--- jthorn65 at sbcglobal.net wrote:
> >
> >
> > kelley
>
> I know nothing about Cossacks but if that's
> Photoshopped I'd like to
> meet the guy that did it.
Hmm, I see by looking at his bio that the guy's a 20-year KGB vet.
The hetman's mace (cue dirty joke) is an old Cossack/Ukrainian symbol for authority and power. The Cossies gave one to Yushchenko:
"Ukrainian President-elect Viktor Yushchenko holds up
a golden mace in Kiev, Saturday, Jan. 22, 2005. In a
colorful ceremony in downtown Kiev several hundreds of
Cossacks from Ukraine's south presented Yushchenko
with a golden mace, a symbol of Hetman's dignity.
Yushchenko swore an oath af allegiance to Cossack
brotherhood and Ukraine. (AP Photo/Sergei Chuzavkov)"
: http://wtop.com/index.php?sid=277951&nid=105
And here is Yushchenko with more Cossies: http://ww2.yuschenko.com.ua/eng/photo_print/?fid=431
Actually the Cossack nationalist heritage/identity thing was a big part of Yushchenko's campaign. This works in Ukraine where a huge percentage of the population can claim to be descended from Cossies, because it was an independent Cossie state at one point. That wouldn't work in Russia (or elsewhere Cossies live, like Kazakhstan), because no where in Russia are Cossies or people descended from them more than 30% of the population.
Nu, zayats, pogodi!
__________________________________ Discover Yahoo! Stay in touch with email, IM, photo sharing and more. Check it out! http://discover.yahoo.com/stayintouch.html