Ukraine has an opportunity rarely afforded. It has a second chance - the one they say you never get - to make that first impression, and this time on a financial world looking for places to put money.
Two years ago, in all sincerity, I compared Ukraine to a brand.
I called it - after only a decade of existence - a tired brand, and one that was on the verge of the worst cut of all, becoming an irrelevant brand.
It was not a country in which the thoughtful placed their bets, unless, of course, they got their thrills from 20-1 odds at the ponies, or at one of the numerous gambling parlors that brighten Kiev's nightlife.
To think that the atmosphere has completely changed overnight is to stand in danger of being jarringly awakened by a bucket of ice water. However, to a degree, the image has changed. The orange coat of paint glistens brightly.
If reality follows image, then we are making real progress.
The tired brand - almost on life support - will become the revived brand. If that happens, compare it to Lazarus' awakening, a modern but still Biblical miracle of sorts.
On a recent trip to Istanbul, I met with the general director of Turkey's largest retail chain. For nearly an hour of this busy fellow's time, he quizzed me about the minutiae of the Ukrainian market, allowing that the time was probably right to make the plunge. Deeper pockets are hard to find.
When I returned home that night, an email message awaiting me from an investment group of an American billionaire. They were looking for reliable places to put the gentleman's money, and Ukraine - for the first time - was on the radar screen. The group was hungry for information.
Four months ago, Ukraine was being called Belarus-lite, a reference to the neighboring autocratic and retro Stalinist regime of the apparent leader-for-life, President Alexander Lukashenko. As for Ukraine's President Kuchma, he, at times, had been radioactive, not welcome at various European tables where multiple forks are used.
Even before the Orange Revolution, however, Ukraine seemed to be bucking the odds, what with an impressive recent growth in gross national product and reasonably checked inflation, it was out-performing nearly all of its more refined European neighbors.
And the fact is the previous power structure, led by then Prime Minister Victor Yanukovich, was doing a creditable job. More or less, it was a professionally run country by seasoned technocrats, albeit with a few thugs tossed in.
It is interesting to note that many of the recently anointed ministers at one time served in Kuchma governments over the years, from first deputy PM Anatoly Kinakh to new finance minister Viktor Pinzennik, not to mention, of course, the main man, President Victor Yuschenko, former prime minister.
The Orange Revolution was not - as protests in Russia - a reaction to some drastic social change, such as a re-engineering of pension benefits. It was a reaction to what was universally considered to be a flawed election and systemic corruption over time. There were also ghastly side issues, such as the still unsolved murder of journalist Georgy Gongadze.
Ukrainians laid waste to the oft-cited theory that when Russians get mad at their government they go to the streets, but when Ukrainians are upset they go to the kitchen to discuss the matter. As in the well-remembered and oft-quoted movie "Network", Ukraine collectively said, "I'm mad as hell and not going to take it anymore."
And they didn't. They shocked Europe. They shocked them-selves. They certainly shocked Kuchma who had seen protests in the streets so many times his camp was rather blase about the whole commotion and unprepared for what followed.
In essence, the immediate past president didn't know how to react; and, thankfully, reacted judiciously, mostly one suspects, out of fear of the alternative. In an almost comic interlude, he hastily flew to Moscow to confer with Russia's President Putin in an airport lounge.
These days, a Ukrainian Camelot has appeared, complete with its own gas princess, Prime Minister Julia Tymoshenko, and recently inaugurated President Yuschenko, a man whose craggy face launched thousands of protestors. It has the world agog, at least the investment world.
Given changed conditions, Ukraine's re-emergence should not be a surprise. The country has always had the ingredients to make the perfect economic souffle: black alluvial soil, natural mineral resources, a blended industrial complex and an educated populace. It is also favorably situated as an East-West buffer.
When I first arrived on the scene in 1994, there was talk of Ukraine being the economic superstar of the former Soviet Union. Within several years, that promise died, but a thin reed of hope remained.
Thomas Jefferson said revolutions could not happen without blood being spilt, but then he was an apologist for the French in their very bloody revolution. Ukraine showed, like Georgia before, that mere will --and some luck--can sometimes topple governments.
There is a saying that you can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs; or, in this case, a certain amount of retribution and power grabbing. Therein, in my view, lies the biggest threat. Let's hope this is not the case.
Forget the omelet. Just bring on the investment.
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