For a while now, Ukraine has been facing internal turmoil, which has largely been attributed to the Russian invasion and occupation of Crimea. This has led to a full blown conflict, which has threatened the European Union at large. Hungarian-American hedge fund billionaire, George Soros recently shared his views about the EU, the ongoing Ukrainian crisis, and how the country can be helped.

Soros explains that the EU was conceived as a close-knit association of autonomous countries, which were keen about using their individual sovereignties for the good of the whole European continent. This was an audacious initiative, which sought to uphold inclusive governance and the application of the rule of law. The bloc wanted to depose nationalism and forceful governance. Regrettably, the ongoing euro crisis has effectively converted the EU into a completely different entity.

At the moment, is widely perceived to be more of a relationship between creditors and borrowers. This is a relationship of convenience whereby creditor nations sanction conditions that favor their domination over the debtor countries. The European Union itself has failed to act on most of the crises that have bedeviled member nations. This state of inaction has made many citizens to lose faith in the EU judging from the voter apathy experienced during the European parliamentary elections.

Read more:
A New Policy to Rescue Ukraine

Sustaining Ukraine’s Breakthrough

Russia’s Annexation of Crimea

While the EU is stumbling from one crisis to another, Russia is slowly emerging as the biggest threat to the bloc. According to Soros, the country’s geopolitical ambitions border on tyranny. Russia’s President, Vladimir Putin has been exploiting a national ideology with the backing of the Orthodox Church to reinforce his regime. The takeover of Crimea in particular has made Putin a cult figure back home. He has similarly been trying to end America’s dominance on the global stage by trying to forge an association with China.

The use of violence in annexing Crimea has portrayed to the world how tyrannical Moscow can be. Fortunately, it has given rise to a crop of liberal Ukrainians who are determined not to be part of the so called Russian Empire. If the new Ukraine succeeds in opposing Russian invasion, it would present a substantial blow to Putin’s rule. This explains why he has been fervent in his efforts to undermine a united Ukraine. So far, he has managed to do this by encouraging and providing support to autonomist republics, more so in the Eastern parts of the bedeviled nation.

How Ukraine Can be Helped

George Soros asserts that the EU must come up with pragmatic solutions to counter Russian efforts. The most operative solution is to offer political risk indemnification to those who are willing to invest in Ukraine. This can maintain the economy regardless of the ongoing political tumult. This will similarly prove to Ukrainians that the rest of Europe is committed to helping them stabilize. The World Bank has a Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency, which can help insure investors who choose to venture into volatile Ukraine. The EU should similarly provide the necessary support. Such a show of unity can help restore Ukraine to its former glory. The article was originally posted on Project Syndicate.

Learn more about George Soros:

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/27/opinion/bernard-henri-levi-george-soros-save-the-new-ukraine.html?_r=0

https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/people/george-soros

Christian Broda is the current managing director at Duquesne capital limited. He was in the education sector where he worked as a professor at the University of Chicago. His interest and love for economics led to him publishing books and articles outlining the international finance and trade. He has been a key factor in the press headlines on Ireport CNN as his work of book and article writing has hit the headlines and has attracted many publishers in the economic category and the publishers include the Wall Street Journal, Economic review and Quarterly journal of economics. He won several awards due to his research work and the awards were two National Science Foundations in the year 2005 and 2008 respectively and the purpose of these awards was to fund his research work. In the year 2006 he was honored by being named the James S. kemperer scholar.

Christian Broda has worked in different institutions serving different top positions and some of the institutions include the Lehman brothers, Columbia university, Barclays capital and federal reserve bank of new York. In his working institution he held different position which included the head of international research and chief international economist. He was an associate and a member in different institutions and groups which include the journal of development economics, IMF economic review and Latin America Association Economical journal.

Broda studied in Massachusetts institute of technology where he acquired a degree in MA economics and Ph.D. economics in the year 1999 and 2001 respectively. He got his bachelor’s degree from the universad de San Andres in Argentina in the year 1997. His knowledge in economics has led to his great achievements in life up to date.