KIEV -- Yugoslavia is in political crisis; Eastern Europe is yet again living up to its reputation for volatility. But recent elections have delivered both stability and hope further east.
Ukraine, formerly the second-largest republic in the Soviet Union, recently marked the 10th anniversary of its declaration of independence. Also warranting celebration is the new direction taken by the Ukrainian Parliament.
Last January, reformers led by Viktor Medvedchuk, now first deputy chairman of the Rada, ousted its neocommunist leaders. Medvedchuk had been a lawyer in the old Soviet Union. His father was a Ukrainian independence activist who was exiled in the 1940s. This double experience helped Medvedchuk realize that "the most important thing was to create a system to defend the rights of the individual." As an attorney, Medvedchuk's duties included the unenviable task of representing dissidents, who were inevitably convicted. "Under the old system, lawyers were like a piece of furniture," he explains.