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LONG ISLAND

Understanding Ukraine
UN ambassador analyzes what caused conflict He highlights countrys division on joining EU
zachary.dowdy@newsday.com

BY ZACHARY R. DOWDY

Ukraines history of political division, a product of the country being geographically split between the Russian empire on the east and the Austria-Hungarian empire on the west, helps to explain the split loyalties that gave rise to todays conflict, said Vladimir Drobnjak, Croatias ambassador to the United Nations. Its one of those areas with a turbulent history, he told about 50 students and academics at Adelphi University in Garden City yesterday during a speech on the expansion of the European Union. In times of peace, this ethnic, cultural and other diversity enriches the country and it provides it with additional strength. In times of conflict and war this is the curse that haunts you. Drobnjak said the ousting of Ukraine President Viktor Yanukovych, who leaned toward Russia and rejected associating with the European Union, reflects the old fissures that saw the western portion of Ukraine leaning toward the expanding EU and the east preferring an alliance with Russia. Still, Drobnjak said, when thousands of Russian troops

began stepping on Ukrainian soil, the former superpower broke international law. The charter of the United Nations has been violated, Drobnjak said, adding that it guarantees no one can violate your territorial integrity and sovereignty. So in the case of Crimea the charter has been violated. He said the UN Security Councils ambassadors have been consumed by the crisis, uttering the word de-escalate every five minutes to try to defuse a potentially explosive situation. Indeed, Ukraines new prime minister today will address the UN Security Council, which has the power to authorize the use of force to resolve an international conflict. Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk will speak as Crimea is set this weekend to hold a referendum to secede from Ukraine and become part of the Russian Federation, a move that Drobnjak said the European Union considers illegal, a sentiment shared by President Barack Obama. Drobnjak said the European Union, which developed out of World War II to prevent such conflicts from happening, has blossomed into a force to contend with. The coalition of 28 na-

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CORRECTIONS
NEWSDAY / J. CONRAD WILLIAMS JR.

The board game meetups at Katies Bar in Smithtown are at 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays. The day was incorrect in yesterdays exploreLI.

Drobnjak speaks in Garden City yesterday on Ukraines history and current conflict. Latest on Ukraine crisis: newsday.com/world tions, which as a collective received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2012, has dissolved borders to facilitate interstate travel, enjoys a common market and almost universally shares a common currency, the euro. The European Union turned the European continent, that was a tinderbox and cradle of wars for centuries, into an exporter of peace stability and well-being, Drobnjak said. A45

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Nassau urged to fund aquifer tests

jennifer.barrios@newsday.com

BY JENNIFER BARRIOS

A coalition of environmental and civic groups joined a Nassau County legislator yesterday in demanding that the county immediately restore funding for a monitoring program for the regions aquifer system. Legis. David Denenberg (DMerrick) and the coalition, Water for Long Island, met in Oyster Bay to call on Nassau to start funding the U.S. Geological Surveys groundwater and streamflow monitoring program. The program is used to determine groundwater levels and collect data on water quality

and other aspects of the countys drinking-water system. Good policy is based on good science, and right now the science is missing, said Sarah Meyland, director of the Center for Water Resources Management at the New York Institute of Technology, and a coalition member. The USGS stopped collecting the data in Nassau after the county dropped the program to cut costs in 2010. The federal agency was able to restart part of the program last year with funding from the Nassau Suffolk Water Commissioners Association, said Ron Busciolano, supervisory hydrol-

ogist in the Coram program office of the USGS New York Water Science Center. This year, the agency is negotiating with that association, in addition to the Long Island Water Conference and Nassau County to fund the full program, which would cost about $350,000 a year, Busciolano said. He added that USGS would match 30 percent of the cost. Michael Martino, spokesman for the Nassau County Department of Public Works, said the department has negotiated a new contract with the USGS for about $140,000 a year. The contract will be presented to the county legislature this

spring, he said. It sounds good, but I want to see the contract, Denenberg said. Michael Levy, chairman of the Long Island Water Conference, which consists of water suppliers, manufacturers and other groups, said his organization planned to contribute $20,000 to the program. That data is critical, Levy said of the study. Unfortunately, due to lack of funding, there are holes in the data over the last decade in Nassau County. Thats why we want to see more consistent funding to benefit everybody that utilizes the aquifer system.

NEWSDAY, THURSDAY, MARCH 13, 2014

1781 The seventh planet of the solar system, Uranus, was discovered by Sir William Herschel. 1862 President Abraham Lincoln signed a measure prohibiting Union military officers from returning fugitive slaves to their owners. 1925 The Tennessee General Assembly approved a bill prohibiting the teaching of the theory of evolution. 1947 The Lerner and Loewe musical Brigadoon opened on Broadway. 1954 The Battle of Dien Bien Phu began during the First Indochina War as communist forces attacked French troops, who were defeated nearly two months later. 1964 Bar manager Catherine Kitty Genovese, 28, was stabbed to death near her Queens home; the case generated controversy over the supposed reluctance of Genoveses neighbors to respond to her cries for help. (Genoveses killer, Winston Moseley, remains in prison.) 1996 A gunman burst into an elementary school in Dunblane, Scotland, and opened fire, killing 16 children and one teacher before killing himself.