Once a proud supporter of the free market and the man who banished hyper-inflation in Ukraine in the 1990’s, Yushchenko has in recent weeks vetoed – sometimes on flimsy grounds, and sometimes for no stated reason at all – a series of vital privatizations. He blocked the sale of regional energy companies, for example, because he claims that their privatization will threaten Ukraine’s “national security,” though it is corrupt and incompetent state management of these companies that is threatening Ukraine’s security by making it vulnerable to energy cut-offs.