Ukraine is a country that could be said to be "schizophrenic". It has many struggles with Russia, but is so close to the countries of the European Union. It has two halves, split along the Dniper River into the West and Russia. This country could have lots of power since it is borders both the EU and Russia, but because of its spit, the entire nation of Ukraine does not have one voice and agree on the same foreign policies. Ukraine has had a tough political journey when Viktor Yanukovych (backed by Russia) lost the election to Viktor Yushchenko who miriculously survived a poisoning in 2004. Similar to what happened to Belarus, Gazprom raised gas prices to Ukraine after Yanukovych lost the election. However, this was a poor decision on Russia's part since Ukrainians who was once supportive of Russia felt alienated by this large country.
From http://www.water.eat-online.net/images/countries/ukraine/ukraine.gif
What could be a stategic location in geopolitics is actually a downfall of Ukraine. Ever since Russia raised gas prices and blocked Kazakh oil shipments to Ukraine, the Ukrainians don't see themselves as an old Soviet republic, but rather a part of the West. However, because of its location, agriculture is its main economy. The EU already has two countries which have a large agricultural base: France and Spain. If Ukraine joins the EU, then competition would arise for French and Spanish farmers.
A confusing thing in this book however, is that on p.6, it says how the EU needs expansion to survive because it needs to "stabilize its population decline while increasing labour pool". Ukraine has an overwelmingly large population of young people which would increase the European labour pool. However, on p. 21, it says that this would "threaten job security in the West". The agricultural and population aspects as well as poverty and large size has not assisted Ukraine in EU assension. The population issue is somewhat contridictory. The people in the West, of course, don't want any job competition. However, it is vital for the EU's survival. Which is more important, the population within the EU, or the entity itself?
It seems that Ukraine is far off from being a part of the EU. But, with the stakes so high for Ukraine, EU may have a good strategy by being such an unattainable goal. I beleive that at some point in time, even though Ukraine may not clean up their act perfectly, the EU will accept Ukraine just because they also want to swallow Russia. As Russia's neighbour who is similar in many ways, the benefits of being accepted into the EU will show to Russia's population, and they will see that if they want a future, they also will have to clean up their act.
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