Musings from an outpost on the edge of Western civilization.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
BBC on Ukraine
Check out a rather surreal BBC2 'Newsnight' video speculating on how close Ukraine is to financial meltdown here
Another thing for European banks to worry about.
The video should be accessible for 7 days.
3 comments:
Anonymous
said...
The report has it spot on:
"Ukraine's government leaders take care of themselves first."
And:
"Can't figure out whether Ukrainians don't know what's going on, or have simply become accustomed to enduring extreme hardship."
The police coming out and beating ruining protesters' signs and tents on Maidan is troublesome. The movement is "Геть Усіх" which means "get rid of them all."
I really think those people have a point. Problem is - who is going to step up and take their place, and what kind of government will Ukraine have if someone else steps up?
I think the reporter understimates one thing - Ukraine's "shadow economy" and "money in mattresses."
That may be why ordinary Ukrainians don't seem to be as panicky as Mason thought they should be.
They have their own resources, not dependent on banks or government, etc.
The reporter, Mason, asked the young man at Independence Square, whose tents and protest signs and other things had just been smashed by the police, what they were doing.
The young man said: "we want to finish (complete) the Orange Revolution."
I wish the reporter had taken some time to discuss that with the young man, and had asked him to explain what he meant in more detail.
3 comments:
The report has it spot on:
"Ukraine's government leaders take care of themselves first."
And:
"Can't figure out whether Ukrainians don't know what's going on, or have simply become accustomed to enduring extreme hardship."
The police coming out and beating ruining protesters' signs and tents on Maidan is troublesome. The movement is "Геть Усіх" which means "get rid of them all."
I really think those people have a point. Problem is - who is going to step up and take their place, and what kind of government will Ukraine have if someone else steps up?
I think the reporter understimates one thing - Ukraine's "shadow economy" and "money in mattresses."
That may be why ordinary Ukrainians don't seem to be as panicky as Mason thought they should be.
They have their own resources, not dependent on banks or government, etc.
One more thing -
The reporter, Mason, asked the young man at Independence Square, whose tents and protest signs and other things had just been smashed by the police, what they were doing.
The young man said: "we want to finish (complete) the Orange Revolution."
I wish the reporter had taken some time to discuss that with the young man, and had asked him to explain what he meant in more detail.
One more thing:
It looks like the protesters' tents and signs were not smashed by police, but by a private vigilante group.
The police just stood by.
The Ukrainiana blog has the details.
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