Yulia Timoshenko Has Fallen on Hard Times Since Her Last Appearance at the Eye

Shortly before I posted these photos of Yulia Timoshenko back in 2010, I had no idea who she was. She was only attracting minor attention in Western media because of the no confidence vote that ended her career as prime minister of Ukraine. I thought she was very pretty and was impressed she was a former economist, so she had brains, too. Shallow, I know, but even I am not enough of a political science junkie to delve into her political troubles. Presumably, her balancing act between wanting Ukraine to join the European Union and not antagonizing Russia did her in, and let it at that

Now I know what happened to her after drifting off my radar.. I have just discovered Timoshenko currently serving a seven year prison term after being convicted last October for abuse of power in office over signing a natural gas deal with Russia. The truth is sketchy as Timoshenko is still leader of the opposition to Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich. Then there are the murder charges.

I am not certain what to make of all this, but applying the ol adage of run it up the flag pole and see who salutes, western governments have largely ignored Timoshenko. Only the Green Party members of the European Parliament have been calling for her release. Vladimir Putin has offered to house Timoshenko in Russia for the remainder of her prison sentence, so there is another bit you have to wonder about. Putin does not strike me as one who does anything out of the goodness of his heart.

The following photo from April shows bruises from an alleged beating Timoshenko suffered from prison guards:

It is difficult not to sympathize with images like this more recent one of Timoshenko holding the hand of Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite while severely weakened by a hunger strike in prison.

If Timoshenko truly is a crooked, unscrupulous woman capable of being an accessory to murder, she is hiding it by playing the sympathy card beautifully.

Beautifully indeed.