I am disappointed to see the pro-Moscow movement of Viktor Yanukovich is projected to win the Presidential election held today in the Ukraine. Despite the fact that the guy with the purple face was largely impotent as leader of a divided party, that Orange Revolution of 2004 towards the pro-Westernization of another former Soviet Republic was exciting. In response, Russia drastically increased the price of petroleum exports which had a crippling effect on their economy. I don't blame the people for voting as they did, I'm just sad that it came to this. I suppose that given the dependence of the Ukrainian economy on Russian natural resources, this is probably the best move for their country. The Soviets transformed from communist colonialism to totalitarian oligarchy with a resource abundance.
Oh well, it is what it is. Not much that I can do about it.
Though I suppose Mike Ignatieff is happy with the results. To him after all, Ukrainian independence is pathetic and the "great" ancestor of the Czarist regime is what "Ukrainians would call a Great Russian."
ReplyDeleteIt's unfortunate, but Putin has been playing pipeline politics pretty hard, as both Russian President and as Prime Minister.
ReplyDeleteThere's only so long Ukrainians can be intimidated with the denial of natural gas before they cave in.
They remember Holodomor pretty well. "Murder by cold" is just far too much to risk.
Well juat remember not to say that in the headline out loud in the subway, even if you're not playing Risk with anybody, just in case...
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