Ukrainian crisis - the aftermath
Discoshaman provides a roundup of recent developments, including the news that "Yanukovych has brought a fifth complaint to the Supreme Court, hoping to overturn the elections. Even his own spokesman doesn't sound hopeful. The Court will consider his complaint tomorrow. The Central Election Commission head has decided not to certify the results until hearing from the Court."
Over at Yorkshire Ranter, Alex has an interesting piece dissecting some of the more stupid commentaries on the Ukrainian election crisis. Specifically, the opinions of Jonathan Steele in the Guardian. He does, it must be admitted, have a tendency to spout nonsense - the Ranter's piece, however, is a great dismissal of Steele's take on events, and well worth a read for anyone who has been following the Ukrainian situation.
Meanwhile, Foreign Notes has a good piece on Ukraine's blossoming economy, although how this will be affected by the new natural gas deal with Turkmenistan (necessitated after the Turkmens cut off the vital supply to Ukraine on New Year's Eve to force a new contract) remains to be seen.
And two of the major outside influences on the election now have to ponder what to learn from the experience, as Russia wonders what went wrong, and some in the US wonder whether America's alliance with Russia is more important than helping democracy in former soviet states.
The Ukraine crisis will likely have major repercussions - it remains too early to tell what form they may take, but it seems likely that the major changes will be seen not within the country's borders, but in the attitudes of other states with a stake in the region.
Whether these changes will be for the benefit of the inhabitants or of outside influences I have no idea, but I can't say I'm too hopeful that the wishes of the Ukrainian people will remain on the minds of observers from further afield for too much longer... I'll try and keep intermittently on the case, but it seems most people's interests have shifted elsewhere - natural disasters have a tendency of drawing attention to themselves, after all.
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