Category: Eastern Europe
The analysis published under this category are as follows.
Friday, February 28, 2014
Ukraines Road to War as Crimea Boils Over / Politics / Eastern Europe
By: LewRockwell
Eric Margolis writes: The surging crisis in Ukraine is a dramatic example of how wars begin. Take arrogance, toxic nationalism, tribalism, moral outrage and profound miscalculation, mix thoroughly, and, voilà !, another great leap forward in the march of human folly.
Russia just mobilized its western regions armed forces, an inevitable response to the growing turmoil in Ukraine. Most westerners are unaware that Ukraine is the cradle of Russian civilization and, when properly run, one of the world’s great producers of grains.
Friday, February 28, 2014
What’s Behind Ukraine’s Energy Mess / Politics / Eastern Europe
By: Money_Morning
Dr. Kent Moors writes: As you read this, Marina and I are on an airplane flying to London for the annual energy consultations at Windsor Castle.
Now, if it seems like I’m spending far too much time traveling these days, you’re right. But the truth is our trip to England is just the beginning… more is yet to come.
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Tuesday, February 25, 2014
Ukraine Turns From Revolution to Recovery / Politics / Eastern Europe
By: STRATFOR
The uprising in Kiev has apparently reached its conclusion. President Viktor Yanukovich and the opposition reached an agreement, negotiated by the Polish, German and French foreign ministers. The parliament is now effectively in charge, deciding who will be ministers and when elections will be held, whether to dismiss judges and so on. It isn't clear whether the parliament can fire the sitting president without impeachment and trial, but all of this is now moot. What is interesting is that the Polish, French and German foreign ministers negotiated an outcome that, for practical purposes, ignored the Constitution of Ukraine. It sets an interesting precedent. But for Ukraine, the constitution didn't have the patina of tradition that a true constitution requires, and few will miss Yanukovich.
Monday, February 24, 2014
Russia Won The Sochi Games And Lost The Ukraine / Politics / Eastern Europe
By: Andrew_McKillop
Don't Enrage the Bear
Increasingly evident to the alert, the Ukraine crisis throws up another example of unavowed or not evident but common real US-Russian concern and reaction to world events, that we can call de facto collusion, not conflict, facing the end of the world as we knew it – and the great powers fought for it. “It is not in the interests of the Ukraine or of Russia or of Europe or of the United States to see the country split," Obama's national security chief Susan Rice told the massively-viewed Sunday 23 Feb NBC "Meet the Press" broadcast. She no doubt felt obliged to add that Vladimir Putin would be making a "grave mistake" if Russian armed forces were sent in, whether to “secure the Crimea” and its major Russian naval, air and land weapons bases, or to reinstall and restore a Kremlin-compliant Kiev government. "It's in nobody's interest to see violence return and the situation escalate," she said.
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Saturday, February 22, 2014
Ukraine Broke, Bruised And Battered / Politics / Eastern Europe
By: Raul_I_Meijer
There’s a lot more to the Ukraine situation than meets the eye. The country was already on the verge of bankruptcy before the protests started three months ago, and seems dead set on default now. Russia seemed willing to help, but the protests against Yanukovych are protests against Putin too. Moreover, Russian banks have substantial holdings of Ukrainian bonds.
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Sunday, February 09, 2014
The Eastern Europe Question Goes Viral / Politics / Eastern Europe
By: Andrew_McKillop
Before The Storm
One of our major problems is there is no such thing as “the eastern question” today. It was pre-1914 thinking – and concern – about the coming break-up of the Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian empires and what that would do to the European “powderkeg of the Balkans”. The highly-related “Balkans question” of pre-1914 concerned when, rather than if the jigsaw puzzle and powderkeg would explode, and what type of World War would ensue in the scrabble for territory. Today we effectively have a pan-Asian question, but due to compartmentalized thinking it is ignored or sidelined. This new eastern question is much bigger than the pre-1914 version – in fact globalized - and at least as dangerous.
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Sunday, February 02, 2014
Who Wants Ukraine? / Politics / Eastern Europe
By: Andrew_McKillop
Stalin and Krushchev Wanted Ukraine
For most Europeans, Ukraine is a gas transport corridor for bringing overpriced Russian gas to Europe and Ukraine either overcharges Gazprom for gas transit fees, or does not pay Gazprom for the gas it takes for national consumption. This Russian-Ukrainian gas game occasionally tips into gas embargoes hitting consumers further down the line. As a geopolitical bargaining chip, conversely, Ukraine had considerable import and weight during the Cold War period which ended in 1989-91. Russia relatively quickly withdrew “nearly all” its nuclear-tipped missiles, atomic warheads and nuclear military equipment and component inventories from Ukraine, in the 1990s.
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Tuesday, January 28, 2014
Ukraine Protests Perspectives / Politics / Eastern Europe
By: Michael_T_Bucci
A reply given me by an Obama loyalist - a neighbor - several weeks ago could have been a replay of a reply given me in 2008 and 2012 when I warned Progressives and Democrats that Mr. Obama was not the person he pretended to be, nor the president they projected him to be. "He's disappointing, but he's still better than the opposition," quipped the loyalist.
Sunday, January 26, 2014
Partition Ukraine to Prevent Civil War! / Politics / Eastern Europe
By: LewRockwell
As violence and mayhem surge in Ukraine’s capitol, Kiev, fear is growing that Europe, the United States and Russia may be on a collision course.
Ukraine’s latest crisis began last November after Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych refused to sign an economic cooperation/integration pact with the European Union. Instead, near bankrupt Kiev accepted a Russian offer to supply heavily discounted natural gas and a pledge to buy billions worth of its shaky bonds.
Tuesday, December 17, 2013
Ukraine On the Edge of Empires Asking to be Ruled / Politics / Eastern Europe
By: STRATFOR
George Friedman writes: The name "Ukraine" literally translates as "on the edge." It is a country on the edge of other countries, sometimes part of one, sometimes part of another and more frequently divided. In the 17th and 18th centuries, it was divided between Russia, Poland and the Ottoman Empire. In the 19th century, it was divided between Russia and Austria-Hungary. And in the 20th century, save for a short period of independence after World War I, it became part of the Soviet Union. Ukraine has been on the edge of empires for centuries.
Saturday, December 04, 2010
Geopolitical Journey Through Poland, A History of Tragedy and Greatness / Politics / Eastern Europe
By: STRATFOR
To understand Poland, you must understand Frederic Chopin. First listen to his Polonaise and then to his Revolutionary Etude. They are about hope, despair and rage. In the Polonaise, you hear the most extraordinary distillation of a nation’s existence. In the Revolutionary Etude, written in the wake of an uprising in Warsaw in 1830 crushed by Russian troops, there is both rage and resignation. In his private journal, Chopin challenged God for allowing this national catastrophe to happen, damning the Russians and condemning the French for not coming to Warsaw’s aid. Afterward, Chopin never returned to Poland, but Poland never left his mind.
Friday, December 03, 2010
Geopolitical Journey Into Ukraine / Politics / Eastern Europe
By: STRATFOR
The name “Ukraine” literally translates as “on the edge.” It is a country on the edge of other countries, sometimes part of one, sometimes part of another and more frequently divided. In the 17th and 18th centuries, it was divided between Russia, Poland and the Ottoman Empire. In the 19th century, it was divided between Russia and Austria-Hungary. And in the 20th century, save for a short period of independence after World War I, it became part of the Soviet Union. Ukraine has been on the edge of empires for centuries.
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Ukraine Falls Into IMF's Trap / Politics / Eastern Europe
By: Pravda
Small businessmen protest against the new Tax Code in Ukraine. There are many flaws in the document indeed, but it was passed in a rush because Ukraine had to meet the requirements of the IMF. At present moment, the IMF is a savior for Ukraine - economic catastrophe is inevitable otherwise.
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Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Latvia’s Cruel Neoliberal Economic Experiment / Economics / Eastern Europe
By: Michael_Hudson
Latvia is being devastated by two global wars. On the geopolitical front is the Cold War’s coup de grâce. Neoliberals have managed to de-industrialize Russia and the rest of the former Soviet Union, persuading parliaments to dismantle government support for economic renewal. The “Washington Consensus” has backed a policy of giving away public enterprises and land to a newly minted oligarchy of insiders, and helped them sell shares to Western investors. The ensuing economic wreckage has helped avert future military rivalry to U.S. hegemony.
Wednesday, December 02, 2009
Ukraine Economic Catastrophe the Problem Not H1N1 Swine Flu / Politics / Eastern Europe
By: F_William_Engdahl
The Ukraine deaths attributed by WHO and Ukraine authorities to an uncontrolled outbreak of H1N1 Swine Flu are not the result of H1N1, a virus whose very existence has never been demonstrated by WHO. The deaths appear to be a consequence of collapsing general health conditions as well as supplies of basic grains. The IMF conditionalities imposed on Ukraine as precondition for a stabilization loan and not Swine Flu is where we should look for the cause.