celebrations in Red Square in Moscow. Let’s just imagine for a moment: a U.S. president standing on the podium with Mr. Putin while Russian troops and missiles parade by.
All irony aside: No, Mr. President, this is a seriously bad idea! At a time when Vladimir Putin is still threatening Ukraine’s sovereignty, still lying about the downing of the Malaysian airliner, still refusing to take responsibility for the 13,000 lives lost in his invasion of eastern Ukraine, and still supporting Bashar al-Assad’s mass slaughter of his own Syrian people, the optics and the substance of such a visit would be so perverse that Secretary Mike Pompeo and other top advisers should do everything in their power to persuade the president not to pursue this scheme.

The Ukrainian Weekly welcomes letters to the editor and commentaries on a variety of topics of concern to the Ukrainian American and Ukrainian Canadian communities. Opinions expressed by columnists, commentators and letter-writers are their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of either The Weekly editorial staff or its publisher, the Ukrainian National Association.

History has been made in Naples, Florida, as a Holodomor exhibit opened at the Holocaust Museum and Cohen Educational Center of Southwest Florida in early September to run through December 17. The exhibit – the first ever Holodomor exhibit at a Holocaust museum in the Western Hemisphere – was curated in partnership with Naples Branch 136 of the Ukrainian National Women’s League of America (UNWLA).
When we discovered that the mission of the Holocaust Museum in Naples was to educate not only about the Holocaust but also other genocides, we reached out to the museum curator. We were delighted to receive very positive feedback.

KERHONKSON, N.Y. – “Ready, set, go!” With this call to attention, the 57th Orlykiada competition began. Year after year, this competition for scouts age 11-18 of Plast Ukrainian Scouting Organization takes place at Soyuzivka Heritage Center. On November 10-11, 160 participants from all over the United States and Canada competed in the 2019 event. There were 17 teams from 10 different cities including: Detroit, Yonkers (N.Y.), Chicago, Cleveland, Newark (N.J.), New York, Passaic (N.J.), Rochester (N.Y.), Toronto and Philadelphia.
This event is organized by the Plast co-ed fraternity Orlykivtsi, which is named in honor of Pylyp and Hryhoriy Orlyk. The Orlykivtsi were assisted by the Plast sorority Verkhovynky. Tanya Kosc directed the event; she was assisted by Deanna Hanchuk as secretary and Olenka Hladky as “bunchuzhna.”

JENKINTOWN, Pa. – Seven students of St. Basil Academy in Jenkintown, Pa., participated on November 6 in the poetry recitation contest honoring Lina Kostenko organized and sponsored by St. Sophia Religious Association of Ukrainian Catholics Inc., in Philadelphia.
The judges – Iryna Ivankovych, president of the St. Sophia Religious Association; Leonid Rudnytzky, professor at LaSalle University; and Alexandra Penkalskyj, vice-principal of St. Basil Academy – graded each performance on the fluency of the recitation, clarity of pronunciation, intonation, artistic performance and expression. Students recited poems by Lina Kostenko translated into English by Michael Naydan, Woskob Family Professor of Ukrainian Studies at the Pennsylvania State University.