The governing coalition in Ukraine collapsed yesterday in a crisis brought on by Russia’s war with Georgia, raising the prospect of the country being knocked off its pro-Western course.
“I officially announce the collapse of the coalition of democratic forces,” parliament speaker Arseny Yatsenyuk told lawmakers.
“I would not call this an apocalypse. It is a challenge for democracy, but I hope we will overcome this challenge together,” he said.
Less than four years after Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko and Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko joined together in the “Orange Revolution” against a Moscow-backed presidential candidate, their political marriage lies in tatters.
Tensions between them came to a head last month following Russia’s war with Georgia, with Yushchenko’s allies accusing Tymoshenko of “high treason” for not supporting Georgia enough. Tymoshenko rejected the charge, saying she is no Kremlin ally.
Meanwhile, European officials have warned Ukraine could be the next target for interference by Russia because of the high proportion of Russian-speakers and tensions over Russia’s Black Sea fleet, based in southern Ukraine.
Yushchenko is now expected to resign and start trying to build a new coalition, possibly with the pro-Russian Regions Party, which is led by Orange Revolution loser and former prime minister Viktor Yanukovych.
Tymoshenko is expected to continue functioning as prime minister until the formation of a new Cabinet, which must happen within 30 days. After that date, Yushchenko can call new elections.
The political crisis began when Yushchenko pulled his Our Ukraine party out of the coalition on Sept. 3 after Tymoshenko sided with the pro-Moscow opposition to pass new laws trimming the president’s powers.
Yushchenko bitterly described the vote against him as a bid by Tymoshenko to establish a “dictatorship” and complained of a parliamentary “coup.”
Tymoshenko in turn accused the president of having “destroyed” the governing coalition by pulling out of the alliance with her party.
Fresh parliamentary elections would be the third such vote in two years for Ukraine.
Tymoshenko and Yushchenko were the icons of the 2004 Orange Revolution and have each been considered Western-leaning politicians despite persistent and sharp disagreements on domestic issues.
The political crisis comes ahead of a key presidential election due next year or in 2010, which is expected to pit Yushchenko against both Tymoshenko and Yanukovych and will be closely watched in Western capitals. The crisis has also set back Ukraine’s NATO and EU aspirations.
ACTIONABLE ADVICE: The majority of chatbots tested provided guidance on weapons, tactics and target selections, with Perplexity and Meta AI deemed to be the least safe From school shootings to synagogue bombings, leading artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots helped researchers plot violent attacks, according to a study published on Wednesday that highlighted the technology’s potential for real-world harm. Researchers from the nonprofit watchdog Center for Countering Digital Hate and CNN posed as 13-year-old boys in the US and Ireland to test 10 chatbots, including ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Perplexity, Deepseek and Meta AI. Eight of the chatbots assisted the make-believe attackers in more than half the responses, providing advice on “locations to target” and “weapons to use” in an attack, the study said. The chatbots had become a “powerful accelerant for
Australians were downloading virtual private networks (VPNs) in droves, while one of the world’s largest porn distributors said it was blocking users from its platforms as the country yesterday rolled out sweeping online age restriction. Australia in December became the first country to impose a nationwide ban on teenagers using social media. A separate law now requires artificial intelligence (AI)-powered chatbot services to keep certain content — including pornography, extreme violence and self-harm and eating disorder material — from minors or face fines of up to A$49.5 million (US$34.6 million). The country also joined Britain, France and dozens of US states requiring
Since the war in the Middle East began nearly two weeks ago, the telephone at Ron Hubbard’s bomb shelter company in Texas has not stopped ringing. Foreign and US clients are rushing to buy his bunkers, seeking refuge in case of air raids, nuclear fallout or apocalypse. With the US and Israel pounding Iran, and Tehran retaliating with strikes across the region, Hubbard has seen demand for his product soar, mostly from Gulf nation customers in Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates. “You can imagine how many people are thinking: ‘I wish I had a bomb shelter,’” Hubbard, 63, said in
STILL IN POWER: US intelligence reports showed that the Iranian regime is not in danger of collapse and retains control of the public, casting doubt on Trump’s exit Nearly every US Senate Democrat on Wednesday signed a letter sent to US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth requesting a “swift investigation” of airstrikes on a girls’ school in Iran that killed scores of children and any other potential US military actions causing civilian harm. Reuters reported on Thursday last week that US military investigators believe it is likely that US forces were responsible for the Feb. 28 strike on the school, as US and Israeli forces launched attacks on Iran. “The results of this school attack are horrific. The majority of those killed in the strikes were girls between the ages
RSS