ReindeerThistle
Zimmerwald Left
I am getting a headache trying to follow the current OT Ukraine thread. So, I am starting a mostly-news thread for folks who want the facts, or spin, regardless of source, so people can make up their own minds.
Keep discussion light, and on topic, and polite.
Please, no historical outbursts.
1. News on events in Ukraine
2. Alternative news on events in Ukraine
3. Any GOOD news coming from this.
4. Light discussion on the above.
e.g.
In Crimea breakway vote, pro-Russians tout IMF data, better wages
Keep discussion light, and on topic, and polite.
Please, no historical outbursts.
1. News on events in Ukraine
2. Alternative news on events in Ukraine
3. Any GOOD news coming from this.
4. Light discussion on the above.
e.g.
In Crimea breakway vote, pro-Russians tout IMF data, better wages
chicagotribune.com said:Andrew Osborne
SEVASTOPOL, Ukraine (Reuters) - Outside the squat Soviet-era building that houses Sevastopol's authorities, pro-Russian activists have covered the wall with a blizzard of flyers aimed at persuading residents of Crimea to vote to leave Ukraine and become part of Russia on Sunday.
Patriotic extracts from the Russian national anthem jostle for space with emotional condemnations of the new Ukrainian government in Kiev, the capital, highlighting what many ethnic Russians here say are its fascist tendencies.
But look carefully and you'll find more practical appeals for people's votes. One, entitled "Ten demands from the International Monetary Fund that will put Ukraine on its knees", says the IMF will cause Ukrainian living standards, already lower than Russia's, to plummet.
Next to it, another sheet of A4, entitled "Our home is Russia", reprints what it says is glowing praise from the IMF of Russia's key economic indicators, telling voters how much higher average wages and pensions in Russia are than in Ukraine.
As Crimea's pro-Russian authorities seek to ensure what they say will be a landslide victory for those who want this strategic peninsula to become part of Russia, they are making a simple pitch for voters: Your standard of living will rocket if you become part of Russia.
Not all of the information being given to voters is accurate. The "Our Home is Russia" flyer tells voters Russia is the fifth largest economy in the world. It is in fact the eighth.
But the gap between the two countries' economies is nonetheless yawning. Ukraine's economy, according to the IMF, is only the world's 54th biggest, and with a size of $176 billion is dwarfed by Russia's, which is over $2 trillion....