The Ukraine’s klepto-oligarchy

It’s meaningful that every time populist Ukrainian politicians have made noises about renationalising industrial properties stolen by oligarchs, the screaming from the West has been such to make you think a return to Stalinist terror had been proposed.

It’s like profiting from buying the rights to an old, heavily marketed brand (as happened with Cabbage Patch dolls for example): there’s that back catalogue of anti-Russian propaganda going back even before the red scare

And it’s telling to watch [pro-Russian — most of the Ukraine speaks Russian] Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, the Orange revolution’s villain restored now to power, smiling a thousand-watt smile as he consorts with sheepish Western leaders. He knows where his bread gets buttered. Ukraine has achieved that sine qua non of the second-tier country whose elite wants to prosper in the global order — it’s managed to unlink politics from the economy.

And yes, it is ‘the Ukraine’ just like ‘the US’ and ‘the UK’.

From Eunomia.