Ukraine: They Have Political Instability...and Nukes

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Ukraine: Instability, Nuclear Weapons, and Target of U.S. Dumping Claims Ukraine, formerly part of the Soviet Union was home of many Soviet nuclear bases. The Financial Times report on current conditions provides useful background for students researching the foreign policy debate topic. Click here for Financial Times article. ----- EUROPE: Opposition rattles Kuchma: Ukraine's president - beset by corruption and murder allegations - faces a growing protest movement, writes Charles Clover "The only successful post-communist countries are those that truly rid their governments of communists. This is what we must do," Financial Times; Mar 30, 2001 By CHARLES CLOVER Ten years on, they are a little greyer, a little paunchier, but as loud and idealistic as ever. They are the leaders of an opposition movement devoted to the removal of Ukraine's President Leonid Kuchma. It's really the same old faces, the same old names that unseated the old Soviet leadership in 1991, says Andrei Deshchystia, a former anti-Soviet opposition leader who now works for a US think-tank in Kiev. ... "The only successful post-communist countries are those that truly rid their governments of communists. This is what we must do," he said. ... Click here for Financial Times article.   ---- This Financial Times article focuses on U.S. and other countries claiming Ukraine is dumping steel. Dumping charges are considered by most economists as a form of protectionism, since the means used to guess production costs are unreliable. ----- INTERNATIONAL ECONOMY: Ukraine faces wide range of steel dumping probes Financial Times; Mar 29, 2001 By CHARLES CLOVER A sharp increase in Ukraine's exports of steel over the past year is being threatened by a number of anti-dumping investigations opened recently in several of its main foreign markets. Ukraine's competitors in Russia, Europe and North America say Ukraine's metals industry is selling below market cost in order to expand market share. Ukrainian officials are protesting, saying the suits threaten the fragile economic growth achieved last year for the first time since independence in 1991. ... Click here for full article.