From Kyiv: Ukraine at 25 (Chatham House)

https://www.chathamhouse.org/file/kyiv-ukraine-25

What place for women in Ukraine’s memory politics? (Olesya Khromeychuk, openDemocracy)

Conflict may have forced Ukraine to re-evaluate its past, but public officials do their country a disservice by excluding and particularising the role of women.

https://www.opendemocracy.net/od-russia/olesya-khromeychuk/what-place-for-women-in-ukraine-s-memory-politics

Dealing with a simmering Ukraine-Russia conflict (Fiona Hill, Steven Pifer, Brookings)

A major foreign policy challenge that will confront the new U.S. administration from day one is Ukraine and its conflict with Russia. The February 2015 Minsk II settlement that was to end the fighting in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region has yet to be implemented. There is little sign that Moscow wants a settlement, apparently preferring a “simmering” rather than “frozen” conflict, where it can turn the heat up or down to pressure Kyiv. This ongoing conflict and perpetual state of uncertainty distracts the Ukrainian government from much-needed domestic reforms.

https://www.brookings.edu/research/dealing-with-a-simmering-ukraine-russia-conflict/

Safeguarding Ukraine’s Progress (Anders Åslund, Project-Syndicate)

Ukraine’s immediate economic crisis has been resolved, but its economy remains fragile and still needs international support. If the new Ukrainian government becomes complacent, the country’s gains could be lost.

https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/ukraine-economic-reforms-growth-by-anders-aslund-2016-10

Ukraine's battle between the banks and the borrowers (Chris Scott, Al Jazeera)

How a foreign currency debt crisis is leaving Ukrainians at risk of losing their homes.

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2016/07/ukraine-battle-banks-borrowers-160704103739814.html

Ukraine Update (Carnegie Council)

https://www.carnegiecouncil.org/studio/multimedia/20160607/index.html#section-33318

Kiev nelle mani dell'uomo del presidente (Giovanna De Maio, AffarInternazionali)

A circa due anni da euromaidan l’Ucraina stenta a trovare una stabilità politica. Dopo mesi di stallo in seguito alla crisi di governo del febbraio di quest’anno, l’insediamento del nuovo governo presieduto da Volodymyr Groysman assomiglia molto a una manovra tutto fumo e niente arrosto

http://www.affarinternazionali.it/articolo.asp?ID=3455

Two years after Crimea, are Japan–Ukraine ties weakening? (Anthony V. Rinna, Sino-NK, East Asia Forum)

Times of crisis are a chance to discover who your true friends are. Ukraine learned this lesson two years ago. While it was largely Euro–Atlantic nations that spoke out against Russia’s actions in Crimea, Ukraine also found a supporter in Japan.

Continue reading here ...

Anthony V. Rinna is an analyst on Russian foreign policy in East Asia for the Sino-NK research group. He currently resides in South Korea.

Russia in Ukraine: The Greatest Challenge to the European Security Order (Atlantic Council)

http://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/new-atlanticist/29338-russia-in-ukraine-the-greatest-challenge-to-the-european-security-order

The Obama Doctrine and Ukraine (Steven Pifer, John Herbst, Brookings)

In an interview with Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic, President Obama laid out key elements of his approach to foreign policy. There is much in it with which one can agree. “Don’t do stupid s——” makes sense as an axiom of foreign policy—or of any policy, for that matter—as does taking deliberate and strategic decisions about when to engage American military power.

http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/order-from-chaos/posts/2016/03/18-us-support-for-ukraine-pifer-herbst

The Cyber Attack on the Ukrainian Electrical Infrastructure: Another Warning (Gabi Siboni, Zvi Magen, INSS)

On December 23, 2015, malfunctions were reported in portions of the electrical network in western Ukraine, after the operations of 27 distribution stations and three power plants were disrupted, causing the electricity supply system to crash. This was not a routine power outage: the Ukrainian authorities believe that a cyber attack originating in Russia caused the malfunction, and the Security Service of Ukraine has blamed Russia for the power outages. The conclusions of several security companies confirm the suspicion linking the attack to Sandworm, which according to the security company iSight is a Russian group affiliated with the Russian government. Hypotheses regarding a possible motive also support the suspicion that Russia is the party responsible for the attack, perhaps as part of the Russian campaign against cutting off the Crimean Peninsula, annexed by Russia, from electricity supplied by Ukraine. Cyberspace operations also enable Russia to continue denying its involvement in Ukraine, while at the same time persisting in efforts to attack it.

http://www.inss.org.il/index.aspx?id=4538&articleid=11446

Russia’s mixed signals on eastern Ukraine (Paul Quinn-Judge, ICG)

One of the most dangerous elements of Ukraine’s nearly two-year-old conflict remains the unpredictability of its neighbour Russia’s tactics. Despite repeated expressions of support for the Minsk peace process and recognition of Ukraine’s sovereignty over the separatist Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics (DNR, LNR), Moscow’s current actions in eastern Ukraine seem designed to strengthen those entities than prepare them for dismantlement.

http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/regions/europe/ukraine/op-eds/quinn-russias-mixed-signals-on-eastern-ukraine.aspx

Ukraine: Poroshenko Asks Yatsenyuk To Resign (Euractiv)

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on Tuesday asked Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk to resign in the face of the government’s perceived failure to fight endemic corruption and overcome a deep economic crisis.

http://www.eurasiareview.com/17022016-ukraine-poroshenko-asks-yatsenyuk-to-resign/

War or peace in Ukraine ? (Reid Hutchins, AIIA)

The conflict in Ukraine has reached an uneasy impasse. As Putin, ever the strategic grandmaster, focuses his attention on the Middle East the future of peace in Ukraine remains uncertain.

http://www.internationalaffairs.org.au/australian_outlook/war-or-peace-in-ukraine/

Propaganda In the Eyes of the Beholder (Michael Averko, Strategic Culture Foundation)

Promoted at Johnson's Russia List, Paul Goble's piece of this past January 20 «US Appears to Have Accepted Donbas Model Not Only for Ukraine but for Other Conflicts, Russian Analyst Says», refers to Strategic Culture Foundation contributor and Russian Academy of Sciences researcher Pyotr Iskenderov as a Kremlin propagandist. This characterization is pretty rich given Goble's penchant for anti-Russian propaganda.

In his piece, Goble references an Iskenderov commentary on how some former Yugoslav examples might be applied to fully settling the dispute over the Donbas region. Concerning Donbas, the arguably best former Yugoslav example is overlooked. Spending more time on hypocritically calling someone a propagandist over pure analytics can take attention away from providing a more substantive rebuttal.

The analogous former Yugoslav oversight in question concerns the entity known as the Republika Srpska (RS), which was created (at the end of the Bosnian Civil War) as a loose Serb majority affiliate of the internationally recognized Bosnian state. Since its inception, RS has faced opposition among anti-Serb proponents. Notwithstanding, RS doesn't appear to be on the verge of collapse. Perhaps similarly, a mutually agreed and fully implemented agreement (by all of the parties) for a loosely affiliated (to Ukraine) Donbas, might face periodic squabbles with the political consensus in Kiev.

There remains the possibility that the overall mood in Kiev can change for the reasons that I previously presented. Another Goble piece relates to this belief. Picked up in the US based Mikhail Khodorkovsky involved online venue called «The Interpreter», Goble's January 28 observation «Moscow Patriarchate Losing Parishes to Kyiv Church and Its Dominance of Ukraine's Religious Life», is a poignant example of misleading anti-Russian propaganda. Khodorkovsky's relationship with such an anti-Russian slant serves to explain why he can probably never become popular in Russia and elsewhere among pro-Russian elements. (The Interpreter frequently carries Goble's commentary and that of other like minds, minus the opposing view.)

Within objective overview, it's quite clear that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP), has faced intimidation by zealots seeking to takeover its properties. This matter of fact aspect is omitted by Goble, who (instead) spins the image of an exclusively popular mood to drift away from an association with Russia. Goble uncritically references some otherwise questionable statistics to support the idea of a dwindling UOC-MP. On this score, there're conflicting partisan claims made which leave room for second guessing. For now and the foreseeable future, it doesn't seem like the UOC-MP is about to dramatically dwindle or fold altogether.

Running counter to The Interpreter/Goble take, there was a recent Kiev court ruling against activists seeking to takeover UOC-MP property. Along with facing a very troubled economy, the Kiev regime relative moderates like President Petro Poroshenko face a mesh of nationalist anti-Russian forces and those with the opposite view.

In the West, it's common to see the suggestion of a sinister Kremlin attempt to manipulate public opinion in Russia and abroad. Therein lies a faulty position with the misinformative spin that subjectively disrespects pro-Russian sentiment. Part of this disrespect centers on the theme that to be pro-Russian is to be misinformed by propaganda – something relating to how some find no irony/hypocrisy when Goble refers to Iskenderov as a Kremlin propagandist and why the touted Western free press often omits mainstream Russian views in favor of the opposite take. Rhetorically put: why give time to flacks who distort, unlike those getting the nod as credible sources? This skewed predicament is tantamount to ignoring certain former Soviet realities.

Another contrast to the preferred Goble/Interpreter imagery, is the January 19 BBC Monitoring feature «Row Over City's New Name» – a segment not likely to get placed in the televised higher profile BBC newscasts to the US and elsewhere. This particular BBC piece notes a Ukrainian town within Kiev regime territory, whose population prefers the town's pre-Soviet Russian Empire name (honoring Empress Elizabeth), over the changed Soviet name and the other one favored by anti-Russian leaning Ukrainian nationalists.

The former Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic (former Moldavian SSR for short) has been periodically referenced as having similar circumstances as Ukraine. Among other examples, Josh Rogin's April 23, 2014 Daily Beast article on the former Moldavian SSR «Is This Putin's Next Target», is misleading sensationalism. Rogin doesn’t cover the neocon to neolib, to flat out anti-Russian influences that unnecessarily provoke a pro-Russian backlash inside and outside of Russia, which the Kremlin can't simply ignore; and becomes especially difficult to put aside on account of an activist anti-Russian tone among Western foreign policy politicos, who lobby (in one form or another) on former Soviet territory. It's unrealistically unjust to expect an inactive Kremlin attitude towards such activity. In place of these thoughts, the simple suggestion is made of an aggressive Russia looking to takeover more territory and have greater influence.

There has been no dramatic change in the status of the disputed pro-Russian former Moldavian SSR territory of Pridnestrovie (AKA Transnistria and closely related spellings). The main reason for this has to do with an ongoing situation that isn't as threatening when compared to what Crimea saw when a democratically elected Ukrainian president was overthrown, with an increased anti-Russian political stance in Kiev.

Within the rest of the former Moldavian SSR, a cross section of pro-EU and pro-Russian parties have converged to oppose Moldovan political establishment that's seen by many as ineffective and corrupt. In the long run, can these different East-West sympathies agree on the benefit of a mutually pro-Russian and pro-West course? This very preference is what the last pre-Euromaidan Ukrainian government sought along with Russia – a sharp contrast from the zero sum game (Russia or the West) approach taken by the EU and Obama administration, before the ouster of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych.

Going back to the so-called «Orange Revolution», some have spun the notion of Ukraine becoming a positive example for Russia, Moldova and some other former Soviet republics to follow. The aforementioned existing circumstances indicate that something is more evident. Appearing in the West, the work of Halyna Mokrushina, Ivan Katchanovski, Paul Moreira, Richard Sakwa and some others, reveal something noticeably different from the image of a peacefully democratic Euromaidan versus pro-Russian troublemakers.

There remains an uphill battle in seeing a more balanced accounting of former Soviet issues. Some like Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), still downplay certain particulars like the fear factor mob rule outside Kiev's Rada (parliament), that played a role in the disproportionate number of appointments given to nationalist Svoboda members in the regime which initially succeeded the overthrown Yanukovych. (In a downplayed way, I recall this instance covered with video footage on the otherwise not so pro-Russian and Euromaidan friendly Al Jazeera America and some other Western based/Western influenced network.) Thereafter, the at times fatal violence against counter-Euromaidan individuals within Kiev regime territory is a matter of clear record.

Those who bash RT as biased, don't have an objective leg to stand on if they assert that RFE/RL and the Kyiv Post (as well as such sources as Goble and The Interpreter) are more accurate. It's fair to say that the major Western media venues tend to favor the RFE/RL-Kyiv Post slant over that of RT.

U.S.-Installed Ukrainian Regime Now Fears Return of Donbass to Ukraine (Strategic Culture Foundation)

http://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2015/09/12/us-installed-ukrainian-regime-now-fears-return-donbass-ukraine.html

(Ukraine) Putin’s deceptive pause: What are Russia’s next steps in Ukraine? (Brookings)

http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/order-from-chaos/posts/2015/09/01-russia-ukraine-next-steps-kalb

(Istituto fondamentale - Global) Ukraine Needs a Moratorium (Council on Foreign Relations)

http://blogs.cfr.org/kahn/2015/07/23/ukraine-needs-a-moratorium/

(Istituto fondamentale - Global) Transforming Ukraine: Successes and Obstacles on the Way to Reform (Chatham House)

http://www.chathamhouse.org/event/transforming-ukraine-successes-and-obstacles-way-reform

(Istituto fondamentale - Global) Nuland Goes to Europe: End of Compromise Culture (Dmitry Babich, Strategic Culture Foundation)

http://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2015/07/18/nuland-goes-to-europe-end-of-compromise-culture.html