Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky listens to MP and former President Petro Poroshenko during an extraordinary session of the parliament in Kyiv on March 4, 2020. Photo by Volodymyr Petrov
Timothy Ash, Kyiv Post: Disbelief over Zelensky’s moves in Ukraine
I think there is disbelief with this cabinet reshuffle. The general line I have heard is what is President Volodymyr Zelensky doing? Just to reiterate what I said upon Zelensky taking office last year: This guy has the best opportunity to enact transformational reform of any Ukrainian leader over the past 30 years. He had:
* Political capital, having won a landslide election in the presidential poll and then also winning a landslide majority for his Servant of the People Party in the parliamentary election;
* The population wanted reform/change;
* Ukraine was still backed by the West, and the International Monetary Fund had a new loan program teed up to be signed off by the IMF board;
* The macroeconomic setting in Ukraine was the best I have seen in 30 years covering the country – low single-digit inflation, a stable currency, rising foreign-exchange reserves at the National Bank of Ukraine, falling interest rates, suggestive that investment was about to take off, a public debt ratio falling from over 90% to 50% and fiscal and current account deficits reduced to 2% of gross domestic product each;
Read more ....
WNU Editor: I do not understand President Volodymyr Zelensky's latest moves. His backing away from delivering the promises that he made during last year's Presidential election on ending the war in the eastern part of the country has disappointed a lot of people (this blogger included), but getting rid of the people in his cabinet who have put Ukraine in the best economic situation that I have seen in years makes no sense to me. He won an overwhelming mandate for change and reform, and now he is ignoring it.
3 comments:
Threats?
Threats? Perhaps but from whom? Is it threats from the same people who have paralyzed US business leaders with fear over an invented virus threat? Surely even the US "deep state" isn't this powerful to frighten the entire world in this manner.
As for Ukraine, a number of US leaders have business interests in Ukraine that run contrary to US national interests or even those of Ukraine. They will stop at NOTHING to protect those ingerests!! Ukraine and/or their corrupt interests are NOT worth war with Russia who is arguably the most powerful military force on earth.
As for Ukraine, Russia is their neighbor and a major world power, has been for centuries, and will be for centuries more. Essentially Russia isn't going anywhere. In contrast, the US is a declining power that may not exist in 10 years. If domestic strife doesn't split it apart, its foreign enemies may. I'd think Ukrainian leadership would take this into account when deciding courses of action.
Was there ever any reason to believe that Zelensky would take on the oligarchs? He was created as a political player by an oligarch, one that as far as I know is still around and doing fine.
Post a Comment