Subject: Joe Biden Urges Lawmakers in Ukraine to Fulfill Promise of Uprising - The New York Times
From: "Eric Schwerin" <[email-masked]>
To: "Hunter Biden" <[email-masked]>, "Devon Archer" <[email-masked]>, "Vadym Pozharskyi" <[email-masked]>, "Ryan Toohey" <[email-masked]>, "Sally Painter" <[email-masked]>, "Karen Tramontano" <[email-masked]>, "DAVID WADE" <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 8 Dec 2015 11:25:40 -0500

All:

Peter Baker’s NYT wrap up article from the VP’s trip is up and makes no mention of MK, Burisma or Hunter.  It would be odd to see Risen’s article run after the VP is wheels up.  But never can be sure.  Fingers crossed.

> http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/09/world/europe/joe-biden-ukraine.html?_r=0 <http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/09/world/europe/joe-biden-ukraine.html?_r=0>
> 
> Joe Biden Urges Lawmakers in Ukraine to Fulfill Promise of Uprising
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>                                
> Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. of the United States addressed the Ukrainian Parliament in Kiev on Tuesday from a lectern with a poster calling for the release of the Ukrainian pilot Nadiya V. Savchenko, who is being held in Russia. Sergei Supinsky/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
> KIEV, Ukraine — Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/joseph_r_jr_biden/index.html?inline=nyt-per> urged Ukrainian leaders on Tuesday to curb the power of the business moguls dominating society and to fulfill the promise of the popular revolution that pushed out a pro-Moscow government <http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/03/06/world/europe/russias-endgame-in-ukraine.html> last year.
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> Addressing the Ukrainian Parliament, Mr. Biden sternly lectured lawmakers to put aside their own self-interests and to transform this former Soviet republic into a model of democratic change.
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> Citing the failure of the Orange Revolution <http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/02/world/europe/power-behind-the-scenes-in-ukraine-crisis.html> of 2004 to deliver enduring change, the vice president urged Ukrainians not to let this opportunity slip by as well.
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> “This is your moment,” he told them. “This is your responsibility. Each of you, if you’ll forgive me for speaking to you this way in your body, each of you has an obligation to seize the opportunity that the sacrifices made in the Maidan, the sacrifices of the Heavenly Hundred. Each of you has an obligation to answer the call of history and finally build a united, democratic Ukrainian nation that can stand the test of time.”
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> Graphic
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> Russia’s Endgame in Ukraine
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> How Russia aims to achieve its goal of keeping Ukraine isolated from the West.
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> OPEN Graphic
>  <http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/03/06/world/europe/russias-endgame-in-ukraine.html>
> OPEN Graphic
> By invoking the memory of the roughly 100 protesters killed during protests in Maidan Square <http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/23/world/europe/ukraine-protests.html> last year, Mr. Biden hoped to infuse today’s legislative battles with the moral imperative of the uprising, which led to a pro-Western government. Many in Ukraine <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/ukraine/index.html?inline=nyt-geo> worry that the new leaders have become so paralyzed by their own power struggles <http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/18/world/europe/in-ukraine-corruption-concerns-linger-a-year-after-a-revolution.html> that they will squander the chance for change.
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> For Mr. Biden, who has made it his mission to nurse Ukraine through its transition, it was a classic performance from the lectern in the grand chamber of the Parliament, known here as the Rada. At times, he shouted at the lawmakers, gesturing sharply. At other points, he practically whispered. At still other moments, he wagged his finger.
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> Citing John Adams, Thomas Paine, Edmund Burke and Daniel Webster, Mr. Biden talked about the United States’ own struggles to build democracy. He also cited a quotation from an American politician he did not identify: “In your heart, you know it’s right,” he said. (The phrase is actually a variation of the slogan in an ad made for the Republican presidential candidate Barry Goldwater in 1964.)
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> But it was not clear whether Mr. Biden’s message really got through. Lawmakers, many listening to an interpreter through earphones, sat silently during the long lecture on corruption and applauded only when Mr. Biden assailed Russia for its intervention in Ukraine. The one standing ovation they gave Mr. Biden came when he said that Russia had infringed on Ukrainian sovereignty and that the United States would never recognize the annexation of Crimea <http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/19/world/europe/ukraine.html>.
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> “Russia has violated these ground rules and continues to violate them,” he said. “Today, Russia’s occupying sovereign Ukrainian territory. Let me be crystal clear: The United States does not, has not, never will recognize Russia’s attempt to annex Crimea.”
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> He added that he would tell the world about Nadiya V. Savchenko <http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/14/world/europe/no-deal-to-free-ukrainian-pilot-russia-says.html>, the Ukrainian helicopter pilot being held in Russia; her picture was displayed on a poster on the lectern from which Mr. Biden spoke, with the slogan, “Freedom for Nadiya Savchenko.”
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> And the vice president committed to keeping American sanctions on Russia until Moscow complies with a cease-fire brokered in Minsk <http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/13/world/europe/ukraine-talks-cease-fire.html>, Belarus. “There can be no sanctions relief unless and until Moscow meets all, all of its commitments under Minsk,” Mr. Biden said.
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> But his main message to the Ukrainians was, in effect, to get their house in order. The day before, he had suggested that many in Europe were waiting for Ukraine to fail so that they would have an excuse not to continue confronting Russia.
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> Mr. Biden specifically called for an overhaul of the office of prosecutor general, change in the energy sector, transparency about official sources of income, disclosure of conflicts between government responsibilities and business and other measures.
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> “If you fail, the experiment fails,” he said. “It’s no exaggeration to say the hopes of freedom-loving people the world over are with you.”
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Eric D. Schwerin
Rosemont Seneca Advisors, LLC
1010 Wisconsin Ave., NW
Suite 705
Washington, DC 20007
(202) 333-1880
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