Don't let Oranges Rot in Ukraine

Fire of Liberty

It seems that Ukraine's President Victor Yushchenko, who came to power after the people staged the "Orange Revolution" against the Russian backed and deeply entrenched Yanukovich(From the party that had ruled Ukraine since the fall of the USSR), is on the ropes and is talking about forming a coalition with his greatest foe Yanukovich due to the fact that he's fractured his ruling "Orange" coalition by firing Prime Minister Tymoshenko this past summer (Thus losing support in Parliament. According to this piece in the Financial Times, it seems that the embattled President could see his "orange Revolution" go up in smoke by handing the internal workings of Ukraine over to the Russian friendly Yanukovich. Take a look at what the FT noted on Ukraine's possibility of returning to the pre-Orange Revolution days with such decisions:

The president put out feelers to Mr Yanukovich, resulting in a temporary agreement for Mr Yanukovich's party to confirm Mr Yushchenko's new prime minister, Yuri Yekhanurov. Now there is talk in Kiev of the formation of a broad post-election coalition between Mr Yushchenko, Mr Yanukovich and some smaller parties.

Ms Tymoshenko referred to such a coalition as the "axis of security". She condemned plans for it as "an enormous mistake". Referring to the personalities of the cautious Mr Yushchenko and the aggressive Mr Yanukovich, she said it would be "clear who would dominate".

Ms Tymoshenko said the ideal solution would be to recreate her partnership with Mr Yushchenko before the polls but said a post-election coalition was a "realistic" option. She dismissed suggestions that Mr Yushchenko was in a strong position because he could play her off against Mr Yanukovich.

"Mr Yushchenko doesn't have a choice between me and Mr Yanukovich because a deal with Mr Yanukovich would be a total loss of power for him."

She said she agreed with Mr Yushchenko on his economic and foreign policies but had split over the problems left behind by Mr Kuchma such as powerful business groups and unsolved crimes.

Ms Tymoshenko warned westerners not to underestimate the strength of the reactionary forces in Kiev, represented by Mr Yanukovich, adding that democracy was still at risk and the risk was "not small".

For me and a lot of folks in Ukraine, the President should stay with the folks that brought him to the dance in the first place. Orange Juice with some pulp is far greater than being President but sitting on the outside of the power circle at the hands of your opponents.