Wednesday, November 24, 2004

Divine Irony?



Sometimes it looks like the supreme powers of this universe do have a sense of humor. Consider this:

The election commission said (Mr. X) won ...with a margin of almost three percentage points.
The commission had already indicated a win for (Mr.X), but exit poll results had put (Mr. Y) ahead.


And this:

The opposition says it has recorded thousands of voting irregularities in the poll, including a near 100% turnout in some pro-government strongholds.
Western election observers have reported mass violations, and world leaders have expressed concern.


It is funny in a very sad way that this is Ukraine, and that Mr. X is the Putin-favored candidate Viktor Yanukovych and not George Bush. The supporters of Mr. Y, Viktor Yushchenko, have gathered in tens of thousands to surround the election commission building in protest. In the United States, on the other hand, eighty percent of people believe that the U.S. elections were legitimate. Yet the situations can be described in almost identical terms. So I believe that we have been given an example of the Highest Divine Humor here.

And the funniest bit of the joke is here (bolded by me for emphasis):

The US and the European Commission had urged Ukraine not to announce the result before reviewing the contentious vote.


Heh.
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A Post-Script: Here's Colin Powell:
"We cannot accept this result as legitimate, because it does not meet international standards and because there has not been an investigation of the numerous and credible reports of fraud and abuse," Powell said.


LOL.