Orange alert: threats of violence

Same trick, different Soviet-era stooge. PM Yanukovych claims that "a real danger exists that after Dec. 26, Ukraine may be on the brink of a full-scale crisis." In other words, if the Ukrainians don't vote for me over my rival (the pro-Western, pro-NATO Yushchenko), then I'll try to make all hell break loose.

I recall similar threats by old-line commies in 1991 as the USSR broke up. Ceausescu said the same type of thing at his [show] trial in 1989 before he got whacked by his own army.

HT: Cap'n Ed.

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian "prosecutor general on Thursday launched a criminal case against the commission overseeing th[e] [November Presidential] vote on grounds of misuse of its powers and 'serious consequences, knowingly conducting the count incorrectly and knowingly announcing incorrect results.'" Nice.

And the dioxin that Yushchenko ingested is reputedly the most dangerous dioxin known -- a key ingredient in Agent Orange called TCDD. From the report:

Yushchenko, who faces Kremlin-backed Viktor Yanukovych in a repeat presidential election on Dec. 26, fell ill after having dinner with Ukrainian Security Service chief Ihor Smeshko and his deputy Volodymyr Satsyuk on Sept. 5.

Hmmm.

For a mild amusement, do you think that the pro-Yanukovych Ukrainian operatives who poisoned Yushchenko did so to make his face more like outgoing (corrupt SOB) president Leonid Kuchma? Check out this rendition of Kuchma from the WSJ: