Embezzling Ukrainian Pastor Invites Obama to Church Celebration

“In celebration of the 15th anniversary of the Church «The Embassy of God», we invited the President of Ukraine Victor Yushchenko, President of the USA Barack Obama, Prime Minister of Ukraine Yulia Tymoshenko, Kiev Mayor Leonid Chernovetsky and the Party of Regions leader Viktor Yanukovych.”
Sunday Adelaja, pastor of the church “The Embassy of God”

Pastor [...]

70th Anniversary of Carpatho-Ukraine

President Yushchenko was in Chust the other day, observing the 70th anniversary of the founding of Carpatho-Ukraine. This was a short-lived federation created in the Carpathian Mountains on the eve of World War II. For this post, I’m including excerpts from an unpublished article I’ve written on Ukraine and Ukrainian-Americans during WWII. [...]

Update on the Ternopil elections in Ukraine

Veronica Khokhlova, probably the best blogger covering Ukraine today, has an after-action review of the Ternopil elections. The final results are just as bleak for Yulia Tymoshenko as the initial count appeared to be:
“Tyahnybok’s Svoboda won the election (34.69%, 153,038 votes, 50 seats out of 120), presidential chief of staff Victor Baloha’s United [...]

Tymoshenko and Yushchenko meet in Brussels

Both Tymoshenko and Yushchenko were recently in Brussels for the yearly summit of the European People’s Party (EPP). The EPP is a transnational political coalition comprising parties from both inside and outside the European Union.
As you likely know, the former Orange Revolution allies have now become political opponents, permanently fracturing the orange coalition. [...]

Yushchenko calls for rehabilitation of Hetman Mazeppa

During a visit to the home village of Hetman Mazepa today, Yushchenko called for the rehabilitation of the historic Cossack leader’s reputation.
The legacy of Hetman Mazepa has always been controversial, with Ukrainians and Russians dividing strongly over the issue. In Russian mythology, Mazepa was a terrible villain — a betrayer of his rightful [...]

Medvedchuk to run for President of Ukraine?

Viktor Medvedchuk is not one of my favorite people. Back in the pre-Yushchenko days, he was basically Darth Vader to President Kuchma’s evil Emperor. It was Viktor Medvedchuk who censored and controlled public opinion, distributing Soviet-style temniki talking points to the media. Members of his political party, the SDPU(o) are making [...]

Ukrainian megachurch pastor finally taken down

Anyone moving in Ukrainian religious circles knows the name Sandea “Sunday” Adelaja. He’s the pastor of the largest Protestant church in Ukraine, the Embassy of God, which claims over fifty thousand members. If you tell someone in Kiev that you’re an Evangelical, they’re apt to respond, “You’re a Sunday-ist?” Many, many people have come [...]

Tymoshenko loses support in Ternopil

This can’t bode well for the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc — in local elections, the queen is pulling only 8% in a region that once heavily supported her. Even the Party of Regions, an eastern Ukrainian party, garnered 11%.

Ukrainian political party Svoboda is posting election results as they come in.
Crossposted from Ukrainian Policy Daily

The great Ukrainian bride-hunt

Bride hunters are always easy to recognize in Kiev. They don’t have the polish of a Western businessman or the cheeriness of a missionary. Instead, they seem keyed-up, restless, and vaguely sheepish about their task. They know the whole business is seemy, but the allure of Ukrainian women is too strong. And who [...]

Naftogaz $4 billion dollars in debt

Ukraine’s state-run energy corporation, Naftogaz, is four billion dollars in the red. This in a country whose entire national budget is something like ten billion. $3.5B of this money is due by the end of the year — a challenging prospect at this point.
Speaking of gas and energy, here’s an analysis from Harvard [...]