Peace is coming back to liberated eastern #Ukraine. Denizens of #Sloviansk are cleaning up their parks. pic.twitter.com/0Q5G7JofFG ~ @Sloviansk
— Viktor Kovalenko (@MrKovalenko) August 2, 2014
Interfax is reporting that two Kyiv has reclaimed two more settlements in the Donetsk region:
Еще два населенных пункта в Донецкой области освободили силы АТО - СНБО http://t.co/5YMOPEOYQ3 #ukraine
— Интерфакс-Украина (@interfaxua) August 2, 2014
Aug 2 - Paratroopers Day, celebrated on both sides of East Ukrainian front and in Russia.
— Leonid Ragozin (@leonidragozin) August 2, 2014
BTR gunner's screen decorated with icons pic.twitter.com/kWopXm2s3N
— bruce springnote (@BSpringnote) August 2, 2014
Another update from RFE/RL's news desk:
Russia's Foreign Ministry has accused the European Union of withdrawing a ban on supplying Ukraine with military technology and equipment "on the quiet."
The ministry said in a statement today that "during a recent meeting of the Council of Europe in Brussels, leaders of EU member states agreed 'on the quiet' to remove restrictions on exports to Kyiv of equipment that could be used for internal repression."
The statement, which was posted on the ministry website, said that "exports of military technologies and equipment were also allowed."
The ministry also called on the 28-nation EU not to be "goaded" by Washington over events in east Ukraine, where pro-Russian separatists are fighting government forces.
Meanwhile, Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron has warned that NATO needs to review its long-term relationship with Russia to reflect the fact that Moscow sees the alliance as “an adversary.”
(Reuters, AFP)
1/2 Great collection of tweets and comments (in Ru) abt Putin's bizarre comments on WWI ystrday: http://t.co/sPgptGh8pA
— Robert Coalson (@CoalsonR) August 2, 2014
2/2 Strange to me that man who thinks USSR collapse great "geopolitical tragedy" says WWI was lost by ppl who betrayed "national interests."
— Robert Coalson (@CoalsonR) August 2, 2014
Impressive. MT @Brown_Moses: Tracking the Buk linked to downing of #MH17 on its travels through rebel-held Ukraine http://t.co/rqL08nBfxX
— Christopher Miller (@ChristopherJM) August 2, 2014
Writing for "The Moscow Times" yesterday, Mark Adomanis poured cold water on the notion that the latest round of sanctions may actually help Russia's economy become more self sufficient:
Many people — particularly those who work in, or are sympathetic to, the Russian government — argue that the sanctions will actually help Russia by forcing it to more intensively develop certain areas of its economy.
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, as usual, provided a clear and concise formulation of the official position: "We will overcome any difficulties that may arise in certain areas of the economy, and maybe we will become more independent and more confident in our own strength."
President Vladimir Putin has gone even further, publicly stating that Russian defense procurement should be an entirely domestic affair and that Russia should "do everything" to ensure that it does "not depend on anyone in any of the areas of the army and fleet rearmament."
"Import substitution" is the latest buzz phrase coming out of the Kremlin, and if sanctions continue to be imposed for any significant length of time, I expect that the Russian authorities will actually try to implement such a policy.
But here's the problem: It won't work. The list of countries that have successfully conducted a policy of import substitution is much shorter than the list of countries that lapsed into pervasive economic stagnation. When the Kremlin thinks "import substitution," it imagines becoming the next South Korea or Taiwan: innovative, dynamic and world-class. The more likely outcome is Argentina: lethargic, overly expensive and anachronistic.
It is theoretically possible, of course, to stimulate domestic production by limiting the availability of foreign goods. If you don't let Russians import chicken legs from the U.S., so the thinking goes, someone will eventually build a poultry plant and produce them in Russia.
To work properly, though, a policy of import substitution requires a liberalized and flexible domestic economy and an efficient, transparent and noncorrupt government. Only with these conditions can truly competitive firms emerge to fill the gap left by foreigners. Otherwise you end up with politically connected and inefficient firms that produce goods that, in comparison with the world market, are too expensive for their actual quality. In other words, if you try import substitution and don't pull it off, you end up with a perfect recipe for economic stagnation.
Read the entire article here
Our news desk has just issued this update concerning the MH17 crash site:
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) says international experts have returned for a second day to the crash site of Flight MH17 in separatist-controlled eastern Ukraine.
The OSCE mission to Ukraine said in a statement that 70 Dutch and Australian experts were accompanied by eight OSCE observers.
The experts brought specially trained dogs with them to help them trace and recover the remaining bodies of the victims of the July 17 crash, in which all 298 people on board the Malaysia Airlines plane died.
The experts, who began work at the crash site yesterday, are expected to conduct search operations in several places at the crash site.
Efforts to recover the remaining bodies from location have been hampered by fighting between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian separatists.
Over 200 coffins have been sent back to the Netherlands, which lost 193 citizens in the crash.
(ITAR-TASS, Interfax)
DVI = Disaster Victim Identification. Search & victim recovery current focus intl experts @ #MH17 site. They accompanied @OSCE_SMM monitors
— Michael Bociurkiw (@mikeybbq) August 2, 2014