Posted on 05/27/2014 2:50:10 PM PDT by tcrlaf
Edited on 05/27/2014 2:59:46 PM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
Petro Poroshenko, the newly elected president of Ukraine, inherits a low-grade civil war against separatists backed by Russia, an economy rapidly descending into recession and a fragmented political system in which most power lies with a lame-duck, unrepresentative parliament. But as he sees it, he does have one thing going for him: For the moment, at least, a decisive majority of Ukrainians are behind him.
“This is the first presidential election when all the regions of Ukraine had the same winner,” he told me Monday night, in his first interview since winning a clear majority in a crowded first-round ballot. “You can consider it a referendum. Ninety-six percent of Ukrainians voted for the unity of the country. Eighty-five percent supported a candidate for European integration. So the president has a unique chance to unite the country and has a level of support which he never had before.”
Poroshenko may be overstating his case. In two eastern Ukrainian provinces that lean toward Russia, most people were unable to vote because of disruption by the separatist militias that Moscow backs. But he did defeat candidates representing pro-Russian parties across the Russian-speaking regions — he even won a majority among the 6,000 people from occupied Crimea who managed to vote. The aggression of Russsian President Vladimir Putin may have tipped a decisive majority of Ukrainians toward support for a unified country that seeks economic integration with the West.
If so, it will be a political tailwind that Poroshenko badly needs. As president, the 48-year-old billionaire businessman, who made his fortune manufacturing chocolate, will have direct authority only over defense and foreign affairs. His first challenge will be to rebuild a demoralized and decrepit Ukrainian army on the fly while trying to eliminate the threat posed by the heavily armed mix of militants and Russian agents holding key infrastructure in the provinces of Donetsk and Luhansk.
For that, the new president thinks he will need more help than he has been getting from the United States. “I don’t have the impression that [sanctions] are strong enough — I think more aggression is possible,” he told me, speaking softly and fingering a string of beads after a long post-election day. “And when aggression starts, no sanctions help.”
...”Global welfare state”....
I think that’s what it’s going to come to though there is a push to stay out of Nato...Kiev Gov. is divided on how far to go with the EU...what they don’t get is the EU may not go as far as they hoped for with the violent nature of the people and the threat now for another Maidan.
That treaty did ‘not’ specifically state they would protect Ukraine...which is why Ukraine hesitated to sign onto it. But as usual Ukraine put itself in a corner where it had no choice...they signed with the full knowledge that did not include the “Promise” for defense if it came down to the wire where that would be needed. The wording is just vague enough to all ow a decline of assistance militarily.
Exactly right! Thanks for posting that.
I first need to see a couple hundred thousand Ukranians marching east before U.S troops are called.
I don’t see a national mobilization, don’t see rationing...thus they don’t see Americans. Oh yeah.....
didn’t I just read that the Ukranians sent 700 million bucks to Putin? Kerry’s money right?
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