[September 19, 2014] This past weekend as I attended a number of yard sales with my wife, I was surprised to see whole city blocks having sales with the proceeds going to the Ukraine. I was unaware of the strong social and blood kinships of many New Yorkers to those who live in the Ukraine. Whenever I walk in the local park near where I live, I would hear “Russian” speakers every day. Whenever I would ask them questions, they were almost always from the Ukraine and recently they tell me they are happy about the recent election of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.
In May this year, a new President was elected in the Ukraine. The president has shown good leadership qualities that the country very much needs to overcome a deadly Russian-backed insurgency. The Ukraine has serious hurdles to defeat insurgents controlling parts of the eastern Ukraine and recover from the fallout of the Crimean Peninsula self-elected annexation into Russia. Furthermore with Crimea gone, 70% of the Ukraine’s energy supply comes from Russia and winter is approaching.
The new President Petro Poroshenko has promised peace in the Ukraine. He has done this with a multi-pronged strategy. He has offered amnesty to rebels who do not “have blood on their hands” and free passage of Russians who are fighting in the Ukraine back into Russia. Also, he just met with U.S. President Obama and requested American financial assistance, military equipment sales, and diplomatic support. The U.S. did not agree to any military equipment sales but will assist financially when in conjunction with other European nations. Diplomatically the U.S. has already helped and will continue as this has been the main effort under the Obama Administration for these types of disputes and wars.
The Ukrainian President’s ability to bring peace to the country would test any leader. In this case, the winter months will be a trail on whether his leadership will be sufficient to withstand the threats that loom over his country. We wish him and his citizens the best.
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