Section: Atlantic Council (USA)
Making Sense of Minsk: Decentralization, Special Status, and Federalism
Decentralization, special status, and federalism. These terms are three different things, although they are often mistakenly substituted one for another, and some people think one term means another in Ukraine today.The decentralization debate is heating up again as Ukraine faces a legal deadline to pass a constitutional amendment that gives the...
Not So Fast, Mr. Inozemtsov
Responding to an article that Ambassadors Steven Pifer, William Taylor, and I wrote in The New York Times advocating greater US and EU assistance to Ukraine, Vladislav Inozemtsov wrote a provocative article January 19 in which he makes the case that Kyiv should cede the occupied territories of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR), Luhansk...
Ukrainians Need to Stop Waiting for Their White Knight
My source leaned forward and said with a muffled voice: “The latest news is that grey cardinal Igor Kononenko’s men have been placed inside Ukrainian Railways, and Member of Parliament Sergei Fayermak of the People’s Front is now in charge of all the seaports.” This conversation with a government insider took place in the...
Ukraine’s Economic Revival Starting in the West
What do coastal China, northern Mexico, and western Ukraine have in common?After Beijing dropped Maoist economics in the 1970s, low-wage China began to thrive. The economic boom started with the coast, the area closest to the Pacific coast ports of Canada and the United States, with its access to a huge market.Low-wage northern Mexico boomed...
Did Ukraine’s Cyberattacks Originate in Russia?
As Ukraine grapples with a plethora of challenges, including endemic corruption and trade disputes with Russia, cyberattacks against the country’s critical infrastructure can now be added to the list of issues.In late December, Ukraine experienced what may have been the world’s first blackout caused by a cyberattack. While the...
What the Falling Oil Price Means for Russia and Ukraine
At present the price of Brent crude oil is $28 per barrel, while it was $114 per barrel in June 2014. This price fall by three-quarters is of great importance for the Russian economy and its policy toward Ukraine. The only rational option for the Kremlin is to wind down the conflict with Ukraine.Russia is a petrostate. When the oil price was...
A Conflict Erupts Online Between Ukrainians and Russians
A vicious diatribe recently exploded on the Russian Internet between several Ukrainian journalists and bloggers on one side, and prominent Russian opposition bloggers and activists on the other. The discourse reflects the deep divide between the two nations, which has continued to deteriorate since the events of 2014.The debate has been brewing...
How Will Iran’s Oil Exports Rebound?
Global oil prices hit their lowest point since 2003 after the United States, the European Union, and the United Nations on January 16 lifted sanctions on Iran in response to the International Atomic Energy Agency’s conclusion that the Islamic Republic was in compliance with the terms of a nuclear deal. Brent Crude fell to $27.67 per barrel...
How to Help Ukraine: An Alternative Vision
Three former US Ambassadors to Ukraine recently wrote an op-ed article in the New York Times (“Investing in Ukraine’s Future,” December 30, 2015) that called for an increase in Western financial assistance to Ukraine and argued that the country is now “teetering on the brink.” I strongly support their willingness to...
How Ukraine’s Reformers Beat the Pharma Mafia
A little over a month after US Vice President Joe Biden told Ukrainian legislators that graft was eating Ukraine “like a cancer,” an order from Ukraine’s cabinet of ministers struck a decisive blow against pharmaceutical corruption. This order outsources the purchasing of numerous medicines for seriously ill Ukrainians from the...
