Stefan, very briefly on my view about the Ukrainian Socialists:

Moroz is a very smart, calculating politician. The way he waited and bargained in 2004 seemed a bit too intense; I called him a slut then.

He made his career during the Soviet times, in the Communist party, and in many ways, he seems no different from people like Kravchuk on one side and Symonenko on the other. The country was called the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, and I'm not the only person here who treats Moroz with caution and/or is allergic because of his party's name alone.

If I pay high taxes, I want to be sure that there's decent healthcare, etc., and that my money didn't go into some worthless person's pocket - unfortunately, our Socialists do not seem too different from other crooks and from the way they were back in our gloriously Socialist Soviet times, so that's why I wouldn't trust them with my money or pay too much attention to their promises of making Europe out of Ukraine. Maybe in 20 years, when most of them are somewhat younger than I am, but not now and not anytime soon.

Ivan Bokiy, deputy head of the Socialist faction in Rada, produced a long, horribly written article in the #22 (March 2006) issue of their paper, Tovarishch ("Comrade," in Russian), in which he, in the first paragraph, was trying to prove that Yulia Tymoshenko was Jewish, not Latvian, because her father's name was Vladimir Abramovich - it's not pretty, and also, how do I know they aren't gonna re-introduce the natsionalnost line in our passports and start discriminating people accordingly if they come to power?

I have friends who voted for Moroz in previous elections - I don't understand their choice but I do respect it. One of our family members voted for Socialists for her district administration yesterday because they have painted and repaired their building's staircase - that kind of choice I understand and would've done the same. But I don't understand those who vote because they believe Moroz's promises or miss the Soviet past.