Kuchma's country

摘要

She thought it was the ideal political marriage. He flinched. As Ukraine's general election next month approaches, the country's two most go-ahead politicians, by failing to strike a deal, make change look likely to be snail-like and patchy, if it happens at all. Ukraine is unlikely to become a much nicer place for its 50m people any time soon. Viktor Yushchenko, a brawny, disorganised ex-prime minister much liked in the West for his talk of reform, is heading one way. Yulia Timoshenko, diminutive and steely, once his right-hand woman as deputy prime minister in charge of cleaning up Ukraine's murky energy industry, is going another. Mr Yushchenko reckons that by uncompromisingly opposing President Leonid Kuchma and his rich pals Mrs Timoshenko will flop. Instead, he has gone for a policy of milder opposition that may bring some crumbs of power.