Farewell to Civil Peace for the Ukraine

In order to be a member of the EU, you must be able to maintain and prove a stable economy. Greece's economic difficulties, it have impacted the EU as a whole. If one country is unable to prove their economy

Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe, bordered by Russia, Belarus, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, and Moldova. It is also bordered by two major Sea's called Black Sea and Sea of Azov. Ukraine has an area of 603,628 km2 (233,062 sq mi), making it the largest country entirely within Europe and the 46th largest country in the world, and a population of about 44.5 million, making it the 32nd most populous country in the world.

In 2013 as Ukraine was negotiating with the European Union, President Putin was also conducting secret meetings with the president of Ukraine. These secret meetings helped sway the President of Ukraine to decide against joining the union and striking a deal with Russia for oil and natural gas. This was the starting point for the Ukrainian revolution in 2014. The Ukrainian President found refuge in Russia after he was exiled for his decision to join Russia and not the European Union. Now with Ukraine in disarray, Putin had a new plan; he secretly sent soldiers into Crimea. Putin saw Crimea as a vital piece of land that could help Russia by giving them a seaport, which is more accessible to the rest of the world. This would also give Russia the chance to strengthen their navy by giving them a more direct route to the west in order to defend themselves from the west. Starting October 2014 reports surfaced that there were troops in Crimea. Putin and Russia’s government denied all claims that the troops were Russian soldiers. By March 2, 2015, Russia acknowledged that they had sent troops to the border of Ukraine to protect Russia from any actions towards Russia. By March 16, Russia announced that troops are in Ukraine and that they held the majority of the government buildings in Crimea. This sparked the first set of sanctions from the west. Mostly economic, Russia was able to hold out and not be affected by these sanctions. The second set of sanctions hit their businesses and many of Putin’s friends, which he appointed. This is when Putin started to negotiate with the west. Crimea then held a vote to see if they would join Russia or stay part of Ukraine. 90% voted in favor of joining Russia. Putin’s controversial and secretive acts had paid off and Crimea is now part of

Ukraine made the news a lot in the past year, but for anything Ukraine discovered or made. In the past year the country has been in crisis due to the events that started off as a riot for Ukraine becoming a part of EU and leading to annexation of Crimea and war in east part of the country. Ukraine has been ruled by corrupt politicians and oligarchs and has been strongly influenced by Russia. These two countries always had close ties, because of their past as Soviets countries, they share a common language and are currently in "pre-war" status right now (McMahon, 2014). This past year has been rough with crisis and has affected areas like: social, cultural and economic. Ukrainian government has failed its purpose to protect and make improvements in the best interest of the country, and now thousands of people lost their homes and thousands have died, with hundreds being killed directly at the request of former President Victor Yanukovych, who now has escaped and currently staying in Russia with a political support from their side (Babich, 2014). The question now is; with everything that 's happening inside the country, should Russia be allowed to invade and destroy cities and squares, while the peace agreement and sanctions are attempting to stop this chaos? No, but the aid from countries like Germany and United States of America is not significant and influential enough to stop Russia from military

In 1999, ten European nations joined together to create an economic and monetary union known as the Eurozone. Countries, such as Germany, have thrived with the euro but nations, like Greece, have deteriorated since its adoption of the euro in 2001. The Eurozone was created in 1999 and currently consists of eighteen European nations united under the European Central Bank and all use the euro. The Eurozone has a one point six percent inflation rate and an eleven point six percent unemployment rate in 2014. Greece joined the Eurozone in 2001 and was the poorest European Union member at the time with a two point six percent inflation rate3 (James, 2000). Greece had a long economic history before joining the Eurozone. The economy flourished from 1960 to 1970 with low inflation and modernization and industrialization occurring. The market crash in the late 1970’s led Greece into a state of recession that the nation is still struggling with. Military failures, the PASOK party and the introduction of the euro have further tarnished Greece’s economic stability. The nation struggles with lack of competitiveness, high deficit, and inflation. Greece has many options like bailouts, rescue packages, and PPP to help dig it out of this recession. The best option is to abandon the Eurozone and go back to the drachma. Greece’s inflation and deficit are increasing more and more and loans and bailouts have not worked in the past. Leaving the Eurozone will allow Greece to restructure and rebuild

Historically speaking, the 2013 EU talks echoed a pattern of recent Western encroachment threatening Russia 's security in Eastern Europe. In the early 2000s, NATO’s expansion to include Poland and The Baltic states made Russia uncomfortable, and in 2008 an attempt at Georgian membership ended with a regional war (Trenin, 2014). The most recent clash began in November when former President Yanukovych 's government was scheduled to sign an association agreement with the EU (BBC, 2014). Largely supported by young voters, primarily in Western Ukraine, the agreement would have pushed Ukraine away from the Russian-dominated Eurasian Economic Union (Trenin, 2014).

The conflict stems from the result of the Government’s decision to turn down the European Union proposed “association agreement” in 2013 and instead Ukraine’s President Viktor Yanukovych accepted fifteen billion dollars in aid and other economic benefits from Russian President Vladimir Putin. For years Ukrainians have yearned for economic reform that would seek to open new trade and economic ties with Western European countries. President Yanukovych’s decision to reject the EU’s proposal ignored the feeling of the majority of Ukrainian citizens and further solidified the sentiment that their government was strengthening ties with Russia and not with the west.

Greece has been considered a weak economic link since the country joined the EU in 2001. High unemployment rates, failed bailouts, and strict austerity measures imposed by the European Central Bank, International Monetary Fund, and the European Commission have left economists and politicians questioning whether or not Greece can recover within the context of EU membership. In the following paragraphs, this paper will discuss factors that lead to Greece’s economic downturn--events that are prerequisites to the global conversation about Grexit. Next, this paper will outline the pros and cons of a Grexit, as well as discuss key players’ positions on the subject. Finally, this memo will assert that while controversial and uncertain, Grexit is an option that should be considered.

War, chaos, depression, and corruption are some of the words to describe the chaos in Ukraine. Since the 3 billion Eurobond lent to Ukraine by Russia weren’t paid off the money, revolution was sparked within the citizens of Ukraine and slowly erupting into something many people fear will start another catastrophic event in Europe. Even with the strong support of NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization; Ukraine has but only two options, to move to E.U. or to move to the support of Russia, and the citizens are divided in half, the east and west, one side wanting to merge with Russia and the other wanting to merge with E.U.. And with Russia already annexing Crimea, which is located below Ukraine and Russia has tens of thousands troops lined up on the border and NATO not knowing what they should do, Ukraine is up in flames. Also with the president of Ukraine Yanokovych leaving and rejecting office unofficially to escape, leaving the balance of Ukraine in the hand of new president Oleksandr Twrchynov in charge of the disaster of what is now leading to an official civil war. The question is who is going to take action and when? NATO wanting to prevent a potential World War really doesn’t have any idea what they should do. And what does Russia even want from Ukraine? E.U. is trying to do everything possible to not take action, but from news reporters perspectives, these events could also relate to 1939 when Hitler took over all these nations and said the reason was that he

The first group of factors for Russian involvement in Ukraine would be categorized into the International System Level of Analysis. In the International System Level of Analysis, the state’s policies are meant to revolve around the states national interests. National interests are defined as the physical security, economic security, and political sovereignty of the state. After the fall of the Soviet Union, the newly formed Russian Federation had to come to terms that unlike its predecessor, it did not wield the power of an international powerhouse. With its economy and military might in shambles, Russia was no longer a global superpower and was reduced to a regional power. In addition, Russia had become increasingly wary of the European Union’s relations with Ukraine. Fearing the loss of a crucial regional partner, Russia would often make economic offers to entice the Ukrainian government to retain its current relations with the former. During Ukraine’s negotiations with E.U. on a trade association agreement, Russian president Vladimir Putin and Russian friendly Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych met to negotiate on Russia’s offer of to purchase

With increased globalization and various other factors of modern society, imperialistic behaviors exhibited by world powers have become incredibly uncommon. Most nations now stand independent, and establishing alliances and trade deals is far preferable to overtaking smaller, weaker nations. That being said, a rare and fairly prominent case of imperialism is taking place in the Russia/Ukraine dispute of the past year. Ukraine has struggled with corruption in their government, and a weakened economy since the fall of the USSR, and have only fairly recently made effective attempts to right themselves. They now hold the goal of westernization and becoming an EU state, but are being hindered by the separatist movement and the threat of violence from Russia that plagues their western front, as well as persistent issues with their government and economy. Many attempts at peace have been made, but none thus far have seen any relative success. Despite mediatory councils and the underlying threat of war, Ukraine and Russia now stand exactly where they did this time last year, further proving that this will not be an easy dispute to settle.

This is in context to the trade agreement between the European Union and Ukraine. The European Union has continued to expand eastward and this has been one of the causes of the reaction from Russia. Russia also has feared that the expansion of the European Union will cause NATO to expand into Ukraine as well (Higgins and Herszenhorn). In this even realist theory does an excellent job of explaining the actions taken by Russia.

On November 21, 2013, the then-president of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych, suspended the preparations for the implementation of a publically supported association agreement with the European Union. As the result of Yanukovych’s decision, public protests erupted in the capital city of Kiev. After months of unrest, the protestors managed to oust Yanukovych, who fled to Russia for asylum. Following Yanukovych’s ousting, social unrest erupted around the country, especially in the Russophone eastern and southern regions of Ukraine. As the social unrest quickly evolved into a political crisis, Moscow moved to secure its interests in the country.

To correct this state of affairs, the attitudes of the citizens and their heads of state must change towards becoming a unified country with a centralized government. A constitution should be written without prejudice or favor to any particular member that would definitively establish the EU as the sovereign force of the region. Thereby, enabling them to own as Max Weber put it, a “monopoly of the legitimate use of force” across its members. The new government should have the authority over the military, the fiscal and monetary policy, taxation, education, social security, and welfare over all of its citizens. Though many of these would not happen overnight, the long term goal should be this establishment in order to have an effective and enabling political system.

I believe that Ukrainian politics don’t do anything to help Ukraine get out of problems than are now in Ukraine. As for U.S they try to help, but it is enough. Politics were always a big problem in Ukraine. Many politicians were coming and leaving because they could do good work. It is hard to be a politician when the country is at a war, but every politician must first thing about the country and people, and after all about themselves. Also, Ukrainian people were always fighting for their freedom. Ukraine had many revolutions and hard times when people were dying. Now in Ukraine there are hard times and Ukrainian politics don’t do anything to get them better.