Busy, busy, busy

I have been very busy over the past week and have not had time to post much here. The good news though is that there has not been much to post about. But there is some.

The government finally seems to be talking with a single voice for one. There has been none of the old back and forth in the press between ministers and the president that I have heard like there used to be. That is a good thing.

And the Kryvorizstahl mill sale went off without a hitch. Some analysts seem to be saying that the sale is a victory for Yuschenko that should help him in the elections this spring. I don't know how a sale of the steel mill will increase his attractiveness to the people in the face of what has gone on, but it can be one piece to be added to other pieces--like economic and political stability, two others-- that might all add up to victory then. Steady, consistent effort to get things done might just pay off. And it would be new.

So I don't know how much of a victory the sale represents. But what it does do is to begin to demonstrate seriousness on the part of the government in making the climate here more investment friendly. This sale goes a long way towards making that case. And that is a good thing.

I will say it again: It is much better to have the power to make things happen than to sit around waiting for something to go wrong in order to make political hay out of it.

In other news, Yuschenko's Our Ukraine is forming a youth organization. Tymoshenko is following suit. "I'll see your youth organization and raise you, what?" Nothing. Yuschenko signs an agreement with Yanukovych which he says recognizes the east as having legitimate interests in the government, an east that is pro Russia, and Tymoshenko responds by visiting Putin in Russia and bringing back a glowing report on Putin as president. She seems to be on the back end of the wave.