Found a  curious poll held in Ukraine.
Ukrainians were asked what nationality do they feel -euros? russians? ukros?
here are the results.
the percentage of people who feel themselves Europeans is 11,9% this year (14,5% in 2006).
the same question asked regionally:
a) in Western Ukraine 22,5% (23,3% in 2006)
b) in Central Ukraine  11,3% (15,7% in 2006)
c) in Eastern Ukraine 6,8% (8,5% in 2006)
d) in South 11,1% (14,0%)

In terms of language identity things have changed too.
51,4% think Ukranian is their native language. In 2006 it was 52%.
25,7% think Russian is their native language. In 2006 it was 30,7%.
21,5% think both Russian and Ukranian are their native languages. In 2006 it was 15,6%.

So let's sum things up.
Linguistically country is divided, but not much. Ukraine has become less European in terms of self-identity and less pro-Russian terms of language. The part of population who considers both Russian and Ukranian  as native languages have widened as some percents were retracted from Ukro-speaking and Russian-speaking groups. Obviously Ukraine is consolidating and she definately steps away from European self-identity (whatever it is).

The other result is that percentage of people who associate themselves with Soviet cultural tradition has increased too, but not much.

Greetings.

Well, country has been definately divided since Orange Revolution like it wasn't under President Kuchma. East, West and South have their own problems and interests. My prognosis Ukraine won't enter EU. Not in my lifetime.

Nobody's toys are usually being broken by stray boys.

my native tongue is Russian, and I'm as Orange as it gets, Like all my friends in Kharkov. What I see is that more Ukrainians are dissotiating from both Russia and Europe. That is the paradigmal Ukrainian question: Russia or Europe, and I think the new answer is "Neither!". There was a craze about the "European vector" in about 1995-2005. Now the European idea is less attaractive. Europe has failed to become a global power centre. Everything is in place for that, - money, brains, any technological capability. What is missing is spirit. There is no strong independent spirit in Europe; the grandma is looking like a marasmatic senile quasi-paralyzed nanny following blindly the American daddy. Europe has very strong opinions on things like the voltage of the electro-socket and the width of the toilet paper roll, but no opinion on Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, Palestine, NATO expansion. Europeans look like reluctant surrogate Americans. Europe emanates weakness, not strength, and people are not attracted to weakness. Ukrainians lost a dozen men in Iraq, and that diminished the attraction to the "Western vector" further. Being European now is perceived as paying the blood tax to Americans; whenever the Yanks get a new adventure on their ass, the Euros must join and have their own kicked.

It is no longer necessary for Ukrainians to define themselves through a bigger entity, Russia or Europe; they feel big enough themselves, and they proved that strong economic growth is possible without Russia's "gas compassion" and Europian membership.

Peis, I wonder how you would change your opinion if I say that Ukraine is ten points behind "pro-Russian dictatorship Belarus" in terms of HDI (UN-calculated human development index) and Russia is about to open a credit line $1 billion worth for Belarus.

Well, USA is also dictatorship in my book, together with Canada and Britain. All those countries who tear Iraq apart "saving" it from dicatorship.

She will pay us with her goods.  And we will sell her cheaper gas.


If this is official point of view of the Canadian intelligentsia, I am really sorry for your educational system.

I don't quite understand what specifically great about Yusch. Did he create a new model of economy, a Ukranian miracle or what?
Have a look at GDP growth before Yusch came to power.
2000 6%
2001 9%
2002 4,6%
2003 4,1%
2004 9,4%
Is it too bad?
Both Ukraine and Belarus were in the same position when Soviet Union dissolved. Russian help for Belarus turned out to be more effective than Western help to Ukraine.

If you say A, say B. Belarus has outpaced Russia and Ukraine in life expectancy rating. Is it because dictatorship is more effective than "democracy"?
Lukashenko crushed upon all oligarchs in his country. You know it's very, very attractive...

I wonder why Ukrainians should feel European.

They are not in the EU or even in Nato. 25% speaks Russian and the rest speaks a form of Russian too, with few words and few gramatical differences. Their mentality, political system, education and economy is still that of post-soviet central asia.
Geographicaly Kiev is further away from Brussels than Istambul. They even don't share the same alaphabet.
Ukraine is a satellite of Russia, just like Turkey is a satellite of the muslim Middle East.

Russia is such a big country that those whith russian inheritage cannot ignore it. Even ethnic russians living in the EU, in the Baltics don't all feel european.

Meanwhile, the EU is functioning more and more like an identity for those who are in, versus those who are out.
Being european is not being a white living somewhere in the west of the eurasian continent. Today there is the floating notions of european passport, european ID card, european driving license, european citizenship etc which Ukes don't have and won't have anytime soon.
There are now 24 countries in the EU you can cross without even showing an ID while european and ukrainian still need a visas to go to each others.
The EU membership also make the US a "secondary partner" for countries like Poland and Lithuania. The EU is already talking at equal level, if not from a superior position with the US in global economy. Ukraine can still feel importantforeign influence from either Russia, the US or a particular european country. She doesn't have the protection of the EU framework.

Ukrainians are not less european than before but they realize that their country is not much closer to the EU than 10 years ago, while other east european countries like Hungary and Poland are now full playing members of it.
They see the difference deepening. And deepening faster and faster.

I didn't compare Ukraine with the US, I compared with the eastern part of the EU.
I also agree that there are differences between Ukraine and central asia nations.
(ok, "central asia" was a bit too harsh)
Yet Ukraine's political system and economy thereof is closer to that of Belarus, Georgia and also Russia, with the difference with Russia that they have a clear party dualism, absent in Russia.

The EU is talking in one voice for everything all or most EU members agreed upon, and these agreements are most of the time written on treaties and agreements.
There was no written agreement as far as the Iraq war was concerned, so everybody did and say what they wanted.
On some commonly agreed matters, the EU is speaking, not the member countries.