The problem in the Ukraine is not east and western Ukraine.

[applegrove]

Last edited Sun Mar 2, 2014, 05:32 AM - Edit history (1)

The real problem is the economy is based on bribes. So one‘s welfare really does depend on whether your ‘guy‘ is in power. Right now the russian side has lost power and all the government contracts, legit or not, that go with it. No wonder the Russian side of the Ukraine is supportive of all things Russian right now. It will do anything to be back in power. It is corruption that makes democracy so vulnerable. It is like a teeter totter. When your leader is in power you get $$$$$$$$. When the other side is in power you are in so much penury that you don‘t care if there is war. That graft is dangerous for any country that wants to be democratic. People will fight to the death to keep power and stay out of poverty. In the USA the graft is called tax cuts and it has destroyed the soundness of democracy there and elsewhere. The right wing will stop at nothing to devalue Obama even though he was elected twice. Look at Canada where the conservatives are begining to play with people‘s right to vote. Ukraine needs to come to tems with the poison all across the country that is corruption. But good luck getting Ukrainians to focus on that instead of hating each other. And good luck getting the Russians to fight against corruption.

[joshcryer]

1. The worst part is the biggest candidates are oligarchs.

Viktor Yanukovych, net worth, $12 billion. His son, a dentist when Viktor got the Presidency, gained a networth of $196 million in two short years.

So Ukraine is fucked. It doesn't really matter how it goes, Ukraine is going to be ripped apart by the most rich and most powerful.

Choose your side.

[nxylas]

6. First WSJ editorial praising "capitalism with Ukrainian values" in 5...4...3...

Assuming it hasn't already happened, that is.

[Cha]

2. thanks for your analysis, applegrove!

I'm just learning about all of this.

[applegrove]

4. I‘m learning too. I read an article about

how Ukraine has to work on stamping out corruption once it is stable again, last week I read it. Thought about it for a while and how corruption anywhere just causes polarization of a very undemocratic kind.

[Cha]

5. It made perfect sense..thanks.

Have you seen this?

Ukraine: The Haze of Propaganda

http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2014/mar/01/ukraine-haze-propaganda/

frazzled

[1000words]

3. The "problem" in the Ukraine is it's strategic location

The corruption is nothing more than a symptom of the various efforts to gain access to and control it's resources.

[Demit]

7. Absolutely. Look at these maps that show how that part of the world has been carved up

over time. http://talkingpointsmemo.com/cafe/22-maps-that-explain-the-centuries-long-conflict-in-the-ukraine

Also informative: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/cafe/history-explains-how-tension-in-the-ukraine-goes-back-centuries

[dixiegrrrrl]

9. thanks for the maps!

Interesting to see that Russia expanded so much in just 50 years. 1450 to 1500.

[davidpdx]

8. Corruption is a problem and certainly doesn't help the stability of the country

You are right about the Russians as well, they are one of the most corrupt counties in the world. A corrupt country invading a corrupt country leaves you with...corruption.