“Well,” he said at length. “You have an overseas mission coming up. The president is going to Ukraine,” he said. “Official state visit. Arriving February fifteenth.”
She glanced at a calendar. It was January seventh. The trip was five weeks and two days away.
Cerny kept talking. He was, he explained immodestly, an expert on Ukraine, having done two tours in the capital, Kiev, and one in Washington on the Kiev desk, the office that handled Ukraine.
“I’m not an expert on that part of the world,” she said. “The Ukraine.”
“I suppose then, that’s where we should start,” he said, “with terminology. They don’t call it that with the definite article any more,” he said, his tone almost professorial. “Let’s backtrack a little. In English, the country was formerly usually referred to with the definite article.
“Thanks for the tip,” she said.
“Don’t mention it. The modern name of the country is derived from the term ukraina in the sense of ‘borderland, frontier region, or marches,’ ” he said. “Not that you care, but these meanings can be derived from the Proto-Slavic root
“The Russian word
“Your language skills are the major reason you’re here,” he said.
She sipped some water.
“But why do I make the point?” he asked. “Because Ukraine has always been exactly that. A border district. A frontier. A dangerous unruly place. Europe ends there and Asia begins. Asia begins there and Europe ends. One could put forth the theory that civilization sometimes ends there and chaos begins.”
Alex smiled. Cerny was coming across as a windbag, but at least he was an entertaining and knowledgeable windbag.
“Now,” he continued, “I’m not so dumb as to think that you don’t pick up rumors within the government, same as everyone else,” he said. “Particularly with a fiance who is employed by the Secret Service. So you probably knew already about the visit.”
“I’d heard a few rumors,” she admitted.
“Of course you have,” he said. “In any event, the intent of the trip is to bolster the pro-Western regime elected in the pomaranchevya revolutsia, the ‘Orange Revolution’ of 2004 and 2005. A secondary intent is for the president to look good here at home. We should get a good reception there.” He switched gears again. “I also note in your c.v. that you’re a member of a Christian church.”
“That’s a private matter, but yes, I am.”
“Then this should appeal to you. The Orange Revolution was widely supported by the Christian churches of the region.”
“Fine, but it’s not just a Christian thing,” she said. “Anything that threw off the old-style Soviet way of doing things would have its appeal to any fair-minded people, wouldn’t it? Religious freedom is for everyone, or did I misread the Constitution?”
“Point well taken,” he allowed. “You’re rather a live wire, aren’t you?”
“I like to believe in what I’m doing, particularly if I’m doing it for my country. I might be a little strange in that respect.”
“I can respect that,” he said. “So let me refresh your memory on events from southeastern Europe from the past few years. The Orange Revolution.”
Cerny spoke without notes. Alex listened intently, matching Cerny’s official account of events with what she remembered from the news.
The Orange Revolution was a series of protests and political events in Ukraine from November 2004 to January 2005, in the immediate aftermath of the run-off vote of the 2004 Ukrainian presidential election.
The 2004 presidential election in Ukraine had featured two main candidates. One was sitting Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, supported by Leonid Kuchma, the outgoing president. The opposition candidate was Viktor Yushchenko, leader of the Our Ukraine faction in the Ukrainian parliament, also a former prime minister.
The election, which Cerny had observed personally, was held in a highly charged atmosphere, with Yanukovych and the outgoing president’s administration using their control of the government for intimidation of Yushchenko and his supporters. In September 2004 Yushchenko suffered dioxin poisoning under mysterious circumstances. While he survived and returned to the campaign trail, the poisoning undermined his health and altered his appearance dramatically.
“To this day, Yushchenko’s face remains disfigured,” Cerny added without emotion. Orange, he continued, was originally adopted by the Viktor Yushchenko’s insurgent camp as the signifying color of his election campaign. “Later the color gave name to an entire series of political terms, such as the Oranges for his supporters. When the mass protests grew, and especially when they brought about political change in the country, the term
Protests began on the eve of the second round of voting, Cerny remembered, as the official count differed markedly from exit-poll results. The latter gave Viktor Yushchenko an eleven percent lead, while official results gave the election win to Yanukovych by three percent.
Yanukovych’s supporters claimed that Yushchenko’s connections to the anti-incumbent Ukrainian media explained this disparity. But the Yushchenko team publicized evidence of many incidents of electoral fraud in favor of the government-backed Yanukovych, events witnessed by many local and foreign observers.
The Yushchenko campaign publicly called for protest on the dawn of election day, November 21, 2004, when allegations of fraud began to spread. Beginning on November 22, 2004, massive protests started in cities across Ukraine. The largest, in Kiev’s Maidan Nezalezhnosti, Independence Square, attracted a half million participants, who on November 23, 2004, peacefully marched in front of the headquarters of the Verkhovna Rada, the Ukrainian parliament, many wearing orange or carrying orange flags, the color of Yushchenko’s campaign coalition.
“I remember them chanting, hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians filling Kiev’s Independence Square on the evening of November 22. ‘Razom nas bahato! Nas ne podolaty!’ ‘Together we are many. We cannot be defeated.’ ”
Emerging from a sea of orange, the mantra signaled the rise of a skilled political opposition group and a determined middle class that had come together to stop the ruling elite from falsifying an election and hijacking Ukraine’s presidency.
The Ukrainian capital, Kiev, was the focal point with thousands of protesters demonstrating daily. Nationwide, the democratic revolution was highlighted by a series of acts of civil disobedience, sit-ins, and general strikes organized by the opposition movement.
Over the next seventeen days, through harsh cold and sleet, millions of Ukrainians staged nationwide nonviolent protests. The entire world watched, riveted by this outpouring of the people’s will in a country whose international image had been warped by its corrupt rulers. The nationwide protests succeeded when the results of the original run-off were annulled, and a revote was ordered by Ukraine’s Supreme Court.
Under intense scrutiny by domestic and international observers, the second run-off was declared to be “fair and free.” The final results showed a clear victory for Yushchenko. Yushchenko was declared the official winner and with his inauguration on January 23, 2005, in Kiev, the Orange Revolution had peacefully reached its successful conclusion. Similarly, by the time Yushchenko’s victory was announced, the Orange Revolution had set a major new landmark in the post-communist history of Eastern Europe, a seismic shift westward in the geopolitics of the region.
“Now, in terms of an impending presidential visit, particularly with a new president in office, normally we have a bigger planning stage. But the president is adamant. Political statement, diplomatic statement. All the usual bull. It means we have the normal three months of preparation and only one month to do it.”
“How do I fit in?” she asked.
“Rather perfectly,” he answered. “Your c.v. is very impressive,” he said. “You should see some of the people I’ve had to prep. Dumb as doorknobs would be both an understatement, as well as an insult to the world of doorknobs.” He paused. “So. Would you be willing to accept a temporary assignment to Ukraine?”
She sighed. “Only if you talk me into it,” she said.
