http://isteve.blogspot.com/2014/02/what-it-takes.html?spref=fb–“The moral victory of the hard men of the Ukrainian opposition in Kiev in trampling on the most recent European-negotiated compromise solution and successfully driving the elected President out of the capital comes not just from dying bravely, but from winning. “–
Source date (UTC): 2014-02-23 12:55:00 UTC
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/why-a-new-ukraine-is-the-kremlins-worst-nightmare-9146751.htmlTHE FUTURE : RUSSIAN POWER AGAINST UKRAINE?
(note: I am pro-russian and pro-ukrainian both. My interest in this geopolitical rough and tumble is simple: I want a strong east that suppresses visible corruption so that people can economically prosper. )
“Russia has talked a lot about its “soft power” in recent years. It isn’t particularly soft. The new Ukraine will pay more for gas, which will be regularly cut off for “technical reasons”. Russia’s crazy “food safety” agency will declare that everything that comes out of Ukraine is radioactive. Ukrainian migrant workers will be sent home now they have finished helping to rebuild Sochi.
Worst of all, Russia will work hard to try to re-corrupt the political system. The Kremlin used to boast that it could exploit Ukraine’s old-style “democracy” – meaning that, just like Yanukovych, they could launch their own puppet parties and buy agents of influence in the honest ones. The Ukrainian Front, a bizarre alliance of hooligans and bikers with a vaguely pan-Slavist ideology that appeared in the eastern city of Kharkiv two weeks ago, was backed by the Russians. Skinheads and sportsmen with the money to spend on propaganda are not a natural combination. Similar groups may pop up in Crimea and elsewhere, where the last elements of the old regime may try and regroup.
But Russia’s ultimate problem is the same as Yanukovych faced. The Kremlin simply can’t understand that protesters would be motivated by ideology rather than by money or foreign support. The Russians were good at manipulating the old system, but dealing with real revolutionaries is a different matter. Ukraine is starting a very bumpy ride.”
THEY ARE NOT MOTIVATED BY IDEOLOGY BUT ECONOMIC SUFFERING AND FREEDOM FROM SYSTEMIC CORRUPTION.
Source date (UTC): 2014-02-22 23:15:00 UTC
LEARN FROM UKRAINE. UKRAINE IS A TUTORIAL.
Overthrow a corrupt state.
Source date (UTC): 2014-02-22 08:39:00 UTC
UKRAINE’S PRESIDENT RESIGNS. USA SHOULD BE NEXT.
This is how it is done America. Not with press. Not with speeches. Not with threats. Not with begging and pleading. But with a dedicated few, willing to die to prove the illegitimacy of the government.
Why does the right care? BECAUSE THEY DO THE FIGHTING.
Source date (UTC): 2014-02-22 08:15:00 UTC
http://euromaidanonline.com/%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B0%D1%8F-%D0%B8%D0%B3%D1%80%D0%B0-%D1%81%D1%82%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%BB%D1%8F%D0%BB%D0%BA%D0%B0-%D0%B4%D0%BD%D1%8F-%D0%BD%D0%B0%D0%B9%D0%B4%D0%B8-%D0%BF%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%B7%D0%B8%D0%B4/UKRAINE: PRESIDENT FLEES TO DUBAI
They are letting the public tour his home in Kiev today.
I spent most of the night tracking the presidential plane flight from Kiev through Georgia, Armenia and Iran. Just didn’t make sense to me that he’d taken a different plane. I’d thought that he had possibly sent the money in the presidential plane and gone to the meeting of the Region today.
But nope. Instincts were good. They can’t find him. And the plane never went to Karhiv as he’s stated.
LIBERTY IS THE PRODUCT OF ORGANIZED VIOLENCE BY A MINORITY DETERMINED TO OBTAIN AND HOLD IT.
Source date (UTC): 2014-02-22 04:05:00 UTC
What is Yanukovych’s elite personal plane doing flying into Dubai? I thought it was HIM on the plane. But WHAT is on it?
Source date (UTC): 2014-02-22 00:28:32 UTC
Original post: https://twitter.com/i/web/status/437021051370094592
Reply addressees: @Euromaidan
Replying to: https://twitter.com/i/web/status/437015853968936960
IN REPLY TO:
@euromaidan
Этот странный рейс уже над Ираном. http://t.co/4PYePFpf6v #Євромайдан #Евромайдан #Euromaidan
Original post: https://twitter.com/i/web/status/437015853968936960
KIEV: Tomorrow will be a very interesting day here. He has left Keiv, and Kiev is lost. If he tries to split the country from the East, that’s pretty interesting. Not sure how the protesters will handle it. But as far as I can tell he’s carrying on the fight.
Source date (UTC): 2014-02-21 17:39:00 UTC
UKRAINE UPDATE : Getting word that the President has left the country. The plane is now east of crimea heading toward Russia or Georgia?
Other rumor is that he will try to announce a split of the country tomorrow. Not sure how much stock to put in it.
The protesters have stated that he goes before they cease action.
Source date (UTC): 2014-02-21 17:34:00 UTC
UKRAINE UPDATE : A LOT GOING ON TODAY.
In theory there is a deal.
1) The 2004 constitution will be restored within 48 hours, and a national unity government will be formed within 10 days.
2) Constitutional reform balancing the powers of president, government and parliament will be started immediately and completed by December.
3) A presidential election will be held after the new constitution is adopted but no later than December 2014
I don’t buy that they will leave Maydan until the president is gone. But if they restore the 2004 constitution. I think he has to resign. As I understand it, they can fire him right away if so. But that doesn’t mean much here, because the locals have even less respect for rule of law than Obama does. “Lie and make it up later” has become as American as it is Post-Soviet.
The reason being (you have to remember this is the east) that you can’t trust anyone here to hold to an agreement, so the ‘opposition’ will just assume that the president is buying time. Personally I’d raise the stakes. Call the europeans and have them freeze the assets of the Oligarchs. The guy is on the ropes here.
One of the districts outlawed the President’s Political party today. I expect that will continue.
EARLY RECONCILIATION IS FAILURE AS I SEE IT
– Focus on Corruption, not people and power.
– Replace the presidency with a prime minister.
– Get reform of the judiciary and police included in the package. (remove current judicial independence which in this country is a bad thing)
– Create a senate for the formal federation of the regions.
Source date (UTC): 2014-02-21 09:11:00 UTC
http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2014/02/21/even-chinas-economists-are-singing-the-blues/?mod=WSJBlogCHINA – I THOUGHT THIS WOULD HAPPEN FOUR YEARS AGO
Just ruminating.
Turning bearish on china is all well and good. But you know, I can’t make heads or tales out of what’s coming out of that country. Not sure how anyone else does. I’m not as good at the data as I am the interpretation of the logic of those that are.
I can tell you other than the vague feeling that ‘something isn’t looking good here’ no one is very sure what’s going on.
So, I still don’t feel confident one way or the other. I mean, China is an example of Keynes’ suggestion that we just dig holes and bury money in it. Except they make cities instead of holes. I mean, the really bad part about overbuilding is that infrastructure like that is more expensive to maintain than it is to build, and if it’s built at the same time (American roads) it fails at the same time (like light bulbs).
So at this point, I’m just confused. The one figure that bothers me most is actually the degree to which China’s economy is managed by foreign entities (70-80%). That means that they aren’t actually adapting at all. And I don’t understand the economy well enough to judge what kind of distortions are in place. I think, from what I see, they are buying density (transition from farming) in exchange for distortion. This actually makes sense believe it or not. And that’s a pretty good use of a command economy. I guess that if they get far enough with the population shift to cities, then they can use consumer credit after that – but only if enough people and institutions develop the skills for trustworthy transactions. And I just don’t see evidence of that yet.
I don’t underestimate the intelligence of the political class over there.
So they might be fine with it. But I don’t see how that internal ‘bad’ command-economy run by the state, translates into converting the ‘good’ economy run by foreigners. I just don’t see that. If they go long enough then the natural evolution of people in the cities might take care of it. I suppose that makes some sense. But the rapid personal wealth increases just won’t be there.
WE ALL CANNOT BE MIDDLE CLASS because not enough of us are productive enough to reach it. We can generate false middle classes for periods (British colonialism, american expansion, postwar america, petro-dollar america, post-communist-credit china). But you can’t ‘fake it’ forever. (No matter what Krugmans of the world like to pretend.)
Source date (UTC): 2014-02-21 08:41:00 UTC