The EU is offering economic support of about 15 billion euro to Ukraine. The money would be disbursed over several years, but is contingent on Ukraine following conditions laid down by the IMF. Those conditions are generally quite austere and will demand significant changes to the Ukrainian economy that many citizens will find hard to accept–much as is the case in Greece, Spain, Portugal, and Italy. It is, however, a very generous counter proposal to that offered by Russia, so it gives the Ukrainian government a viable alternative to Russian support.
Boko Haram continues to wage violent attacks in northern Nigeria. The government seems to be incapable of responding effectively to these attacks, and the constant pressure of the attacks is steadily eroding the stability of the government. Nigeria is a critically important state and the prospect of a slow deterioration in the politics of the country poses a serious challenge to the overall stability of West Africa.
India announced that it will begin to hold its national elections on 7 April. The contest this year is likely to be a particularly sharp political debate, pitting the likely Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate, Narendra Modi, against the Congress Party. The BJP is a Hindu nationalist party, and Modi has the legacy of a horrible anti-Muslim incident in his home state of Gujarat in 2002. This election bears close watching as it will be the largest democratic election in human history.
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Regarding the Ukraine situation I hope you have seen the article by Stephen Cohen in the March 3 The Nation. He alleges that the press even the NYT has gone out of its way to denigrate Russia and Putin. My question is why do we Americans (especially so-called neocons) seem so desperately to need an enemy? Perhaps that’s more of a theological question than an geopolitical one.
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I agree completely. Demonizing Putin does no one any good. I’ll be making precisely this point when I speak at Kimball Farmson the 28th
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