Ukraine's 'goddess of revolution'

[Iceburg]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4070663.stm



Orange-clad protesters call her "Goddess of the Revolution" while outgoing President Leonid Kuchma and some of the oligarchs - Ukraine's business and political elite - are believed to hate her.

Glamorous Yulia Tymoshenko, one of the key figures of the ongoing Orange Revolution in Ukraine, ignites passion on both sides.

She is a close ally of Viktor Yushchenko, the leader of the Ukrainian opposition that believes he won the bitterly disputed presidential run-off on 21 November.

Recent events have elevated Ms Tymoshenko's popularity to new heights, literally. On one occasion, riot police guarding Mr Kuchma's office raised their shields to allow her through to where talks were being held.

more ... http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4070663.stm

[fasttense]

1. We need someone like her

If the US had a leader willing to stand up to B**sh and company and take back our democracy, we would all be out marching in the streets. Instead we get hesitant, head scratchers who wonder if we should really stir up the citizens right before Christmas.

[Briar]

2. You've lots of women like her

Here's the Guardian's bio.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,3604,1359986,00.html

"But Tymoshenko's peasant look is somewhat misleading. She is in fact a very wealthy woman, who gained her fortune in highly debated circumstances before entering politics. She made the transition from a member of Ukraine's disliked new moneyed elite to a skilled marshal of the anger of the public square three years ago, when she mounted an energetic, if ultimately unsuccessful, campaign to topple the increasingly loathed president, Leonid Kuchma. Her original entry into politics came earlier, in the mid-1990s; but her Hromada party was seen then as only one of a rash of factions cynically created by the new tycoons to advance their business interests."