Inside News on Odessa and Ukraine
I was pondering a blog entry on how the EU will deal with the next Ukrainian political term given the less than ideal way it was run and eventually concluded. The answer it seems has been given before I thought too deeply about strategies, causal effects, lines of communications both overt and subtle and to […]
I will immediately steer clear of the Transparency International Corruption Perception Index 2012, which unsurprisingly ranks Ukraine at 144th and perceived as corrupt, simply because that will grab the mainstream headlines. Ukraine still perceived as corrupt shocker - blah blah blah - not news at all! Instead I will bring to your attention the 2012 […]
Although I studied economics as part of a degree in Business Management and Finance many moons ago, I can say without a shadow of a doubt that it was not exactly the most interesting of subjects, and one in which I had to motivate myself to maintain a respectable overall end grade. The fact it […]
Ukraine officially takes over the chairmanship of OSCE on 6/7th December 2012 at the OSCE ministerial council meeting in Dublin, when Ireland hands over, and will thus chair OSCE through 2013. That on the back of some robust criticism by OSCE of the recent Ukrainian parliamentary elections - their final and authoritative report on said […]
According to MEP Pawel Kowal, head of the European Parliament’s Observer Mission for the Ukrainian elections when speaking at the European Parliament Committee for Foreign Affairs a few days ago, the Ukrainian elections were the best of those held by post-Soviet nations. For a man who should be used to being very careful with his […]
Oh dear. The international community are claiming to be in shock that Leonid Razovozzhayev managed to get spirited away from Ukraine where he was attempting to claim asylum, and reappeared in Russia some days later telling a quite harrowing tale of abduction, torture and false confessions. There seems no point in going into too much […]
It is no secret to those who read this blog that I have on several occasions during this parliamentary election period, been asked to speak with LTOs (long term observers) from several international monitoring organisations with people in Odessa. Whilst large sections of recent blog posts cover much of what has been said, lack of […]
The new head of the EU Delegation to Ukraine, (Ambassador for want of a better analogy), Jan Tombinski, seems to be doing his very best to pour oil on the somewhat choppy waters between Ukraine and the EU in efforts to smooth matters between the two sides to some degree. He recently gave a press […]
Frozen conflicts have traditionally been very difficult to thaw - despite the best efforts of mediators and negotiators. The Transdnestr region of Moldova, a 60 minute drive from where I live, and a place I have traveled through many times, is no exception. After 20 years the conflict with Moldova remains as frozen now as […]
