Section: Atlantic Council (USA)
Counting Sheep Is Courageous, Soulful, and Important: A Review
“Counting Sheep” is a “guerrilla folk opera” that guides audiences on an immersive and soulful journey through Ukraine’s Revolution of Dignity.Its creators are Mark and Marichka Marczyk who met and fell in love in Kyiv during the protests of 2013 and 2014. Mark is a talented Canadian musician of Ukrainian heritage and Marichka Kudriavtseva...
Ukraine’s Oligarchs Own the Media, but Public Broadcasting is Shaking Things Up
Last year, after years of debate and lobbying on the issue, public broadcasting was established in Ukraine. In a country suffering from a serious crisis of trust in the media, it looked like a chance to regain people’s faith.The dramatic decline in citizens’ trust in media started in 2014, when central Ukrainian TV channels first...
Great Expectations: Aspirant Nations See NATO Enlargement as Vital to Europe’s Stability
NATO membership for countries in the Balkans and for Georgia is crucial for the stability of Europe and will send a clear signal that Russia does not have a veto over the alliance’s enlargement plans, panelists, including officials from Macedonia and Georgia, said at the Atlantic Council on June 8. “The accession process into NATO has...
Ukraine’s Next Big Reform You Haven’t Heard of Yet
Ukraine watchers know all too well that for every success reported about the country, there are numerous setbacks. Yet there are encouraging signs currently occurring within the reform process, particularly at the local level.Perhaps the most successful reform is quietly taking place outside of Kyiv, and has the potential to reinvigorate civic...
Civil Society Gives Ukraine’s New Prime Minister Positive Marks
During almost eight weeks in office, Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groisman has inspired largely negative reactions from Western analysts. Noting Groisman’s close relationship with President Petro Poroshenko, observers fret the young prime minister will merely function as a yes-man. His appointment was variously described as “same old,...
The Savchenko Effect
The release from a Russian prison and return of helicopter pilot Nadiya Savchenko to Ukraine has ignited speculation about her future political plans. Elected as the first candidate on the party list of Yulia Tymoshenko’s bloc in the October 2014 parliamentary elections, Savchenko immediately entered politics upon her return to...
Ukraine Defies Anti-Semitic Stereotypes
Confronting a difficult history is no easy matter, particularly in Ukraine—a country caught between murderous regimes throughout the twentieth century. In his book Bloodlands, Yale historian Timothy Snyder places Ukraine at the center of a region where more than 14 million “non-combatants” were ruthlessly killed by the competing geopolitical...
Ten Reasons to Invest in Ukraine
Those who have invested in Ukraine so far have not been very happy with their return.At present, Ukraine’s gross domestic product is about $85 billion, approximately one-eighth of Poland’s GDP. The return on investment has been in proportion to that.Will things change?You can never be sure, but like before, Ukraine holds great...
Don’t Celebrate Ukraine’s New Judicial Changes Yet
Ukraine’s parliament has ignored warnings from human rights organizations and the Reanimation Package of Reforms and passed constitutional amendments and a bill on the judicial system which retain the old ways of exerting influence on judges. There was enormous pressure for judicial reform, and many of the changes are needed. The warnings,...
Ukraine Needs to Stop Dragging its Feet on Privatization
State-owned enterprises remain Ukraine’s Achilles’ heel. They are where political corruption spirals out of control with cronyism and backroom deals, and it is time to put an end to it. Privatization is the only real solution. No one has ever been popular by selling state assets and the timing is never right. Yet these companies...
