The "united opposition," whose formation was announced on February 22 by Taras Chornovil, Natalia Vitrenko, and Dmytro Korchynsky, has already been dubbed the "three little pigs" by "orange" websites. One can laugh and take the joint appearance of these odious figures on television screens lightly. But one should not forget that this ambitious political bid was made, first, by the most well-publicized public figures of the "white-and-blue" political camp; second, by people who actively proclaim slogans beneficial to Russia; and, third, who undoubtedly have had access to sources of serious financial infusions lately.

The question arises: who is fattening up these little pigs, and why. After all, it is not excluded that in a year, right around the elections, three gigantic swine will be slipped to the Ukrainian people.

The ChVK bloc appeared at a very opportune time. The mistakes of the new government and the tarnished reputation of some of its personnel cause great disappointment among the public and create an excellent breeding ground for the "new opposition." "PORA!" is in no hurry to go into opposition. After all, it is hard to part with a recent ally, especially when he is among the victors...

There is some truth to the point of view that pro-Western civic organizations will be very reluctant to touch a pro-Western president, fearing the loss of support from international donors. Everyone saw how in a matter of days a grant-giver liquidated "Hromadske Radio." Which is stronger: the fear of being left without work, or all those ethical codes and standards of balanced journalism that already take root poorly on the poor Ukrainian black soil? And one cannot go into opposition with fear; one must push forward brazenly and say everything one thinks, even exaggerate.

The current government is far from flawless, so tomorrow one will already be able to see an opposition to it. This is natural and expected. Society already needs an opposition to Yushchenko. "PORA!" understands this perfectly and is beginning to actively criticize the president—so far, for issuing secret decrees. This is the first step, and from its consequences it will be clear what support this civic campaign can count on.

But meanwhile, as conscientious citizens begin to stir, the ChVK bloc has already presented a loud opposition show, encouraged by financial infusions from abroad. Taras Chornovil is so confident in the leadership primacy of the "united opposition" that he has already managed to invite "Pora" into its ranks.

A burning NATO banner against the backdrop of Brotherhood flags on Bankova Street. In the background—the House with Chimeras. Photo by Anna Andriievska

But the most interesting thing in light of the totalitarian transformations in Russia is the demonstrative flirtation with Korchynsky, the "leader of the Orthodox jihad," who openly laughs at any attempts at rational political thinking and demands from his supporters blind and disciplined faith in his own person, not to mention the natural consequence of such faith—absolute loyalty.

As a leader and authority in white robes, he is a natural ideological partner for Russian ultra-patriots. His visit to Moscow on February 16, meetings with the highest hierarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church and with the "national-Bolshevik" Limonov, and his election to the political council of the International Eurasian Movement testify to the emergence in Ukrainian politics of a clearly expressed and ambitious agent of Russian influence who easily wins the sympathies of young people.

Photo by Anna Andriievska

On the website www.evrazia.org anyone can learn about Korchynsky's idea of creating "Eurasian non-governmental organizations." That is—to use the scheme of supporting political radicals through NGOs, which was actively applied in Ukraine by pro-Western donors.

In the office of the "political party 'Brotherhood'" a young man with an object resembling a carbine stands guard. It is unlikely that this device shoots, but the influx of "juvenile delinquents" to the Brotherhood testifies to the shameful success of Korchynsky's hooligan (as for a politician) rhetoric.

In his opinion, no power can be controlled, so Yushchenko must be overthrown by force. Since for now no one is financing the forceful plan of the Eurasian revolution ("Orthodox jihad"), he modestly limits himself to the role of a bouncer, field commander, and youth leader of the "united opposition" and openly offers his "brotherhood members" as guards for the property and events of the ChVK bloc. Meanwhile, Vitrenko at a joint press conference regrets that her rallies were not guarded by brotherhood members during the pre-election struggle.

Vitrenko speaks on the steps of the presidential secretariat on Bankova. Photo by Anna Andriievska

Natalia Vitrenko sings an anti-globalist duet with Korchynsky, speaks out against American imperialism, NATO, the World Bank, the IMF, international charitable foundations, etc.

But anti-globalism is not such a pure international movement from geopolitical influences as its supporters sometimes try to convince. Anti-globalism was born when the worldwide network of communist parties and "peace" movements, criticized for "Russian gold," began to fall apart. Left-radical youth went into the anti-globalists, quite possibly not for free. And talk about the "world gendarme USA" somewhat pushes into the background the imperial ambitions of impoverished Russia, which is now actively gaining points of international authority, positioning itself as the leader of the worldwide opposition to "Uncle Sam."

The anti-Americanism of Vitrenko and Korchynsky, statements like "Ukraine is now being run directly from the US embassy," are a guarantee of complete support from the north.

Chornovil clutches his head when he hears his boss Yanukovych at the latest TV debates

At the press conference on the occasion of the creation of the "united opposition," Taras Chornovil spent a long time explaining his "strange and unexpected" appearance alongside Korchynsky and Vitrenko. He explained it by the desire to support any opposition to Yushchenko and to be the mouthpiece of such opposition from the parliamentary rostrum. He, supposedly, unlike his partners in the ChVK bloc, wants to go to Europe but does not want to go to NATO, since "thanks to US interference this bloc no longer protects world security but poses a threat to it."

He does not have the image of a scandalous politician; he is known perhaps only as an impulsive person and a defector. Why did he join the dubious company of the creators of the progressive-socialist Orthodox jihad? Why is he sitting next to Vitrenko and Korchynsky, surprising himself and apologizing to the journalists present?

The answer to this question lies precisely in such reluctance and confusion. Korchynsky in an interview with his own newspaper "Brotherhood" also calls his fellow travelers in the opposition, verbatim, "filth," and announces his intention to "pull various scum out of the corners and rivet a decent opposition out of this" (repeating, in his opinion, Yushchenko's experience—but experience shows that the new opposition members do not know how to learn from their political enemies, because each political-technological plagiarism led them to defeat).

As for Vitrenko, on her website "Brotherhood" is mentioned once in passing and Korchynsky is not mentioned by a single word. Obviously these people united not by their own desire. Their behavior testifies that some hidden force forced its agents of influence to gather quickly, on command, together. Again, from the ideological coloring of the ChVK it is easy to guess that what is meant is the banal "hand of Moscow."

What will be the role of the ChVK bloc at least for the coming year? Since it unites the most prominent anti-American radicals, it is quite likely that soon Ukraine will observe the birth of the extreme wing of a strong pro-Eastern opposition in Ukraine.

While the eastern nomenklatura unites and strengthens before difficult times for them colorless and unpopular but moneyed "elite" political constructs like the "Party of Regions," SDPU(o), etc., the ostensible support of the street will be provided by the public bloc of political outsiders—ChVK.

Yanukovych, of course, will not respond to Chornovil's invitation to join the ranks of the "united opposition," just as "PORA!" will not. But when he does not want to dirty his hands with something politically necessary, then at the right moment and in the right place "brotherhood members" or a crowd of progressive grandmothers will appear. They are easy to ignore or consider marginal, similar to how nationalist forces are treated in the east. But it is precisely they, it seems, who have been commissioned to rouse Ukrainian lumpens in support of Slavic brotherhood or at least against American imperialism.

How viable is the ChVK bloc?

Despite all ambitions and external infusions, the "united opposition" must change or lose. The disdainful attitude toward all "outsiders" in this environment is characteristic rather not of a civic movement but of a gang. Korchynsky grimaces eloquently when hearing a question about legal and psychological support for activists, training programs, and public hearings. Why all this, if he is used to gathering ruffians and throwing them into battle without any prior preparation?

Ms. Vitrenko also does not intend to open the doors of the PSPU wide. All three were unable to give a more successful answer to the question of what specifically they intend to do to improve the situation in Ukraine, other than Chornovil's—"we will force Yushchenko to fulfill his unfulfillable promises."

That is, the new opposition members lack the desire to create positive symbols to attract new people to their ranks. And this places the "three little pigs" in the disadvantageous position of sterile critics who curse their opponents as "American puppets" and threaten their fellow citizens with "economic slavery." At the same time they do not offer any satisfactory, realistic ways out of the crisis.

The "united opposition" will be able to unite only those who do not know how to navigate politics independently, who are ready to believe the first demagogue they meet who blames all problems on unreachable third parties.

But the "orange revolution" taught people to self-organize and think not about "who is to blame?" but about "what to do?" Therefore the ChVK bloc is unlikely to withstand competition with any constructive opposition to President Yushchenko, if such an opposition finally emerges in the space of public politics.

Yurii Sheliazhenko, for UP