Thursday, December 19, 2013

An Unholy Alliance Threatens the Reputations of Two Countries

It looks like bailouts aren't applied only to private companies. Ukraine has decided to take a bailout offer from Russia, which has stirred up dissension between the European Union and Ukraine's political leaders. Western authorities were offering an olive branch to Ukraine to join the European Union. But what's most interesting is how this decision affects Ukraine’s image in the eyes of the world. Russia, of course, approves of Ukraine’s actions, but the West now views the country with growing mistrust.

Ukraine was part of Russia's Iron Curtain back in the days of the Cold War, and many in the country have not forgotten that era.  Numerous Ukrainians protested the bailout, seeing it as a return of Russia's sphere of influence in the region. Their concern is warranted given the substantial evidence that Russia's de facto leader Vladimir Putin is seeking to create a coalition government of his own to challenge the economic and political might of the European Union and the United States. Ukrainian citizens want to join with the European Union for the sake of trying to fix their economy and their political system. They view their government as largely corrupt and feel Russia may have pressured the Ukrainian government into accepting the bailout.

But the situation with Ukraine is part of a bigger undesirable picture: Russia versus the world. Many countries view Russia negatively thanks largely to Putin's attempts to control his people through methods that harken back to the militant and dehumanizing practices of the Soviet Union. Putin insists Russia is just trying to maintain its influence and create a buffer zone between their country and potential 'enemies.’  In the process, they have destroyed their image abroad.

Neither the Ukraine nor Russia have stellar reputations in the West right now, but with reformation in policy and proper media coverage, they still have a chance of gaining the respect they so desperately want. If you or your organization is being seen in an overbearingly negative light, you may want to look to Centel Media™ for assistance. We are the leading online reputation management firm today and one of our many areas of specialization deals with negative imagery. We have products which are designed to suppress negative criticism from articles, images, reviews, and video. We believe that every business and individual who has a presence online should have control over the way they are perceived by others. We will give you the best options available to maintain the way you are viewed by the rest of the world.

Jonathan Wong,
Creative Writer,

Chris MacEachern,