Benazir Bhutto finally has solid competition for the title of Hottest Prime Minister with the entry of Yulia Tymoshenko, architect of the Orange Revolution and Ukraine’s new PM.

Ukraine’s parliament has approved Yulia Tymoshenko as the country’s new prime minister. Ms. Tymoshenko received 226 votes in the 450-member parliament, the bare minimum required for confirmation. [Link]

Like Bhutto, she’s a kleptocrat who ‘reinvented’ herself speaking truth to power:

Tymoshenko was one of the key leaders of the Orange Revolution. In this period, some Western media publications dubbed her as the “Joan of Arc of the Revolution…” In 1989, as part of the perestroika initiatives, Yulia Tymoshenko founded and headed a Komsomol video rental chain… During privatization in Ukraine, which mirrored that in Russia in terms of corruption and mismanagement, she became one of the wealthiest oligarchs in Ukraine…

… [she] was the president of… the main importer of Russian natural gas to Ukraine… nicknamed “gas princess” in light of accusations that she has been reselling enormous quantities of stolen gas and avoiding taxation… Her former business partner, former Ukrainian Prime Minister Pavlo Lazarenko, was convicted in the United States on charges of billions-worth money laundering, corruption and fraud…

… she became one of the leaders of street-level campaigns against President Kuchma for his alleged role in the murder of the journalist Georgiy R. Gongadze. In this campaign, Tymoshenko first became known as a passionate revolutionary-like leader… [Link]

Related post: Homecoming (updated)