Is Ukraine about to explode?

Well done with the math, but you're switching the subject on me.

Which country are you speaking of, sorry? I do not recall any wars over language status

The reason the law exists is to promote the language without actually discriminating against anyone.

 

No, I am not. The subject is the language and discrimination on the basis of it, not the Stalinicity of Kuchma and Yanukovich or the Hitleriscoisness (or even Petlyurafulness) of Yushchenko. THAT is my Point 3. We are still discussing Point 2, right?
I am making a well-justified point ("Point 2") that when 45% of the country use a language other than the only official one as their primary language, it's a good idea to recognize it as a second official language.
It doesn't matter how many times a person needs to fill out a form (and, by the way, you GREATLY, GREATLY underestimate the amount of times an average Sovok needs to do it and the impact it has on his/her/its life), it doesn't matter whether they can get the gist of what is spoken around them in casual Ukrainian, it is simply the matter of recognizing their rights to live comfortably within their own cultural context.
And when you are talking about half the country, this is not simply an extravagant request by a radical minority.

That would be Transnistria. And before you try to deny the reasons for that little slice of unpleasantness, let me point out that I was there from the very beginning and know exactly how big a part the language issue was.

What law? The law recognizing Ukrainian and Ukrainian only as the official language of the coutnry? Despite the fact that half the population considers Russian as their native language?

 

Where was their request and their fight for the right for, now, 13 years of independent Ukraine (and Ukrainian as the only official language), with their candidate in power?

Now THAT explains why you are so passionate about the issue. I don't know much about Moldova's long civil war (what's the status now, btw?) except that as you say language was a big part of it. Not knowing the facts there, I would simply guess that there was more to the tensions there than which language the forms were written in.

Yes, that law.

 

Irrelevant. Didn't hear much from the Ukies when Khrushchev was stomping the Kremlin floors.
They are making the request now, they have that right.
And I am yet to hear a single good reason to deny them.

The forms are a very small part of it. People tend to get very passionate about the issue of their culture.

Bad law. Bad.

 

Emm it's been there since 1991.

 

What does Khruschev have to with it?

And there is NO rational reason whatsoever to think that the culture of the Donetsk region will be threatened by the Yuschenko administration.

Okay then.

 

Because before they had no reason to think that a "Ukranian only" policy might be actually instituted. Duh.

 

p.s. it's not irrelevant that this has not been an issue for 13 years. It points squarely to the fact that the issue is just a political tool of the Kuchma brigade.

 

You are cunningly avoiding the real issue. I may just as well ask you the opposite: If this really isn't much of a problem, why is Yushchenko opposed to the idea? There ARE NO GOOD REASONS to deny Russian an official status and this certainly would've played well in the East.
After all, compromising on this may have actually meant the difference for him between this mess and a landslide victory that no amount of cheating would ever overcome.
But this, of course, may have alienated the radical Western base for whom the whole issue is driven by hatred.
You are trying to downplay the whole thing as if there aren't any people in Donetsk and Lugansk right now protesting. And most of their slogans are written in Russian. You are denying the obvious.

 

As much as Kuchma.
He wore the embroidered shirt, he spoke Ukrainian frequently, yet now you claim that you were oppressed. Well then, why didn't you rise up in arms back circa 1961?

Do you see now how ridiculous your argument is?

 

Most issues in any elections are political tools. On all sides. And in Ukraine especially.
Doesn't change the simple fact: this is what people want and denying them that is wrong.

 

You are out in the left field now. You do realize the price of "rising up" against USSR?

And you also realize that Kuchma is in power NOW, and that Yanukovich is his direct successor?

And that the law has been on the books the entire time, with no evidence at all of its oppressive powers -- but with ample evidence of the renaissance of the Ukrainian language?

 

The Khrushchev comparison is simply to illustrate the silliness of your line of argumentation. The "Where were you then?" crap. I am sorry, but it IS crap.
They are there now. Ignoring them is not wise.

And your portrayal of Kuchma as a Moscow-loving retroguard are a bit inacurate, to say the least. After all, it was him who first mentioned Ukraine's entrance into NATO, and it was under him that the Makhno and Bandera monuments went up and the Ukrainian-exclusive law was passed.
His current alignment with Putin has nothing to do with the concerns of the Russian-speaking population and everything to do with the concerns of Leonid Kuchma.

As for the Ukrainian language, it can easily be renaissansed with Russian on equal terms. Seeing that the population split is about even and all.

 

And I will reiterate, just in case:

Why is Yushchenko opposed to the idea? Nobody is proposing a switch. Russian would simply be added as a second language, which would much, much, much, much better reflect the ethnic and linguistic makeup of the country.
Would this be oppressive in any way to anyone? Yet, there you are.

Please, don't tell me that hatred in the West has nothing to do with this. You will insult my intelligence.

 

THEN? The Yanukovich party is in power NOW!

Kuchma and his junta are in the business of making money while keeping hold of power. Thus they will play it both ways, sending troops to Iraq, for example -- and now the junta is even offering to send in more troops to try to bribe the Americans into supporing them in the current crisis. Their other trick is to paint the Western Ukrainians in scary fascist colors -- even though, as you say, it was Kuchma who has presided quietly over the official language law for the last decade. Once again, it is a harmless law that has oppressed no one.

Overcoming 200+ years of forced cultural subordination isn't that easy. In Ukraine, unlike in Latvia or Moldova, they do it peacefully and without discrimination or oppression.

 

So, if Yuschenko had come out and said (and it's not too late for him to do it now) that he supports Russian as second language, the whole East would immediately vote for him? Okay great, let's make that wild assumption. Now with that in mind, would the West then vote for Kuchma? Of course not. So, adding up our numbers, why again would Yuschenko be scared of "upsetting his base" -- supposedly the xenophobes running around in Lviv?