Another attempt to make some kind of sense of what's going on east of the Dniester. Ukraine, Russia and Kazakhstan come in for special attention.

Monday, July 31, 2006

It's official: the most-used word in Ukrainian politics is...

"шантаж" (blackmail.)

It seems to be the only way that the various political forces in Ukraine deal with each other. Yushchenko has stated that he sees blackmail in the approach of the Regions in demanding that Yanukovich be made Prime Minister; whereas the Regions have charged that Yushchenko is blackmailing them.

Previously, we had Russia blackmailing Ukraine over gas shipments and Yulia Tymoshenko blackmailing (according to Bessmertniy and others) Nasha Ukraina over her desire to be named PM.

Ugly.

5 comments:

Agnes said...

"Şantaj" in Romanian. (Same pronunciation). Blair, if nothing else, blackmail works. Very useful, isn't it?

Blair Sheridan said...

Clearly, it usually works, but it's also a question of semantics, isn't it? When does "hard-nosed bargaining" become "blackmail" in politics?

ANother blogger with a Ukraine interest has a good post on the tactic at http://abdymok.net/threats-etc

Agnes said...

"When does "hard-nosed bargaining" become "blackmail" in politics?" - ok, semantics it be. I am glad our politicians and other parasites are into linguistics lately, really. E.H. has serious competition. But Blair, why do you think the first thing our beloved sea captain (i.e. president Basescu) did was to get complete control over the secrete services? (If there is such a thing). Watch more closely the Haysam-case, that tells the story. Anyway I am always delighted at such fusion of semantics, and ...khe...how to put it...watching more closely your own people? Is there a term for this? In Romania not the party had the power before 1989 and the same lofty institution(s) has the power now. They are very good at this... hmm.. semantic game.

Frank Partisan said...

Blackmail is not quite the word.

Whatever it is, former US president Richard Nixon said it best: "If you have them by the balls, the hearts and minds, will follow".

The Ranger said...

Blackmail is a word we read, a term we comprehend. Yet many have no understanding of . It's kind of like the military using the words,"exerting the force necessary to subdue the enemy" we all know what they mean. Very few know what results it will bring.
Good blog. I enjoyed reading. I will return if you don't mind.

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