Who will tell the chickens?

From ABC News-

WASHINGTON Oct 19, 2006 (AP)— The Ukrainian capital of Kiev is now Kyiv, as far as the U.S. government is concerned. And the State Department says the spelling change has nothing to do with American hopes of wooing the one-time Soviet republic more into the Western orbit.

About half of Ukraine's 47 million people are Russian speakers, and Kiev is the Russian spelling.

Ukraine's Western-leaning President Viktor Yushchenko, elected on the wave of the 2004 Orange Revolution's mass protests against election fraud, has sought to take his nation out of Russia's influence and join NATO and the European Union.

"I don't think this decision has anything reflective in it," State Department spokesman Tom Casey said Thursday.

The department announced the change in a memorandum Oct. 3, instructing officials to use the Kyiv spelling in all communications regarding Ukraine.

When a reporter asked about the change Thursday, Casey said there is a U.S. Board of Geographic Names with representatives from several government departments, including the State Department, that establishes uniform geographic name usage for the federal government.

The Associated Press continues to spell the name of the capital Kiev.

AP should make the change also, as should all cookbooks. What's good for the goose is good for the gander.
Hat tip- Basil
Linked to- Jo's Cafe, Samantha Burns,