Has the Ukraine lost its appetite for reform?
This article is written by Tomas Valasek, director of foreign policy and defence at the Centre for European Reform.
In a study on Ukraine published in October, the CER gave President Viktor Yanukovich credit for passing difficult economic reforms but criticised his efforts to supress political opposition. Since then, reforms have stalled while the concentration of power in the president’s hands has continued unabated.
A recent visit to Kyiv has left me deeply worried. The government continues to amass power. This is in part due to the weakness of the opposition – former leaders of the Orange revolution such as former president Viktor Yushchenko and former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko are genuinely unpopular with voters, who blame them for disappointing economic performance and failure to move Ukraine closer to the EU. Even so, president Yanukovich seems intent on preventing free and fair elections. The October 31st regional poll was marred by widespread use of government powers to help the ruling Party of Regions. The European Parliament notes in its November 25th resolution that “some parties, such as [Yulia Tymoshenko’s] Batkivshchyna, were unable to register their candidates”. Phil Gordon, the US assistant secretary of state, said that the United States: “does not believe that those elections met the standards of openness and fairness that applied to the presidential election earlier in the year.”
Hatseflats! The Economist geeft Weimar II Rutte I ervan langs. Dit liberale weekblad dat voor een internationaal publiek de vrije markt economie propageert is niet mild voor de kersverse VVD premier. In het artikel 
Voor het eerst sinds de stichting van de Islamitische republiek komt het Iraanse volk massaal in opstand tegen haar leiders. Het leverde de afgelopen dagen beelden op die sterk deden denken aan de revolutie van 1979, die uiteindelijk de geestelijkheid aan de macht hielp. De meest radicale machten in de Islamitische republiek willen de protesten desnoods met geweld neerslaan. Helaas is het regime sterk genoeg om de druk tot hervorming voorlopig te weerstaan.