Inside News on Odessa and Ukraine
Since April 2015, Ukraine has had no ambassador to the USA, a nation that is currently a key, if the not key, ally of the country. Certainly US diplomatic energy and will is the driving force amongst the diplomatic community. Even if US Embassy Kyiv messages are getting lost, or at least diluted, within “the […]
It is not often that this blog touches upon defence or security issues - or indeed the war in eastern Ukraine - despite the fact that every time it does readership numbers skyrocket. The simple fact is that so many others write about the war in eastern Ukraine, and there is much more to Ukraine […]
It appears that President Poroshenko has asked Tony Blair to join the International Advisory Council on Reforms for Ukraine - a body headed by President Poroshenko. Fair enough - but what does Tony Blair bring to the table other than being an internationally (in)famous name? His track record for bringing about meaningful reform in the […]
For those who are unaware - which is almost everybody - there is to be an investment conference relating to opportunities within Ukraine - to privatisation, energy, etc., not to mention the promulgation and reiteration of just how far financial reforms have gone, and have yet to go, in order to boost confidence for those […]
Many nations have domestic nuclear/atomic companies. Generally they are carefully watched over, and are open to, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspection, oversight and regulation - not withstanding domestic regulation, “watchdogs”, and oversight. Many, however, are independent actors from “the State”, rather than a direct extension of “the State”. By “direct extension”, think Kremlin and […]
Following on from yesterday’s first entry in a month, it is perhaps worthy of asking a few questions relating to this statement - and what it actually means, and where it leads - if anywhere: “Indeed, the USA, perhaps due to, and in penance for, its rather expedient interpretation of the Budapest Memorandum, not withstanding […]
Aiming to run this set of articles throughout the month of May. Writing about World War II today brings with it certain difficulties. For this series of articles, the intention is to remember and honor those who lived, fought and died in World War II, for… one reason or another. Aside from this first […]
The future is already here; it is just not evenly distributed. – William Ford Gibson Almost every day, but more frequently as of late, I wake up to find some surprising advances in technology. Yet, I wonder how well those advances are being integrated not just for commercial businesses, but by the government – and […]
As a stranger in a strange land, one must accept some strange things. One comes to accept that you will get paid to do some strange things and that you will pay to do some even stranger things. Eventually strange becomes normal. For the better part of ten years, things in Ukraine were… normal. Part […]
Friday saw Turkish President Erdogan in Kyiv. The usual and expected reassuring words from Ukraine’s (and Odessa’s) Black Sea neighbour were uttered: “We support territorial and political integrity and independence of Ukraine, including Crimea. We recognize the legitimate aspirations of Ukraine to be united with Europe and support them. We are directly observing the […]