After royally pissing Putin off with that Ukraine-EU gas deal and nearly forfeiting the $5B loan, Tymoshenko went to Moscow to please the man.
And guess what? The man's got himself on his mind. Here’s how he referred to Yulia Volodymyrivna Tymoshenko (Vladimirovna in Russian):
Russian PM Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin: Today, we've already talked in private meetings and we've talked eye-to-eye with...with Yulia Vladimirovich...uh...with Yulia Vladimirovna...
He went on to address the issue of Ukraine’s solvency, lecturing Tymoshenko and airing his lingering dislike of the EU at the same time.
Putin: The price of the shipment is 5 billion dollars. Go to Brussels...
Reporter: And do what?
Putin: And get 5 billion dollars and pay Gazprom. That’s it.
Reporter: Uh...
Putin: And that’s...the whole matter, down to the last kopeck. The issue being raised here is us financing this issue.
I think I found a picture of Yulia Vladimirovich.
Video uploaded from: http://censor.net.ua/go/offer/ResourceID/120730.html Original sources:
http://stb.ua
http://tsn.ua
15 comments:
Here's what I noticed - Yulia was laughing at Pootler.
Pootler is talking nonsense.
And she and Ukraine will not be intimidated by Pootler. Ukraine may be betrayed by a few of its oligarchs - but I don't think Yulia's one of those.
Also, Taras, imperatrix mundi Yulia - would that the people in Ukraine were, in fact, able to stand up like Roman legions. Or like Spartans and Trojans.
I don't suggest an autocratic system of government - quite the contrary.
I suggest people that stand up for themselves, and for Ukraine.
Alas, it's more like Chernovetsky's "beloved babushkas" or - silence on the sidelines.
As a leader, Taras, whom would you rather lead in a country that is able to stand up for itself - Chernovetsky's "beloved babushkas" who sell their souls, their votes, and their futures for a little bit of buckwheat?
Or Spartans and Trojans who want freedom and greatness for Ukraine?
Pootler be damned - what a dork!
In response to your picture of Imperatrix Yulia:
Carl Orff composed an entire musical piece based on Latin - including some bawdy Latin songs by monks.
The entire work is called "Carmina
Burana".
Here is "O Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi"
O Fortune Empress of the World
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZ-7raArTVo&feature=PlayList&p=212B700A67523DAC&index=1
And here is the entire performance. It contains some very beautiful songs, including a Latin drinking song: "bibit"
Here is the entire performance:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEllLECo4OM
Thank you for the world-famous music!
I think Tymoshenko is playing Cleopatra/Trojan Horse. The music indeed captures the drama.
Playing Cleo/Trojan Horse?
How so?????
I am sorry for posting a link to the world famous music.
I actually meant to post a link to this not-so-famous-music:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVnli5SCJEs&feature=related
Actually, I am so sorry.
I actually meant to link to this world-famous music:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICfue4iDseU&feature=related
No, it was actually this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHZ2qWTDsw4&feature=related
Nice compilation, Elmer:)!
Btw, I’ve already tried “You Can Leave Your Hat On” on her:)
Why Cleo/Trojan Horse? Because that’s her style.
Sorry, Taras, I still don't understand.
Please be more specific.
I won't say another word until you see for yourself. Just watch her.
OK, Taras, a little bit of kudos here to Ukraine and the Tymoshenko government.
Here's a very, very interesting excerpt from the monthly macroeconomic report from Sigma-Bleyzer, also reported in UNIAN:
-------------------------
The over-execution of budget revenues was
achieved mainly thanks to the government reliance
on one-off transactions unforeseen in the
budget, early payment of tax bills and other
charges to the budget. Customs cleared 11 billion
m3 of natural gas imported into Ukraine
last year, the ownership of which is currently
being disputed in the courts with
RosUkrEnergo, the former monopolistic mediator
of natural gas supplies to Ukraine. According
to estimates, about UAH 3 billion ($0.4 billion),
or about 7% of total state budget revenues
for January-March 2009, were extra VAT
proceeds from this transaction.
-------------------------
This is, of course, the gas that Firtash/RosUkrEnergo claim for Firtash, and which was the subject of a raid by "Minister" Khoroshkovksy, one of Firtash's boys, on Ukraine Naftohaz, among other fierce battles.
By hook and by crook, and by every other means, Ukraine's budget will be balanced!
Here's the link:
http://www.sigmableyzer.com/File/countries/ukraine/Ukr%20Monthly%20Ec%20Report%2004%2009.pdf
Here's the link to UNIAN:
http://www.unian.net/eng/news/news-314273.html
How about this one:
First, she goes to Brussels and signs the EU-Ukraine gas pipeline modernization deal. Then, she goes to Moscow and starts derailing the whole thing.
Taras, you're going to have to explain how Tymoshenko "derailed" the Brussels deal.
First of all, "take or pay" contracts are standard in the gas industry. The buyer gets a guarantee of price over time, but has to make an estimate of gas usage, which may indeed be more or less than called for in the contract. The alternative, one of them, is buying gas on the spot market, which may fluctuate wildly.
True, there is no "market" to speak of in Ukraine or Russia, especially because the gas industry has been a mechanism for HUGE corruption, and for the care and feeding of assorted oligarch pigs, including guys like Firtash and Fursin.
Nevertheless - "take or pay" contracts, which the Pravda article seems to criticize, are nothing unusual.
The Pravda article seems to criticize Tymoshenko for not having "penalties" against Russia for gas transportation. Well, there's a difference between buying gas, coupled or not with transportation, and the transportation itself.
Second, the Brussels deal was for the upgrade of a portion of the Ukrainian gas transportation system.
The Pravda article seems to criticize Tymo because she requested an advance for transportation costs in order to buy gas for underground storage in Ukraine - a prudent, and common, practice, one which helped Ukraine survive the gas cutoff by Russia this last winter.
This, they claim, would jeopardize Ukraine's ability to transport gas to Europe.
How so? Maybe you can explain it.
Third, and most importantly, the root problem here is that, courtesy of sovok legacy, Ukraine is incredibly and extremely wasteful in its use of gas, starting with poorly insulated houses which still rely on the sovok practice of getting virtually "free" gas on a centralized basis, so that people open their windows in the middle of winter, to the inadequate distribution system.
Also, people don't pay their gas bills, leading gas companies in Donetsk to put up billboards claiming that they'll send Stalin after them if the bills are not paid.
Not to mention the very favorably rates obtained by industry in "silly Donbass" relying heavily on gas - fertilizer plants, chemical and steel, for example.
The Ukrainian habit is still the sovok habit - point fingers at whoever one's rival is.
But the problems are much deeper and more systemic, and they don't call for pointing fingers, they call for a vast overhaul, all the way down to residential and industrial users.
I'd really be interested to know how Tymo, all by her lonesome, torpedoed the Brussels gas pipeline upgrade deal.
It’s all in the article, Elmer.
It’s all about who benefits.
The gas deal she signed with Russia benefits who? Russia.
The gas deal she signed with the EU benefits who? Ukraine.
But now she’s trying to change that in favor of who? Russia. (Just to give you an example of the Cleo/Trojan Horse concept.)
I think we should separate the broad issue of energy efficiency from the specific policies pursued by Tymoshenko. How much has energy efficiency improved during her stay in power?
She who allies her presidential campaign with catering to the Kremlin is hardly alone in her struggle.
Therefore, the “Lone Ranger” legend should finally be laid to rest.
Taras, I still don't understand.
The deal with Russia is beneficial to both sides - Ukraine gets gas, plus charges Russia for transportation.
The deal with the EU is beneficial to Europe and Ukraine - upgrading the capacity of the existing pipelines, and modernizing them is far, far cheaper than building a new one. It also tends to insure gas supplies and gas transportation to Europe.
How is she trying to change the EU deal in favor of Russia?
I don't understand.
What am I missing?
Taras, here's an article from the Eurasian Daily Monitor which puts all of this gas tug-of-war between Ukraine and rasha into pretty good perspective.
http://www.jamestown.org/programs/edm/single/?tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=34965&tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=27&cHash=7b87ea8d5c
Pootler, in typical rashan fashion, is pissed off - because that's what rashans do. There doesn't have to be a reason.
Anyway, the EU made a deal with Ukraine to modernize Ukraine's pipeline system - it makes sense.
Yulia wanted to borrow $5 billion from rasha - some of which, apparently, was to be used to buy gas for underground storage in Ukraine for next winter. Pootler says no, and in typical rashan sarcastic fashion, says that Ukraine should go to the EU to borrow the money.
Tymoshenko even invited Pootler to participate in the EU deal by supplying some pipes.
So instead of making some money, Pootler will sit in the kremlin and pick his toes and pout.
Pouting is another thing that rashans do well.
---------------------------
Moscow Pressuring Ukraine on its EU Pipeline Deal
Publication: Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 6 Issue: 89May 8, 2009 04:17 PM Age: 9 hrsCategory: Eurasia Daily Monitor, Home Page, Energy, Russia, Ukraine By: Pavel Korduban
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin (L) with Ukrainian counterpart Yulia Tymoshenko
Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, commencing talks with her Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Moscow on April 29, said that a "certain confrontation" in the gas trade between the two countries will soon become history. She had planned to meet Putin on April 8, but Moscow re-scheduled the visit in the wake of the March 23 Ukraine-EU agreements on modernizing Ukraine's gas pipelines -which Moscow rejected. There was apparently no confrontation in Moscow this time, but Tymoshenko achieved less from her visit than she expected. The only promise that she secured from Putin was that Ukraine will not be fined for buying less gas in January-April. However, she failed to secure either a $5 billion loan or an agreement on gas for storage in the underground reservoirs for next winter.
At the start of the talks, Tymoshenko thanked Putin for allowing Ukraine to buy less gas from Russia this year. Ukraine had pledged to buy 5 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas in the first quarter, but bought only 2.5 bcm because the Ukrainian industry, whose output shrank by more than 30 percent in the period, could not consume the agreed volumes. The January 2009 contracts between Naftohaz Ukrainy and Gazprom provided for fines in such cases. Putin estimated the fine, including for an unspecified amount of gas that Naftohaz failed to buy in April, at $2 billion, but he said it would not be applied as Russia understands that Ukraine is in a difficult situation due to the global recession (UNIAN, April 29). This was the only positive result achieved by Tymoshenko in Moscow.
Tymoshenko failed to obtain a definite answer to her earlier request for a $5 billion loan. The cash-strapped Naftohaz, had expected that the loan would be used to buy Russian gas. However, Putin said that additional consultations were needed on this (Interfax-Ukraine, April 29). The Ukrainian weekly Zerkalo Nedeli reported on April 30 that Russia agreed to lend $5 billion to Ukraine, with the condition that $3 billion will be used to buy gas. Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister Hryhory Nemyrya, denied this saying that "this issue was not discussed in this context during the talks" (5 Kanal TV, April 30).
Putin and Tymoshenko agreed on a deal whereby 0.8 bcm of Russian gas would be pumped into Ukraine's underground storage facilities for the winter in exchange for a respective sum in fees for the transit of Russian gas across Ukraine to the EU. That was far less than the 19.5 bcm of gas that Tymoshenko had hoped to secure in exchange for transit fees over a longer period. Putin gave no clear answer, but he noted that this quantity of gas would cost exactly as much as Tymoshenko wanted to borrow from Russia -$5 billion. He suggested that Ukraine should try to borrow that sum from the EU, and he said that Gazprom was reluctant to pay Naftohaz with gas for transit for several years ahead, fearing complications in the event of Naftohaz's possible reorganization (UNIAN, April 29).
The 17 bcm of gas that had been kept in the underground reservoirs in western Ukraine from 2008 were instrumental for the country's survival in January, when Russia stopped the gas supplies for two weeks over a price dispute. While Ukraine was consuming gas from its reservoirs, several Balkan countries were left to freeze in the absence of Russian gas, which is pumped through Ukrainian pipelines. The storage gas was bought from Russia at $179.5 per 1,000 cubic meters in 2008, which allowed Ukraine to purchase less gas in the first quarter when Russian gas prices reached $360.
Talks on both the loan and gas for underground storage will continue between the two governments. In the meantime, Tymoshenko used the opportunity, however, to make several statements pleasing to Russia. She said that Ukraine was no longer selling arms to Georgia and was not planning to resume these sales (Interfax-Ukraine, April 29). Ukraine did sell arms to Georgia ahead of the Russian-Georgian conflict in August 2008, which exacerbated existing tensions in the relationship between Moscow and Kyiv. Tymoshenko also promised to "minimize" any protectionist measures in bilateral trade with Russia amid the global recession, and to do her utmost to support Russia's aim to join the WTO (Interfax, April 29). Ukraine joined the WTO in May 2008, which Russia hopes to do in 2010.
Russia and Ukraine apparently agreed to differ on the plans to upgrade Ukraine's gas pipelines that carry Russian gas to Europe. Putin reiterated his earlier proposal, which was suggested in 2002, involving the idea of an international consortium to manage Ukraine's pipelines. In this case Russia would play a major role in the consortium, rather than the minor role assigned to it in the projects to upgrade its pipelines agreed between Kyiv and the EU on March 23. Tymoshenko invited Russia to participate in the Ukraine-EU projects by supplying pipes and other equipment (Interfax-Ukraine, April 29).
--------------------------
Post a Comment