Wait...Viktor Yanukovych?

On Monday of this week, soundly defeated presidential candidate and former PM of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych actually called for fair elections come spring 2006 in the parliamentary race.

Look, I know outside of Ukraine most Westerners maybe knew of Chornobyl when you mentioned the country to them. I understand…I used to be one of those folks. But, from what I've seen and heard, the rest of the planet discovered the breadbasket of the former USSR a year ago during our Orange Revolution.

Ukrainians became recognized the world over for their little citrus uprising and it meant something.

Corruption (in the form of one very portly dirty official from Donetsk) had been defeated. Justice won out, Viktor Yushchenko was declared the rightful winner on an unprecedented third ballot (being that the first two were complete shite) and all was right with the world.

Hell, we couldn't even get the right guy in there in the good ole U.S. of A. Pretty damned impressive for what could be (and is in many circles) called a backwater, Eastern European banana republic.

Fast forward nearly a year and the Yushchenko presidency has had its fair share of problems.

None bigger than the split between the revolution’s heart, Yushchenko, and its belly fire and mouth in the form of the spitfire loved by the West….Yulia Tymoshenko.

Problems? Yes. But progress at the same time.

Progress that has seen Ukraine’s citizens finally begin to enjoy the emergence of an ever growing middle class that has so long eluded this country; not to mention a truly free media that can now ask the hard questions and not fear being beheaded and left to rot in the forest for simply speaking the truth.

But when it comes to that same truth, Yanukovych wouldn’t know it if it walked right up to him and kissed him square on the mouth.

When he actually has the balls to say "In the spring of 2006 we must elect a parliament capable of saving us from the coming catastrophe. What is needed for that is to spare the country falsifications - the basic construction material of this past year's drama," I’ve just got to run screaming "BULLSHIT!!!" from Mount Hoverla to Luhansk, from Crimea to Chernihiv.

This is the same man who nearly pulled the wool over the entire country’s eyes and found his way into the big chair (with more than a little help from Mr. Putin next door, of course).

The really scary thing is impatience around the country is giving this guy and his Regions Party ground in the polls.

i got a heart full of black.