Ukraine. Hope for Peace
The bad news does increase traffic to the news resources, and it is not me who coined that. But I can't help it - I love the good news, even though it is so rare.
At the request of my regular reader:
P.S. An article about Ukraine would be nice. It is very difficult to understand what is going on... After all, they are trying to get rid of the Vanguard (Abromavičius was "let go", those from the security forces who are not explicitly against the course of rapprochement with Russia were brought in); there are some other moments that appear to be positive.
So, I am really looking forward to, and I hope that I am not the only one, a review, a short article or at least detailed referencies about Ukraine.
Thank you.
I’ll do as the reader requested and with a great pleasure describe how the Russian and American politicians by common efforts have been fighting for peace in Ukraine.
Since December, I had been living in the worried expecations that the military operations in Donbass would resume. AF of Ukraine had been strengthening the army in haste, and that didn't promise anything good for Donbass. The intensity of the shelling increased, the militia did not respond, some shelling was noted by OSCE and some was not; it did not matter. OSCE does not have any means to effectively influence the violators of the truce. They saw the preparations for war, but could not prevent it.
I have written on many occasions that I have a lot of friends, both in the western and eastern parts of Ukraine; my grandmother's family is originally from the central Ukraine. Reading reports from the front, news about victims and the endless shelling was unbearable.
The Minsk talks did not bring peace immediately, but gave a weak hope. The resumption of hostilities could happen any time. I had been guessing the dates. When the AFU would attack: on Christmas, the New Year, on the Orthodox Christmas, or Baptism? The tension eased up a bit after Saakashvili's demarche when he had posted on the Internet the video showing the map with the "secret positions." It became clear - until they dig in themselves in a new place, they won't attack. It gave two or three weeks of a breather, thanks to Michael Nikolozovich.
Tension began building by early February. Night shelling of Donetsk and the adjacent areas intensified, so did Poroshenko's anti-Russian rhetoric; the war was looming again very close. In late January, there was a feeling that the Ukrainian war hawks were just waiting for a signal to rush into the battle. I thought that the go-ahead to the beginning of the military operation would be if the IMF made the next money transfer. If money was given, then it would mean that Ukraine was moving in the right direction and should continue in the same way: steal, and to hide the evidence - go to war.
And then help came from where it was not expected. The American peace party showed determination, putting brakes on the credit to the militant beggars.
Of all the references about the suspension of the payment of the next tranche of the IMF loan, I chose particularly this one, where Secretary of State John Forbes Kerry was confused with the famous comedian Jim Carrey:
http://antifashist.com/item/kerri-nastoyal-na-priostanovke-vydeleniya-uk...
(31-Jan-2016)
The Kiev regime's failure to comply with the terms of the Minsk agreements has led its American masters to the point that they have become less concerned about following any rules of decency, and moved to an open pressure. U.S. Secretary of State Jim Carrey has convinced the IMF to suspend consideration of issuing a new loan to Ukraine.
But receiving of these loans is the key to the existence of Ukraine as a state; the President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko said on January 12 that Kiev would need within two years an additional financial assistance from external sources in the total amount of no less than 13-15 billion dollars.
The IMF, even if to forget the Secretary of State Kerry's discontent, has many reasons of its own to be unhappy about Kiev. During the IMF mission's work in Ukraine, it was discovered that the problems of Ukraine, the financial institution had previously pointed out at, still remained unresolved - the uncovered budject deficit, the inflated social spending and the complete lack of understanding where to get funds to cover Naftogaz' deficit. [End of Quote]
In the publication about an open pressure on the Kiev regime by the American peace party an annoying mistake was made in the name of U.S. Secretary of State. There will be no money for war in the near future. Déjà vu.
The Ukrainian regime, who from the day one of its establishing has been developing according to the script of a famous movie "The Wedding in Malinovka," has reached the stage "Mister Ataman has no gold left and the boys begin to run in the different directions. If this goes on, I too will run in the different directions."
The IMF received from the Ukrainian-Russian side a hint that they too had the methods of influence:
http://www.bbc.com/russian/news/2016/02/160204_strauss_kahn_ukrainian_bank
(2/4/2016)
The former director of the International Monetary Fund Dominique Strauss-Kahn joined the Supervisory Board of the Ukrainian bank, belonging to one of the richest businessmen of Ukraine Viktor Pinchuk.
Strauss-Kahn received his appointment in Credit Dnepr Bank on February 1, was reported on the website of the financial institution.
It is believed that Victor Pinchuk's fortune is estimated 1.4 billion dollars. He is married to the daughter of the former President of Ukraine Leonid Kuchma.
Along with Strauss-Kahn, the Supervisory Board of the bank was joined by other well-known economists, in particular, Jean-Pierre Saltiel from France and Anders Aslund from Sweden (he writes and comments a lot about Russia and Ukraine).
Strauss-Kahn resigned as the head of the IMF in May 2011, a few days after he had been arrested in the United States on suspicion of raping a maid in a hotel.
Later, the criminal case against him was dropped. Strauss-Kahn and the maid filed civil lawsuits against each other, but subsequently signed a settlement agreement.
In 2012, a criminal case was filed againt Strauss-Kahnagainst, this time in France, on the charges of aggravated pimping; it alleged that the economist participated in sex orgies with prostitutes.
In the summer of 2015 the charges were dropped. Strauss-Kahn admitted that he had participated in such orgies, but asserted that he didn't do that often and had no idea that the women were paid for the orgies. [End of Quote]
Strauss-Kahn is a strong argument in the dispute with the IMF. It is only for amateurs the IMF loans work in mysterious ways, but for the professionals like Dominique Strauss-Kahn it is not a problem to find where the money disappears. Is it not what has sparked a panic in the Cabinet of Arseniy Petrovich? I do not know whether the resignation notice of Abromavičius includes the words, "My heart whispers that we are on the verge of a grandiose mess," but his actions speak precisely about that. Having named all those involved in corruption, he announced all over the world that he no longer intended to cover up the theft from the Ukrainian budget and was not going to go jail for all those thieves.
http://www.bbc.com/russian/news/2016/02/160203_ukraine_economy_resignation (03.02.2016)
Minister of economic development and trade of Ukraine Aivaras Abromavičius announced his decision to resign because of the impossibility to implement the reforms.
"Today, I have decided to resign from my Minister's post because of the dramatic activization of the actions which block systemic and major reforms in the country," he said.
"Neither me, nor my team, has any desire to serve as a cover-up for the covert corruption, or become puppets for those who, very much like the 'old' government, are trying to exercise control over the flow of public funds," added Abromavičius.
In addition, he said, the obstacles for his Ministry were created by a People's Deputy Igor Kononenko who is a Deputy Head of the faction Petro Poroshenko Block in the Verkhovna Rada.
"As someone representing the political force who nominated me for the position of the Minister, in the last month he has done very much to hamper my work and that of the Ministry," said the outgoing Minister.
He also accused the government of "bringing questionable individuals against his will" into his team, and emphasized that he hadn't coordinated the approval of his resignation with either the President or the Prime Minister of the country.
Lithuanian Aivaras Abromavičius held the post of Minister of Economy from December, 2014. He is a businessman and co-owner of a company East Capital. Before his appointment as a Minister, he was granted the Ukrainian citizenship.
U.S. Ambassador to Kiev Geoffrey R. Pyatt called Abromavičius one of the top reform leaders in the Ukrainian government. [End of Quote]
The American and pro-Russian political peacekeepers acted in a apparent coordination, as the IMF was under pressure from both sides, and, possibly, from three.
For the Ukrainian government and the IMF, the popular protests that broke out in Moldova against the pro-Western leadership who had plundered 1 billion dollars from the loan were very untimely. The Chisinau Maidan threatened to grow into utterly anti-Western and anti-American; the IMF was exposed as the main tool of corruption in Moldova.
The Chisinau regime, carefully nurtured and fostered as anti-Russian, has been caught stealing and threatens to collapse and "betray the entire scam" "how to develop" the IMF loans on the post-Soviet space. Is corruption a tool of external governance?
On February 3, Sergei Lavrov's Deputy Grigory Karasin spoke with John Tefft about Moldova and Ukraine.
http://www.vesti.ru/doc.html?id=2716050&tid=108623 (3.02.2016)
On Wednesday, State Secretary-Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia Grigory Karasin discussed with U.S. Ambassador John Tefft the prospects of solving of the Ukrainian crisis and the situation in Moldova. The Russian MFA informed that the meeting was held at the American diplomat's request.
"They discussed the prospects of solving of the Ukrainian crisis," informed the MFA. "Among other issues was brought up the situation in Moldova and Central Asia ", reported RIA Novosti. [End of Quote]
I do not know whether it has been agreed with Tefft "not to push down" the Moldovan regime in exchange for ending the war in Donbass - we will see that soon - but the IMF has got hung by its Fabergé quite seriously and for a long while. Did you order the fight against corruption? Here, it's been delivered - sign, please.
The control shot at Poroshenko's government suddenly came from Poland:
http://tvzvezda.ru/news/vstrane_i_mire/content/201602042135-gu7l.htm
The myth of Ukraine's possible membership in the EU has been dispelled after Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs Witold Waszczykowski said that the Eastern Partnership programme had failed. This was stated by the leader of the public movement Ukrainian Choice Victor Medvedchuk, reported RIA Novosti. In his opinion, the words of the Polish Minister was a slap in the face for the official Kiev.
"The Eastern Partnership program relegated Ukraine, Moldova and other countries of the former Soviet Union merely a role of the buffer zone between Russia and the EU and did not give these countries a chance to join the European Union," said the head of the Polish MFA Witold Waszczykowski. "This statement by a Polish representative is a slap in the face for the official Kiev," wrote Medvedchuk in his Facebook.
Also, the Ukrainian politician pointed out that Waszczykowski’s words confirmed that the associate membership in the EU imposed strict obligations, however, did not give anything in return.
Earlier Witold Waszczykowski said that the Eastern Partnership program failed because countries such as Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Georgia and Azerbaijan had no prospects for joining the EU. [End of Quote]
The visit of Henry Kissinger to Moscow and his meeting with Vladimir Putin (http://vz.ru/news/2016/2/4/792279.html) makes the informal arrangements much more reliable than the document signed in Minsk.