Nov. 30 - Some truly sad news up here: Pierre Berton has died. He was a respected author and his face was one of my earlier introductions to Canadian TV from when he was a panelist on Front Page Challenge.

He was unpretentious (many documentarians could learn a lot from his style and delivery,) had an optimistic view of Canada and the world, and was voted #31 on the recent Greatest Canadians list.

The CBC page has a funny story about Berton giving lessons in rolling a proper joint which is worth reading. That tale fits him wonderfully.

I don't see it listed on the imdb page dedicated to him, but didn't he also host Great Railway Stories?

There's a short biography of him here and which is also where I got the photo.

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Nov. 30 - Welcome to Peaktalk readers!

Bumping this up as it is very much the news of the day up here.

No, I'm not in Ottawa wishing the president well and adding my voice to those who genuinely welcome him. He heard my voice when I voted, and I think he is aware of the large number of ex-pats who defied the pundits and turned out to vote for him in large numbers.

As I post this President Bush is landing in Canada, and the malice from those polite Canadians at work - which had been suspended after the election - picked up again but with different results because I wouldn't play. Why should I? These are people who assert that if there was oil in Sudan the USA would have been in there ... they trust CBC and the Toronto Star, and I trust facts. There is no common meeting ground beyond work and I can smile, nod, and know I am looking at people who have failed to acknowledge that the world is beyond that which our mainstream media portrays.

Canadians have Martin and we have Bush. We have as president a man who says what he means and means what he says, and they have a prime minister who's most notably strong move has been to kick Carolyn Parrish out of the Liberal caucus for criticizing him despite CNN's assertion that it was for her anti-American statements and behaviour on TV.

I have total confidence that the president will listen to NDP leader Jack Layton and Bloc leader Gilles Duceppe politely and pay little heed to the dial-a-demonstrations; after all, he is President of the USA, not of Canada.

Nevertheless, I really do wish there would be some research into the feasibility of deploying a missile shield that does not cover Canada.

Much of North American is speculating as to whether official relations will or will not be smoothed between the two countries but what has always been at risk are the unofficial relations, i.e., the attitudes of the two populations which are decidedly not affected by official dinners, pomp, and speeches before Parliament.

I warned prior to the election that the rest of the world was gambling far more than they realized with the Bush-hatred, and now that the American electorate has spoken decisively (and the more observant should have drawn the proper conclusions noting how far to the right John Kerry had to bend to get the vote he did get) and as it would appear that much of the world media has chosen to declare that we, the American people, are as dumb as our President, some lines in the sand are irremediably drawn.

So be it. So why are they busy kissing our asses now? It's all about the trade.

I would have said more but Flea beat me to it with comments he made on what is actually a non-related subject but totally apropos:

What surprises me about this latest analysis is the continuing realization that so many people truly believe the United States to be omnipotent. It is not. In this respect I see the street protests as a psychological reaction to an imagined "bad father" who should have protected them on September 11. Continuing troubles in an imperfect world are, in this light, an immoral or irresponsible choice on the part of the bad father rather than an improvisation in the face of the bad hand dealt to us by the jihadists and the better part of a century of accommodation with the ruling family of Arabia. (Bolding added)

10:59: I am watching the CBC, and whathisname actually asked what impact demonstrations in Canada would have on Americans. The response by Allen Gottlieb was that the demonstrations would have less impact than had he been heckled in Parliament.

Perhaps so, but my answer would have been that the Democrats - none of whom live abroad except Chelsea Clinton, and she was dismayed at the degree of anti-Americanism in Oxford immediately after Sept. 11 - would whine about how much our "prestige" has "fallen" in the world, and most Americans would shrug regardless. Since the dismal state of the Canadian military is a pretty widely-known fact, how much respect can Americans have for a people who are unwilling to defend themselves?

11:01: The contribution Canada could make to running the elections in Iraq leaves out the fact that any Canadians there would be targets. Would Canada risk their own to help Iraqis have free and open elections? Right.

11:04: David Frum is more analytical than I in a column published in today's National Post (available here) as well as more conciliatory:

Bush is working on the assumption that many allied governments feel that they have allowed their disagreements with the United States to go too far. In 2002 and 2003, for example, Jean Chretien--like Germany's Gerhard Schroeder and some other leaders as well--seemed to have decided he could earn some easy political points on the left-hand side of the political spectrum by running against George Bush. That decision may have been aided by a calculation that Bush was an accidental president likely to lose in 2004. Now that the President has been returned to office with great political power, those 2002-03 calculations are looking less shrewd. A minority Canadian prime minister does not want to spend the next four years quarrelling with a popular president backed by a congressional majority. (Emphasis added)

Wiser heads may reflect that he is capable of doing so because he has much bigger concerns than personal pique or feelings of self-consequence; they will even recognize that he is indeed a leader because he can consign the slurs and insults to their proper place and keep this young century's chief challenge at the forefront of his agenda.

He is determined to give credit wherever he can, to encourage the efforts - large and small - to the allies in the war on terror, and to continue to build that coalition and urge it forward.

15:00: A Minority of One takes a look from Ottawa and has some well chosen words for Canadians who chose to forget Canada's tradition before peacekeeping:

Hey, you there, you, with the stupid sign. So how should Canada, with its sacred values, have addressed the agression and murderous thuggery of Hitler and Co.? What should we have done in response to the conquest of Hong Cong and the subsequent use of Canadian citizens as slave labour in Japanese coal mines? Curious minds want to know.

16:13: The CBC is estimating that 5,000 demonstrators got to mix it up with police, and something very strange:

Also present were activists in favour of legalized marijuana, same-sex marriages, and a woman's right to choose, as well as students, grandmothers and groups ranging from Lawyers Against the War to Bellydancers Against Bush.

A CBC Online Diary gives a moment-by-moment account of the Bush visit. Read it and judge for yourselves.

17:32 - Toronto Star headline reads Defiant Bush stands by foreign policy. The-title-under-the-headline is Smaller-than-expected protest greet U.S. president. (It must have really hurt to have to print that one.)

The story:

OTTAWA — George W. Bush rode into town today with kind words for Canada but a defiant message for anyone who thinks he’ll back down from his controversial foreign policy.

The U.S. president arrived in Ottawa for a whirlwind two-day visit designed to warm bilateral relations and begin mending international fences in the wake of the Iraq war.

But the Texan was unbowed when asked about a recent poll suggesting most Canadians donÂ’t like his policy direction.

“I’m the kind of fella who does what I think is right,” he told a joint news conference with Prime Minister Paul Martin.

“We just had a poll in our country where people decided the foreign policy of the Bush administration ought to stay in place for four more years.”

It was not exactly the message many had been expecting from a second-term president reputed to be eager to win back allies alienated by his decision to invade Iraq.

It also did nothing to soothe the anger of protesters who scuffled with police after being blocked from marching down the main thoroughfare in front of Parliament.

The prevailing attitude in most of the mainstream media seems to be that Bush needs to repair relations with Canada, thus implying that the USA has more to gain from better relations than Canada, yet without missing a beat stories go straight to the numerous trade issues (especially softwood lumber and the beef trade) which are rankling Canadians.

What exactly does the USA gain from better relations from Canada? I have my own reasons which center on increasing US security, but Canada has a great deal to lose should the border be closed in the event of another terrorist attack and should that attack originate in Canada there will be hell to pay.

18:02 - Heh. Lou Dobbs on CNN is reporting that the president found Canadians less than friendly, and John King is also promoting the Myth of Bitter Disputes Over Iraq. (But then CNN is still disconsolate that France didn't join us so their observations may be less than objective.)

As I recall, then PM Chretien announced that Canada wouldn't lend even moral support because he didn't support the notion of regime change, and the bitterness was pretty much limited to those Canadians who felt Canada should support her traditional allies Great Britain and Australia (and the USA,) and those who were far too enlightened to stop a maniacal, genocidal monster who terrorized his own people.

18:30 - The Fox website says that "Bush had a cool relationship with former Prime Minister Jean Chretien (search), but Martin, in office less than a year, has sought to repair the damage." What they imply but don't say is that Martin has had to step carefully because the anti-Americanism which was given full rein under Chretien is harder to put back into the bottle than it was to let out; furthermore, and this is the part that is hard for Americans to understand (as we don't have a Parliamentary system,) is that he is in a coalition government with the leftist New Democratic Party (NDP) and the Liberal Party depends on their support to remain in power.

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Nov. 30 - Updating this, The top 10 Greatest TV Characters have been announced:

10. Tony Soprano
9. Capt. James T. Kirk
8. Mary Richards
7. Lt. Columbo
6. Seinfeld Cast
5. Homer Simpson
4. The Fonz
3. Lucy Ricardo
2. Ralph Kramden
1. Archie Bunker

Some good calls by us commenters, but Daisy Duke, Dr. Who and George & Gracie have been most unaccountably left out.

Looking at it one way, the top five has three cranky men, a dizzy redhead and the Fonz.

Or, the top five has 2 characters from the 50's and one who portrayed someone from the 50's. Archie is a 50's guy living in the 60's, and Homer is A Timeless Man of All Decades. Heh.

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Nov. 30 - Mike Campbell, Canada's leading Churchill scholar to the blogosphere, advises a dram of good single malt is an acceptable alternative to brandy in celebration of Churchill's 130th birthday.

Sir Winston has been in the minds of many of us since the president warned we were about to begin a long and arduous war on terrorism, and I've learned much more from Mike's Churchill webpage and posts than all the history courses I took (and this admission from a history major!) and although, alas, he debunks the myth of Charlie, Churchill's supposed Nazi-bashing trash-talking parrot, there is much about Churchill's true accomplishments to give great heart and courage in the struggle we face today.

The decision to go to war against the fascists of Germany, Italy and the militarists of Japan was long in coming (and in the case of the USA painfully overdue) but at that time too was a strong pacifist movement that earnestly in some cases and mendaciously in others opposed that war. Yet Churchill persevered and the British were far readier for war when it came than, quite frankly, we were when it came to us on Sept. 11.

Many others have pointed out that the harsh cost to Europeans in that war was not because they engaged in it but because they delayed so long; as history doesn't allow for do-overs those arguments necessarily remain conjecture only, but I think the present war puts that argument to the test and, as always, history alone will judge (which is another way of saying history will smile if we are successful and frown if we are not. History isn't really all that complicated.)

A portion of making mature judgements is understanding when conflict can be avoided and when it cannot (many successful careers, marriages and childhood raising issues rely on just those decisions) and even when policies of appeasement were approved, Churchill stood true to his convictions even though he went against international opinion.

I find realism and resolve personified in Sir Winston. He has inspired many of us, including Ghost of a Flea and his ongoing Winston Review (the most recent is No. 21) and I think Churchill would take great satisfaction that his spirit guides and nourishes us today.

Thank you, Sir Winston, and a very happy birthday.

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Nov. 30 - Nine days! Ukrainians continue to remain vigilant in an awesome display of idealism and determination. The massive numbers of people who continue to block government buildings in frigid weather is humbling and one has to ask oneself would I be out there given the discomfort much less the risks if we lose? Naturally I say Yes! but I'm not actually there and, accustomed as I am to the leniency of North America when it comes to tolerating demonstrations, confronting tanks on the streets of my hometown is just not really an expectation.

[The more time goes by, the more I doubt such will happen in Kiev mostly because the whole world is watching, but it was certainly in the back of my mind in the early days after the election and it is unlikely that those who gathered outside the government buildings were unaware of the danger.]

Latest news is that the opposition has cancelled talks and, I'm surmising, have wisely chosen to place their confidence in the hands of those who have vowed to not stop blocking the buildings until their demands are met.

According to CNN, these demands are:

The government must admit that the election results were falsified.

Yanukovych's government and the Central Election Commission must step down.

Some action must be taken against three regional governors who threatened to take steps toward autonomy in the wake of the dispute.

Interior Minister Nikolai Bilokon, who they believe was part of the effort to manipulate the election, must be fired.

A third loser is French President Jacques Chirac and those European leaders who want the European Union to be an anti-American counterweight to America. International crises involving Russia tend to remind Europeans that the United States remains a very valuable ally in a dangerous and unpredictable world. Fantasies of a superpower Europe seem insubstantial delusions by comparison with this tested alliance.

I don't expect everyone to take our path but merely support their right to chose their own paths, and it appears that such is exactly what they are doing; that is the defintion of freedom.

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Nov. 30 - I got off work Friday morning feeling the symptoms of a cold and spent most of the weekend sleeping, reading, and taking plenty of liquids. I see you carried on without me ...

Is it a definite sign of decreptitude when someone gets sick on weekends? I've always faithfully observed the rule about only being sick on work days but it seems some things have gotten beyond my will power since I turned *ahem*cough* years old.

The weekend wasn't a total loss as I was able to finish my leisurely re-read of The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien as well as Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen.

TV Ontario had an Austen-fest Saturday night and I was fully prepared with my kleenex, tea and popcorn for the airing of the 1995 version of Sense and Sensibility, a horrible 1940 version of Pride and Prejudice (Greer Garson is horrible as Elizabeth) and a reasonable version of Persuasion. Unfortunately, I fell asleep at around 6:30 p.m. and woke up at around 4:00 a.m. so missed the whole thing.

I brightened up considerably when I saw that the Vancouver CITY station was showing Boondock Saints at 6 a.m. ET, and it wasn't until I was applauding the confessional scene that I considered the oddity of liking both Jane Austen and a movie like Boondock Saints.

There's probably a significant philosophical undercurrent that transforms that seeming weirdness into something deeply profound, but whatever it is, it escapes me and I can only justify my taste with "I like it!"

Oh well, don't cross the road if you can't get out of the kitchen.

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Nov. 26 - Claudia Rosett, who has determinedly investigated the corrupt U.N. Oil-for-Food Program for years, has information that may put Kofi Annan personally in a direct conflict-of-interest. Although his son Kojo was said to have left Cotecna in late 1998, some weeks before the comapny won the U.N. contract to check imports into Iraq under the U.N. Oil-for-Food Program, Rosett's article in the New York Sun reveals that Annan's Son Took Payments Through 2004 from Cotecna:

The younger Annan stopped working for Cotecna in late 1998, but it now turns out that he continued to receive money from Cotecna not only through 1999, as recently reported, but right up until February of this year. The timing coincides with the entire duration of Cotecna's work for the U.N. oil-for-food program. It now appears the payments to the younger Annan ended three months after the U.N., in November, 2003, closed out its role in oil-for-food and handed over the remains of the program to the Coalition Provisional Authority in Baghdad.

This latest bombshell involving the secretary-general's son was confirmed Wednesday by Kofi Annan's spokesman, Fred Eckhard, in response to this reporter's query, based on information obtained elsewhere. In an email, Mr. Eckhard wrote: "I was able to reach Kojo's lawyer this morning. He confirms that Kojo Annan received payments from Cotecna as recently as February 2004. The lawyer said that these payments were part of a standard non-competition agreement, under which the decision as to whether to continue the payments or not was up to Cotecna."

Mr. Eckhard added that, according to Kojo Annan's lawyer, the information has "been reported" to the U.N.-authorized inquiry into oil-for-food, led by a former Federal Reserve chairman, Paul Volcker.

Labeled as compensation for Kojo Annan's agreeing not to compete with Cotecna's business in West Africa, the post-employment payments were in the amount of $2,500 per month, according to another source with access to the documents. If the payments were continuous over the slightly more than five-year period involved, that would have totaled more than $150,000.

Cotecna officials, who this past April received a gag letter from the U.N. Secretariat, did not respond to queries from The New York Sun about why the company continued its non-competition payments to Kojo Annan for more than five years, instead of the one year previously reported. Neither did the company answer a question about why the payments apparently stopped this past February - just after the oil-for-food scandal erupted into the headlines following allegations in a Baghdad newspaper that the program was massively corrupt. Cotecna earlier this year denied any wrongdoing, saying that Kojo Annan's portfolio involved West Africa, not the U.N. or Iraq. Kojo Annan's lawyer at the London-based firm Schillings said the younger Annan is cooperating with the Volcker inquiry, but would not comment to the press on his payments from Cotecna.

There is more, so read the article in entirety.

(Via Daimnation.)

Nov. 30 - 15:35: Kofi Annan has said he was unaware that the payments had continued and expressed his disappointment.

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Nov. 26 - Opposition steps up Kiev protest:

In the center of Kiev, protesters stood linked armes and stood five deep in the freezing cold to encircle the Cabinet building, The Associated Press reported. The building holds the offices of Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, the official winner of Sunday's election.

Foreignnotes, a blog run by an American in Kiev, is atop events there (via The Corner.)

The Command Post Global Recon Page has been on top of the situation as well and updating the news as it comes in.

A Fistful of Euros continues to have round-ups of both news items and information posted by Ukrainian bloggers (via Instapundit.)

Something spectacular has happened: A Fistful of Euros reports that

The showdown may have begun. Victor Katolyk reports that, following a “declaration of truth” by several hundred Ukrainian television employees, several tv stations have begun broadcasting “real” news. While several hundred Policemen appear to have pledged allegiance to the people, and former Deputy Prime Minister Julia Tymoshenko apparently declared the beginning of a seige of Presidential Administration, Cabinet of Ministers, and the Parliament, there are also reports of pressure on Supreme Courst judges and their families to rule in favor of Mr Yanukovich.

I had heard there was to be another vigil last night at the Ukrainian Consulate here in Toronto and although I haven't seen anything on the news to confirm it I would be extremely surprised if there wasn't one. It has been inspiring to behold the surge of determination and pride by ex-pat Ukrainians and, at the risk of being very cliched, we do take so very much for granted here that are elusive dreams for others elsewhere.

May freedom ring!

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Nov. 25 - Just a quickie to wish Americans back home and abroad - and particularly the wonderful members of our military - a happy and safe Thanksgiving.

There are many things for which we can be grateful, but the one thing that strikes me this day is that we are still a people who fail the global test of world weary cynicism and can cheer wholeheartedly for the Ukrainian people and admire their courage.

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Nov. 25 - 'Invisible ink' used in election fraud according to British MP Bruce George:

THE senior British MP in charge of monitoring last Sunday's polls in Ukraine has revealed how the election was undermined by intimidation, fraud and invisible ink.

Bruce George, chairman of the Commons Defence Committee and head of the international Short-Term Observation Commission in Ukraine, told The Times one of the election monitors handed him a suspicious pen from a polling station.

Mr George, a veteran Labour MP who helped to oversee the election in Georgia last year, found that anything written with the pen vanished in 15 minutes. "I saw a pen that had ink that disappeared when it dried," he said.

"People were issued with pens to cast their votes, but their votes would have disappeared after they dropped the paper into the ballot box."

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Nov. 25 - From Poisoning Pigeons v. Xmas: I'm nice during the holidays. Don't piss me off.The insantity must be stopped:

Officials are particularly concerned about smugglers who meet liberals near the Canadian border, pack them into Volvo station wagons, drive them across the border and leave them to fend for themselves.

"A lot of these people are not prepared for rugged conditions," an Ontario border patrolman said. "I found one carload without a drop of drinking water. They did have a nice little Napa Valley cabernet, though."

On a more serious note, deserters from the U.S. military who sought asylum in Canada on the basis that the Iraq war was illegal have had that argument rejected by the refugee board.

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You Are a Pundit Blogger!

Your blog is smart, insightful, and always a quality read. Truly appreciated by many, surpassed by only a few.

(Via Ghost of Flea.)

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Nov. 25 - Four men involved in the pre-election bombing of the Australian Embassy in Jakarta last September have been detained and were planning more bombs, police say:

National police chief General Da'i Bachtiar said crack anti-terror police arrested the embassy attack field co-ordinator, named Rois, near Bogor on November 5, along with three other men: Hasan, Apuy and master bomb-maker Sogir.
Officers burst into their hideout and overpowered them before they could set off suicide bombs.

A cache of explosive packs and bundles were found at the scene -- chilling evidence more attacks were planned in the wake of the September 9 embassy car bomb blast that killed 11.

The four were detained in secret for almost three weeks as the hunt for other terrorists continued.

[...]

Even so, JI's [Jemaah Islamiah] principal bomb masterminds -- Malaysians Azahari Husin and Noordin Top -- are still on the run.

[...]

The missing pair are also implicated in the 2002 Bali bombing, which killed 202 people -- including 88 Australians -- and the August 5, 2003 attack on the JW Marriott hotel in Jakarta, which killed 12 people.

The most important of the four arrested is Rois, alias Iwan Darmawan.

He is accused of being the right-hand man of Azahari, the bespectacled, British-trained engineer believed to have overseen design of the Bali bombs.

Rois is said to have recruited Heri Golun, the embassy suicide bomber.

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Nov. 25 - Canada withdrew her ambassador to Iran last July to protest Iran's failure to bring justice to Zahra Kazemi's killers but it was announced that Gordon Venner will assume duties as Canada's ambassador to Iran.

Despite the request of her son, Stephan Hachemi, and Canada's backing of that request, Kazemi's body has not been returned to Canada and thus an independent autopsy was never performed.

Why resume diplomatic relations after Iran killed a Canadian citizen?

NDP MP Alexa McDonough said Canada is better served by having a diplomatic presence in Iran.

"It's certainly clear that the Iranian government has not satisfactorily addressed the Kazemi fiasco, but at the same time, when there's an empty chair there's no dialogue ..."

Mr. Chretien, now a private citizen, will travel to Iran next month to meet top Iranian government officials.

But Mr. Chretien isn't there to seek justice for Ms. Kazemi. Nor will he speak for the dozens of Iranians rotting in jails for the crime of believing Iran should have the same democracy Canadians enjoy.

Instead, Mr. Chretien is going to Iran as a "special adviser" to the Calgary oil company PetroKazakhstan, which wants to ship Kazakh oil to China and Iran. His job is to convince the Iranians that this is a good idea.

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Nov. 25 - There has been a call for a general strike in Ukraine and Opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko has filed a complaint to Ukraine's Supreme Court regarding the actions of the Central Election Commission after an election that has been denounced by most Western leaders: Deputy PM Anne McClellan of Canada, U.S. Sec. of State Colin Powell, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw and Australia.

Dep. PM McClellan also threatened sanctions if there isn't a full and open review of the electoral process.

Lech Walesa addressed a crowd in Kiev and expressed his solidarity and admiration for them.

For a second night, a protest was held in front of the Ukrainian consul in Toronto and today's editorial in the Toronto Sun (one day link) also condemns the fraudulent election:

BRAVO! Canada did the right thing yesterday in refusing to recognize the disputed Ukrainian election result.

In light of widespread reports of voting fraud -- some from Canadian MPs who were there as observers -- this country cannot endorse the purported election of Viktor Yanukovych, the Kremlin-backed former prime minister.

The leader in the Telegraph (UK) notes the chance of a re-run of the election Ukraine has chance to fulfil its democratic pledge:

Viktor Yanukovich, the prime minister, said he was not interested in a "fictitious" victory and that "no position of authority, no matter how important, is worth a single human life". Leonid Kuchma, the outgoing president, ruled out the use of force. From outside, President Aleksander Kwasniewski of Poland said he had been asked to mediate, while Vladimir Putin and Gerhard Schröder, having spoken by telephone, urged that the crisis be solved by legal means.

The receding prospect of violent confrontation is welcome news in a country whose eastern and western regions have been deeply split electorally over the past decade. Add to this growing secessionist tendencies in Crimea, which was given to Ukraine by Khrushchev in 1954, and you have the potential for national disintegration.

9:54: Via David Frum's Diary, be sure to read Anne Applebaum's column The New Iron Curtain in the Washington Post which takes a critical look at Russia's motives in interfering in Ukrainian politics.

19:56: The Telegraph's Julius Strauss also looks at why the Russians are so determined to install Yanukovych as Ukraine's president:

Mr Putin's immediate aim is to create a single economic zone in the region. Echoing Comecon, the Soviet-era trading bloc, the plan is to form a common market on the territories of Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Ukraine.

The Kremlin's hope is that this will be a milestone on the road to raising Russia to the status of the controlling regional power and perhaps eventually regaining its superpower status.

Winning Ukraine is the chief pillar of the Kremlin's ambitions. The 48 million-strong country is the largest in Europe, rich in agriculture and a key transit route for Russian gas to the EU.

Aside: Has Kofi Annan said anything yet about the Ukraine elections?

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Nov. 24 - Damian has an excellent (and heartfelt) post about the things he believes and the Canada he wants in Our shifting 'moderate centre'.

[You know, I believe there is really a chance for South Park Conservatism in Canada. If only people didn't freak out when we try to explain what it is ...]

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Nov. 24 - The official announcement of the results of Ukraine's national election is pending so I have CNN on. (Sleep? as if ...) CNN's website headlines Ukraine poll tensions mount which is one massive understatement.

There are probably hundreds of millions of people in North America who aren't having an on the edge of history moment but I'm not one of them.

A co-worker is from Ukraine. I asked her last night if she was okay, and she took a breath, nodded, and pumped her fist. "So long as the people ..." and I sensed a very familiar feeling, the kind I remembered from 1968 Prague and 1989 Tiananmen Square, and again in Georgia earlier this year which was followed by gratified astonishment ... and I also sensed the one you get when faith in your countrymen and women fills you from head to toe and floods you with resolve, solidarity and strength.

I am worried - very worried - that there may be bloodshed this day. But I also know that there are times when you simply must make your stand because you've come to the Now or Never point and there's just no backing down from that one.

Today's post at Belmont Club is cryptically titled The Ukraine and sums up the situation in typical Belmont Club form (and quotes from a letter from Vaclav Havel supporting Viktor Yuschenko.) Wretchard reports something I hadn't yet heard, namely that Russian special forces were dispatched to Ukraine and were wearing Ukrainian Special forces uniforms (the link is to observer Bob Schaffer's reports. Begin reading from the bottom entry - it's well worth the time to read the entire thing.) Wretchard reports that American, Canadian and European diplomats "all expressed concern at the Kremlin's actions, creating remarkable psychological solidarity which is in stark contrast towards the wrangling over Iraq."

The Washington Times describes the crowds supporting both sides maintaining vigils despite freezing temperatures and there was a demonstration of over 1,000 last night in front of the Ukrainian Consulate in Toronto in solidarity with Yushchenko's supporters in Ukraine. (More here.) Update: Many, many demonstrations worldwide by Ukrainian ex-pats.

The Toronto Star has a story about the illness that has plagued Yushchenko and speculations that he was poisoned.

International reaction to the election has been fairly consistent and centers on the electoral process. There could be unspecified "consequences" if there is not a "complete review of the electoral process," according to European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.

I haven't located a link to the entirety of Canadian PM Paul Martin's statement (he's in Brazil) but he too expressed dismay over the electoral process.

A statement from the White House expresses President Bush's concerns about "extensive and credible indications of fraud committed in the Ukrainian presidential election. We strongly support efforts to review the conduct of the election and urge Ukrainian authorities not to certify results until investigations of organized fraud are resolved. We call on the Government of Ukraine to respect the will of the Ukrainian people, ... " and urges that violence be avoided.

On the other side, Russian President Putin has "criticized Western assessments of the vote as flawed, stressing the results were not yet official. On a state visit to Portugal, he called for calm and respect for the law in this former Soviet republic."

Bob Schaeffer notes that Putin seems to have backtracked somewhat (see entry at 1:40 MST) from an earlier statement.

10:41 and still waiting. CNN is having continuous coverage of ... travel and weather updates. I know it's Thanksgiving tomorrow, but still.

11:14: Arthur Chrenkoff has the response of Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski to the Ukraine election.

11:34: (Doh! I'd forgotten I had BBC. Much better coverage than CNN.) The Election Commission announced the results of the election declaring Yanukovych the winner. It appears the prospect of holding the election again is slim.

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Nov. 23 - Michelle Malkin calls it The U.N.'s Abu Ghraib, citing an item from Reuters: U.N.: 150 sex abuse charges in Congo peacekeeping.

The United Nations is investigating about 150 allegations of sexual abuse by U.N. civilian staff and soldiers in the Congo, some of them recorded on videotape, a senior U.N. official said on Monday.

The accusations include pedophilia, rape and prostitution, said Jane Holl Lute, an assistant secretary-general in the peacekeeping department.

Lute, an American, said there was photographic and video evidence for some of the allegations and most of the charges came to light since the spring.

[...]

In May the United Nations reported some 30 cases of abuse among peacekeepers in the northeastern town of Bunia, where half of the more than 10,000 soldiers are stationed.

Last month, one French soldier and two Tunisian soldiers were sent home, U.N. officials said. Three U.N. civilian staff were suspended.

Needless to say Kofi Annan is shocked and outraged, but as the article notes,

The United Nations has jurisdiction over its civilian staff but troops are contributed by individual nations. Consequently, the world body has only the power to demand a specific country repatriate an accused soldier and punish him or her at home.

It will be easy to blame Kofi Annan for the growing pile of scandals that are plaguing the U.N. from Oil-to-Food, to possible attempts by IAEA head Mohammed El Baradei to influence the U.S. election, to the reports of misbehaviour at best and criminal behaviour at worst by the very troops sent to protect innocent people but which in fact victimize them. It will, in fact, be too easy to place the lion's share of blame onto one person and a few flunkies and then, feeling absolved, quickly move on.

But the problem isn't just Kofi Annan. The problem is the U.N. itself, which is composed of unelected, unscritinized, and unaccountable people. They presume to usurp moral authority from legally elected governments, pander to dictators and statists, and are as corruptible as all humans - and in that last all-important detail we find that dangerous flaw to which we are all subject (you know, the one about the inevitability of power corrupting mere mortals.)

I hope I'm not breaking any, er, blogiquette by posting a link to a May 2 Telegraph article UN threatens authors of 'racy' expose take from one of the Captain's commenters on the May post. The article says:

The United Nations has threatened to fire two officials who wrote an expose of sleaze and corruption during its peacekeeping missions of the 1990s.

Kofi Annan, the UN Secretary-General, is understood to have favoured an attempt to block publication of the memoir, Emergency Sex and Other Desperate Measures, a True Story from Hell on Earth, due to be published next month.

Still reeling from the Iraqi oil-for-food scandal, officials in the upper echelons of the UN are alarmed by the promised revelations of wild sex parties, petty corruption, and drug use - diversions that helped the peacekeepers to cope with alternating states of terror and boredom.

[...]

The co-authors, who met in Cambodia in 1993 and later worked in Haiti, Kosovo, Liberia and Somalia, claim that petty corruption over expense accounts and living allowances was rife.

Ms Postlewait was in her early thirties when she went on her first trip abroad for the UN, supervising elections in Cambodia. There, she soon worked out that she could save enough money from her expense account to set herself up nicely back in New York. In other frauds, UN staff were said to quote blackmarket currency exchange rates to pad out their expenses.

The authors also complain that they encountered "bureaucratic betrayal" on missions, as the UN allegedly struck cynical deals with corrupt local officials.

(Via Michelle Malkin and following the trackback to Captain's Quarters.)

14:09 From this post at Friends of Saddam's, it seems AP has picked up the story with some notable additions:

The United Nations mission in Congo has about 10,500 soldiers and police as well as 1,000 international staff from 50 countries. It began in 1999. Investigators are now checking the 15 other U.N. peacekeeping missions around the world to see how widespread the problem is, Lute said.

Allegations of sex abuse and other crimes have dogged U.N. peacekeeping missions almost since their inception in 1948. It's been difficult to clamp down because the United Nations doesn't want to offend the relatively small number of nations who provide most of its peacekeeping troops.

[...]

In recent years, the United Nations has tried to clear up sex abuse problems by putting more emphasis on training peacekeepers - known as "blue helmets" for their distinctive headgear - and re-emphasizing codes of conduct.

But Lute said those efforts have not kept pace with the massive growth in peacekeeping missions, and their complexity - where soldiers often are deployed in highly volatile, lawless areas rather than manning clearly defined truce lines.

Lute said U.N. leaders were now determined to get tougher. On Friday, Secretary-General Kofi Annan said he was "absolutely outraged" by the allegations.

So-called "personnel conduct officers" have been sent to the missions in Congo, Burundi, Ivory Coast and Haiti. (Bolding added.)

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Nov. 23 - Newsday has compiled a list of the top 100 TV characters. They only list the top 90 at the link and will reveal the top 10 on Bravo Channel Friday night. (I think they mean USA Bravo.)

Some of the choices are interesting. Bret Maverick placed at #33, and Mulder and Scully placed at #32. Maynard G. Krebs placed at #93 (not that I'm complaining; I'm actually pleased that other people out there have fond memories of TV's first recurring beatnik.)

The top 10 might be deducted in part by who is not on the list thus far, so I'm figuring Archie Bunker, Mary Richards and Ben Cartwright (or one of his "sons") might make the Top10!Greatest!TV Characters.

Any other all time greats that aren't listed yet? I'd like to see Delenn or Capt. John Sheridan of Babylon 5 make it but, hard as it is to believe, that show seems to still be in the "cult favourite" catagory.

Nov. 30: The top 10 are named here. We made some good calls (with a few disappointments.)

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Nov. 23 - A report in today's Telegraph (UK) on British troops in Iraq which have blocked escape routes out of Fallujah:

Hundreds of Iraqi insurgents are trapped inside the "Triangle of Death" following the American assault on Fallujah and the blocking of key escape routes by the Black Watch, according to a British military intelligence officer.

He said a "hornet's nest" of insurgents had been stirred by the arrival of the Black Watch and the Queen's Dragoon Guards three weeks ago.

"British troops and US forces have sealed off the insurgents' escape routes and they have nowhere to go," he said. "They are fixed in that area and they are angry.

[...]

The Black Watch base has been hit by rockets and mortars almost every day since the troops arrived. Four British soldiers have been killed and 14 injured. There have been no casualties in the past two weeks, however, and this has led to a growing feeling that the Black Watch is gaining control in a key area.

There are 850 troops at Camp Dogwood, including 550 Black Watch, 105 Queen's Dragoon Guards, a small unit of Marines, plus Engineers and Signals.

They have been turned over to the British embassy in Baghdad.

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