1.  Article | 29/02/2008

Generation Putin

"Pragmatism” is the key word which characterises "Generation Putin”. Family values and career success are high priorities. The mood is not one of protest. Insights from Johannes Voswinkel, Correspondent in Moscow.
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Kiev pauses for breath

"Yushchenko's decision to dissolve the parliament last week was his bravest since the days of the revolution," writes Johannes Voswinkel. He adds that this was Yushchenko's reaction to the widespread tactics of wooing MPs away from the Orange opposition. "And so politics in Ukraine continues to be a mixture between a soap opera and a crime series. The regional power groups of various holding companies in Donezk, Dnepropetrovsk and Kiev have dominated the country since it achieved independence in 1991, and over the course of time they have split into numerous factions. Their objective is financial gain; ideology is of marginal importance. The opposition between the pro-Western Yushchenko and the pro-Russian Yanukovich is being exaggerated and exploited by both sides to mobilise their supporters. The true lines of conflict run directly between the elite and the parties - the protagonists differ only in the degree of their enthusiasm for the West. But in the long term even this political battle which is being fought with questionable means could lead to the creation of a democratic system that balances the diverging interests in Ukraine."

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