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 Posté le: Ven Sep 13, 2013 8:15 am Sujet du message: Why Kleptocracies Don't Get Along |
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{ Why Kleptocracies Don't Get Along }
President Vladimir Putin traveled toKiev onJuly 27. Theofficial reason forthe visit was the1,025th anniversary since Kievan Rus adopted Christianity, but thereal reason forthe trip was that it was apparently Putin's last attempt toconvince Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych tojoin theCustoms Union with Russia. Those talks failed, andonly two days after Putin's visit, Gennady Onishchenko, Russia's vigilant chief sanitary inspector, suddenly discovered benzopyrene inchocolates fromUkraine andbanned their import intoRussia. Thefactory that produces these chocolates belongs topastry king Petro Poroshenko, whose extensive assets inUkraine also include auto-assembly plants. Under pressure fromPoroshenko, theUkrainian government imposed prohibitive import duties onforeign cars, particularly those produced byRussia's AvtoVAZ, acompany near anddear toPutin's heart. Ukraine did not understand thewarnings. Yanukovych not only had no intention ofjoining theCustoms Union, but planned instead tosign anagreement with Europe establishing afree-trade zone. Then,[url=http://www.michael-good.ca]Michael Kors Outlet[/url],[url=http://www.michael-good.ca]michael kors canada[/url], Putin reportedly instructed his officials torestrict Ukrainian exports. Andbecause Russia has no real system ofgovernment andeverything is carried out based onvague orders fromthe top,[url=http://www.michael-good.ca]michael kors canada[/url], officials became overly zealous andended up banning all imports fromUkraine. Russia has invested aninsane amount ofmoney andeffort indiscrediting theOrange Revolution, andPutin's inner circle has always had huge andcompletely unrealistic plans forKiev. They assumed that after thecollapse ofthe Orange Revolution, Putin's men would be able tobuy up everything they wanted inUkraine. It has been reported that after Yanukovych came topower, Russia's presidential administration sent anextensive list offactories, newspapers, steamships andso onto Kiev that St. Petersburg businesspeople with ties toPutin had wanted topurchase fora song. They got nothing. Everything they were after went instead toYanukovych's friends, supporters andbusiness partners inDonetsk. Infact, Ukraine has nothing todiscuss with Russia. Theonly thing that makes sense is forKiev tonegotiate with Europe, which has transparent rules. What can Russia offer Ukraine? Corruption? Know-how onimprisoning opponents ontrumped-up charges? New skills andtechniques onhow toseize private property? Ukraine has enough expertise inthese fields that they hardly need Russia's help. Democratic states enjoy acertain camaraderie among themselves, anddespite their shortcomings democracies manage topeacefully coexist. Atleast, they do not behave like unruly neighbors, tossing beer bottles intoeach other's yards. But incontrast, there can never be aninternational brotherhood ofkleptocracies. All ofthe deals Putin struck with Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko or all ofthe pow-wows Putin once had inLibyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's tent did nothing tochange this. Thevery nature ofmodern authoritarian kleptocracies makes it impossible forthem tohave meaningful working relationships. Such states are built exclusively upon theprinciple that thepresident distributes thecountry's wealth among his friends. Andwhen two such leaders come together, they can smile all they want forthe press andclaim tohave reached agreement onthis or that issue,[url=http://www.michael-good.ca]Michael Kors Outlet[/url], but they can't pretend that businessmen inSt. Petersburg own factories inUkraine that have already been sold tolocal business moguls inDonetsk. Yulia Latynina hosts apolitical talk show onEkho Moskvy radio.
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People watching the forthcoming beginning of the German half of the inhabitants of Berlin are no interested in co-optation |
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