Ukrainian Lessons For Greece, Cyprus etc.

The IMF are in Kiev.  They, the US, the EU etc. seem to be falling over themselves to provide finance to a government that is unelected, that comprises a large proportion of fascists, and ultra right-wing nationalist forces.  It is in stark contrast to the austerity measures they sought to impose on the democratically elected previous government, which was a part of provoking the protests that led to its downfall.  Someone commenting to CNBC this morning pointed out that this seems to give a clear message to the people of Greece, that have had to jump through hoops to obtain much needed financial support!

The message from the US, EU and IMF seems to be that if you threaten to jump ship, and align yourself with Russia, particularly if you are in a strategic position, we are not bothered whether your government is democratically elected or not, we will hand over whatever money is needed without strings to keep you in the fold.

The mistake made by Cyprus, seems to have been that they should have threatened to kick out the UK and NATO from their bases, and to have offered them to Russia.  Greece and Cyprus and any other strategically placed country that needs money without austerity strings attached, should threaten to switch camps, and then they would be swamped with largesse to keep them in the fold.

Unfortunately, for Ukraine, its economy is so much in the crapper that no amount of finance is likely to save it in the near term.