Ukraine to hold talks with IMF soon - Finance Minister

[jakeXT]

Source: Reuters

KIEV (Reuters) - Talks between Ukraine and the IMF on the much-needed next tranche of financial aid should take place as soon as possible, the Ukrainian finance minister said on Wednesday, speaking alongside two other newly appointed foreign-born ministers.

Three non-Ukrainian ministers were elected as part of a new cabinet by parliament on Tuesday, appointments of foreign technocrats seen as a bid by Kiev to prove its commitment to implementing extensive reforms, agreed in exchange for billions of dollars in international financial aid.

Kiev had expected that the next loan tranche from the International Monetary Fund, worth $2.7 billion, would come before the end of the year, but the IMF had waited for the new government to be formed to hold talks on the payment.

New Finance Minister Natalia Yaresko, who held various economic positions in the U.S. State Department before moving to work in Ukraine over 20 years ago, said the government had asked to meet the Fund as a matter of urgency.

Read more: https://uk.news.yahoo.com/ukraine-hold-talks-imf-soon-finance-minister-175416662--business.html

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Ukraine parliament approves foreigners as government ministers


...

Parliament ratified the choice of Natalia Yaresko, an American of Ukrainian origin, as finance minister.

A Lithuanian meanwhile, Aivaras Abromavicius, has been appointed as head of the economy ministry; a Georgian, Aleksandre Kvitashvili, becomes Health Minister.

All have been granted Ukrainian citizenship by presidential decree.

http://www.euronews.com/2014/12/02/ukraine-parliament-approves-foreigners-as-government-ministers/

[DeSwiss]

1. Their gold reserves have ''disappeared.''

- They said MIB with machine guns took the gold away in the nighttime.....

"a Kyiv-based court has instructed Kyiv prosecutors to bring an action against National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) Governor Valeriya Gontareva on charges of abuse of power or misuse of office to obtain illegal profit, the Vesti newspaper reported on Tuesday."

More

K&R

[nilesobek]

2. The IMF will do more damage to the Ukraine

than Russia ever could.

[DeSwiss]

5. Yep.

- The old traditional methods resource/geopolitical-positioning and acquisition work best.

[polly7]

23. Absolutely.

[bemildred]

3. "SEND MONEY NOW!" nt

[bemildred]

6. Provocations between Russia and NATO threaten armed conflict

There is sudden new worry in Europe that the Ukrainian civil war, frozen since September with a haphazard cease-fire, is deteriorating again in a direction that can lead to a major conflict with Russia.

The general anxiety concerns not only the fighting in Donbass, the eastern Ukrainian region under siege by Kiev’s national guard since the spring, but also the possibility of armed conflict between NATO and the Russian Federation.

The complaint in Western Europe is that there is a total lack of trust and transparency with regard to the U.S. relationship with the government in Kiev. American agents are not providing convincing denials in response to the Moscow reports of weapons running into Ukraine.

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin has asked Washington to supply arms as well as nonlethal aid to Kiev. However, Kremlin officials assert that Washington is already supplying Kiev with lethal aid and that Washington is not waiting for the new Republican majority in Congress to pass a bill that will give full assistance to Ukraine not only to conquer the rebels in Donbass but also to recover Crimea from Russia’s annexation.

http://america.aljazeera.com/opinions/2014/12/ukraine-civil-warrussianatopolandbaltic.html

[bemildred]

7. US calls on Russia to calm turbulence in Ukraine

LONDON (AP) -- U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Thursday that Russia could rebuild its relations with the West "if it simply helps to calm turbulent waters" on its border with eastern Ukraine, where pro-Moscow separatists are fighting with Kiev forces.

Speaking in Basel, Switzerland at a meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Kerry called on Moscow to uphold an earlier cease-fire agreement, which calls for withdrawing its support for the separatists in Ukraine and persuading them to release hostages. The U.S. and European Union have imposed sanctions on some Russians and separatists as punishment for their actions.

"The U.S. and countries that support Ukraine's sovereignty and rights do not seek confrontation," Kerry said. "It is not our design or desire that we see a Russia isolated through its own actions."

"No one gains from this confrontation," Kerry said.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_UKRAINE_KERRY?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

[DeSwiss]

14. Kerry's such an ass.

PUTIN: You mean ''calm the turbulent waters'' the way you calmed them when Israel was bombing the shit out of the Palestinians? Rightttttt. I'll get right on it.

[bemildred]

17. Well, unusually fatuous sometimes.

Sometimes you get the good cop, sometimes you get the bad cop. The point is that YOU are the intended sucker.

[bemildred]

8. Russia, Turkey Lead Global Decline in Internet Freedom: Report

For the fourth consecutive year, Internet freedom around the world is on the decline, according to a new report from a human rights group. Russia, Ukraine and Turkey dropped the furthest in Freedom House's "Freedom on the Net 2014" report, which looked at 65 countries for signs of increased Internet surveillance, censorship, arrests of social media users and more. This year in Turkey, Twitter was temporarily blocked in the run-up to local elections, while in Russia the government was criticized for increasing Internet censorship during the Sochi Winter Olympics and for its military conflict with Ukraine. Overall, Iran, Syria and China hold the top spots as the "world's worst abusers of Internet freedom," according to the report.

More people were arrested and prosecuted for their online actions in 2014 than ever before, the report stated. "In a departure from the past, when most governments preferred a behind-the-scenes approach to Internet control, countries are rapidly adopting new laws that legitimize existing repression and effectively criminalize online dissent," it said. There were very few countries that made gains in the rankings, with most of the increases due to "less vigorous" enforcement of existing laws instead of positive new steps. The United States was judged less free than only five countries: global leaders Iceland, Estonia, Canada, Australia and Germany.

http://www.nbcnews.com/tech/internet/russia-turkey-lead-global-decline-internet-freedom-report-n260761

[DeSwiss]

18. Freedom House, brought to you by the 1%ers.....

- I always consider the source. And their likely motives.

[center]Freedom Trailblazer
$250,000 and above

Canadian International Development Agency
Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs
European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights
John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
Smith Richardson Foundation
U.S. Agency for International Development
U.S. Department of State

Freedom Champion
$100,000 and above

Anonymous
Ford Foundation
Google
Leon Levy Foundation
The Lilly Endowment
Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
The Schloss Family Foundation (Edwin Schloss)

Freedom Defender
$50,000 and above

Anonymous
Mikhail Khodorkovskiy
Kim and Judy Davis
Jyllands-Posten Foundation
Earhart Foundation
William H. Taft IV
The Walt Disney Company (Ellen Blackler)

Freedom Partner
$25,000 and above

AT&T
Philip Harvey
McLarty Associates (Diana Villiers Negroponte)
Free Press Unlimited
Ford Motor Company (Stephen E. Biegun)
Rebecca G. Haile & Jean Manas
The John Hurford Foundation
The Northeast Maglev (D. Jeffrey Hirschberg)
Douglas Schoen
Swedish International Development Agency

Freedom Supporter
$10,000 and above

Goli Ameri
William Browder
The Ludwig Family Foundation
Caterpillar
DLA Piper
Facebook, Inc.
Genentech, Inc.
Institute of Modern Russia
Kenneth Juster
Theodore Mirvis
Sushma Palmer
Northrop Grumman
Participant Media
The Reed Foundation
Scott Siff
Warburg Pincus Foundation (Kenneth Juster)
Yahoo!
Tzushong and Maysing Yang

Freedom Friend
$5,000 and above

Alan Dye
Combined Federal Campaign Donors
Mark T. Gallogly & Elizabeth B. Strickler
Susan Ginsburg
Jay Mazur
David Birenbaum
Alison Fortier
Goldman Sachs (Faryar Shirzad)
Alex Jennings
Carol & Ken Adelman
Richard & Barbara Moore
David Nastro
Diana Villiers Negroponte
Promontory Financial Group
Retail Wholesale & Dept. Store Union (Stuart Appelbaum)
Leonard Sussman
Sukey Wagner

Freedom Ally
$2,500 and above

Peter Bass
The Louis Berger Group
Jennifer Windsor
Brownstein, Hyatt, Farber and Schreck
Daniel Calingaert
Alberto Mora
Paul Hastings LLP
James Carter
East Tennessee Foundation (Victor H. Ashe)
The Edgerly Foundation
Dennis Blair
Bette Bao Lord
Vita Insurance Associates
Harold & Nancy Zirkin
[/center]

link

[bemildred]

19. Yeah, your basic third-party testimonial public relations tactic.

Popular all over the globe, but WE are very, very fond of that one.

[daleo]

24. For $1000 you should get "freedom well wisher"

100 bucks could be "freedom whatever".

[bemildred]

9. Sergei Lavrov: Direct dialogue between Kiev and republics of Donetsk and Luhansk could lead to settl

Baku. Zumrud Pashayeva – APA. Moscow believes that direct dialogue between Kiev and Ukraine’s self-proclaimed people's republics of Donetsk and Luhansk could lead to the settlement to the country’s political crisis, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Thursday, APA reports quoting ITAR-TASS.

The Euroatlantic region is experiencing a fundamental crisis and a way out has to be searched for,” Lavrov said. “The way into the future can be mapped out only through joint efforts and on the basis of deriving the correct conclusions from the lessons of the past.”

“The experience of the past few years indicates that unilateral methods and refusal to recognize the mistakes that have been made will reach nowhere,” Lavrov said.

http://en.apa.az/-_219939.html

[DeSwiss]

20. I couldn't agree more.

- But then sane and sober reasoning has little place among the testosterone cowboys and the dick-wavers. We'll see......

[bemildred]

10. Putin vows to make Russian economy immune to sanctions

By Nikolaus von Twickel, dpa
Moscow (dpa) - Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday lashed out at currency speculators and promised to make the country's embattled economy immune to sanctions imposed by the West over the Ukraine crisis.

Speaking in his annual address to the nation, Putin blamed "so-called speculators" for the rouble's recent dramatic fall and ordered the Russian Central Bank and the government to take "tough, coordinated" action.

"The authorities know who those speculators are and there are instruments to influence them. The time has come to use those instruments," he said.

The Russian economy relies heavily on energy exports. But the president made no reference to the recent fall in oil prices, which has caused the Russian currency to drop from 47 to almost 55 roubles to the dollar over the past week.

http://www.dpa-international.com/news/international/putin-vows-to-make-russian-economy-immune-to-sanctions-a-43504326.html

[bemildred]

11. Russia is 'strategic problem' for EU: Jean-Claude Juncker

BRUSSELS: Russia is now a "strategic problem" for the European Union amid the crisis in Ukraine but Brussels will work to make Moscow a partner again, European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker said today.

Juncker also insisted that the huge South Stream gas pipeline to Europe could still be built, despite Russian President Vladimir Putin unexpectedly pulling the plug on the multi-billion-dollar project.

"Yes, Russia is a strategic problem for the time being and I hope that tomorrow Russia will be a strategic partner," Juncker said after talks with Bulgaria's Prime Minister Boyko Borissov, whose country stands to be one of those worst affected by the pipeline cancellation.

"Everything the Commission can do in that respect will be done," he told reporters.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/business/russia-is-strategic-problem-for-eu-jean-claude-juncker/articleshow/45376249.cms

[DeSwiss]

21. ....

[bemildred]

22. I am regularly, often, amazed at the dumbness of our leaders, yeah.

The combination of cleverness, cupidity, self-deception, and a complete lack of ethics seems to get you far in this country, I mean you really can work the system, but we seem to have no idea how to think long-term, it's all reactive, crisis to crisis, and projective: propaganda. Even the attempts at long term action get get turned into propaganda without substance.

And then they panic and don't get it when things don't go well. Like they always do.

[bemildred]

12. Families of Boeing MH17 Victims to Sue Russia, Ukraine, Malaysia, Airline

MOSCOW, December 4 (Sputnik) — Eight families from Australia, whose relatives died in the Malaysian Airlines Boeing 777 crash in eastern Ukraine are preparing to sue Ukraine, Malaysia, Russia, and the airline, The Daily Mail reported Thursday.

Aviation lawyer from Alaska, Jerry Skinner has taken up their case and is going to hand it over to European Court of Human Rights, according to the newspaper.

"Something creative is going to have to be done here because this is too big and too complicated for the judicial system to handle on its own and it involves people who will not yield to the judicial system, such as the Russians and the Ukrainians," Skinner said as quoted by The Daily Mail.

Mother of a German national killed in the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash in eastern Ukraine has begun legal proceedings against Kiev at the European court, demanding about $1 billion in compensation for her suffering, the Bild reported on Sunday.

http://sputniknews.com/europe/20141204/1015506501.html

[bemildred]

13. Nuclear failure was the last thing Ukraine needed

Given the energy challenges Ukraine is facing—problems with coal supplies, and Russian threats to limit natural gas shipments—a failure at one of its nuclear facilities just added more unwanted bad news on the energy front, experts told CNBC.

The accident, which occurred last week but was first reported on Wednesday, resulted in a disruption of electricity but posed no threat to public health, according to officials. It occurred at the Zaporizhzhya facility in western Ukraine. An energy minister said he expected operations at the plant to return to normal by Friday, but Ukraine watchers said the incident underscored the insecurity of energy supply in the country.

"Any threat to the operation of Ukraine's nuclear facilities is a major headache for the country," said Marin Katusa, a portfolio manager and author of the book "The Colder War." "This is even more of an issue as the winter months roll in and Ukraine is highly dependent on Russian natural gas."

Natural gas accounts for about 40 percent of Ukraine's energy consumption, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Coal makes up 28 percent, and nuclear accounts for 18 percent of consumption.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/102237039

[bemildred]

15. Ukraine Announces Dec. 9 Truce

Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko has ordered a new cease-fire next week, as part of a push to end months of fighting with pro-Russian rebels near the Russian border.

Thursday's announcement said Ukraine troops will observe a day of silence Tuesday to usher in the truce. Russian and Western media quote rebel leaders as saying they will support the initiative.

The surprise announcement is the third such effort to end widespread fighting that erupted in April and has since claimed more than 4,300 lives. A highly touted truce deal announced Sept. 5 collapsed within days, while a cease-fire set to begin this week crumbled under artillery fire in the east within hours of being announced.

The French news agency quotes a source close to Poroshenko as saying the truce will begin Dec. 9 with the withdrawal of heavy weapons from the front line -- as long as separatists also honor the deal.

http://www.voanews.com/content/ukraine-announces-december-9-truce/2546449.html

[bemildred]

16. . nt