If dictators buy votes with fear, we buy them with dollars
After all Russia was the closest ally of the unsavoury outgoing president. It pumped huge amounts of money into the campaign and kept a close eye on its former satellite state.
Mr Putin was too quick to congratulate the winner despite evidence of massive fraud.
But slowly the truth of Putin’s accusations is being revealed. US money and influence is indeed all over the elections as many involved in them will tell, and as the US public is now discovering.
The US has been exerting its influence on elections in central and Eastern Europe for some time. They have used similar tactics and even the same high ranking American diplomats have turned up in several of the countries.
Similar networks, think-tanks and organisations appear, employing both local people and others with links that have lived in or were born in the US.
The networks are, to an extent, mirrored in the US itself where think-tanks and other organisations are formed to devise and influence public thinking.
Frequently they are affiliated to the Republicans or the Democrats in the US.
The Bush foreign policy, designed by the neo-cons in well funded think-tanks in the US, has highlighted this addition to public government and democracy.
Policy centres, non-governmental organisations, chambers of commerce, USAID and a range of other groups are all working in Kiev. Much of their funding and support comes from official US government sources.
In countries where governments and candidates see elections as something that can be rigged and manipulated, educating people about their rights is an essential.
And there is no doubt that even in countries where people know the elections are being rigged voters feel too afraid or lacking power to change it.
Popular demonstrations have proved themselves to be a very effective way of giving the public the confidence and courage they often need.
This was seen in the October revolution in Belgrade, the rose revolution in Tbilisi in Georgia last year and now in the Orange revolution in Kiev.
The man whose votes were stolen, Viktor Yushchenko, officially denies he did anything other than get advice from those involved in these other revolutions.
But many of the students on the ground organising the demonstrations with military precision had also been present in Georgia and Serbia.
The US and the rest of the west openly favoured Mr Yushchenko. He sits on the advisory board of the International Centre for Policy Studies in Kiev, which was founded by George Soros’ Open Society Institute and gets US funding through the Poland-America-Ukraine Cooperation Institute, PAUCI.
Another NGO that receives US funds, the Western Ukraine Regional Training Centre, does not hide its support for Mr Yushchenko. The same is true of the similarly funded Centre for Political and Legal Reforms that includes a live link to Mr Yushchenko’s web site.
Exactly how much money the US spent in the Ukraine has not been made public, though earlier this year the American government gave $100 million to a consultancy, Development Associates Inc, to strengthen national legislatures and other bodies worldwide. This organisation says several million dollars of this went to the Ukraine elections.
American legislators are now asking questions about why US taxpayers’ money is being spent in this way. One Texan representative, Ron Paul, wants to know why the money was going specifically to support one candidate.
On the streets of Kiev, US dollars allowed people spend time away from their work and run up their mobile phone bills sustaining and organising the demonstrations.
The EU finds it difficult to fund such activities. As one person closely involved on the ground explained, “You would have to fill out forms and account for every cent.”
However several European governments have been involved too, from advising to funding election exit polls, including Britain, Sweden, Denmark, Holland and Norway.
The question of whether it’s right to buy democracy in this way must lead to the question of how do you find a way to fight the kind of corruption and fear that can keep countries and its citizens in the grip of dictators.
The problem was well illustrated by a young Russian business woman visiting Kiev during the demonstrations. She was perplexed by the mayhem in the city centre.
“I don’t understand what all the fuss is about. This report that the government fixed the elections. This happens in Russia. Everyone knows it.
“We don’t need a report to tell us. That’s what happens. When they are in power they do this to keep power,” she explained.
