Can’t We All just Get Along?
Some of my associates have asked me why I have not posted any news about the recent reformation of the Orange Coalition within the Ukrainian Government. Well…to be honest, I did read the news with some delight. It is not that I am a supporter of any political faction. On the contrary, my focus is business…and business craves stability and predictabilty. The financial crisis has forced political rivals to set aside their differences and come together and address the problems facing Ukraine. MAYBE.
I hate to sound like Machiavelli here, but is there anyone out there who believes that this grand alliance will be nothing more than temporary? There are “no permanent allies, only permanent interests” to paraphrase the Renaissance philosopher. Human nature being what it is-and it is a spectacle to behold-is not about to change because a few politicians have sheathed their metaphoric swords and embraced each other.
Ultimately, Ukraine will be stabilize when its politicians realize that they can benefit more from that stability, even if it means that they have to temper their personal ambitions to the greater good. This could come as a result of crisis, or it could come when Ukraine grows-and it will continue to do that-to the point when its politics have evolved. So far…and to its credit…Ukraine has not devolved to a command and control economy, nor has the democratic political trajectory been altered.
The bottom line for many of us who live, work and invest in Ukraine is that things will improve over the long term. Ukraine is in fact, more advanced than many of her critics want to admit-including some Western Europeans who recently used this to deny a road map to NATO.
Technorati Tags: Ukraine, Ukrainian Government, command and control economy, democracy, NATO, Western Europe, Anton Olff, politicians, Machiavelli, human nature, Orange Coalition, business, stability, predictability, political faction,
Tags: Anton Olff, Business, command and control economy, democracy, human nature, Machiavelli, NATO, Orange Coalition, political faction, politicians, predictability, stability, ukraine, Ukrainian Government, Western Europe
