"Tell me who your friend is..."
By Tetiana KOROBOVA, The Day
Everybody chooses his friends himself: be it Saddam Hussen, Ocalan, Milosevic,
or a gray wolf. For example, our President addressed Yasir Arafat as an
"good old friend." However, it seemed to some UTN viewers that Mr. Kuchma's
face clearly showed strenuous mental effort. This could, however, only
be a subjective reaction out of deep surprise: Ukraine has Israel and the
US as strategic partners, while the President of Ukraine, bearing the title
of the Knight of the Holy Sepulchre bestowed on him by Israel, has Mr.
Arafat as a friend!?
Leonid Kravchuk thus answered The Day's question: "I'll tell
you straight: I don't know the President's friends, both present and past.
He never tells me who his friends are. I'd rather tell you a joke. Two
men are talking about what politics is. They suggest various formulae and
argue. One of them says: "You don't know anything! Do you see a mosquito
on that tree? " "No, I don't," answers the other. "And do you see its proboscis?"
"No!" "So politics is even finer."
Ihor Ostash, replying to our question "What could it mean?," explains
to The Day's correspondent: "They must have identical viewpoints
on the development of the the international community, and they are people
who are ready to support each other in need."
Roman Zvarych laughed for some reason I could not fathom: "This means
our President is not aware of the world he lives in because he has not
looked at the calendar for a long time. Mr. Arafat, who has lived most
of his life outside the law, breaking all the standards of civilization,
who is responsible for lots of human lives claimed by the terrorist groups
he sponsored, then became a little respectable and suddenly turned out
to be the friend of a European head of state. This is very unwise on the
part of Mr. Kuchma. It only testifies to the level of... I'd better not
say what."
But Ihor Havrylov, on the contrary, was more serious: "If the President
says Arafat is his personal friend, why should he deceive people and say
he is not his friend? He only said the truth, that's all."
Dmytro Tabachnyk was very surprised: "I haven't heard this and so I
can't believe that, having worked five years to establish a strategic partnership
with the United States, the President of Ukraine may have Yasir Arafat
as an 'good old friend.' It is clear why 'old.' But if he is also 'good,'
this somewhat runs counter to all the basic provisions of Ukraine's multidirectional
policy."
Mykhailo Brodsky gave a totally unexpected version: "I think the situation
the President got in by proposing Boris Berezovsky as a CIS functionary
compels him to try to find a way out. For example, to show allegiance to
some anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli sentiments. But what arouses interest
is a different thing: what will the President say next time, for instance,
about Mr. Osyka whom he, as far as I know, recommended as CIS deputy executive
secretary. He came unstuck with Mr. Lazarenko and kissed the Communists.
He also came unstuck with Mr. Berezovsky and kissed Mr. Arafat. And I don't
know who he will kiss when he gets messed up with Mr. Osyka."
"I wish you were't laughing," said an informed source, "Mr. Arafat,
whose visit had not been planned, went to Kyiv from Moscow after a phone
call from Boris Yeltsin who had been discussing with Arafat some weapons
supply issues that could have been settled with Ukrainian participation."
The version seems absolutely incredible, so let Mr. Arafat remain a friend
of only Leonid Kuchma.







