The Foreign Service Journal, April 2015

the Foreign Service journal | April 2015 15 AFSA Scholarship AFSA.org/Scholar Arlington Court Suites arlingtoncourthotel.com Clements Worldwide clements.com Embassy Risk Management Embassyrisk.com The Hirshorn Company Hirshorn.com/USFS Inside A U.S. Embassy afsa.org/Inside McGrath Real Estate Services McGrathRealEstate.com Peake Management, Inc. www.peakeinc.com PROMAX Management Inc. promaxrealtors.com WJD Management wjdpm.com ing independent media. Nayyem is part of the Poroshenko bloc in Parliament, a group of “Euro- optimists” eager to see further democ- ratization and Ukraine-European Union integration. In his talk, the Ukrainian MP explained that the government had been promising further E.U. integration for Ukraine for years, but in 2013 the public began to realize that President Viktor Yanukovych had no intention of deliver- ing on those promises. When Yanukovych postponed the signing of the long-awaited Ukraine-E.U. Association Agreement on Nov. 21, 2013, Facebook was flooded with angry posts critical of what many Ukrainians viewed as a government betrayal. Nayyem argued that online protests are ineffective, and encouraged people to post just one word—“Ready”—if they were prepared to take their outrage to the streets. That worked, and 3,000 people gathered in Independence Square that night. Continued demonstrations eventu- ally took on a wider significance, and people protested government corruption and human rights abuses, as well. This led to Yanukovych’s resigna- tion, which Nayyem believes has been Maidan’s only achievement thus far. The revolution, he said, created only the potential for change; Ukrainian politi- cians are now afraid of public opinion, which promotes accountability, so the real results will only be seen through future elections. Nayyem sees the parliament as a tool to unite civil society, NGOs and activists, and hopes to convert the coalition into a political party. Nayyem also believes that Ukraine is much less divided than the Western media has reported, and says that Rus- sian media sources are largely responsi- ble for the idea that Ukraine is separated into East and West. He points out that the Euromaidan protesters are a diverse group that includes Ukrainian and Rus- sian speakers, as well as migrants from Central Asia. Although a second ceasefire negoti- ated in February, “Minsk II,” held into early March, there has been sporadic fighting around the heavily disputed town of Debaltseve, which is controlled by separatist forces. Foreign policy experts have criticized Minsk II, calling it “fragile” and “complicated,” and it is anyone’s guess as to what will come next. Russian President Vladimir Putin stated in late February that he consid- ers an all-out war between Russia and Ukraine improbable, saying, “I believe such an apocalyptic scenario is unlikely, and hope that it will never get to that point.” To learn more about the conflict, check out the Council on Foreign Relations’ breakdown of the Minsk II Agreement, the Center for Strategic an d International Studies’ day-by-day time- line, which covers multiple new stories a day, and the CSIS policy briefing on the current debate taking place in the United States on the wisdom of arming Ukraine. NATO Review magazine also offers an assessment of the role of oil, gas and energy in the conflict. n —Shannon Mizzi, Editorial Intern ANSWERS TO QUIZ 1. Albania 2. Armenia 3. China 4. Egypt 5. Estonia 6. Finland 7. Georgia 8. Hungary 9. India 10. Jordan 11. South Korea 12. Lebanon