Spoke to someone in Ukraine the other day...

...basically the conflict is contained. It's still going on but they see little danger of the Russkis invading now, and the areas to the east that have been 'claimed' by the rebels are actually the poorest and s**ttiest, which were previously vacuuming up loads of state cash, much of it lost to corruption.

These were the lands where Stalin starved the indiginous population to death and replaced then with Russian criminals and ne'erdowells, the offspring of which are now the rebels. The inference to me was that the Russians are welcome to 'em!

Ukrainian nationalism is stronger than ever in the remaining territories to the west, as are their links to the EU. And governance is becoming more transparent and less corrupt as a result.

Hope that helps!

Posted By: Greeny, Oct 9, 11:12:08