Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Ukraine: Crunch, Bunch, Lunch?

There is little good news in Eastern Ukraine.  The government of Kiev seems to be overly cautious or unable to roll back the Little Green Men.  Turchynov has stated Kiev can only hope to contain the spread of the rebellion at this point rather than take back the Donetsk and Lugansk Oblasts.  That's a bad sign for hopes of Kiev succeeding in holding Ukraine together.

To make matters worse, lawlessness is spreading in the LGM occupied territories.  LGM have begun confiscating cars and extorting money from passersby and robbing stores.  

To add insult to the already horrible injury, Men in Black (not Will Smith) have started causing provocations in Kiev following up the Neo Nazi march in Kiev with attacks all over the city.

The successes of Kiev though are not on the home front, but with the West.  

Yatsenyuk has successfully convinced Europe to continue the implementation of the association agreement.

Likewise, the IMF has formally approved the $17 billion for Ukraine.  The first tranche is expected around May 5th.

Russia is paying in spades for Crimea and probably the Donbass: they are in a recession and from the looks of things they are going to go into a depression. 

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