Sacrebleu mon ami! The French Spring has spread to Odessa! No, no – the French Spring has nothing to do with the so called Arab Spring despite the French being past masters of revolutions. Once again Odessa City Administration is taking us on an entertaining, culture expanding, thought provoking journey into the world of international [...]
Political Will (and application) – A matter of trust
March 30, 2012 by Leave a Comment
It’s not often the opportunity arises to pop your head above the barricades to find both government, opposition and media all talking about the same thing at the same time and all leaving themselves open for a quick volley of fire before ducking back down behind the barricades and allowing them to play their games [...]
It’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs competition time!
March 29, 2012 by Leave a Comment
OK – Stop what you are doing, go find your colouring books, paints and pencils, and put your creative thinking caps on! Quite unusually for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, it is seeking public participation. It encourages designs/logos to be submitted by the very skillful and arty people of Ukraine in readiness for [...]
Which comes first? Democracy, rule of law, development or a strong State? – A question for Ukraine
March 28, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Which comes first? Democracy, rule of law, development/modernisation or a strong State when creating/rebuilding a nation? Isn’t that a good question? Given all are somewhat shaky in Ukraine in comparison to most other nations in Europe, which is the priority for the State and is it the same priority for society? Not necessarily the same [...]
It’s not always bad news
March 27, 2012 by Leave a Comment
It seems I am forever writing about poor policy decisions, existing operating cycles that are cancerous to society requiring imagination and creativity to break and reform (which is sadly lacking), effective policies ineffectively applied or rallied against and obstructed by those they effect within the administrative organs of State, and the occasional completely counterproductive policy [...]
On-line EU Jobs Day – Он-лайн ЕС Рабочий День
March 26, 2012 by Leave a Comment
It’s been a while since I wrote anything in Russian on the blog, but today for search engine reasons, we have a bilingual post to draw attention to the On-Line EU Jobs Day to be held on 29th March. Это было время, так как я написал что-нибудь на русском языке на блоге, но сегодня по [...]
Hearing date at ECfHR for Lutsenko v Ukraine (Case 6492/11)
March 25, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Now there is a strong rumour that the powers that be in Kyiv have stated through diplomatic channels they will abide by any ECfHR rulings in relation to those opposition members incarcerated as I have mentioned before. First up will be the case of Yuri Lutsenko who’s case (Lutsenko v Ukraine 6492/11) goes before the [...]
Attempted banker assassinations in London and Odessa – Tedious links!
March 24, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Well yesterday saw the attempted assassination of German Gorbuntsov in East London. Needless to say that whilst gun crime in and around Tower Hamlets is not exactly unknown, suspicion has been directed (rightly or wrongly) at Russia, be it the underworld or the State. Time will tell which, if indeed there is Russian involvement at [...]
Attritional war between Kyiv and the regional fiefdoms – Is E-Gov the answer?
March 23, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Blimey! After the numerous posts about effective, ineffective and counterproductive policy, and the repeated highlighting of the fact the regardless of who is in government, regional fiefdoms will rally against any implementation of reforms that will affect its corrupt incomes, we have public recognition from the Ukrainian government that they struggle with the very issues [...]
Ukraine invites international observers for forthcoming elections
March 22, 2012 by 2 Comments
Short and genuinely sweet tweet yesterday from Ukraine’s Foreign Minister. As per @Gryshchenko on twitter yesterday evening: “А зранку підписав листа на адресу Бюро демократичних інститутів та прав людини ОБСЄ із запрошенням направити спостерігачів на парл. вибори.” In a nutshell, the Ukrainian Foreign Minister, Mr Greshchenko, invited foreign international observers for the October 2012 elections. [...]