Nationalism och geopolitik - en paradox.

Christer Ericsson erbjuder i denna sektion även sina analyser av händelserna samt kan tack vare sin militära bakgrund och främst sin mångåriga erfarenhet av utrikespolitik sätta utvecklingen i sitt historiska och geopolitiska sammanhang.

Ukraine’s Cabinet has asked the country’s parliament to consider dropping the country’s non-aligned status and seek membership of NATO.

Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk’s government submitted to the parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, a draft bill that would cancel Ukraine’s non-aligned status and revive the country’s quest to join NATO – a path ditched by ousted President Viktor Yanukovich in 2010.

[ ]

If passed, the law would ban Ukraine from joining any political unions which would prevent it from eventually achieving “its key and sole goal” – membership in the European Union, Yatsenyuk said, the government’s press service said in a statement.

Following the adoption of the law, Ukraine will be forbidden from being a member of the Eurasian Customs Union and Eurasian Economic Community, and any other unions “which are in essence nothing but Russia’s Soviet Union,” Yatsenyuk stated.

http://rt.com/news/183664-ukraine-want-nato-membership/

The International Monetary Fund has given a green light for Ukraine to receive the second tranche of financial assistance totalling $1.39 billion, meaning more austerity measures for the already struggling economy.

To receive the IMF funds, Kiev opted for severe austerity program that includes getting rid of 24,000 government jobs, withdrawing subsidies on natural gas, raising taxes, and selling off state assets. Ukraine received the first IMF loan of $3.16 billion in May after the IMF approved a $17 billion package in the form of a two-year stabilization program.

http://rt.com/business/183832-imf-loan-ukraine-risks/