by Sonja Margolina, Sign and Sight, Germany - Four years ago Ukraine was a beacon of democracy in the post-Soviet region. Now it is struggling to stay afloat in the political battle of power and self-interest. The struggle of everyone against everyone else, in which populist fury Yulia Tymoshenko is trying to seize power from President Viktor Yushchenko has, for the time being, buried the prospect of stabilisation and a 'Europeanisation' of the country's political culture.