WEEKLY ROUNDUP 

The British, German, and US ambassadors paid a working visit to Ukraine's gateway to the sea, Odesa. Of course, Sea Breeze 1998 was the main reason, but the German envoy, Herr Eberhard Heyken, considered taking part in the Days of German Culture and meeting with German businessmen no less important. The businessmen were in Odesa to consider the possibility of renovating the air terminal after completing work at Boryspil.

Alas, the German Ambassador's business meeting never took place as early as October 26 the Chornomorets special train carrying the diplomat and his entourage was stopped by 500 pensioners picketing the approaches to the Vapniarka Station. Stewards explained to the passengers that the elderly were protesting half a year in back pensions from the authorities.

"They made war and labor veterans desperate in Tomashpilsky district," said deputy Odesa railroad chief Shpak. "Some of them cannot even afford a fresh loaf of bread. And their 36-hour picketing costs the state half a million hryvnias, including Hr 106,000 lost by foreign freight owners."

One can only wonder about the explosive situation that has developed, and not only because of this episode. Early last week there were three such mass picketings. First, at the border Mykhailivsky Khutir Station (Sumy oblast), the next day in the center of Vinnytsia oblast, and the following day in the Crimea. Now it is Odesa's turn. Railroads and highways are picketed in despair, for people do not see any other way to make the rich and the famous aware of their perils.

A noteworthy detail: Ukrainian ranking officials make sure foreign visitors voice their "positive impressions of the government's reform" and where and whenever possible come not empty-handed but with sizable shipments of humanitarian aid. Last week was no exception as Sea Breeze 1998 participants arrived with medications, equipment, computers, and clothes for sanitarium personnel, collected by charitable foundations and delivered to military bases. In addition, Sea Breeze was financed not by Ukraine, but by a friendly country. Small wonder that an outsider finds it hard to comprehend the Ukrainian "harmony" of "all-embracing reform" and living on humanitarian aid.