This article was first published on Russia Insider: http://russia-insider.com/en/politics/us-wants-him-so-yatsenyuk-stays/ri11871
Altercation in Ukrainian parliament obscures fact of Yatsenyuk’s political survival because of US backing.
by Alexander Mercouris
Last week’s fight in the Ukrainian parliament between Prime Minister Yatsenyuk and a deputy of Poroshenko’s party has made world headlines.
In doing so it has obscured the single most important fact about political developments in Ukraine over the last two weeks.
This is that despite the collapse of his support and popularity Yatsenyuk is still Ukraine’s Prime Minister.
Talk of Yatsenyuk’s resignation or dismissal has circulated for months.
There was a flurry of such rumours back in April, which I briefly discussed at the time, pointing out that Yatsenyuk’s departure would not change anything and would certainly not make the Ukrainian government more moderate.
Since then Yatsenyuk’s unpopularity has if anything increased.
This is hardly surprising as the economy has gone from bad to worse and as rumours of corruption have swirled around him and his government.
This sets the background for the events of the last two weeks.
Prior to the parliamentary session last Friday rumours circulated that it would result in the dismissal of the government.
Virtually all the political parties in the parliament apart from Yatsenyuk’s own seemed to be uniting around a demand that he go. This consensus appeared to include Poroshenko’s party and Tymoshenko’s party – both members of the ruling coalition.
In the event, instead of being voted out of power, Yatsenyuk delivered a speech of quite extraordinary and offensive arrogance, provoking the altercation with the deputy that made world headlines.
In the days since no moves have been made to remove him, and he is still there.
Yatsenyuk’s rise, and his continued presence at the top of the Ukrainian power structure, would be inexplicable if Ukraine were a genuinely sovereign state.
Not only is he massively unpopular, he has never actually been popular. At the height of the Maidan protests in 2013-2014 he was overshadowed by his two erstwhile partners in the Maidan triumvirate – Klitschko and Tyagnibok.
Nor does Yatsenyuk have a strong political power base. Whereas at the time of the Maidan protests his partners Klitschko and Tyagnibok headed their own political parties – Udar and Svoboda – Yatsenyuk was no more than the caretaker leader of Tymoshenko’s party – despite being on poor terms with Tymoshenko herself.
The party Yatsenyuk now heads is almost entirely a post-Maidan construction, cobbled together by Yatsenyuk using the patronage his position as head of the Ukrainian government has given him. It is now so unpopular that it did not even dare to participate in the local elections that took place in Ukraine a few weeks ago.
Despite having no support inside Ukraine Yatsenyuk remains its Prime Minister for one reason only – he has the support of the United States.
This became obvious during the Maidan protests when US assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland was overheard making a telephone call to US ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt insisting that Yatsenyuk and not Klitschko be made Ukraine’s Prime Minister (the famous “Nuland call”).
It continues to be true since.
There has been much discussion about the reasons for US Vice President Biden’s recent visit to Kiev.
Some have pointed to the comments he made in the Ukrainian parliament appearing to endorse the Minsk Agreement and calling for federalisation.
Others have speculated that his visit was connected to the continued Ukrainian military build-up in eastern Ukraine and the renewal of the fighting there.
Still others have speculated that it was to push the Ukrainians further on the road to “reform”.
Biden’s visit doubtless served multiple purposes. However the key reason for his going to Ukraine was because the US’s two local proconsuls – Nuland and Pyatt – have been struggling to control the political situation there as demands for Yatsenyuk’s removal have boiled over.
A visit from Biden himself – the US administration’s ultimate manager of Ukraine (he was already Yanukovich’s chief US interlocutor at the time of the Maidan protests, with the number of telephone calls between him and Yanukovich almost beyond count) – was therefore deemed necessary.
Rumours in fact circulated during Biden’s visit that Biden discussed Yatsenyuk’s removal with Poroshenko, and that he went over with Poroshenko a list of possible candidates to replace Yatsenyuk.
This included some unlikely individuals, such as former Georgian President Saakashvili and Finance Minister Jaresko – both persons who until recently had foreign (ie. non-Ukrainian) citizenships.
The most plausible candidate mentiohed was however Poroshenko’s close political ally – in fact his henchman – Rada Chairman Volodymyr Groysman.
In the event the days have passed and Yatsenyuk is still there.
Possibly Biden and Poroshenko agreed that Yatsenyuk be given a decent interval before being told to go. That however is pure speculation.
Yatsenyuk’s extraordinarily arrogant speech at the parliamentary session on Friday however on the contrary suggests someone who is sure of his political support, which suggests that what actually happened was that he got Biden’s backing.
If so then that says everything about where power in Ukraine actually lies.
As for Yatsenyuk himself, he comes across as just another in a long line of political leaders – including Chiang Kai-shek in China, Nguyen van Thieu in Vietnam, George Papadopoulos in Greece, Mobutu Sese Seko in Zaire, Hamid Karzai in Afghanistan and Ahmed Chalabi in Iraq – whose virtues are invisible to everyone except their friends in Washington.
“whose virtues are invisible to everyone except their friends in Washington.”
Perhaps “virtues” should be replaced by “utility”.
That way everyone can participate.
Hello Saker readers, a slightly off topic question but relevant to Ukraine nonetheless:
https://twitter.com/areichardt/status/677750038542577664
What’s going on with this business of a Polish Defense Ministry raid (under a newly elected, right wing and Viktor Orban but not Russia friendly government) on a NATO counterintelligence office? Is the new government concerned Soros minions are up to no good and planning some sort of mini pro-EU(SSR) fake leftist colored revolution in Poland?
Or could this be the government wanting to know what NATO knows about certain topics its members may be privy to, such as how many Polish ‘vacationers’ perished or were wounded fighting for Kiev in the Donetsk Airport autumn/winter 2014 or earlier summer battles? I don’t think the number is in the scores, but a couple dozen KIA or seriously WIA would be possible for the Polish authorities to hide, until now. Perhaps someone in the Polish Defense Ministry with a grudge against Kiev over their glorification of the UPA who killed his grandfather or great uncle during WWII in Volyn saw something they weren’t supposed to see but now the cat is out of the bag.
The timing, with NATO media trying to make hay out of Putin’s ‘admission’ that some Russian citizens executed military tasks in Donbass (probably a reference to the official Russian military mission to the OSCE observers we’ve seen in Vice News videos) or GRU operatives monitoring the ‘voentorg’ and enemy signals, is interesting.
There is something afoot in Poland.Though I’m not sure about it all. It seems even though the regime is US friendly and anti-Russian. They also are anti-elite and big banks. So the US wants them out and the old stooges back. They can control them better. They have been trying to stir up a mini-maidan in Poland to oust them. The problem that I think they are having there, is the nationalist thugs they would usually use for their muscle, are supporters of the regime. So that cuts down on the effectiveness of a maidan. But who knows will see.
If ever the Polish understand US intentions, the US in Poland will have very bad time, and it is not there they will be able to implement a new Maidan. If they try, it means they don’t know the Polish…
The USA always picks evil bastards as their stooges. I’d say that Yatsferatu probably has a few skeletons in his psychological cupboard, particularly to have the Jewish princess, Victoria Nudelman, so keen on him.
The world has largely forgotten about the Ukraine. Here is an article on Poroshenko’s arrival at the airport for the climate conference in Paris. Not even a government representative met him. What a change from last year when he was the blue eyed boy! (It is a translated from Russian article)
http://www.politforums.net/eng/ukraine/1448873180.html
Peremogi of European integration: the airport of Paris Poroshenko met the movers and police
“…However, instead of thanks and recognition Poroshenko waited a very cold reception. Shame began immediately from the plane, which flew to the French capital the leader of Ukraine. We met a guarantor of the nation’s two porter, unidentified “official” in a coat and a policeman who checked the pockets of the guarantor of the nation for the presence of contraband. About ministers, representatives of the Foreign Ministry, not to mention the President Hollande and the question. Moreover, the path of the ladder a bed supershort not track, and a bedside rug.
That is so, whether because of stupidity, or because there was no other pictures, the press service of Poroshenko illustrated visit of the Ukrainian president in the capital of a major European powers as follows, full of Shakespearean drama, the scenes:
(There is a picture in the article)
Comment here, in fact, nothing-there is a sad picture. Just think: the first president of France met the “second France” as call themselves Ukrainians, more than modest
Where a guard of honor? What the Kremlin moth eaten the red carpet? These and other questions immediately began to harass patriots.
As you know, diplomatic protocol involves the following types of visits: State visit, official visit, work (business) visit, a meeting “without ties”, an unofficial visit, visit travel.
Judging by the level of acceptance in the French capital, which the press service of Poroshenko hurried classified as “working”, there was an error and it was a real visit to “travel”. Like Zhmerika-Zhashkov.
To enhance the experience of the “gidnosti” Poroshenko in social networks to immediately have the photos of the first visit of Yanukovych to Paris in 2010, the year: President Sarkozy has personally met Ukrainian President, with all the honors.
Unlike the others mentioned,Yatsenyuk has no “local Ukrainian” support. That means he is 100% a puppet of the US’s. So if he remains,and for how long he remains. I suspect that will be the reason.
KIEV, December 17. /TASS/. Ukraine’s former Prime Minister and now a lawmaker with the Batkivshchyna (Fatherland) party, Yulia Tymoshenko has urged to bring current Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk to criminal liability over the situation with the country’s budget, which owed its 2015 revenues to inflation rather than economic growth.
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“Frankly speaking, the prime minister frightens me. This man seems to be inadequate. I have figures at hand. Just imagine, he planned inflation in 2015 at 26.7% But in fact it is 45.8%,” she said in an interview with the 112 Ukraina television channel.
In her words, when inflation is twice as big as planned, it means an inflation-bloated budget. “And these revenues are not the country’s revenues. They are losses. Because they are earned not through economic growth but through inflation, which impoverished each and every individual and sent prices at such a hike that people can buy nothing,” she said.
Yatsenyuk, she said, had planned that the country’s GDP would go down in 2015 by 5.5% In fact, it has dropped by nine percent. “
There is a little trick.. If you look at Ukraine’s GDP in US$ it has dropped by more than 50%.. But by having almost a 50% inflation rate, the money supply shows almost no drop.. Yet the standard of living for the people have dropped through the floor.. You make the same, yet it buys far less.. Most exports were to Russia.. next year it will be far worse when almost all imports to Russia stop.
And what does EU want? they have cheaper food.. Better tech.. cheaper everything else.. except for land and cheap labor they have nothing the west wants.. Dont forget they will also be the EU’s dumping grounds.. dumping food into ukraine far cheaper than what people can grow it for let alone sell it for. Poland must be smiling apples all day.. to find someplace to dump their junk.
@ mmiriww
Question: So what?
Yes, the people there will suffer more and much more, but the regime is going to stay. Nothing new. The people there have already been suffering more and much more – and the same gang is solidly in power. Will be 2 (two) years already.
They also have coal, and above all gas, probably the hugest amount in Europe…
But if Germany wanted to seize it, here it is the US who forced EU into a ultimatum to Ukraine.
The US believe the TAFTA will soon be signed. TAFTA is nothing else than a treaty of colonization of Europe by the USA. Therefore, the USA will be masters of Ukrainian riches.
Am I the only one who noticed Yatsenyuk’s odd physical response to being
1. given a boquet of flowers, &
2. being lifted, allowed himself to be carried (like a baby-girl?), – doing nothing to defend himself, and, all the while, continuing to hold on to the flowers???
3. Yatsenyuk’s behavior is most unusual. It is that of a coward, a completely brain dead, craven servant of his (as we say in America) “Daddy.”
4. Has anyone ever seen anything like it? Yatys…, the ‘Prime Minister’ of the Ukraine, made no attempt to even register mild displeasure to being carried away, and having his speech disrupted.
Scott reported, “The pro-Poroshenko lawmakers lifts Yastsenyuk up like a little doll and almost slammed him on the floor.”
http://www.kyivpost.com/article/content/kyiv-post-plus/yatsenyuk-denies-responsibility-for-corruption-gets-attacked-by-lawmaker-403982.html
“like a little doll”
5. The closest comparison I can observe among so-called ‘National Leaders,’ of that type of passive (cannot say effeminate, as the women I know would not tolerate that kind of disruption or lack of respect), physical behavior, is Hollywood Obomber. There have been reports/rumors of Obomber having been physically disrespected by members of his Cabinet.
What would Sigmund Freud have to say???
Number (3) nails it superbly. And it applies not just to the “man” himself, but to the entire silly joke of a “country” he is representing. The Ukros yearned for “European values” and they got exactly that.
Haven’t you noticed that yats looks like a cross between himmler and goebbels? And you know what a coward himmler was.
I keep thinking of Nosferatu, the Undead, when I see Yats.
Ukraine president first to congratulate Pope Francis on 80th birthday…but pontiff turned 79
https://www.rt.com/news/326291-poroshenko-pope-birthday-mistake/
“Your Holiness, on behalf of the Ukrainian people and myself, I heartily congratulate you on your 80th anniversary. I wish you good health, spiritual inspiration and God’s blessing in the discharge of your incredibly important mission,” the message read.
The media promptly reacted by taking numerous screen shots of Poroshenko’s mistake, which was quickly erased from the website, with the open letter now stating the correct age, 79. No comment has been made so far from the Ukrainian president’s office.”
Further evidence the U.S. State dept. supervises the nazi freak show in banderastan…
Southfront has a video of a Ukrainian Cabinet meeting that’s rather hilarious and revealing. I like watching the expressions on the faces of people in the background for the emotions they reveal, http://southfront.org/sensational-government-session-in-a-european-country-a-historic-precedent/
That great. We had the video posted here before. But the one you posted has English subtitles. Which makes it even worse for the people in it. That whole group is a disgrace to the Ukrainian people. And an embarrassment to the EU.
The Gentleman to the left of Avakov is simply admirable: perfectly calm with an expression of refined amusement upon his face. As for the tie-eater, is he on psychotropic drugs?
All in all, this is political life at the very bottom rung of Ziocolonies in its full glory.
Haha,yes,in its “full glory” indeed. There is also a farmers demonstration in front of the Rada now. Protesting the destruction of the agricultural economy by the junta. They brought Christmas trees with them decorated with dead cows heads. A warning I think for the junta. The next heads decorating trees might not be just cows heads. Farmers in Galicia have a history of beheading their officials from the 1840’s. I think the junta should be a bit worried when the rural classes turn against you in Ukraine.
https://www.rt.com/news/326382-ukraine-cow-heads-xmas/
Hilarious video on Putin’s “Gunslinger gait” syndrome:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsbq94Qypho
Off topic, but also interesting relation between Israel and Turkey
http://www.jewishjournal.com/israel/article/israel_turkey_reach_preliminary_deal_to_restore_ties
Who needs voter support when you have tank support?
Maybe Yatsenyuk is a relative of the Kagan clan. Imagine, just imagine that any of the members of the clan could be offered a post in any Yats Government to bring their invaluable expertise in “fighting Russia”. They have an ancestral expertise. Aren’t they the descendants of the Khazar Kagans, who reigned once over Crimea? Wouldn’t be nice to install them in the Tsar’s Palaces on the lovely shores of the Black Sea?
According to Oxford Analytica, yats is a jew, yet even (some) jews refuse to acknowledge him as one, he’s THAT bad – and also appointed by another jew, nuland.
He’s half-Jewish I believe I read. But certainly the family ancestry is mostly Romanian Jewish. He’s from Bukovina,a pre-WW2 part of Romania that was mostly Ukrainian speaking with a large Romanian minority (and large Jewish minority before the war) at the time.
If you draw sidelocks (payot) and shtreimel, or just a black hat, or just a yarmulke) on a portrait of Y. you will see how the “Romanian” Jews were looking like (all “Romanian” Jews were from Galitia-Ukraine).
Look in Wikipedia at Payot and see for yourself. Actually, some “historians” have found that Romania was part of Khazaria too!
Speaking of muppets, found this over at Global Research. Pay attention to Putin’s last sentence.
Vladimir Putin: What is the most important thing for us? I want you to understand this. I want our people to hear this and I want Turkey to hear this as well.
Apart from the tragedy, the fact that our people were killed, what has upset us so much, do you know? After all, we have not abandoned cooperation. When I was last in Antalya I had contact with Turkey’s entire leadership. Our Turkish colleagues raised very sensitive issues and asked for support. Even though our relations have soured now (I will not say what the issue was – this is not my style), but believe me, they raised issues with us that are very sensitive and that do not fit into the context of international law when we consider the decisions proposed by the Turkish side.
You will be surprised, but we said, “Yes, we understand, and we are willing to help.”
http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/50971
In other words, Erdo told Putin “they’re gonna kill me if I don’t go along!”
Putin said “poor booboo, so sad — but we can still help you if you’re ready to stand up for Turkey.”
I guess we have our answer as ‘statesman’ Erdogan chose WW3, doubling down on murder and mayhem to the nth degree.
Erdogan is running scared — from Davutoglu, Fidan, the Empire — and it looks good on this sick n’ psychopathic f***.
R Ishchenko on US plan for the Ukraine:
http://fortruss.blogspot.com.au/2015/12/us-has-plan-if-ukraine-collapses.html
Maybe Yats is the attraction for Turks for whom Kiev is the top New Years destination?
http://www.todayszaman.com/latest-news_kiev-top-foreign-destination-on-new-years-eve-for-turks_407356.html
Seasonal camouflage for recruitment? It would be certainly interesting to know the age/gender breakdown in the bookings…