Ukraine president President Viktor Yanukovych signed a deal with opposition leaders today committing to early elections and reducing some of the president's authority. Russia has not endorsed the deal, and many protesters want Yanukovych to resign. Andrew Kramer and Andrew Higgins, reporting in the New York Times:
In a further sign of the president's diminished influence, Parliament voted to allow the release of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who has been imprisoned for more than two years.
With all the discussion of whether the #Euromaidan protesters are acting on their own behalf or because they've been put up to it by foreign agents, it's worth revisiting an important story from last July. Buzzfeed reported on how the current ruling Ukrainian political party used fronts to pay bribes to American conservative bloggers who posted talking points about its campaign in a hotly contested election
An anonymous whistleblower has revealed that he was paid $500 to post favorable material about the Party of Regions — the dictatorial Ukrainian ruling party — during the last election. — Read the rest
In this video, Ukrainian riot police have stripped a protester naked in subzero conditions and are parading him in public before putting him in a police van. The protester is stoic in the face of humiliation.
Ukraine's dictatorship is revelling in its new, self-appointed dictatorial powers. The million-plus participants in the latest round of protests received a text-message from the government reading Dear subscriber, you are registered as a participant in a mass disturbance.
Despite the valiant efforts of the motley opposition in Ukraine, the tame Ukrainian Parliament has passed a brutal law that slides the country into full-on dictatorship. Forbidden under the new law on penalty of high fines and imprisonment: driving cars in columns that are more than five vehicles long; setting up an unauthorized sound system; distribution of "extremist opinion"; "mass disruptions" (10-15 years imprisonment!); — Read the rest
Ukrainian mask-maker Bob Basset made this grotesque mask depicting a baton smashing the wearer's face; it symbolizes political repression in Ukraine, and is being auctioned to benefit Hromadske.tv, a news outlet Basset calls "one of the last outposts" of "truly independent journalism" in Ukraine. — Read the rest
Bob Basset, my favorite Ukrainian fetish/steampunk leather-mask-maker (admittedly, not a very wide field!) celebrated Christmas by posting this great "Streamline Moto Mask" with removable mouth-guard and goggles. Happy Christmas Sergei, and here's hoping you and your loved ones are safe in this time of upheaval in Ukraine. — Read the rest
Ariel Maidana has produced a Spanish fan-translation of Printcrime, the short-short story that opens my latest collection, Overclocked. Like all the stories in that book, Printcrime is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license that encourages readers to play with, remix and adapt the text. — Read the rest
