Sunday, November 24, 2013

Near abroad and nearer

A representative piece of reporting, from the New York Times, on Ukraine's decision to put off sealing an association agreement with the European Union --

The Ukrainian government on Thursday said it was suspending plans to complete the agreements and would instead pursue improved economic relations with a competing trade bloc led by Russia. The decision upends the European Union’s top foreign policy initiative, an effort to draw in former Soviet republics and promote Western-style political and economic overhauls.

It appears that while EU leaders were happy to hide behind Russian obstructionism on Syria, they never extrapolated that to how Russia might behave regarding a really close country, like Ukraine.