Good news from Ukraine

The Supreme court of Ukraine has declared the much disputed runoff election in that country invalid, and has ordered a new runoff election. The December 26 replay of the runoff will favor the opposition and is seen as a blow to the current government who's candidate will find it nearly impossible to win after the corruption his campaign has been involved with.

(image from Swedish paper Aftonbladet)

This latest development is also a blow to KGB snake Vlad Putin who had wanted an entirely new election that did not involve either of the current candidate. I suppose Vlady thought he could rig another full election if he had the time and a "clean" candidate to market with more Russian money. MSNBC reports:

The ruling, made after five days of hearings by the court’s 21 justices, was a major victory for opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko, who had rejected the government’s demands that an entirely new election be held.

And it was a stinging blow to outgoing President Leonid Kuchma and his powerful ally, Russian President Vladimir Putin, who wants to preserve Moscow’s centuries-old influence in Ukraine in the face of Yushchenko’s followers’ desire to move closer to the West. Only a day earlier, Putin had sharply derided the idea of holding a new run-off.

Putin had the most to lose in the election, which is really a battle between East and West. Putin would like to see Russia go back to its glory days of Soviet rule, and bringing Ukraine back under its sphere of influence was crucial to that end. The eastern half of Ukraine's population is ethnic Russian, so this fight isnt over by a long shot. Russia will continue to have a great deal of influence over Ukraine, and I imagine they will not give up as easily as the West would suppose.