- In an amusing exchange, State Secretary Zinchenko said that the President's new Secretariate isn't a "second government", but rather a state think tank. So the former head of the Kuchma Administration, Medvedchuk, chimes in that during his tenure they had real geniuses there. Yep, thinkers so clever they managed to destroy their own base of power; sweep into office their mortal enemies; and deal Putin, their primary international ally, his first major embarrassment. Plus they had a real "Proffesor"
- Kuchma's allies gave him a comfy retirement packages in the last moments of his presidency kleptocracy. Yulia's yanked it back now, and her Justice Minister is deciding what benefits Kuchma deserves. I have a few suggestions.
- Yushchenko has appointed Boris Nemtsov, one of the remaining liberals in Russia, as an "external advisor."
- Putin will be making an official visit to Ukraine, likely in March. He'll be visiting Kiev, Crimea, Lviv and at least one central city.
- Government Secretary Zinchenko was in Odessa Tuesday, and spoke to a crowd in the city center. Following some of the themes of Yushchenko's recent visit to Donetsk, he offered an olive branch and a warning to the people there. He spoke about the need to formulate a new national idea of unity. Then he warned legal consequences for separatists. The Ukrainian Constitution criminalizes separatism. Zinchenko also promised that the law would be the same for all people.
Yushchenko spent the 15th in Crimea, a separatist hotbed, meeting with the head of that autonomous republic's parliament. Both expressed satisfaction with the meeting.
- First PM Kinakh, whose minor party joined the Oranges during the election season, says they may unite with Yushcheno during the 2006 elections. Now that Constitutional reform has raised the bar to enter parliament, this will probably be a good idea for Kinakh.
- President Bush is requesting $105.2 million in aid for Ukraine, including financial assistance and training for the Ukrainian military. There's a long way to go until Ukraine is ready to integrate into NATO.
- The Cabinet of Ministers is reviewing Kuchma-era documents about the Common Economic Space with Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan -- sort of an EEC for repressive backwaters. Their focus is in discerning how the CES will affect Ukraine's national interests.
- Yushchenko called today for regulation of agricultural prices. I'm curious to know how much this has to do with the Socialist Party successfully negotiating for the Ministry of Agriculture slot. Was this part of the deal?
Posted by Discoshaman at février 17, 2005 02:11 AM | TrackBack
"regulation of agricultural prices" - maybe I'm making to much of this, but certainly not what i would have hoped from an "economist" by trade.
Posted by: rox_publius at février 16, 2005 02:38 AMInteresting term indeed! Sounds relatively similar to other measures taken during the Progrssive to Depression era in the United States. Subsidizing food prices, definitely a socialist policy, drives prices down which ultimately will help people at the bottom and the middle, giving them more leverage when they need to spend money on things like, say, starting a business.
I can see the benefits. But I also know the problem in the U.S. with subsidized agricultural welfare. I remember Kirk Sowell telling me that the French didn't want Ukraine joining the EU because of their already low agricultural products. Lowering the prices even further would certainly drive up their market share.
Posted by: Robert Mayer at février 16, 2005 08:12 AMSubsidized agriculture is is one of Ukraine's biggest hot button populist issues. The opposition nailed Kuchma in 2003 for a temporary grain supply problem. (which they called a "crisis" but I'm not sure) If Yushchenko just went with the quick free-market solution from the get-go, he'd be courting bad publicity like Putin's getting from the Babushka Revolution for trying to monetize benefits for senior citizens. Only instead of ticking off senior citizens, he's be offending the exact blue collar folks in the East he's trying to win over now.
I also agree with Robert wholeheartedly, subsidized agriculture is a bad long-term strategy, but it's got a lot more positive elements than other populist policies like, say, trade barriers. I figured Yushchenko might have put a socialist on Ag because he's going to concentrate on fighting corruption first, and worry about market-oriented ag later. Regulating grain prices will make a lot of currently nervous Ukrainians less nervous, and hopefully help him buy more sway with which to hit the oligarchs.
And Amen. Get Kryvorizhstal privatized right, along with all the rest, and then worry about market methods in the bread market.
Posted by: Dan McMinn at février 16, 2005 12:14 PMThe agricultural sector should be driven gradually to the free market. Yuschenko will alienate millions of peasants if he attempts any sort of "shock therapy".
OEC
Posted by: One Eyed Cat at février 17, 2005 02:25 AM1. I understand that food prices have been (still are?) regulated at the local level in Ukraine.
2. Regulated prices aren't necessarily subsidies to producers. A while back Ukrainian sunflower seeds faced a prohibitive export tariff to benefit Ukrainian processors at the expense of farmers. Does anyone have any details on the Yuschenko proposal?
Posted by: Zhenya at février 17, 2005 09:01 PM
OEC - why do you call the people peasants and not farmers?
Disco - based on the political events and the number of "pitcher" incidents from the audience -are you considering that Putin may be hit with a white flying object during his visit to Ukraine? I would love it if it was 48 million eggs perhaps that is why they put a socialist in charge of agri. in order to prevent any future incidents.
Posted by: Hello at février 18, 2005 06:59 AMSo give us links!
-O LSP-M
Posted by: Shelby at février 18, 2005 07:43 AM