Section: News & Summaries

      Civil Service Reform May Revolutionize Ukraine
      Dec22

      Civil Service Reform May Revolutionize Ukraine

      It took a staggering sixteen months and it wasn’t easy. The old guard resisted it every step of the way. Ukraine’s parliament passed civil service reform, one of the highest priorities of the Euromaidan’s young reformers, on December 10.The Reanimation Package of Reforms (RPR), a civic group, described the development as...

      An Alliance Deterred
      Dec21

      An Alliance Deterred

      NATO leaders intended the Alliance’s Trident Juncture military exercises, in part, to send a message to Russia that they would not hesitate to defend allied territory. That intention was commendable. But one wonders how exercises in the western Mediterranean will deter Russian ambitions that lie 3,000 km away in Ukraine and on the borders...

      The Kremlin’s Dangerous New Threat in Ukraine
      Dec21

      The Kremlin’s Dangerous New Threat in Ukraine

      Fighting continues to gradually intensify in eastern Ukraine. The Kremlin-backed militants are now using heavy weapons, including tanks, artillery, and ferocious Grad rocket systems, sporadically. Moscow’s rationale behind this latest escalation is to achieve a frozen conflict by gradually sabotaging the execution of the Minsk II ceasefire...

      Russian war crimes in Eastern Ukraine – 2014. Report by Polish Deputy
      Dec21

      Russian war crimes in Eastern Ukraine – 2014. Report by Polish Deputy

      Polish parliamentarian Małgorzata Gosiewska of Poland’s Law and Justice Party published a report titled “Russian War Crimes in Eastern Ukraine in 2014.” This report describes war crimes in the meaning of international law committed in eastern and southern Ukraine by soldiers and officials of the Russian Federation and by the pro-Russian...

      OSCE: the situation becomes worse in Eastern Ukraine. The violence is spreading, separatists take positions in schools.
      Dec18

      OSCE: the situation becomes worse in Eastern Ukraine. The violence is spreading, separatists take positions in schools.

      The security situation in Donbas  has remained tense and unpredictable. The OSCE Special Monitoring Mission in Ukraine noted indications that the violence was spreading. “On Saturday, for instance, in the space of 90 minutes we recorded 99 explosions in Novotroitske, and 32 explosions in Starohnativka. The day before in Pervomaisk in Luhansk...

      Putin, Trump sing each other’s praises

      President Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump say they would welcome an improvement in relations between the US and Russia. ||| Washington – Russian President Vladimir Putin and US presidential candidate Donald Trump praised each other on Thursday, saying they would welcome an improvement in the now-icy relations between their two nations....

      Looking for Terrorists in Alderaan Places
      Dec18

      Looking for Terrorists in Alderaan Places

      In September 2009, an article from the Economist detailed a significant lack of counterinsurgency tactics in the original Star Wars sci-fi blockbusters. The publication explained that the movie-going public ‘hate insurgency and counterinsurgency.’ This might have been true in the era of Star Wars’ cinematic release in the aftermath of...

      The Revolutionary Path to Reform for Ukraine’s National Police
      Dec17

      The Revolutionary Path to Reform for Ukraine’s National Police

      Ukrainians are growing increasingly impatient with Ukraine’s lack of reforms. But the country’s police reforms are working, says Khatia Dekanoidze, the newly-appointed chief of the Ukrainian National Police.How does she know?”The number one tool to…measure effectiveness of police is trust,” Dekanoidze said on...

      Ukraine: Society No Longer Willing to Compromise with a Compromise
      Dec16

      Ukraine: Society No Longer Willing to Compromise with a Compromise

      Whoever directed the show in Ukraine’s parliament on December 11—when a ruling-party coalition parliamentarian dragged Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk from the podium—may have achieved their objective: there was no serious discussion of the government’s record that day. As a result of internal and external compromises, the current...

      “Ukraine is a work in progress by Putin,” Says General Wesley Clark
      Dec16

      “Ukraine is a work in progress by Putin,” Says General Wesley Clark

      Retired US Army General Wesley Clark, former NATO Supreme Allied Commander, Europe, has campaigned since 2014 to convince Western governments to provide lethal aid to Ukraine to fend off Russia’s occupation of 9 percent of its territory.In a wide-ranging interview, he talked about why this hasn’t happened and about Russian President...