Over the weekend I have been sent a few questions to contemplate, as is often the case these days. Not unusual, other than these two following questions stand out amongst the much of a muchness from the others. The first which caught my eye was not whether Ukraine would or would not be any more […]
An Oilfield Too Far - Baku or Bust (WW2 Feature)
May 29, 2012 by 1 Comment
Azerbaijan is a country that most westerners couldn’t find on a map. Those who can are likely to know it for one thing - Oil. The Capitol City of Azerbaijan is Baku - the birthplace of the modern Oil Industry. Baku was the ultimate objective of the German Army in World War II. Military historians […]
Ukraine signs new gas deal - with RWE of Germany!
May 16, 2012 by Leave a Comment
You will remember back in early March I mentioned a cunning plan from the government of Ukraine to buy gas from RWE in Germany and reverse the flow of sections of the transport system in order to import it, thus reducing the amount of contractually very expensive Russian gas? Well, Naftogas Ukraine has quietly signed […]
WW2, Victory in Europe Day & Odessa
May 9, 2012 by Leave a Comment
News of the formal surrender of Germany arrived in Moscow in the early morning of May 9, 1945. Thus Victory in Europe Day is celebrated by Ukraine, Russia and elsewhere in the Former Soviet Union today, while everyone in the west celebrates it on May 8. World War II came at the cost of nearly […]
German foreign policy, the EaP and Ukraine
February 21, 2012 by Leave a Comment
As many of you good people know, I regularly write about policy (mostly foreign), Ukraine and relations with its neighbours east and west. My ramblings have given me a great many readers, some of who are extremely noteworthy and between emails and twitter I occasionally get to read things prior to publication thanks to such […]
Transaprency in Ukrainian NGOs
July 1, 2011 by Leave a Comment
It is fair to say that most NGOs without doubt play a significant role in civil society in any nation. Just like lobby groups, some are more transparent than others, not only when it comes to their real cause but also who finances them. The question of financing is not just about money. Those financing […]
Extradition imbalances - Czech Republic, Germany and Ukraine
June 15, 2011 by Leave a Comment
The scales of justice sometimes appear to be rather random in the cases of two recent requests by Ukraine for those wanted for alleged nefarious deeds who subsequently disappeared across its borders into the EU recently. In the case of Bohdan Danylyshyn, former Ukrainian Economy Minister who disappeared when investigations were started against him relating […]