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Bric-a-Brac

Ukraine Lifts Prosecutorial Immunity For Members Of Parliament

Since independence in 1991 and the first independent Ukraine Constitution, Members of Parliament (MPs) have enjoyed immunity from prosecution. This is why oligarchs and those with a criminal personality have bought their way into Parliament. It was a "get out of joil free" card. This also encouraged corruption among MPs. A new law passed by the Parliament supposedly ends this immunity for MPs. However, no sooner had they passed this law when they also passed another that again makes it harder to prosecute MPs.

After lifting parliamentary immunity, lawmakers make it harder to prosecute them

More Zelenskyy smoke and mirrors when it comes to fighting corruption. His majority SOTP party in Parliament is little different than Trumps GOP - legislative enablers. They do what they are told to do.
 
Beginning on March 1, 2020, Ukrainians will need a foreign passport to travel to Russia. As it is in many locations by the border, local Ukrainians simply walk into Russia and only need present an internal passport to return. That will end.

All Russian military age males 16-65 are banned from entering Ukraine and all others need a Russian passport.
 
How Zelensky wants to change the Constitution

Drastic changes in the areas of Oblast borders and governance. The organization of an oblast into district and local levels would see changes. There would no longer be oblast Governors but instead Prefects.

It sounds to me like Zelenskyy/Kyiv wants more control over Oblast governance via Prefects and reorganization. This also sets the table for Zelenskyy to be able to change the Oblast borders in eastern Ukraine and create two new Oblasts that are currently the Russian occupied portions of the Luhansk and Donetsk Oblasts. In other words, giving in to Putin and making the two new oblasts officially a part of Ukraine, but able to pass their own laws and conclude separate trade agreements (with Russia) etc.

Not good if I am correctly interpreting Zelenskyy's proposed Constitutional changes.
 
The Cabinet has banned gambling houses in Ukraine. The national lottery games will be the only sanctioned forms of gambling allowed by law.
 
Normandy charade

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The 'Normandy Four' principals.

Kyiv Post Editorial Baord

The West carried out its charade again of trying to bring an end to Russia’s war against Ukraine. The real solution is obvious and has been known for a long time: Force Vladimir Putin to end the six-year hostilities, which have killed 14,000 people and dismembered Ukraine, through a combination of tough sanctions and unrelenting international isolation.

But the leaderless West favors restoring normal relations with the Kremlin rather than getting serious about forcing Moscow to end its savagery. Putin’s blatant seizure of Crimea and invasion of the eastern Donbas in 2014 have brought him wonderful benefits. He’s exposed the weakness of the West, encouraging him to go further. Since then, he’s responsible for war crimes in Syria and he’s interfered in Western elections as part of his desire to sabotage democracy. He has nothing to fear from U.S. President Donald J. Trump, who acts like he’s on the Kremlin payroll. He has nothing to fear from French President Emmanuel Macron, who capitulated this month by saying Russia is no longer a foe. And he has little to fear from German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is on her way out. Merkel is, however, the best and most principled of the bunch — and we hope Germany keeps its word not to make the massive Nord Stream 2 project operational until Russia guarantees that some of its Europe-bound natural gas will go through Ukraine as well.

Fortunately, the desire to live in democracies is universal. This means that a better job of international coalition-building will have to be done to put democracy back on the march again, rather than in retreat, as it is in too many corners of the world today. Unfortunately, some who are supposed to be leading the charge are, instead, aiding and abetting enemies of freedom.
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I agree 1000%. The West is leaderless. Trump, Marcron, and Merkel all love corporate profit and a cushy post-government future more than they love democracy and peace on the European continent.
 
Indeed, there is no crime that capitalist will not commit for the sake of 300 percent profit. Businessmen from Togliatti (Russia) bought the meat of fallen animals and sold under the guise of a normal one. As a result, cutlets with cadaveric poison got into kindergartens and schools...
 
Ringo Stalin said:
Indeed, there is no crime that capitalist will not commit for the sake of 300 percent profit. Businessmen from Togliatti (Russia) bought the meat of fallen animals and sold under the guise of a normal one. As a result, cutlets with cadaveric poison got into kindergartens and schools...
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Such schemes are not confined to Russia. Unscrupulous people exist everywhere.
 
Rogue Valley said:
For events that happen in Ukraine and Russia, but generally not found in articles outside of Ukrainian and Russian language media.


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Ivan Bakanov

President Volodmyr Zelenskyy has appointed childhood friend Ivan Bakanov (44) as First Deputy of the SBU (Ukraine's Security Service). With no experience in the intelligence service, law enforcement, or the military, Bakanov is not qualified and ill-suited for this position. He is the head of Zelenskyy's media production company Kvartal-95 LLC (2013), and the head of Zelenskyy's Servant of the People Party (2017). He also ran the Zelenskyy presidential campaign. The Head of Ukraine’s SBU (Vasyl Hrytsak) has commissioned Bakanov with the military equivalent rank of Lieutenant.

Bakanov said that his wife Oksana, although born in Ukraine, received her university education in Russia and has a Russian passport. "Since 1998, she lives and works in Ukraine with a permanent residence permit in our state, and is in the process of registration for Ukrainian citizenship. Oksana has not visited the territory of the Russian Federation since 2013."

Quite frankly, I would never allow someone like Bakanov access to state classified information. But Zelenskyy apparently trusts him to a great degree.
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Something trump and Zelinsky have in common - they both appoint Russian agents to high levels of their administration.
 
lurchadams said:
Something trump and Zelinsky have in common - they both appoint Russian agents to high levels of their administration.
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Far worse is Chief of Staff Andrei Bogdan.
 
lurchadams said:
Tell them they can have DeVos, Perry, and Carson as well!
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Actually, these Cabinet positions are held by fairly good technocrats. Why replace them with rank amateurs?
 
lurchadams said:
Hmmm.... I think you're engaging in dry humor :)
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The Ukrainians are able technocrats. The Trump Cabinet people are nothing more than wealthy swamp creatures.
 
Ukraine surgeons performed the first heart transplant operation in 15 years due to a de facto ban on organ transplantation in Ukraine. The operation was successful. While technically allowed since 1999, Ukraine lacked an official procedure to extract organs from deceased people, making it impossible to find donors needed for a heart transplant. “In Ukraine, there are doctors who can perform a heart transplant surgery, but there isn’t a system that allows them to do so,” Iryna Zaslavets told the Kyiv Post. That is now changing with the passage of new bills related to organ donating.
 
Local elections in 86 OTG were won by self-nominees, "Servant of the people" and "Fatherland"

12/27/19
The Central Election Commission announced the results of the first local elections in 86 OTG , which took place on December 22. Note that as of Friday evening, December 27, there was no official announcement by the CEC about the completion of the vote count. According to preliminary results, self-nominated candidates, as well as candidates from the parties “Servant of the People” and “Fatherland”, received the most seats in city, rural and township councils. Self-nominees received 752 of the 1717 deputy mandates, or 43.8% of the total. In second place - with 25.04% and 430 seats in local councils - nominees for the presidential party. 277 mandates (16.13%) and the third place in the overall standings of the "Fatherland". “Our land” (57 deputies), “Opposition platform - For life” (40 deputies), “Agrarian party” (33 deputies), “European Solidarity” (27 deputies), “Freedom” also held their candidates for local councils 19 deputies), Ridne Misto (19 deputies), UKROP (14 deputies), the Unified Center (12 deputies), People’s Ruh of Ukraine (9 deputies), Oleg Lyashko Radical Party (8 deputies) , “Voice” (7 deputies), “Ukrainian Galician Party” (5 deputies), “Social Democratic Party” (3 deputies), “Trust in Affairs” (2 deputies), “Samopomich” (2 deputies) and “Will” (1 deputy).

Among 88 elected city, rural and township leaders - 55 self-nominees, 52 of which are non-partisan. 24 elected heads ran for “Servants of the People”, two - from the party of Yulia Tymoshenko. Elections also won one candidate from the "Agrarian Party", "Our Land" and "UKROP". Last Sunday, December 22, the first local elections were held in 69 rural, 16 village and one urban OTG in 21 regions, where residents elected local deputies, as well as rural, village and city mayors. The turnout in the elections ranged from 30% to 70% in different OTG. The united territorial communities are being created in Ukraine as part of the decentralization reform, which started in 2015. From October 25, 2015 to December 22, 2019, the first elections in 982 OTGs were already held in Ukraine.
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Tentative results in local elections from last Sunday (12/22).
 
Experts claim Zelensky’s judicial reform on brink of collapse

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky out set to reform the judicial system of the country, but local anti-corruption activists and judicial experts claim the president missed all the reasonable deadlines and that judicial reforms may now be on the brink of collapse.

I'm not surprised. I've long felt that somewhat like Donald Trump, Volodmyr Zelenskyy made populist promises that he had no intention of keeping. His poll numbers are crashing for numerous reasons.
 
Yanukovych’s former lawyer to co-head body investigating Yanukovych cases

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Acting head of the State Investigation Bureau Iryna Venedyktova.

1/21/20
On Jan. 20, Iryna Venedyktova, acting head of the State Investigation Bureau, appointed Oleksandr Babikov, ex-President Viktor Yanukovych’s former defense lawyer, as the first deputy head of the bureau. The appointment has triggered a backlash from civil society, since the State Investigation Bureau is investigating cases against Yanukovych and his associates as part of investigations into about 100 murders and other violent crimes against protesters during the EuroMaidan Revolution, which ousted Yanukovych in February 2014. Venedyktova has also been accused of choosing Babikov as a result of a non-transparent and rigged competition. The lawyers and families of EuroMaidan protesters and the EuroOptimist liberal political group argue that Babikov’s appointment is a blatant violation of conflict of interest rules. “We believe this will destroy the investigations and in the worst case scenario will result in the persecution of the victims,” the families and lawyers of EuroMaidan protesters said in a statement. “We believe that this is a step towards the complete loss of confidence in the State Investigation Bureau.” Venedyktova denied a conflict of interest in a video address, saying that Babikov would not oversee EuroMaidan cases. “I announce, in order to make sure that society is sure about our objectivity, that the EuroMaidan cases unit will be overseen exclusively by the head of the bureau,” she said. “We have done everything to avoid a conflict of interest.” Venedyktova also lashed out at her critics, accusing them of “manipulation” and organizing a “well-planned and well-funded effort to influence public opinion.”She has denied the accusations of wrongdoing. Yevhenia Zakrevska, a lawyer for EuroMaidan protesters, dismissed Venedyktova’s explanations, saying that Babikov would still automatically become the acting chief of the bureau whenever Venedyktova is on vacation or resigns and would thus oversee EuroMaidan cases.
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It is things like this that make me really, really doubt the Zelenskyy administration's commitment to ending judicial corruption.
 
Germany's Deutsche Bahn transport operator (the largest in Europe) has agreed that its DB Engineering & Consulting division will manage and operate Ukraine State Railways (Ukrzaliznytsia) for the next decade. DB Engineering & Consulting will manage both the passenger and freight traffic operations; trim the bloated (280,000) and inefficient company; implement the modernization of management, operations, and equipment; and fully integrate Ukrzaliznytsia into the European railway system. Ukraine will continue to own Ukrzaliznytsia.
 
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