I tried to flip this to CNN so they can use it in their next interview with
Stepen Cohen and his types (+Anderson Cooper in Kyiv), but the software on
my machine here at work is too archaic and crashes on their comment page.
Hopefully someone else has better luck than me..... :-(
On Wed, Mar 5, 2014 at 11:56 AM, Michael Kulyk <[email protected]>wrote:
>
>
> http://maidantranslations.com/2014/03/05/open-letter-of-ukrainian-jews-to-russian-federation-president-vladimir-putin/
>
> Open letter of Ukrainian Jews to Russian Federation President
> Vladimir Putin
>
> *To the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin*
>
> Mr. President!
>
> We are Jewish citizens of Ukraine: businessmen, managers, public figures,
> scientists and scholars, artists and musicians. We are addressing you on
> behalf of the multi-national people of Ukraine, Ukraine's national
> minorities, and on behalf of the Jewish community.
>
> You have stated that Russia wants to protect the rights of the
> Russian-speaking citizens of the Crimea and all of Ukraine and that these
> rights have been trampled by the current Ukrainian government.
> Historically, Ukrainian Jews are also mostly Russian-speaking. Thus, our
> opinion on what is happening carries no less weight than the opinion of
> those who advise and inform you.
>
> We are convinced that you are not easily fooled. This means that you must
> be consciously picking and choosing lies and slander from the entire body
> of information on Ukraine. And you know very well that Victor Yanukovich's
> statement used to describe the situation after the latest treaty had been
> signed - "...Kyiv is full of armed people who have begun to ransack
> buildings, places of worship, and churches. Innocent people are suffering.
> People are being robbed and killed in the streets..." - is simply a lie, from
> the first word to the very last.
>
> The Russian-speaking citizens of Ukraine are not being humiliated or
> discriminated against, their civil rights have not been infringed upon.
> Meanderings about "forced Ukrainization" and "bans on the Russian language"
> that have been so common in Russian media are on the heads of those who
> invented them. Your certainty about the growth of anti-Semitism in Ukraine,
> which you expressed at your press-conference, also does not correspond to
> the actual facts. Perhaps you got Ukraine confused with Russia, where
> Jewish organizations have noticed growth in anti-Semitic tendencies last
> year.
>
> Right now, after Ukraine has survived a difficult political crisis, many
> of us have wound up on different sides of the barricades. The Jews of
> Ukraine, as all ethnic groups, are not absolutely unified in their opinion
> towards what is happening in the country. But we live in a democratic
> country and can afford a difference of opinion.
>
> They have tried to scare us (and are continuing their attempts) with
> "Bandera followers" and "Fascists" attempting to wrest away the helm of
> Ukrainian society, with imminent Jewish pogroms. Yes, we are well aware
> that the political opposition and the forces of social protests who have
> secured changes for the better are made up of different groups. They
> include nationalistic groups, but even the most marginal do not dare show
> anti-Semitism or other xenophobic behavior. And we certainly know that our
> very few nationalists are well-controlled by civil society and the new
> Ukrainian government - which is more than can be said for the Russian
> neo-Nazis, who are encouraged by your security services.
>
> We have a great mutual understanding with the new government, and a
> partnership is in the works. There are quite a few national minority
> representatives in the Cabinet of Ministers: the Minister of Internal
> Affairs is Armenian, the Vice Prime Minister is a Jew, two ministers are
> Russian. The newly-appointed governors of Ukraine's region are also not
> exclusively Ukrainian.
>
> Unfortunately, we must admit that in recent days stability in our country
> has been threatened. And this threat is coming from the Russian government,
> namely - from you personally. It is your policy of inciting separatism and
> crude pressure placed on Ukraine that threatens us and all Ukrainian
> people, including those who live in Crimea and the Ukrainian South-East.
> South-eastern Ukrainians will soon see that for themselves.
>
> Vladimir Vladimirovich, we highly value your concern about the safety and
> rights of Ukrainian national minorities. But we do not wish to be
> "defended" by sundering Ukraine and annexing its territory. We decisively
> call for you not to intervene in internal Ukrainian affairs, to return the
> Russian armed forces to their normal fixed peacetime location, and to stop
> encouraging pro-Russian separatism.
>
> Vladimir Vladimirovich, we are quite capable of protecting our rights in a
> constructive dialogue and in cooperation with the government and civil
> society of a sovereign, democratic, and united Ukraine. We strongly urge
> you not to destabilize the situation in our country and to stop your
> attempts of delegitimizing the new Ukrainian government.
>
> Signed:
>
> *Josef Zisels* Chairman of the Association of Jewish Communities and
> Organizations of Ukraine (VAAD) Ukraine, Executive Vice President of the
> Congress of National Communities of Ukraine
>
> *Alexander Suslensky* D.Sc., Vice President of the Jewish Confederation
> of Ukraine, businessman
>
> *Andrei Adamovsky* First Vice President of the Jewish Confederation of
> Ukraine, member of the "Hillel" Jewish Student organization Observation
> Council (citizen of Russia)
>
> *Evgen Chervonenko* Vice President of the European Jewish Congress,
> businessman
>
> *Rabbi Alex Dukhovny* Head Rabbi of the Ukrainian Progressive Judaism
> communities
>
> *Rabbi Reuven Stamov* Head Rabbi of the Ukrainian Traditional Judaism
> communities
>
> *Alexander Paskhaver* Member of the VAAD Ukraine Coordation Council,
> economist
>
> *Leonid Finberg* Director of the NaUKMA Center for the Studies of History
> and Culture of Eastern European Jewry, VAAD Ukraine Vice Chairman
>
> *Anatoliy Podolsky* Director of the Ukrainian Center for Holocaust
> Studies, Vice Chairman of VAAD Ukraine
>
> *Igor Kuperberg* Chairman of the Zionist Federation of Ukraine, Vice
> Chairman of VAAD Ukraine
>
> *Semen Belman* Vice President of the Jewish Council of Ukraine, President
> of the Chernigiv Jewish Community
>
> *Alexander Gaidar* Leader of the Union of Ukrainian Progressive Judaism
> Religious Communities
>
> *Vyacheslav Likhachev* CNCU Chief expert in monitoring and analysing
> xenophobia and anti-Semitism, member of the VAAD Ukraine Coordination
> Council(citizen of Russia and Israel)
>
> *Michael Gold* Editor-in-chief of the VAAD Ukraine newspaper "Hadashot"
>
> *Galina Haraz* Engineer (citizen of Ukraine and Israel)
>
> *Igor Turov* PhD in history, Director of the Jewish Studies Certificate
> Program of VAAD Ukraine, VAAD Ukraine Presidium member
>
> *Diana Gold* VAAD Ukraine Presidium member
>
> *Alexander Roitburg* Artist
>
> *Evgen Greben* Director of the "Maccabi" Jewish Cultural and Sports
> Society (Kyiv)
>
> *Grigoriy Pickman* "B'nei B'rith Leopolis" President
>
> *Igor Kerez* VAAD Ukraine Trustee Board member, businessman
>
> (Signatures still being collected)
>
> *March 4, 2014*
>
>
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Tue Apr 01 2014 - 00:57:33 EST