UKRAINE: TURMOIL IS GOING ON

Talks to form a grand coalition in the Ukraine’s Parliament ended on Tuesday in failure. The nationalistic “Nasha Ukraina” pulled out of talks after the Party of Regions rejected its demand to exclude Communists from the grand coalition. Now, the Supreme Rada is under control of a majority formed by three parties, all supporting closer Ukrainian relations with Russia. The Ukrainian puppet president Victor Yushchenko suffered a major defeat from his rival Victor Yanukovitch. Last week, Yushchenko had rejected the majority’s proposal to nominate Mr. Yanukovithc a prime minister. Tuesday, the three party coalition submitted his candidacy to Yushchenko again. Most observers believe that Mr. Yushchenko has no choice but to give in and to ask Yanukovitch to form a new government.
Mr. Yanukovitch’s ascension would barely change the situation in the Ukraine. Its economy is on thee brink if a total collapse, gas and oil prices are up, living standards are dropping dramatically. A threat of disintegration is looming. If the ruling nationalists would persist in their refusal to cooperate with Mr. Yanukovitch they would push Eastern and Southern regions to embark on a secession process known as “Severodonetsk initiative”. This movement goes back to 2004 when are group of regions who refused to accept the results of the orange coup d’état were planning to form a new independent republic. A youth organization has started a campaign for a “civilised divorce” between East and West of the Ukraine. The Eurasian Union of Youth is planning to collect a hundred thousand signatures in support of the idea of two Ukrainian states.