Ukraine: non-military aspects (2016 onwards)

[davidbfpo]

A new thread for this topic in 2016, created by a moderator. The previous thread July 2015 to end of 2015 had 40k views and 455 posts:http://council.smallwarsjournal.com/showthread.php?t=21017

[davidbfpo]

An article that promises to explain and in particular:
During spring and summer 2014, ‘eastern Ukraine’ as an imagined entity ceased to exist. The cities of Donetsk and Luhansk became the capitals of the self-proclaimed ‘People’s Republics’, directly experiencing the horror of armed conflict (https://opendemocracy.net/od-russia/oleg-kashin/war-in-donetsk-end-of-post-soviet-taboo). Kharkiv, however, avoided this fate, and Dnipropetrovsk emerged as a symbol of loyalty to the Ukrainian state (http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/06/12/dnipropetrovsk-the-ukrainian-town-determined-to-stop-putin.html)—the ‘heart of Ukraine’. The following question naturally arose: why did the cities of eastern Ukraine take such different trajectories? Why didn’t Kharkiv and Dnipropetrovsk become Donetsk and Luhansk?
Link:https://www.opendemocracy.net/od-russia/andrii-portnov/how-eastern-ukraine-was-lost

[davidbfpo]

A first-hand account of life in the Crimea, in November 2015, by a resident:https://www.opendemocracy.net/od-russia/andrey-urodov/crimeas-bright-future

In summary:
In the 15 months since Crimea was annexed by Russia, Ukraine’s former resort-cum-military base has undergone severe changes. Extremism investigations, kidnapping, intimidation and harassment are all features of working in politically sensitive professions in Crimea. The central bureaucracy and government has been mired in scandal over indecision and incompetence. Meanwhile, the peninsula is experiencing a crisis of infrastructure, with healthcare under pressure and food prices rising due to changes in supply chains. Electricity is available for limited periods due to the blockade and disruption on the border with Ukraine. Thousands of people have left, whether for political and economic reasons.

[mirhond]

https://scontent-ams3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xfl1/v/t1.0-9/12565445_1045372555520993_5909338081300396518_n.jp g?oh=0dc754d63a20c0dc8e79c345d2c5bef0&oe=57315C95

List of the streets to be renamed in Rovno, Western Ukraine, following 'decommunisation' process https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rivne

first line: Pukhova street renamed to Oleksandra Muzichka street. In case you forgot: Oleksandr Muzichko
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oleksandr_Muzychko
was a petty criminal and notoruous maidanero killed by Ukrainian police in 2014. The reason behind this particular renaming is complete mistery for me.

[mirhond]

Here will be links to relevant accounts, first two as follows, waiting a valliant and honest researcher:

Battle cat Murz
http://kenigtiger.livejournal.com/1555492.html
(this particular entry about Debal'tsevo. The main idea is: one helter-skelter army assaulted another helter-skelter army positions, the first one show a little less helter-skelterness an so prevailed)

Diary of a Russian nazi-libertarian, whose relevant entries are tagged "Новороссия" :http://afrika-sl.livejournal.com

http://www.afrika14.com/notes-of-a-terrorist-freedom-fighter-prologue/
some of his texts translated to English.

upd.1

http://trueredrat.livejournal.com/

[mirhond]

The resigned Minister of economy of Ukraine Aivaras Abromavicius told The Financial Times about the reasons for his resignation. Journalists appreciate his decision and talk about the future of the country in the context of stalled reforms and unsuccessful fight against corruption.

"Ukraine's last chance to secure it's freedom", "Ukrainians deserve better than to lose their reform champions" - an articles in "Financial Times"

http://search.ft.com/search?queryText=ukraine

[mirhond]

Poroshenko tried to throw Yatzen'uk along with his cabinet under the bus, but failed to rally Rada for this cause, Yatz stays.

http://korrespondent.net/ukraine/3630767-spektakl-v-rade-kak-yatsenuik-sokhranyl-svoi-post

[davidbfpo]

An interesting article profiling the all-male leadership, some of whom have "left the scene":
Two years ago, a separatist movement in southeast Ukraine brought war and tragedy to the whole country. Though the crisis continues, the movement’s first leaders have gone their separate ways.
Link:https://www.opendemocracy.net/od-russia/aleksandr-litoy/heroes-of-novorossiya-where-are-they-now? (https://www.opendemocracy.net/od-russia/aleksandr-litoy/heroes-of-novorossiya-where-are-they-now?utm_source=Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=aa78cb1f65-DAILY_NEWSLETTER_MAILCHIMP&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_717bc5d86d-aa78cb1f65-407365113)

[mirhond]

http://fareastener.livejournal.com/

Is the blog of the comms officer of an artillery battalion, which has a recent entry, but in Russian and is a lamentation about Ukrainians who now use digital communications which cannot be intercepted with his current facilities.
Incidentally byline means:
intelligent can understand the issues that are confusing a donkey

[mirhond]

Poroshenko launches a large privatization campaign in Ukraine.

http://www.segodnya.ua/economics/enews/poroshenko-dal-start-bolshoy-privatizacii-v-ukraine-697021.html


Poroshenko has launched large-scale privatization in Ukraine

[mirhond]

NYT: Ukraine’s Unyielding Corruption


Mr. Poroshenko, himself a product of the old system, has had his hands full with the Moscow-backed separatists in the east and unceasing political turmoil in Kiev, where Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk’s government is hanging by a thread.
In these circumstances, Mr. Poroshenko seems to have accepted continuing corruption as the price to pay for a modicum of maneuvering room. But the president, the prime minister and the Parliament must be made to understand that the International Monetary Fund and donor nations, including the United States, cannot continue to shovel money into a corrupt swamp unless the government starts shaping the democratic rule that Ukrainians demanded in their protests.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/01/opinion/ukraines-unyielding-corruption.html?_r=0

[mirhond]

https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2015/12/09/remarks-vice-president-joe-biden-ukrainian-rada

Script of J. Biden speech in Rada, here are some good points

Because as all of you know the struggle for Ukraine’s freedom is not confined to the battlefields of the east. Constitutional reform that includes judicial reform and decentralization does not compromise your sovereignty. It enhances it. It’s an important step to building a strong, new nation. And it’s important to the Ukrainian-European future.

This issue of federalism is the thing that almost prevented our nation from coming into being. Autonomous independent states, their determination to have their own police forces, their determination to have their education system, to have their own government under the united Constitution.

But in addition, you also have a battle, a historic battle against corruption. Ukraine cannot afford for the people to lose hope again. The only thing worse than having no hope at all is having hopes rise and see them dashed repeatedly on the shoals of corruption.

[mirhond]

Police vs. "amber mafia" in W. Ukraine, video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlU72Snn4Zg

illegal amber digging brings hefty profits to local "businessmen" and corrupted officials, National Guard to the rescue.
http://gordonua.com/news/society/zamministra-mvd-yarovoy-pri-neobhodimosti-dlya-borby-s-yantarnoy-mafiey-mozhet-byt-zadeystvovana-nacgvardiya-127156.html



the same region, one year ago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9TDVM9Tk2o

[mirhond]

Newest additions to Ukrainian "Index Librorum Prohibitorum" are here:

comin.kmu.gov.ua/document/135398/ban.xls

reminder: Ukraine banned "anti-Ukrainian literature" (whatever it means) and effectively halted allmost all books export from Russia.

Some particular positions caught my attention

2. Сталинград Энтони Бивор 2016 - Anthony Beevor "Stalingrad" - probably because Beevor's book contains this passage:
"Ukrainian nationalists were tasked with shooting the children" in order to "spare the feelings of SS Sonderkommando"

pretty anti-Ukrainian statement, no doubt, but another positions, like this:

12. 700 новых устных тем по английскому языку. Клім Я.О. - "700 new verbal topics in English"

or this:

13. Химия. M. Константиновский - "Chemistry"

don't look dangerously anti-Ukrainian.
What reservations Ukrainian Ministry of Truth Commitee for TV and Radio holds against English and Chemistry - is beyond me.

[davidbfpo]

An academic article on the situation, the emphasis is not on the military aspects - hence being in this smaller thread. Here is a taster passage:
The dynamics playing out in Ukraine are the result of three interconnected factors: Western overconfidence since the end of the Cold War, Russia’s increasing determination to reassert itself as a global superpower, and the inability and unwillingness of countries like Ukraine to reform and strengthen their fragile institutions, which might help insulate them from external interference.Link:https://theconversation.com/ukraine-is-still-on-the-edge-despite-all-efforts-to-stabilise-it-92004?platform=hootsuite

There is a thread on the war (last updated December 2017):http://council.smallwarsjournal.com/showthread.php?t=25367&page=13