Inside News on Odessa and Ukraine
And so, as expected, the Vilnius Summit passed without EU - Ukrainian signature, and quite rightly from a European principled position, despite the anguish it will cause for many within Ukraine and no shortage of sadness from myself as another chance to consolidate democracy through a transparent framework passes by. євромайдан must now maintain upward […]
Yesterday I wrote that whether Ukraine or the EU likes it or not, Russia has declared through its actions, a geopolitical battle over the EaP nations. The day I wrote that, perversely, the Roshen chocolate ban, a completely unjustified and arbitrary unofficial sanction on Ukrainian produce that had been running many months, was lifted. As […]
I once, just over a year ago in a European journal, drew a sharp response from Stefan Fule when talking about the geopolitics of Ukraine and the EaP. I was robustly criticised by Mr Fule for daring to view the issue through a geopolitical lens, who then went on to admonish me publicly in the […]
A very simple question from a reader has arrived asking if євромайдан and the massive protests will work and change the decision of the Cabinet of Ministers and President to suspend the signing of the EU Association Agreement in the next few days. The answer to that, as far as the Vilnius Summit is concerned […]
Since the presidency of Viktor Yanukovych began, there have really been only two large scale demonstrations amounting to more than 5 thousand people. The first was over changes to the Tax Code, prior to the jailing of Ms Tymoshenko. A demonstration that was grass roots driven, and publicly shunned the advances of the political class […]
A few days ago I wrote “#Евромайдан – A demographic battle for the immediate future?” which went down rather well in the world of social media - despite all I wrote being so blatantly obvious. Typically, not a “paid piece” (sigh) - but then a “paid piece” normally demands more than statements of the blatantly […]
Being the 4th Saturday of November - a date set in Ukraine to remember the millions who died during 1932-33 Holodomor (to kill by hunger) - an undoubted crime against humanity - I will leave the issues of today for 24 hours as decorum would dictate. Yet another sorry period of history in which the […]
Yesterday in my rueful and lamenting post relating to the decision by Ukraine to postpone the EU Association Agreement signing next week in Vilnius, I wrote “Perhaps those millions in favour of the agreement will turn out en masse with a policy of civil disobedience in numbers reminiscent of 2004/5 and panic the National Security […]
Unsurprisingly, Kyiv today officially paused its signing of the EU Association Agreement. Undoubtedly many will simply write this off to President Yanukovych and a zero sum policy of retaining power by keeping Ms Tymshenko in prison. That quite probably has a lot to do with it - though it may not keep him in power […]
According to Party of Regions MP Oleh Tsariov, the USA via its embassy in Kyiv has already trained more than 300 cyber warriors in Ukraine under the patronage of US Ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt, with a view to them overthrowing the regime via shaping public opinion on the Internet, culminating with an ability to organise “Arab Spring” […]