--- Yoshie Furuhashi <furuhashi.1 at osu.edu> wrote:
>
> >Eastern Ukraine is Russian, and it is where the
> industry, mines, and
> >high technology is. 80% of Ukraine's GDP is in the
> East.
>
> What's the source?
You mean source of information or source of GDP? Source of GDP is the industry, coal mines, and grain. Kharkov is in Eastern Ukraine. It was the Soviet Detroit. Just googling on the Internet in English for anout 5 minutes I go this below material. Just Donetsk (where Yanukovich is from) accounts for 20-25% of Ukraine's GDP. (Mlore stuff by me after the links.)
Eastern Ukraine long has been under Russian influence.
This part of the country holds the overwhelming majority of Ukraine’s industrial resources, contributing up to 80 percent of the country’s GDP.
http://www.jta.org/page_view_story.asp?strwebhead=Ukraine%92s+East-West+divide
A former coal miner from Donetsk, "Piotr," now living in Kyiv, says that during Yushchenko's period in office, salaries were never paid on time and Yushchenko did not take care of the country's industrial base. Much of that industrial base is in the east of the country. Donetsk
region itself provides about one-fifth of the country's GDP.
http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/news/ukraine/ukraine-041202-rferl06.htm
Donetsk makes up 10% of Ukraine's population and provides 20% of GDP.
Everyone knows this, but Mr Yanukovych often draws attention to the fact and argues that the region's wealth should be spent here instead of feeding the rest of the country - he made a lot of this during the election campaign.
http://newswww.bbc.net.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4043601.stm
Naturally, the region (Donetsk) that produces 25% of Ukraine’s GDP will parlay its raw wealth into financial capital. With its large deposits of natural resources and a favorable government policy designating it as a free
economic zone, capital investment gravitates to and flourishes in Donetsk.
http://www.romyr.com/index.php3/78/No15_donetsk/?submit=print
>
> BTW, the BBC article that I already cited has
> another interesting
> piece of information: "Like several other people I
> have met in
> Donetsk, she [a young woman working as a hotel
> receptionist] recalled
> a comment attributed here to an opposition leader,
> who allegedly
> threatened to ring part of eastern Ukraine with
> barbed wire and set
> it on fire" (at
> <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4067267.stm>).
That sounds right. Ukrainian nationalist -- all Ukraine's problems are the fault of Russians and Jews. But probably hyped up by Yanukovich's propaganda, which portrays Yushch. as a fascist. E.g. in E. Ukraine, Yushch,' party Nasha Ukraina is referred to as "nashist," a play on "nash" (our) and fashist ((fascist).
>
> >Ukrainians are perfectly capable of doing this kind
> of thing themselves.
>
Besides,
> assistance cements alliance and creates dependence.
Frankly, Ukraine is too dependent on Russia to fall into the orbit of the US or EU (assuming the EU even wants it -- the now ex-head of the EU said that "Ukraine has as much of a reason to be in the EU as New Zealand does." Are Germany and France really going to open their borders to cheap Ukrainian goods? Take on the burdern of subsidizing a poor country -- far poorer than Russia -- with a population of 48 million and an oligarchic economy that may meet EU standards in maybe 50 years?). 80% of Ukraine's oil and gas comes from you-know-where. Trade with Russia is 40% of Ukraine's foreign trade. I think this is a repeat of the Georgia "revolution" -- lots of nationalist rhetoric and no substance. What has Saakashvili accomplished? He got back Adjaria. What was Adjaria? A semi-feudal state run by one guy and his family and no popular support. Abkhazia and South Ossetia are a different matter -- those are Russian citizens and are ready and willing to kill Georgians. All Russia has to do to shut down Georgia is flip a switch anyway or refuse to let in Georgian migrant workers or traders (it does this periodically when Georgia rubs it the wrong way).
>
> How much has Moscow spent on Yanukovich?
A hell of a lot. The figure $300 million pops into mind, but I'm going by memory and may be way off. The Kremlin organized Yanukovich's entire campaign, Kremlin spin doctor Gleb Pavlovsky being prominent. BTW this obviously means the Kremlin thinks the election is more important than I do. Maybe because Russian political culture is so focussed on particular personalities and clans?
I don't know how much the EU nations
> have spent on him.
Poland is a major one.
===== Nu, zayats, pogodi!
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