Some of you are waiting for me to wade into what's happening in Ukraine. I've been hesitating. There's a good reason. I think that reason has passed. The question was whether or not Yushchenko was going to fire Timoshenko as well as everyone else.
Y'see it's long been rumored that Yushchenko was getting T&A from Timoshenko (and making Jussi jealous in the process). Whether its true or not...IDK. Honestly, I don't really care. However, Yushchenko & Timoshenko do have a very close physical relationship that they at least project. They're often touching, close in ways that are not very common for Ukrainians who are just friends, even close friends, esp friends that are married to others in a society as quirky conservative as Ukraine.
Timoshenko is something of a problem child. She was helpful in bringing down Yanukovich. However, she's been a liability more than a help for Yushchenko. She's a firebrand politician of the kind that Ann Coulter in the US would find kinship with. She amde comments during the eastern Ukrainian secession threats about ringing eastern Ukraine with barbed wire and sterilizing everyone inside. Nice woman, eh?
Yushchenko isn't as much of a hero as the western press makes him to be either: he made horrible threats against the whole of the people of the east when it was just some of the idiotic leaders from the Donbass that were making them. One of the rumored threats was to put a nuclear waste repository in the Donbass as retaliation. He was definitely on the record - even in the west - as saying he'd punsih the whole of eastern Ukraine. On the whole, though, Yushchenko was a better choice than Yanukovich. A leader that intends to pull Ukraine into the EU rather than the Nov Russia is the lesser of the two evils.
Yushchenko was rather reluctant to put Timoshenko in as Prime Minister. I think you can understand why. She got her way in the end and became Prime Minister. However, things seemed to be looking up. She seemed to have mellowed some once in power. Some of the encouraging signs of her government were such that really did signal a change in events. The people that were corrupt under Kuchma were being hounded from office from top to bottom. The police were especially terrified. They were among some of the worst offenders. Salaries were actually being paid. People were getting their money. Pensions were tripled and being paid. Things were looking good.
Then recently, things started going south. Inflation has gotten out of control. It's killing the lower income people...which is a large percent. Then last month, salaries stopped being paid. They're on the books as though they've been paid, but...then came the scandal.
The chief of staff's allegations ultimately brought down the government when Yushchenko fired them all. This included Timoshenko. That was a pretty ballsy step. My wife reports that in the Russian news sites that Timoshenko is going to tell a ton of secrets. Wait and see. This crisis has just begun if true. True or not, a Ukrainian woman scorned is a definite practicioner of 'black earth warfare'. I pity Yushie. Sorta.
However, I can't help but wonder if this was planned by Yushchenko. This way he stays in power and sloughs off the PITAs that came with him during the Orange Revolution. We'll see what happens, da?
Y'see it's long been rumored that Yushchenko was getting T&A from Timoshenko (and making Jussi jealous in the process). Whether its true or not...IDK. Honestly, I don't really care. However, Yushchenko & Timoshenko do have a very close physical relationship that they at least project. They're often touching, close in ways that are not very common for Ukrainians who are just friends, even close friends, esp friends that are married to others in a society as quirky conservative as Ukraine.
Timoshenko is something of a problem child. She was helpful in bringing down Yanukovich. However, she's been a liability more than a help for Yushchenko. She's a firebrand politician of the kind that Ann Coulter in the US would find kinship with. She amde comments during the eastern Ukrainian secession threats about ringing eastern Ukraine with barbed wire and sterilizing everyone inside. Nice woman, eh?
Yushchenko isn't as much of a hero as the western press makes him to be either: he made horrible threats against the whole of the people of the east when it was just some of the idiotic leaders from the Donbass that were making them. One of the rumored threats was to put a nuclear waste repository in the Donbass as retaliation. He was definitely on the record - even in the west - as saying he'd punsih the whole of eastern Ukraine. On the whole, though, Yushchenko was a better choice than Yanukovich. A leader that intends to pull Ukraine into the EU rather than the Nov Russia is the lesser of the two evils.
Yushchenko was rather reluctant to put Timoshenko in as Prime Minister. I think you can understand why. She got her way in the end and became Prime Minister. However, things seemed to be looking up. She seemed to have mellowed some once in power. Some of the encouraging signs of her government were such that really did signal a change in events. The people that were corrupt under Kuchma were being hounded from office from top to bottom. The police were especially terrified. They were among some of the worst offenders. Salaries were actually being paid. People were getting their money. Pensions were tripled and being paid. Things were looking good.
Then recently, things started going south. Inflation has gotten out of control. It's killing the lower income people...which is a large percent. Then last month, salaries stopped being paid. They're on the books as though they've been paid, but...then came the scandal.
The chief of staff's allegations ultimately brought down the government when Yushchenko fired them all. This included Timoshenko. That was a pretty ballsy step. My wife reports that in the Russian news sites that Timoshenko is going to tell a ton of secrets. Wait and see. This crisis has just begun if true. True or not, a Ukrainian woman scorned is a definite practicioner of 'black earth warfare'. I pity Yushie. Sorta.
However, I can't help but wonder if this was planned by Yushchenko. This way he stays in power and sloughs off the PITAs that came with him during the Orange Revolution. We'll see what happens, da?
No comments:
Post a Comment