Jesus, 1985 rolled around and everybody was putting on their national costume. Latest news from Ukraine, badly translated: (http://www.kozatstvo.org.ua/news/040605_e.php)
(BTW it's a testamony to the cluelessness of people like John Laughland that they didn't use Yushchenko's Cossack rhetoric in their anti-Orange Revolution diatribes, since "Cossack" is somewhere close to "Nazi" in the self-referential minds of many Westerners. I doubt JL even knew about this. (The friggin' Cossack Host? It's a propaganda cold mine.):
Victor Yushchenko is Hetman of Ukraine!
At the Constituent Assembly of the Coordinating Council of the Ukrainian Cossacks which was held on the island Hortitsa in Zaporozhje, the President of Ukraine Victor Yushchenko was elected Hetman of Ukraine.
Appealing to the Cossacks who came to the land which is sacred for every Ukrainian, Victor Andreevich said, "We have come to the island which many hundreds of years ago was walked by a number of the Yushchenkos. We have come here to worship their memory. I am convinced that they thought about how to have their own state, how to defend it, how to reach well-being and mutual understanding." The head of the state noted that he was very happy to stay with his family" in such a glorious Cossacks surrounding on the sacred land." He also underlined that it was with great excitement that he had come to Hortitsa taking with him his son Taras and his daughters Sofijka and Christinka. "It was predestined for this island to become the cradle of the Ukrainian Cossacks," the President noted.
Since this moment it has also become the cradle of the new Cossacks movement which has been regenerated after Ukraine gained independence. For more than ten years modern Cossacks have been developing in several directions and they are represented by tens of All-Ukrainian and regional Cossacks organizations. At the Constituent Assembly of the Coordinating Council of the Ukrainian Cossacks in Hortitsa leaders of all the registered Cossacks units declared their desire to unite in order to create independent and happy Ukraine by coordinating their efforts.
President Yushchenko was elected Hetman of Ukraine being among a great number of Cossacks and many of our compatriots who came that day from many regions of our country. Leaders of the Cossacks organizations presented V.Yushchenko the Universals of recognizing him as Hetman of Ukraine. They took their oath to serve Ukraine and the Cossacks truly and faithfully, not sparing their efforts.
Ardzhevitin Stanislav Mihailovich has been appointed Secretary of the Coordinating Council of the Ukrainian Cossacks. In his speech on the island Hortitsa he declared ,"According to the fact that the brand " Ukrainian Cossacks" will belong to all the Cossack units of Ukraine, the decision has been taken to change the name of the International social organization "Ukrainian Cossacks" (ISO UC) to ISO "Ukrainian Original Free Cossacks". A citizen of Ternopol Vardyntsya Igor Stepanovich has been elected Ataman-in-chief of this organization.
The Ukrainian Registered Cossacks are the leading force of the Ukrainian Cossacks movement. It numbers more than 40 thousand of Cossacks who have done a lot of good and useful things. On behalf of the Ukrainian Registered Cossack Hetman of the URC Anatoli Shevchenko presented V.Yushchenko a young horse Orlik, according to an ancient Cossacks tradition. A.Shevchenko proposed to elect the Prime-Minister of Ukraine Yuliya Timoshenko the Bereginya of Ukraine.
Victor Yushchenko noted that now the Cossacks should have become defenders of the honor and they had to show an example of loyal service for Ukraine and its people.
The head of the state announced that he had signed the Decree on Creation a Consultative Organ at the President of Ukraine. He stated that in the nearest future there would be developed the National Program of Development of the Ukrainian Cossacks and the Law on Cossacks would be adopted.
In Hortitsa Victor Yushchenko visited the Museum of the Cossacks of Zaporozhje, the national Reservation "Hortitsa" where he familiarized himself with the project of construction and development of a historic and cultural complex "Zaporozhskaya Sech". He also walked along the Taras Path and was shown the Cossacks Chajka of the XVII century.
http://www.kozatstvo.org.ua/news/040605_e.php
Nu, zayats, pogodi!
__________________________________ Discover Yahoo! Get on-the-go sports scores, stock quotes, news and more. Check it out! http://discover.yahoo.com/mobile.html