that land will always have been an integral part of China since at least the Ming Dynasty and always will be an integral part of China--with the obligatory 500 mile wide easement from Xianjiang to Ukraine part of its perpetual economic hegemonic zone.

Asking price is only $14,999,999,999 (for the first year) if you act now!

Last edited Mon Feb 3, 2014, 01:11 PM - Edit history (1)

Its just that they may prefer the new owners to being under Russian influence - as opposed to ownership.

Under the rules re. GDP : Debt they would be unlikely to join the Euro for some considerable period of time and would remain stuck with their own sinking currency. Whether or not they be able to afford EU goods would be a matter of conjecture.

As is the case with China the EU's main interest is with their farmland.

Sounds like the agricultural, Western half is for sale, parcel by parcel, to the highest bidder. A division of the Ukraine appears inevitable unless, of course, the opposing leaders decide to seriously negotiate and reach a compromise.

KIEV, February 4 (RIA Novosti) – Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych says he is prepared to hold early presidential and parliamentary elections in the country if no other solution can be found to the ongoing political crisis, his political ally has said.

The country’s government resigned last week, and demonstrators who have occupied the center of Kiev since November are demanding the resignation of Yanukovych.

"The president said: ‘If we politicians can’t reach an agreement now … then the only democratic way of resolving the situation is early elections,’” Yuri Miroshnichenko, a lawmaker from Yanukovych’s Party of the Regions, told Ukrainian television channel ICTV.

Miroshnichenko said the president has ruled out the use of force to liberate Independence Square, the heart of the mass anti-government protests where barricades have been erected and a protest camp set up.

"I will never do that, because these are also our citizens," Miroshnichenko quoted Yanukovych as saying.

http://en.ria.ru/world/20140204/187191582/Ukraine-Leader-Eyeing-Early-Elections-Over-Use-of-Force--Lawmaker.html

MOSCOW, February 3 (RIA Novosti) – Crisis-hit Ukraine currently owes Russia about $3.3 billion in unpaid natural gas bills, Russia’s state-owned gas monopoly Gazprom said Monday in an apparent reminder that the long-running conflict over the fuel has not been solved by a recent price cut agreement.

Ukraine is unlikely to pay on time for gas imported in January, Vedomosti cited President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman as saying in a Monday report about Ukraine falling behind with repayments.

Russia agreed to slash the gas price for Ukraine in a December bailout that was widely seen as a political reward for Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych after he backed away from integration agreements with the EU to instead cement closer ties with Russia.

Gazprom chief executive Alexei Miller met Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Yuriy Boyko in Moscow to discuss the debt issue Monday, according to a Gazprom statement.

http://en.ria.ru/russia/20140203/187164045/Ukraines-Gas-Debt-to-Russia-Rising--Report.html

One would think they'd demand early elections, confident of their much-touted "popular support" among the Ukrainian masses.

The TNS agency in Kiev found 51.3% of its 1,008 respondents favoured bringing President Viktor Yanukovych's term to an end and calling early elections.

The Mr Yanukovych, 63, who was elected in 2010, is only due to step down in 2015. However, protesters camped out in Kiev and cities across Ukraine are calling for him to resign.

The poll also found that 58% of respondents were in favour of early parliamentary elections.

Showing divisions between Ukrainians on foreign policy, 48% said Ukraine should reconsider its rejection of an EU partnership, but 40.3% said it should not. Asked if the protests should continue, 48% said yes and 45.1% said no.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2014/0203/501854-ukraine/

That is excellent news for all concerned, right?

Yanukovych has to admit the situation in Kiev is wildly irregular already. Early elections (coupled with an end to protests and occupations of government buildings) would give him a victory of sorts, so as to save face. All sides could then fight it out on the election campaign trail, and let the most popular side win.

Analysts predicted a slight advantage for Tymoshenko in the second (and final) round as she was more likely to attract voters from the other 16 candidates who did not proceed to the second round. Viktor Yanukovych refused to hold debates with his opponent before the second round of voting, saying Yulia Tymoshenko should either take responsibility for every word as prime minister, or go to the kitchen.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viktor_Yanukovych#Presidental_campaign

He'd expected far more than the €1 billion offered by the EU to tide them over during the transition the total cost of which is regarded as being c. $220 billion.

He didn't sell anything to Russia in return for the $15 billion loan agreement nor for the reduced gas price which was far below the price agreed to by Yulia Tymoshenko back in 2009.

Their actual current alternative to being influenced by Russia is to become owned by the US aka Goldman Sachs & Co and the EU providing German taxpayers are prepared to cough up sufficient for secured loans / bonds - that maybe suspect.

Another possible outcome is that the Ukraine will actually be divided between the east and the west of the country into two news states and was the division of the old Czechoslovakia.

I don't see that Russia has any interest in owning Ukraine given they have quite enough to deal with with their own 83 federations - more or less the equivalent of US states.

The sum of c. $220 billion only becomes an issue if they go with the EU the irony being that would create a Debt : GDP ratio which would lock them out of the Euro almost forever.

I'm not saying that Putin got nothing out of this deal and that his motive is strictly altruistic. The US's underlying motive is to get Ukraine into the anachronism known as NATO and Putin's the opposite.

A solution would be an agreement between the the EU, Russia and Ukraine. That for Ukraine may in fact provide an optimal solution. Russia has already approached the EU on a trade agreement.

Yes it is ultimately up to Ukrainian people to decide. I just hope they have all the facts before them when they make that decision.