The good bit in this is where he makes this really spurious sort of salesman’s pitch to ‘sell’ them the idea of ‘federalisation’ (or ‘federalization’), and they just sit there glowering at him stonily which the cameras carefully cross-cut to reveal, and it is all rather obviously staged and prepared beforehand, “so I can tell my friend Vladimir that I tried,” maybe – RB
Medvedchuk: surprised by position of Biden about constitutional reform
Vague programme of reform announced by Yatseniuk at the meeting with Biden was not impressed. And considering that in day of performance of Biden in the Verkhovna Rada… The Times posted the news that the PGO suspects Yatsenyuk of participation in a corruption scheme with a turnover of $90m/yr. Promises of Yatsenyuk to fight corruption causes skeptical smile. And not only the Ukrainians. Despite the fact that most of the messages Biden against the government and the authorities in general were clearly not complimentary in nature, the most important are the three key messages: the implementation of the Minsk agreements, the elections in the Donbass and the constitutional reform. Contrary to the expectations of Ukrainian politics, Biden said that full implementation of the Minsk agreements can provide a solution to the conflict and the restoration of Ukraine’s sovereignty over its territory, and urged the Ukrainian authorities to fulfil their obligations under the reached agreements. On the elections in the Donbass his position is also clear and categorical: the elections, but subject to a number of safeguards. The greatest surprise to Kiev was the quite categorical position of Biden about constitutional reform. Biden’s proposed decentralization is not a rejection of democratic principles and does not undermine Ukraine’s sovereignty, he claims. It’s very important, says Biden, to be autonomous, independent states that solve their problems, define their educational system, their government in the framework of the United Constitution. The news about the “autonomous, independent states” has been ignored by almost all the Ukrainian media. The autonomy of regions that have their own government, conduct their policy in the framework of the United Constitution, fits into the concept of federalism (the mere mention of which makes the Ukrainian politicians hysterical and scream about separatism). Key points of Biden is fundamentally inconsistent with the ideological position of official Kiev and the strategy which is guided against the inhabitants of Donbass.
In Kyiv on the way to iden hung out signs reading “Biden go home”
DNR News, Dec 8 2015
In Kiev activists lined up along the route of the motorcade of Biden with signs reading “Biden go home” and “Pindostan Evil Empire”. According to the demonstrators, representatives of the SBU all the forces prevented the demonstration and as a result withdrew all the big banners, after which the threats made to disperse the protesters. As noted, the action was attended by over a thousand people.
Biden Tells Ukraine to … Do Nothing
Leonid Bershidsky, Bloomberg, Dec 8 2015
Biden’s visits to Ukraine always are keenly anticipated: He is considered the voice of the country’s Western backers, the senior statesman who can resolve conflicts within the country’s ruling elite and push it down the path of reform. This week, however, Biden apparently sent conflicting signals to his Ukrainian hosts. Visiting Kiev on Monday and Tuesday, Biden made a rousing speech to parliament. His voice ringing with deep emotion, he called on legislators not to waste what could be their “last moment” to turn Ukraine into a free, prosperous country. The speech, however, followed a series of meetings in which Biden, Asst Sec State Victoria Nuland and Ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt pushed a cautious line: Keep the much-maligned government in place and stick to the Minsk agreement with Russia to end the war in the east. The message: Apparently, Pindostan wants Ukraine to make as little trouble as possible. Biden’s visit, his fifth as VP, coincides with a key date on the Ukrainian political calendar. On Dec 11, PM Yatsenyuk’s year-long immunity from dismissal will expire. That means his enemies, especially those on Pres Poroshenko’s team, will be able to try to get rid of him. Last weekend, Saakashvili, currently governor of Odessaa, made a sensational presentation at an anti-corruption forum he’d organized. He showed what he said was a chart of corruption schemes that cost Ukraine $5b/yr, only slightly less than the country receives in IMF bailout loans. On the chart’s edges were Ukraine’s oligarchs such as Akhmetov, Kolomoisky and Dmitry Firtash, who is wanted by Pindostan on corruption-related charges. Yatsenyuk was at the center of the chart.
There were notable absences of businessmen close to Poroshenko who are also accused of using their proximity for enrichment: for instance, legislators Igor Kononenko and Sergei Berezenko, as well as energy billionaire Konstantin Grigorishin. Saakashvili is Poroshenko’s loyal ally, and some local commentators suggested that his accusations, aired right before the Biden visit, were part of the Odessa governor’s bid for Yats’ post as PM. Alexander Golubov wrote in an article for the Moscow Carnegie Center that Saakashvili “is hardly even hiding” his desire to succeed Yatsenyuk. Saakashvili is no stranger to Washington politics, but his friends mostly are Republicans. The connections date to Saakashvili’s tenure as Georgia’s president, when Bush 43 was in the White House. Walnuts McCain is an especially close ally. Yats by contrast has close ties to the Obama administration. During Ukraine’s “Revolution of Dignity,” Nuland and Pyatt discussed getting Yats into the new government in a telephone conversation that was intercepted and leaked, perhaps by Russian intelligence. A State Dept spox managed:
I didn’t say it was inauthentic.
Nuland says on the recording:
I think Yats is the guy who’s got the economic experience, the governing experience.
To Biden, and even to Obama, Yatsenyuk is as much of a negotiating partner as Poroshenko. They both have met with him on several occasions. So Biden’s message to Ukrainians was, don’t rock the boat. On Monday, he met with a group of young legislators and civic activists who asked him to push for changes to the cabinet and for the dismissal of the Poroshenko-appointed prosecutor general, seen as part of the thoroughly corrupt government system. Yet the legislator Svitlana Zalishchuk wrote on Facebook after the meeting:
It is obvious that our pindo partners don’t see a way to ensure stability without preserving the status quo. The vice president’s visit is meant to preserve the ruling coalition.
Although Yatsenyuk’s political party is so unpopular that it wouldn’t get into parliament if an election were held this week, it’s an important part of the coalition. And if Yats loses his job, there is likely to be a snap election. The outcome would be hard to predict. Recent local elections empowered both the remnants of the pre-revolutionary regime and some dangerous extreme nationalists. The Pindo administration clearly doesn’t want such turmoil. It wants the current parliament to pass laws making it possible to hold elections in areas held by pro-Russian rebels. Biden assured Ukrainian legislators of continued Pindo support against Russia and got a standing ovation, but his real purpose was to convince the Ukrainian leaders to stick to the Minsk compromise with Putin, end the armed conflict and reintegrate the east of the country into Ukraine, even on terms favorable to Russia. In his speech to parliament, Biden decried the “cancer” of corruption that’s keeping Ukraine from becoming a successful democracy. In practical terms, however, his stability message means the preservation of a corrupt system of checks and balances in which cronies of the president and prime minister divide up access to the still-ample opportunities to milk the hapless country dry. Legislator Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze wrote after meeting with Biden:
My personal opinion is that without a reset of our governance system, we won’t break through.
If Pindosia doesn’t want such a “reset,” however, things will go on as before. The current Ukrainian leadership doesn’t have to do as Biden says, and it’ll drag its feet on complying with the unpopular Minsk accord. But it cannot overtly disobey, either, because it’s dependent on Pindo support both financially and in terms of holding back Putin. So Ukraine is in for a period of enforced stability, and that may be the last thing it needs.
Niqnaq 