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60 Opinion
hard to get the first reading of the bill through and rallied his
faction for it; on the other hand, some have reported that the bill could have been passed in its entirety on March 30, in all three readings at once, which is allowed by procedure, but the government chose to split it into separate readings.
If the bill is not passed then Ukraine will almost certainly face a default on its debt, a run on its reserves, a huge devaluation of the hryvnia and a deep economic recession that will go on for years, as bne IntelliNews has reported in a piece on the cost of default.
Despite the problems with imposing sanctions on individuals that have not been convicted of any crime, there is enough evidence already on the table to apply this tool to Kolomoisky. The livelihood and wellbeing of 37mn Ukrainians could be plunged into a decade of misery and poverty because of the actions of one man, who is purely motivated by self-interest, arrogance and greed. Indeed, Kolomoisky has made it clear in interviews that he thinks Ukraine should default on the IMF debt.
It should be made clear that he will become an international pariah and any and all of his overseas assets will be seized unless
ALACO DISPATCHES:
Europe struggling to salvage Iran nuclear deal
Yigal Chazan of Alaco Dispatches
European leaders’ efforts to salvage the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement, aka the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), hang in the balance as their flagging bid to maintain economic links with Tehran in the face of US sanctions prompts growing Iranian non-compliance with the deal.
Europe vowed to save the UN-backed JCPOA – which offered Iran sanctions relief in exchange for scaling back its nuclear programme – after the US unilaterally withdrew from the agreement in May 2018 and re-imposed sanctions. Washington argued that the JCPOA failed to address Iran’s ballistic missile programme and “malign” influence across the Middle East – essentially support for militant Islamic forces, such as Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Palestinian territories.
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he steps back. Any bank, lawfirm, consultant or service company should be subject to penalties if they work with him or his companies. The international financial system should be closed to him. He has significant assets and money in the US via Delaware dummy companies worth hundreds of millions of dollars; those assets should be frozen. Switzerland, Israel, the EU and US should put a visa ban on him. The sanctions should determine that, if he does stop the bank law going through, he does regain control of Privatbank, and he does keep the $5.5bn-plus that was looted from Privatbank, he will have nowhere to go, nowhere to spend it and will be trapped in Ukraine until such time as a new government comes in that is willing to put him on trial for crimes he allegedly committed whilst running Privatbank.
And imposing sanctions on Kolomoisky is unlikely to happen. The politicised nature of the sanctions regime means that Washington is unlikely to impose them on a Ukrainian citizen, as Ukraine is the US’ ally in its rivalry with Russia. The sanctions regime is a political weapon that is largely used against US geopolitical enemies – with Russia and Iran at the top of the list. As a US ally, US lawmakers are unlikely to use it on the citizen of an ally.
Iran's coronavirus emergency has put added pressure on the Europeans to deliver on their economic promises to Tehran.
The European Union, however, has been unable to prevent
a severe slump in Iranian trade. From January to September 2019, Europe’s exports to Iran fell by 50% while its Iranian imports plunged by over 90% compared to the same period the year before. In addition, Iran has seen overall foreign direct investment more than halve since the return of US restrictions on commerce.
Washington’s imposition of secondary sanctions has frustrated Europe’s efforts to maintain economic ties as
the measures apply to non-American entities. European companies are deterred from conducting dollar-denominated transactions with Iran, especially if they have exposure in
the US, as doing so could result in financial penalties. An