Elections in the East

The leak I chose for this week was leak out of the office of the office of the DGA from the head Esther Monteburrio. The DGA acts like an embassy but handles more sensitive issues such as imports exports and customs. The leak explained a continued interest in the elections in the Ukranian presidency. The spanish government was pleased to learn that the Ukranian president at the time Kuchma was not running for a third term. The interest is due to the possible inclusion of Ukrane into the European Union. The concern for the elections comes from the Tape Scandal of 2000. Kuchma elegidly made an opposition journalist disappear along with this Kuchma is also accused of beating members of rival political parties.After his resignation the spanish concern was whether his opponents would pick up similar tactics in the upcoming elections. To date Ukraine has been turned down membership due to the state of its economy but after the orange revolution their status might change.

1.http://wikileaks.ch/cable/2004/02/04MADRID495.html