US Criticizes Ukraine for Election Fraud: LOL

Yesterday (11/22) the US threatened to review its relationship with Ukraine and to take punitive steps if the Ukrainian government fails to investigate allegations of fraud and abuse in its presidential election.

More than 100,000 Ukrainians took to the streets to protest the election. They believe it was stolen by backers of PM Viktor Yanukovich, the Moscow-backed candidate who defeated his liberal rival Viktor Yushchenko.

"The United States is deeply concerned over the elections in Ukraine," State Department spokesman Adam Ereli told reporters. "We call on the Ukrainian authorities to curb additional abuse and fraud, to uphold its international commitments to democracy and human rights and to act to ensure an outcome that reflects the will of the Ukrainian people.

"Should, in the final analysis, this election prove to be fundamentally flawed and tarnished, we would certainly need to review our relations with the Ukraine and consider further steps against individuals who had engaged in fraud," he added.

Excuse me! Should we be threatening anyone about fraudulent elections? It seems we're not in the best of positions to be taking a holier-than-thou stance here.

A US official who did not want to be named (no surprise there) said Washington could cut back on economic aid to Ukraine, reduce military assistance, freeze the assets of people who engaged in fraud or ban them from receiving US visas.

I find it almost laughable that the US government is willing to rise up in holy indignation about this while our own election still hangs in limbo in many places and appears to have been anything but above board. Its legitimacy is definitely in question in the minds of thousands of Americans.

But then, we do not hold ourselves to the same high standard as we demand of everyone else on the planet. And this will not change as long as George Bush sits in the White House.

[Click on blog title to read the article that inspired this blog post.]