After the Revolution

Throw that blanket back off; the second round of the Russia-Ukraine gas fights ended today.
But there is so much more to this than just a spat over a utility bill.
According to an article in the Financial Times:
[T]he Russians do not regard Ukraine as a serious independent country and the Ukrainians do not regard the Russians as trustworthy […]

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The U.S. media tends to break down State of the Union addresses as if they were sporting events.
They count the number of breaks for applause, show replays of important people falling asleep and list most-used words.
Imagine how much fun they’d have if Congress were more like Ukraine’s parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, where a fistfight that broke out among lawmakers prompted […]

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Russian police arrested Semyon Mogilevich, a 61-year old mob boss, on tax evasion charges last week.
Mogilevich is allegedly connected to RosUkrEnergo, a trading company half owned by Russian energy company Gazprom and half controlled by two Ukrainian businessmen.
RosUkrEnergo, an entity with a mashed multisyllabic name straight out of the USSR, was created in 2006 to resolve an energy dispute culminating with Russia’s cutting off Ukraine’s natural gas supply.
Ukrainian Prime […]

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The World Trade Organization announced on its Web site on Jan. 25 that Ukraine, after 14 years of negotiations, has finally put together an agreement that could allow it to become a member of the WTO in August.
The General Council of the WTO will consider the agreement at its Feb. 5 meeting. If Ukraine ratifies the deal by […]

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