uaMuzik

Демократичні міркування

2012-09-05T04:33:00.001+03:00

Монреаль — 4-ого вересня. У цей день громадяни Канади в провинції Квебеку вибирають своїх представників до провінційного уряду який находиться у місті Квебек. З друзів які добре мене знають можуть зрозуміти коли кажу, “Стараюся нормально жити але вибори перешкоджають!” Але якось останнім часом вибори не перешкоджають, вони просто існують! Чому? Бо всі дебіли які під час виборчому процесом б'ють себе в грудях щоби демократію захищати до тих пір не розуміють що демократія це не просто вибори але теж процес поміж виборами. Та тут я говорою про ці організації які думають що спостереження щось допоможе! Так воно допоможе але не на цьому рівні яке потрібно!

Сьогодні я пішов у свою дільницю щоби вибрати цього від не найгірших! Три тижні тому отримав у поштові скриньці повідомлення від Генерального Директорату Виборів провінції Квебеку. Це вже десятки роками чи більше незалежний орган який оправляє виборів на провінційному рівні. Так, політики якось мали вплив кого ставити не тільки по окрузі але аж до дільниці по тих комісіях але все дуже прозоро. Мій досвіт з виборами починався в Канаді приблизно тридцять років тому, та з початку 1990-их років я старався ділитися не тільки моїм досвідом щодо управління виборів але теж виборчих технології які я сам використав та навіть був автором декілька проектів.

Легко бути байдужим, та ми всі це знаємо. Минулого тижня у Монреалі на урочистому бенкеті святкування 21-ої річниці відновлення Незалежності Української Держави, я почув доповідь пана Богдана Онишкевича який очолює Канадську-Українську Фундацію. Може для присутніх він багато цікавого відкрив але по моєму його доповідь просто підтвердило ці речі що я вже сам пропоную понад десять років та робив свою власну справу зі своєю власною силою. Це було у допомозі українським ГО отриманням закордону допомогу.

Люди як пан Богдан часто забувають тих людей з канадської діаспори які роками співпрацювали з такими відомими громадськими організаціям як Фонд Демократичні Ініціатив ім. Ілька Кучеріва та Комітет Виборці України, та було нас не мало. Я та другі наші канадські співвітчизники відкрили не одні двері для ваших програм. Але якось вони всі перед громадою люблять себе показати. Так вони за демократію але де всі ці патріоти коли потрібно будувати демократію між виборчим процесом. Вони якось цього не розуміють!

Демократичні процеси це не тільки вибори, це будування свідомість у громадянин. В Канаді — всі мене не можуть знати але коли говоримо про громадський сектор у Києві, то не мало людей мене знають, та це що я зробив! Може я просто не знаю як себе піарити як деякі українські журналісти/політологи, чи другі, але я знаю що ці що в Канаді шукають гроші для своїх проектів спостерігання помиляюся! Чому? Тому що у них вибори перешкоджають! Вони загалі не зрозуміли між виборчий період який є найважливіше для розвитку суспільства! Коли ці люди — мої співвітчизники з Канади цього зрозуміють, то вони стануть кращими, та краще будуть допомагати свою батьківщину!

Так я проголосував для на найгіршого кандидати! Але коли поклав цей маленький папірець в урну як всім членам комісії сказав! “Радійте, це прекрасний день демократії! Тут при дільниці немає неприємних чоловіків які готові бити комусь морду! Вам перешкоджати у твої роботі! Радійте! За демократичний процес!”

Три жіночки на мене подивилися без слів! Потім одна сказала - “Я пам'ятаю коли це так і було в Польщі!” Я собі спокійно пішов! Проголосував, та радий був що якось тепер мені вибори не перешкоджають!

Василь Павловський
Незалежний консультант

ЗАЯВА -З приводу підписання закону “Про засади державної мовної політики” “9” серпня 2012 року

2012-08-09T15:44:00.000+03:00

Всеукраїнського комітету захисту української мови
З приводу підписання закону “Про засади державної мовної політики”
“9” серпня 2012 року

Вчора, 8-го серпня, Віктор Янукович підписав закон Колісниченка-Ківалова “Про засади державної мовної політики”, тим самим знехтувавши інтересами українського народу і поглиблюючи розкол у суспільстві з приводу мовної політики, який навіть не існував короткий час тому назад.

Одночасно діючий Президент доручив антиукраїнському уряду на чолі з українофобом Миколою Азаровим “забезпечити всебічний розвиток і функціонування української мови”. Ніхто серйозно не сприймає цю спробу окозамилювання, коли захищати українську мову доручено тому ж самому Азарову, який нещодавно публічно радив припинити вести передачі українською мовою одному з небагатьох національних телеканалів, який поки-що це робить.

Незважаючи на нелеґітимність голосування за нього 3-го липня, закон “Про засади державної мовної політики” також підписав Голова Верховної Ради Володимир Литвин, який раніше публічно визнав порушення відповідних норм під час голосування.

Закон підписали Янукович і Литвин незважаючи на те, що його негативно оцінив Верховний комісар ОБСЄ у справах національних меншин Кнут Воллебек під час недавнього візиту в Україну.

В черговий раз українське суспільство переконалось, що теперішній владі наплювати на принцип верховенства права, на європейські цінності, на інтереси українського народу. Замість того, аби піклуватись про українську мову, яка зазнавала утисків понад 400 років і поки-що залишається єдиною державною мовою, Президент Янукович пішов на повідку у невеликої купки антиукраїнських політиків, таких, як Колісниченко, Ківалов, Єфремов, Чечетов.

Тому, Всеукраїнський комітет захисту української мови:

- закликає суддів Конституційного Суду України, якщо у них залишилась хоча б крихітка людської совісті, визнати закон “Про засади державної мовної політики” неконституційним;

- вимагає від представників усіх опозиційних партій та блоків захистити українську мову усіма доступними парламентськими та політичними засобами і гарантувати відміну цього закону з моменту попадання до нового парламенту.

Найголовніше, Всеукраїнський комітет захисту української мови закликає кожного свідомого громадянина, кожного, хто любить Україну, відразу активно підключитись до виборчого процесу у підготовці до виборів парламенту. Наша мета — відсторонити від влади 28 жовтня цього року антинародний режим Януковича-Азарова. А зробити ми це можемо не проголосувавши за Партію регіонів та їхніх кандидатів та усіх сателітів партії влади, як то комуністична партія, партія Королевської. Тільки тоді запануємо ми, український народ, у своїй сторонці.

Нас більшість. Ми — єдине джерело влади в державі. Ми переможемо.

Ukraine’s lawless language law

2012-07-16T01:32:00.002+03:00

The Yanukovych regime’s handling of the language law “is a classic example of its utter hypocrisy.”

If you are a political strategist in Ukraine and you really want to divide the electorate, follow the lead of President Viktor Yanukovych and his supporting cast of MPs in the parliament, primarily from his own Party of Regions and corrupt hangers-on including the Communist Party and others whose consciences are for sale to the highest bidder. Using these unscrupulous methods you would clearly be able to determine your electorate, the strength of your purported opposition and many other factors.

Although some time has now passed since the terrible day when activities that have been pointed out not only as underhanded but contrary to the Ukrainian Constitution and the parliament’s rules of procedure were used to past the so-called language law that is not only aimed at making Russian an official language of the land but at the same time elevating the status of other minority languages.

Incidentally, I think it is correct to refer to the power structure not as two separate entities as called for by the Constitution. The government is made up of a well-ordered group of yes men who are well-practiced at listening to the every nuance coming from the top and acting accordingly. Thus, I think referring to the presidential administration and the government as the Yanukovych regime is not only correct but an honest and proper description of the current power structure.

The regime’s handling of the language law is a classic example of its utter hypocrisy. When it is convenient, the regime will point with pride, as it does in the language area, to its attempts to comply with the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. Of course, at the same time the regime totally ignores a finding in the Lutsenko case that said in part: “Mr Lutsenko’s arrest had been arbitrary; that no valid reasons had been given for his detention.” It is exactly this kind of situational ethics and actions that will undoubtedly preclude serious progress on Ukraine’s European integration.

Twenty years of big talk and little progress on democracy continues

Since 1993 I have criticized many of my friends who were involved in politics for not pushing to establish normal policy analysis practices within all government structures at every level. However, what has happened in the nearly twenty years since I started pointing these matters out to a very nationalistically minded core group, very little progress has been seen.

Unfortunately, many of those I started trying to guide are now no longer with us, but clearly the only people who do any policy analysis are NGOs and think tanks within the country. For the most part they are not financed by any of the leading “parties” or by Ukraine's population, but foreign entities that really do want to see Ukraine develop in to a true democracy, and a true market economy. Unfortunately, while Ukraine was on the right path of achieving these, and the later of the two was recognized by the world community some time ago, nothing lasts forever – particularly when the rule of law is not followed and some basic democratic principles are not followed.

This is very much the case of what the Party of Regions has become, and has always been, a bunch of bandits who have no respect for any laws. In the simplest forms of democracy and voting, where an open vote is done, things are done by a showing of hands. Then the chairperson of the gathering will simply count the hands. Very straight forward and simple, and it works.

Ukraine for some reason decided that they had to automate everything, including their voting system in the VR, trying to mimic well developed democracies where the rule of law actually works and those elected to their positions are to more or less of a degree God fearing individuals with a conscience. We can forget about anyone who was ever a member of the Communist party for being of that ilk. Thus, almost anyone in the parliament over the age of fifty is likely to fit that mold.

The parliament’s automated voting system was not a matter of improving democratic efforts, but exactly the opposite. It allows members who are seldom present to go forward with business and personal interests while any vote called in the Rada sees party leaders and apparatchiks “doing the monkey dance,” in which one party stalwart may hold and vote 10 to 20 voting cards belonging to absent members.

This is not only anti-democratic; it amounts to a form of sanctioned fraud. With the voting by present members for the often-absent ones, it is impossible for citizens to know how much attention any MP is paying to the business for which he or she is well-paid.

This fraudulent voting system will remain until citizens understand the level to which it is abused and demand that members must be present to cast ballots, as in the case in almost any civilized country in the world.

We commend Rada Speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn and Deputy Speaker Mykola Tomenko who at least had the decency to submit their resignations to protest the illegal passage of the language law. However, one has to wonder if their efforts might not have been better aimed by remaining at their posts and fighting to right this obvious legislatives miscarriage.

We further commend all those honest Ukrainian MPs and other political figures who have spoken out against this illegal action. However, we feel constrained to agree with those who have said that the language fight was stage managed in such a ways to provide a smoke screen to shield a myriad of actions by the regime’s cohorts in the parliament to assure that the people had the narrowest choices possible in the October elections.

Unfortunately those in the regime, its party structure and hangers-on have successfully used the furor over the language law to good effect in dividing Ukrainian society when the focus should be on uniting to oppose the expanding power grab of the power incumbents. One can only hope that enough people see through this political smoke screen and concentrate on bringing some balance back to the Rada to make it less like the quack-on-demand body that’s Russia Duma has become.

Looking toward the future

So what has this piece of legislation that was passed on July 3 in a manner and procedure which contradicts the “rule of law” precipitated? And here we are not talking of the general principles of the Rule of Law, but all the procedures of the VR. How can anyone take this legislation seriously? Before looking at what is going on let's just take a look where society stands on the language issue in Ukraine and a couple of aspects of this newest language legislation, which cannot become law so long as Lytvyn refuses to sign it.

I started this commentary with a foray into the problems of lack of policy analysis in Ukraine at a government level and with good reason. The issue of language in Ukraine is a thorny one, with the polling by the Razumkov Center showing that one in four Ukrainian citizens are for giving the Russian language official status as a state language in certain regions of the country, while other pollsters state that 46% of those polled were “against” giving Russian official status while 45% were “for” providing this. The legislation that was “voted” on, as many analysts have pointed out, is full of gaping holes, inconsistencies and lack of clarity and only opens up Pandora’s box when it comes to human rights and minority language issues. The goal of the legislation is clear, to make Russian an official language in Ukraine, and to eventually eradicate the Ukrainian language and other minority languages all together. It is a long term plan in the guise of being in favor of minority languages in the country.

Having grown up in Canada, a country that has touted itself as bilingual for many years, and even multicultural, I have some idea of what the costs are, both actual and some of those that are not as tangible until one has to deal with the realities of such a society. At the beginning of this year the Fraser Institute, a leading Canadian think-tank, issued a report on the cost of official bilingualism in Canada. The figure is quite astounding - $2.4 billion. Has anyone thought of what it will cost Ukraine to implement the said piece of legislation? Probably not. Can Ukraine really afford to implement such a piece of legislation? In all fairness, probably not. Then please tell me why the clowns in the nation's parliament would even table such a document?

The said piece of legislation calls for the possibility of using regional languages in regional self-government, the court system and decisions of certain government institutions can be published not both in Ukrainian and the minority language but solely in the minority language of that region or district. What happens then to the individual who doesn't speak or understand the minority language of the given region they live? I guess they are simply out of luck. Then there is even an article which deals with passports. A citizen of Ukraine has to choose from at least one of eighteen regional languages, in addition to Ukrainian, this language will be used in addition to Ukrainian to enumerate all the particulars which a standard passport has to convey. The authors of this legislation clearly have an agenda that has nothing to do with logic, national unity or economy in government. Their only aim is short-term political gain with no thought whatsoever for the best long-term interests of the country.

As for what has resulted from this legislation, anyone who follows news in Ukraine will know that peaceful protests in front of Ukrainian House, located on European Square in the heart of Kyiv, started almost immediately and will continue probably for some months at a minimum or until this law is given the burial that it so rightly deserves.

This building is the perfect place for such action since it was formerly the Lenin Museum, designed as a place of veneration of the founder of the Soviet state under the old Communist regime. During the first days of those protests peaceful protestors were pitted against the strong arm of the law in full battle dress ready to crack a few skulls because that is what the leader of the country clearly is not against doing. It clearly seemed to me that the use of Berkut, a special division of the Ministry of the Interior, were there to defend this memorial to Lenin and all that he stood for during Soviet times. The Berkut’s presence and actions had nothing to do with a peaceful demonstration in an independent Ukraine.

Clearly, Yanukovych knows nothing more than brute strength and disrespect for the law to stay in power and control and will stop at nothing to hold his position. Killing someone to stay in power is not out of his sphere. I am certain of this. He has disrespected normal diplomatic approaches to resolving some of his problems he current faces with the international community because of the blatantly obvious political prosecutions that have been decried in almost every democratic capital.

Yes, contrary to what his regime tries to tell everyone it is very clear that the arrest of Yulia Tymoshenko, Yuriy Lutsenko and many others is nothing but a way of keeping them out of the picture, so why on earth would he give a damn about some student who cares about his country, and one of the most essential aspects of a nation, it's language?

However, even before the buffoons in parliament voted on the language legislation, an MP and long-time activist, Oles Doniy spearheaded the formation of the all-Ukrainian Committee for the Protection of the Ukrainian Language on June 27, 2012. It is no secret that Doniy spread the word using every means possible to get people to gather in front of Ukrainian House. As always, every political party had to have its say, and soon those who were left were the hard core believers in the cause.

On July 7, there were eleven protestors who started a hunger strike as they see the government purposefully introduced such legislation in order to cause a rift in Ukrainian society prior to the fall elections. Of the eleven who started the hunger strike a week ago eight remain, as the others had to be hospitalized, and on July 13 held a briefing to once again reiterate their demands that the President not sign draft law №9073 into law.

They also made clear to the Russian speaking portion of the population that the authorities shouldn't be believed. The hunger strikers holding the briefing in front of Ukrainian House also expressed their concern regarding freedom of speech, and more particularly repressions by the government that have been experienced by TVi, Channel 5 and ATV.

While these protests continue, and most Ukrainians just try to survive, there are many things that continue to sneak by us on a daily basis. One of the little oddities that didn't slip by me was the Twitter postings of Eduard Prystupa former vocalist with TNMK and now lead man of the group Nedilia. Sometime in the last week or so, his posts started appearing in Ukrainian whereas earlier his tweets were primarily in Russian. However, individuals are fickle, and once again I have found most of his recent entries in Russian, though like any social media savvy politician he may simply be targeting particular segments of his fan base.

So have the illegal actions of MPs had an influence on Mr. Prystupa? I can't say for certain, but it seems that if he is now tweeting in Ukrainian and may continue to do so in the future, then he and plenty of other people in Ukraine still believe that the Rule of Law is much more important than the legislation which is passed on their behalf.

I say that the country should forget the language law and get back to bringing Ukraine into compliance with rules of law that are universally observed in the Europe that we continue to see as our ultimate destination. The European Court for Human Rights has already sent the Yanukovych regime one strong message and they may soon get another.

Vasyl Pawlowsky
Independent Consultant

The commentary of this was first published on the Ukraine Business Online site.

Всеукраїнський Комітет на захист української мови

2012-07-13T14:09:00.000+03:00

Ми утворюємо «Всеукраїнський Комітет на захист української мови», бо поважаємо українську мову та культуру.

Ми утворюємо «Всеукраїнський Комітет на захист української мови», бо, на жаль, і досі українська мова зазнає утисків і піддається знищенню навіть на території держави Україна.

Ми утворюємо «Всеукраїнський Комітет на захист української мови», бо вважаємо ,що всім патріотичним силам в Україні слід єднатися, а не чубитися і сваритися на радість ворогам української державності та української мови і культури.

Ми не виступаємо проти жодної іншої мови. Ми виступаємо проти русифікації, тобто спроби продовження політики деукраїнізації України.

Ми виступаємо на захист всіх мов, які потребують державної і громадської підтримки, зокрема тих,мов, народи яких не мають окремої державності: кримських татарів, гагаузів, ромів, караїмів, кримчаків.

Ми звертаємося до народу України творити осередки«Всеукраїнського Комітету на захист української мови» в кожному регіоні України, в кожному місті, і в кожному селі.

Ми не дамо знищити українську мову!

СПИСОК - 300

1. Авдієвський Анатолій, хоровий диригент, композитор, педагог,лауреат, народний артист, Національної премії ім.Т.Шевченка
2. Аврамчук Катерина , громадська активістка
3. Андрусяк Іван, поет, літературний критик
4. Андрухович Юрко, поет, прозаїк, есеїст, перекладач(м.Івано-Франківськ)
5. Архипчук Сергій, режисер-постановник, заслужений діяч мистецтв України
6. Ар’єв Володимир, народний депутат України
7. Астаф’єв Анатолій(«Анатолій Дністровий»), письменник,кандидат філософських наук
8. Баганець Олексій, адвокат
9. Баран Євген, публіцист, письменник, голова Івано-Франківської обласної організації Спілки Письменників України, (м.Івано-Франківськ)
10. Баранов Віктор, письменник, голова Спілки Письменників України
11. Барбара Михайло, актор, музикант, гурт «Мертвий півень», (м.Харків)
12. Барков Олег, директор державного підприємства проектного інституту «Дніпродзержинськцивільпроект» (м.Дніпродзержинськ,Дніпропетровська обл. )
13. Барна Степан, депутат Тернопільської облради, (м.Тернопіль)
14. Батурин Сергій, письменник
15. Бедрик Юрій, поет
16. Белей Лесь, поет
17. Бенюк Богдан, актор, народний артист України, лауреат Національної премії ім. Т.Шевченка
18. Білобран Аннік, Голова Асоціації нащадків українських волонтерів французького іноземного легіону (м.Париж, Франція)
19. Білоцерківець Дмитро, громадський активіст, (м.Севастополь)
20. Білозерська Олена, журналістка, блогер, громадська діячка
21. Бондар Олександр, народний депутат України
22. Бондаренко Володимир, народний депутат України
23. Бригинець Олександр, депутат Київської міськради
24. Брюховецький Вячеслав, почесний президент університету«Києво-Могилянська академія».
25. Булатецький Микола,приватний підприємець, (м.Черкаси)
26. Булкін Кирило, бард
27. Бураковський Ігор, професор НаУКМА, Голова правління інституту досліджень економічних і політичних консультацій
28. Бурмака Марія, співачка, телеведуча, народна артистка України
29. Ваврик Олександр, бізнесмен
30. Василюк Сергій, співак, гурт «Тінь сонця»
31. Вантух Мирослав, народний артист України, лауреат національної премії ім. Шевченка, художній керівник ансамблю танцю ім. П. Вірського
32. Верещак Ярослав, драматург, заслужений діяч мистецтв України
33. Весклярський Анатолій, музикант
34. Винничук Юрій, письменник, (м.Львів)
35. Вітвицька Соломія, журналіст, телеведуча, телеканал 1+1
36. Вітовська Ірма, акторка
37. Владзімірський Микола (м.Севастополь)
38. Власюк Олександр («Лірник Сашко»), казкар-лірник,будівельник
39. Вовкун Василь, діяч культури, народний артист України
40. Волинець Михайло, народний депутат України
41. Вольвач Петро, голова кримського наукового товариства ім.. Шевченка доктор філософії
42. В’язівський Володимир, народний депутат
43. В’ятрович Володимир, історик, кандидат історичних наук
44. Гай-Нижник Павло, історик, доктор історичних наук
45. Галагуза Олена, журналістка, (м.Житомир)
46. Гапко Ганна, громадський діяч «За Україну вільну від тютюнового диму»
47. Гарань Олексій, історик, професор НАУКМА
48. Гевків Галина, поетеса (м. Львів)
49. Гевелєв Олександр, громадський активіст, (м.Донецьк)
50. Герасим’юк Олена, поетеса
51. Геращенко Ірина, народний депутат України
52. Генералюк Віктор, громадський діяч, обє’днання студіюючох молоді «Зарево»
53. Гірник Олекса, громадсько-політичний діяч
54. Гладка Катерина, студентка,громадська активістка
55. Гладунець Валерій, фолькльорист, музикант, гурт«Полікарп»
56. Гобдич Микола, хоровий диригент, народний артист України
57. Годованець Ольга, громадська активістка
58. Головатий Андрій, громадський діяч (Канада)
59. Гонський Володимир, громадсько-політичний діяч
60. Горбаль Микола, політв’язень совітських таборів
61. Горностай Олександр, генеральний директор національного симфонічного оркестру
62. Горобець Тетяна, співачка, народна артистка України
63. Гош Мрідула, правозахисниця, політолог, телеведуча,телеканал ТВІ
64. Грабар Сергій, письменник
65. Григорович Лілія, народний депутат
66. Грималюк Тарас, режисер, мистецька агенція «АРТ-Велес»
67. Гримчак Юрій, народний депутат
68. Гриневич Владислав, історик
69. Гузь Ігор, депутат Волинської облради, (м.Луцьк)
70. Гурвіц Йосип, громадсько-політичний діяч
71. Гуцалюк Сергій, історик (м.Одеса)
72. Давиденко Тетяна, фотограф
73. Даниленко Тетяна, журналіст
74. Данильчук Павло, депутат Луцької міської Ради(м.Луцьк)
75. Демченко Олександр, поет, журналіст
76. Демченко Олена, вчитель української мови (м. Донецьк)
77. Дзюбенко-Мейс Наталія, письменниця
78. Джусь Ярослав, кобзар
79. Дикий Євген, викладач,кандидат біологічних наук ,доцент Києво-Могилянської Академії
80. Дмитришин Ірина, викладач української мови та цивілізації, інститут Східних мов (м.Париж, Франція)
81. Доній Олесь, народний депутат, голова Мистецького Об’єднання “Остання Барикада»
82. Драч Едуард музикант, кобзар, лікар
83. Драч Іван, поет
84. Дуцик Діана,журналіст
85. Єрмоленко Андрій, художник
86. Жданов Ігор, політолог
87. Жемужнікова Катерина, журналіст, (м.Донецьк)
88. Жовтяк Євген, громадсько-політичний діяч
89. Жолдак Богдан,письменник, драматург
90. Жуковська Вікторія, радіоведуча «ФМ-Галичина», «СІД-ФМ»(м. Луцьк)
91. Журавель Юрко, музикант, гурт «От вінта»
92. Завен Баблоян, видавець
93. Завальнюк Володимир, режисер
94. Заєць Іван, народний депутат України
95. Заклецька Анна, співачка, гурт «Врода»
96. Заклецький Олександр, фотограф
97. Зінкевич Осип , видавець, видавництво«Смолоскип»,(м.Балтимор,США)
98. Зісельс Йосип, політв’язень совітських таборів,виконавчий віце-Президент Конгресу національних громад України, виконавчий віце-Президент Єврейської Конфедерації України
99. Ільєнко Михайло, кінорежисер
100. Ірванець Олександр, письменник,(м.Ірпінь,Київська обл.)
101. Іващишин Маркіян, голова мистецького обєднання«Дзиґа», (м.Львів)
102. Їжак Євген, музикант, гурт «Тарута»
103. Кабачій Роман, журналіст
104. Кадирова Лариса, акторка, народна артистка України
105. Калениченко Віталій, музикант, гурт «Веремій»
106. Канівець Іван, кінорежисер
107. Капранов Віталій, письменник, видавець, видавництво«Зелений пес»
108. Капранов Дмитро, письменник, видавець, видавництво«Зелений пес»
109. Карпа Ірена, письменниця,співачка, гурт «Qarpa»
110. Кендзьор Ярослав, народний депутат
111. Кириленко В’ячеслав, народний депутат
112. Кириченко Владислав, бізнесмен
113. Кириченко Віталій, керівник національно симфонічного оркестру України
114. Кідрук Максим, письменник
115. Кіпіані Вахтанг, журналіст, телеведучий, телеканал ТВІ
116. Кішка Іван, громадський активіст
117. Княжицький Микола, директор телеканалу ТВІ
118. Князевич Руслан, народний депутат України
119. Когут Ігор, директор лабораторії законодавчих ініціатив
120. Коваленко Валентина, письменниця, голова Черкаської обласної організації Спілки Письменників України, (м.Черкаси)
121. Коваленко Людмила, поетка, (м.Ніжин, Чернігівська обл.)
122. Коваленко Тетяна(«Келя Ликеренко»), поетка,телеведуча, канал 1+1
123. Коваль Олександра, президент форуму видавців
124. Коврей Вік, вчитель,поет,письменник(м.Ужгород,Закарпатська обл.)
125. Коліушко Ігор, голова правління Центру політико-правових реформ
126. Коломієць Іван («Вано Крюгер»), поет
127. Кольцова Олександра, («Каша Сальцова»),співачка
128. Конотоп Яна, журналіст, 5-ий телеканал
129. Коробчук Павло, поет
130. Коробчук Ксенія, виконавчий директор МО «Остання Барикада»
131. Короташ Олег, поет
132. Костюк Богдана, журналістка
133. Костюкова Аліна, акторка, Київський академічний«Молодий театр»
134. Коцарєв Олег,поет
135. Кремінь Тарас, депутат Миколаївської обласної Ради,кандидат філологічних наук (м.Миколаїв)
136. Крук Галина, поетеса (м.Львів)
137. Кувалдін Мирослав, музикант
138. Куликов Андрій, журналіст, телеведучий, телеканал ICTV
139. Кульчинський Микола, народний депутат, політв’язень світських таборів
140. Курман Євген, режисер-постановник, Донецький національний музично-
драматичний театр, (м.Донецьк)
141. Курик Володимир, доктор фізико-математичних наук
142. Кухар Володимир, громадський активіст, «Українська альтернатива»
143. Куцан Сергій, бізнесмен
144. Кушнір Юлія , студентка,громадська діячка,(м.Івано-Франківськ)
145. Лавренюк Сергій,журналіст, газета «Голос України»
146. Лазарєва Алла, журналістка, (м.Париж, Франція)
147. Лаюк Мирослав, поет
148. Леньо Іван, музикант, гурт «Kozak sistem»
149. Лень Ольга, журналістка
150. Лиховій Дмитро, журналіст, перший заступник головного редактора газети «Україна молода»
151. Лозовий Іван, президент «інституту Державності і демократії»
152. Лосєв Ігор, політолог, професор
153. Луканов Юрій,журналіст
154. Лук’яненко Григорій, музикант , гурт «Рутенія»
155. Лук’яненко Левко,політв’язень совітських таборів
156. Луценко Юрій, ув’ язнений
157. Луценко Ігор, громадський активіст, «Збережи старий Київ»
158. Любка Андрій, поет
159. Магрицька Ірина, викладач , доцент Східноукраїнського національного університету, (м.Луганськ)
160. Мазур Ігор («Тополя»), громадсько-політичний діяч
161. Майданська Софія, письменниця, заслужений діяч мистецтв України
162. Макаров Юрій, журналіст, телеведучий, телеканал ТВІ
163. Максимчук Святослав, актор, народний артист України,Львівський Національний Академічний театр ім.М.Заньковецької,(м.Львів)
164. Малкович Іван, поет,видавець, видавництво«АБАБАГАЛАМАГА»
165. Малкович Тарас, поет
166. Манженко Євген,телеведучий,телеканал «Кіровоград»,музикант, гурт «Веселі біоритми»,(м.Кіровоград)
167. Маринович Мирослав, політв’язень совітських таборів,проректор Українського Католицького Університету, (м.Львів)
168. Мартинюк Сергій, музикант, гурт «Фіолет», (м.Луцьк,Волинська обл.)
169. Марусик Тарас, голова Координаційної Ради з питань захисту української мови при Київській міській організації Товариства «Меморіал»
170. Матвієнко Ніна, народна артистка України
171. Медуниця Олег, громадсько-політичний діяч,(м. Суми)
172. Михайлюта Олег («Фагот»), співак, гурт «Танок на Майдані Конго»
173. Михайленко Наталія, громадська активістка (м.Одеса)
174. Могильницька Галина, поетеса, публіцист,(м.Одеса)
175. Музичко Олександр, історик, кандидат історичних наук,доцент Одеського Національного Університету ім.І.Мечникова,(м.Одеса)
176. Муждаба Айдер, (м.Сіферополь, Автономна Республіка Крим)
177. Мухарський Антон («Орест Лютий»), шоумен, співак
178. Найем Мустафа, журналіст, телеведучий, телеканал ТВІ
179. Недашківська Раїса, акторка, народна артистка України
180. Нечитайло Павло, музикант, гурт «Запаска»
181. Нищук Євген, актор, заслужений артист України
182. Носач Вікторія, журналіст, телеканал «24»
183. Овсієнко Василь, політв’язень совітських таборів
184. Окара Андрій, політолог, (м.Москва, Росія)
185. Олексій Тамара, громадська діячка,Український Конгресовий Комітет Америки,(США)
186. Олешко Світлана,режисер, театр «Арабески», (м.Харків)
187. Олійник Марія,кандидат фізико-математичних наук,заступник голови Донецької обласної організації Товариства української мови «Просвіта»,(м.Донецьк)
188. Осташ Ігор, дипломат
189. Осадко Ганна, художниця
190. Охримович Андрій, поет, журналіст, телевелучий, 5-ий канал
191. Павличко Дмитро, поет
192. Павловський Андрій, народний депутат
193. Павлик Віктор, співак
194. Пантюк Сергій, письменник, секретар Спілки Письменників України
195. Панчишин Андрій, бард, журналіст
196. Парубій Андрій, народний депутат
197. Пастернак Наталя, голова Репрезентативного Комітету українських організацій Франції (м.Париж, Франція)
198. Пашаєв Осман, журналіст,телеведучий, телеканал АТР(м.Сімферополь, Автономна Республіка Крим)
199. Петриненко Тарас, співак, народний артист України
200. Печончик Тетяна,викладач, Національний Університет ім.Т.Шевченка, кандидат філологічних наук
201. Прилуцький Сергій, поет
202. Придувалов Віктор, режисер
203. Поваляєва Світлана, письменниця, журналіст
204. Полежака Артем,поет, дизайнер
205. Пономарьов Вячеслав, громадський діяч, об’єднання«Своя правда»
206. Потєхін Дмитро, громадський активіст, «Республіка Гостинний двір»
207. Присяжний Сергій, музикант, гурт Моторрола»,(м.Хмельницький)
208. Притула Володимир, голова комітету з моніторингу свободи преси у Криму,(м.Сімферополь,Автономна Республіка Крим)
209. Притула Сергій, телеведучий, «Новий канал»
210. Прокопчук Юрій, актор, бард, Черкаський український театр ім..Т.Шевченка, (м.Черкаси)
211. Проскурня Сергій, режисер
212. Процюк Степан , письменник,(Івано-Франківськ)
213. Павловський Василь, громадський активіст, (м.Лачин,Канада)
214. Пилипенко Володимир(«Пільман»), кліпмейкер
215. Ратушний Михайло, голова Всесвітньої Української Координаційної Ради
216. Рахманін Сергій,журналіст, газета «Дзеркало тижня»
217. Розумний Максим, політолог, філософ, поет
218. Репецький Олег, бізнесмен
219. Рицар Ольга, журналіст, телеканал канал «24»
220. Родик Костянтин, літературознавець
221. Розенко Павло,експерт з соціальних питань, Український Центр економічних і політичних досліджень ім.О.Разумкова
222. Розлуцька Анастасія, громадська активістка
223. Рой Леся, музикант, гурт «Телері»
224. Ронзістий Тарас, громадський діяч
225. Рослицька Лада, політолог, доктор міжнародної безпеки,(Торонто, Канада)
226. Рудницька Анжеліка, співачка, заслужена артистка України
227. Рудківський Володимир, поет, письменник
228. Рущишин Ярослав, бізнесмен (м.Львів)
229. Савчук Євген, народний артист України, лауреат національної премії ім. Шевченка
230. Савків Михайло, директор української національної інформаційної служби (м.Вашингтон, США)
231. Сверстюк Євген, доктор філософії, політв'язень совітських таборів
232. Семерак Остап, народний депутат
233. Семисюк Іван, художник
234. Семиволос Валерій , журналіст,(с.Губарівка, Харківська обл.)
235. Семків Ростислав, письменник, директор видавництва«Смолоскип»
236. Семенчук Григорій, письменник, культурний діяч
237. Середа Андрій, музикант , гурт «Кому вниз»
238. Сидоренко Олександр («Фоззі»), музикант, гурт «Танок на Майдані Конго»
239. Силенко Тарас, кобзар
240. Сіренко Ігор, еколог, природозахисник
241. Сливінська Ірина, культуролог,телеведуча, телеканал ТВІ
242. Смик Олександр, поет, бард, (м.Тернопіль)
243. Солонина Євген, журналіст
244. Солонтай Олександр, громадський активіст
245. Сітко Сергій, лікар
246. Станко Анастасія, журналістка, телеканал ТВІ
247. Степаненко Олена, поетка, журналістка
248. Стеценко Кирило, культуролог
249. Стеців Орест, голова Ліги українців Канади, (Канада)
250. Стець Юрій, народний депутат, генеральний продюсер5-го телеканалу
251. Стецьків Тарас, народний депутат України
252. Стріха Максим, діяч культури та освіти,доктор фізико-математичних наук
253. Суслов Євгеній, народний депутат України
254. Та Атанайя, журналістка, газета «Друг читача»
255. Ташева Таміла, громадська активістка кримсько-татарського земляцтва в м.Києві
256. Тарасовська Наталія, журналіст «ЛІГАбізнесінфо»
257. Теліженко Олеся, модельєр
258. Тельнюк Галина, співачка, заслужена артистка України
259. Тельнюк Леся, співачка, заслужена артистка України
260. Терен Віктор, народний депутат, письменник
261. Тімохін Віктор, музикант, гурт «Телері»
262. Ткач Роман, народний депутат
263. Ткачук Анатолій, директор з науки і розвитку«Інституту громадянського суспільства»
264. Тодоров Ігор, професор Донецького Національного університету (м.Донецьк)
265. Томенко Микола, народний депутат України
266. Токар Тарас, громадський активіст, (м.Полтава)
267. Трубніков Максим, кобзар, музикант, гурт «Друже музико», (м.Одеса)
268. Тумаєва Карина, поетеса
269. Футей Андрій, віце-президент українського конгресового комітету США, (США)
270. Федина Софія, співачка, Голова світової Спілки українських лемківських об’днаннь
271. Фесенко Світлана («Іда Ворс»), журналістка
272. Фігель Юрій , журналіст,(м.Чикаго, США)
273. Філенко Володимир, народний депутат
274. Фінберг Леонід, директор Інституту Юдаїки
275. Фоменко Сергій («Фома»), музикант, гурт «Мандри»
276. Франчук Неля, бард
277. Фреймут Ольга, телеведуча, «Новий канал»
278. Хмара Степан, політв’язень совітських таборів
279. Хомяк Іван,викладач,письменник, кандидат біологічних наук(м.Житомир)
280. Цимбал Тетяна, телеведуча, народна артистка України,професор Київського Міжнародного Університету
281. Чайка Роман, журналіст, телеведучий, 5-ий телеканал,музикант, гурт «Мертвий півень»
282. Черненко Олександр, голова Комітету Виборців України
283. Черногуз Олег, письменник
284. Чорновіл Тетяна, журналіст
285. Чубай Тарас, музикант , гурт «Плач Єремії»
286. Чубаров Рефат, перший заступник голови Меджлісу кримсько-татарського народу. Президент Світового Конгресу кримських татар, депутат Верховної Ради Автономної Республіки Крим,(м.Сімферополь, Автономна Республіка Крим)
287. Чучка Павло, професор теології (м.Ужгород,Закарпатська обл.)
288. Шевченко Артем, журналіст, телеканал ТВІ
289. Шевченко Олесь, політв’язень світських таборів
290. Шишкін Микола, громадський активіст,(м.Ченстохова,Польща)
291. Шишкін Сергій, композитор(м.Володимир-Волинський,Волинська обл.)
292. Шкляр Василь, письменник
293. Шовкун Леся, журналістка, газета «Україна молода»
294. Шрамко Леся, студентка, (м.Мюнхен, Німеччина)
295. Шухевич Юрій, політичний діяч, політв’язань совітських таборів
296. Юрченко Руслан («Юрко Зелений»), музикознавець
297. Яблонський Валентин, професор НУБІП, доктор наук
298. Яворівський Володимир, народний депутат, письменник
299. Яремків Микола, режисер-постановник, Київський академічний «Молодий театр»
300. Янчук Олесь, кінорежисер

Vasyl Pawlowsky Independent Consultant

The Awakening! A New Reality for Euro-2012

2012-05-09T20:15:00.000+03:00

Clearly, the incumbent president of Ukraine, Victor Yanukovych, works within his own set of rules and regulations. The denial of these rules start from where he will spend state monies on his own benefaction and aggrandizement in material property and wealth, to how he will deal with his political opposition. These rules and regulations have nothing to do with the countless international conventions on the dignity of humans that the “nation state” of Ukraine has become signatory to since its independence after the Soviet Union collapsed nearly twenty-one years ago.

Clearly there are other signatories to the various conventions who don't really like the games that the Yanukovych regime is playing and have vociferously stated that they will not be attending the Summit of Heads of Central and European States that was to be held in Yalta on May 11-12. Leaders of Germany, the Czech Republic, Austria, Italy, Slovenia, Estonia, Croatia and Latvia have refused to participate in the summit. These announced no-shows seem to have precipitated an announcement made on May 8, postponing this Yalta Summit indefinitely.

However, for now let's put those politicians aside because none of them will tell you the truth no matter how many questions they are asked. Some are a bit better at it than others while for any skilled political observer, one can tell that they are lying not only through their teeth, but if their mother's are alive, I'm certain they are not proud of them.

Let's turn to an organization that some like and some like to hate – particularly those who like to step beyond any type of rule of law and understanding of what is right and wrong. I'm glad that Amnesty International has finally awoken to the situation in Ukraine, alone with some of Europe's leaders. Amnesty seemed to ignore the copy of a letter I sent to Bryan Adams to boycott all Euro-2012 events... or maybe that letter gave them a little bit of a nudge to dig deeper. If my letter didn't, their own sources gave them a good kick in the backside with a pair of Doc Martins – because otherwise they would not have issued on April 30, 2012 the following press release which had as its header: Ukraine must stop police criminality or Euro 2012 fans risk abuse. However, statements from one of the world's leading human rights organizations should have been coming about along with my personal Travel Advisory which I issued on September 9, 2011; it read as follows:

TRAVEL ADVISORY FOR UKRAINE and EURO-2012
Travel there with extreme caution – levels of barbarity and disrespect for human life by law enforcement officials is at intolerable levels by international standards. They claim that there will be law enforcement officials that speak your language by the time of EURO-2012, but there is no guarantee that you will understand one another.

So what did Amnesty International have on me? A bit of CCTV footage about how two were beaten by police, had their money stolen and not much more. Little has changed in Ukraine over the years, there has been a lot of hot air blowing around the country about reforms and the harmonization of Ukraine's legislation to be more in line with European and international standards, its all be a lot of talk and no action. I recall meeting with some NGO leaders in Ukraine to discuss the matter of reforms to the police force over a decade ago, and some of the partner organizations from Eastern European countries, which at the time were candidate countries for entering the European Union, mentioned that Ukraine's police force was by their reckoning about three times larger than is needed in a population the size of Ukraine’s.

Unfortunately, I have never been able to find figures that back that up, but Ukraine does a problem in its police force, and even the nation's president in mid-December of last year stated, “The strategic goal of reform is the gradual transformation of the Ministry of Interior Affairs into a law enforcement agency of European standard, which protects the rights, honor, dignity, and interests of citizens and the state.” He even went on to state that "Lawful and professional behavior should be encouraged.”

These statements were welcomed by Amnesty International, but they really wanted to see some action and not more of the same smoke and mirrors that the nation's leaders have been using for some time now, and some four days after Yanukovych's statement Amnesty International issued a statement calling him to act and not just talk. The penultimate and final paragraphs of that statement read as follows: “The Ukrainian Ombudsperson’s office stated that they received 5,000 complaints about police torture and other ill-treatment last year, but only 10 police officers were prosecuted.

“Reforms leading to independent investigations of police abuse are long overdue. They will benefit people living in Ukraine and visitors to the country. They will also raise the prestige of the police and help it fulfill its duty to defend the rights of the people,” said Heather McGill of Amnesty.

Unfortunately, I don't think there is a very large percentage of Ukraine's police force that seems to care about their prestige, and there are probably more bad cops than good cops and for them the status quo seems to be just fine. This is the same within all of Ukraine's different agencies, the Ukrainian Security Service, (SBU – Sluzhba Bespeky Ukrainy) is just as corrupt as any of them in my opinion, and they will provide information, even state information to the highest bidder, be it the FSB of Russian, MI5 of the UK, Mossad of Israel or the CIA of the United States. Its agents have no affinity to the country they serve as most senior officials within that agency are all former KGB agents and when the USSR collapsed, they created their one entity. This is also reflected by one who is chosen to head this agency, for nearly two years one of the most influential media moguls Valeriy Khoroshkovskiy and recently there was a return to one from the “old KGB school” since February 3, 2012 – one by the name of Ihor Kalinin. Maybe the appointment of Kalinin was some way of Yanukovych sending a signal which clearly states – back to the ways and methods of Felix Dzerzhinksky. His methods of torture are still being used and I am certain that they will be used against those that Ukraine's “highly professional and well trained” police force deems are breaking the law; either by being a little to loud after a football match, being inebriated (even though not causing and public disturbance), or simply a clear target to rip off. This is the way Ukraine's police works and will work during Euro-2012. Don't let any of the flashy statements made by the nation's top man fool anyone; he comes from the other side of the tracks where understandings between citizens working outside the law have become more important than compliance with the law.

What so few people who have not spent extended periods in Ukraine don't realize is that the all of Ukraine's law enforcement agencies have been long intertwined with the criminal element. You have those in sheep's clothing to look like the good guys, and the bad guys who you can never tell by the way they are dressed but most of them are driving cars worth $100,000 or more. The ones who don't are a just a bit more intelligent than the others and don't want to draw attention to themselves, but that does not mean that one should not be wary of both.

Vasyl Pawlowsky Independent Consultant

The commentary of this was first published on the Ukraine Business Online site.

A not so holy visit

2012-04-23T00:00:00.000+03:00

With the most holy of days of the Christian calendar just passed, most lay people will have probably recognized only one thing, that Easter, the celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, fell one week later for Orthodox Christians than for other Christian denominations this year.

However, very few lay people and not that many more Christians know the difference between the Russian Orthodox Church, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate, the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church, and the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. They recognize that the various church groups set their Easter calendars according to different parameters but their understanding in many cases goes no further.

This year as Ukrainians were about to celebrate this joyous occasion, Oleksandr Yefremov, head of the Party of Regions fraction in the Ukrainian Parliament at a briefing wished everyone the best for the holiday celebrating Christ's birth. If someone has highly placed as Yefremov manages to totally misinterpret the meaning of Easter, then perhaps I am being too hard on laymen for their lack of sophistication on the differences between the various Ukrainian-related confessions.

I seldom poke my nose into church matters, coming as I do from Canada, a nation in which Church and State have been divided for some time -- and I like it that way. But nonetheless, no matter where you go, the Church, regardless of which one you talk about, has its politics too. However, when you get into the politics of the churches that exist in Ukraine the matter becomes quite difficult for even the best of history buffs to understand.

This is particularly true when dealing with the various Orthodox Church groups that have current or historical roots in Ukraine, as each seems to think that is more canonically right in their position. Let us begin this discussion by saying as directly and forcefully as possible: it is all about politics and ethics has almost nothing to do with this issue. Some of my Orthodox friends may be incensed by this statement; I am willing to deal with that. However, I defy anyone of them to prove that statement and the opinion it represents as being false or even misleading. It is not.

Anyone who cares to question my statement about the political name of the matter being immensely more important has only to consider a number of different pieces of information both directly and indirectly about the visit to Canada of Patriarch Filaret, head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Kyiv Patriarchate.

First, I received an itinerary for Patriarch Filaret’s visit from the Toronto Branch of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress. This itinerary included a visit to the Ukrainian Care Centre, followed by a tour of St. Volodymyr Cemetery in Oakville, Ontario, followed by a luncheon with community leaders.

However, a few days later I became aware in an e-mail sent to me by Bishop Paul Peter Jesep, a copy of his commentary: Aiding and abetting the Moscow Patriarchate, that there are agents of Moscow even in Canada. Most of the politically informed among the Ukrainian-Canadian community have known this all along but for the less well-informed this is likely to come as another dastardly and underhanded Moscow Patriarchate intrusion into matters that it should leave alone.

Before we elucidate further on this matter, perhaps we should introduce a fact into the discussion that sometimes escapes public notice. The hegemonistic and expansionist policies of the Vladimir Putin government and those of Patriarch Kirill, as head of the Moscow Patriarchate, are different sides of absolutely the same coin. Any former Soviet government that does not recognize – and steadfastly oppose -- this joint attack on its independence and sovereignty is likely to find itself in as bad or worse position of subjugation than it suffered within the Soviet Union.

It doesn’t take too much digging to understand just how Moscow has used the Church to do its dirty work. When Bishop Paul Peter Jesep sent me a link to his commentary on Ukraine Business Online he also sent me the supporting documentation of a letter from the Consistory of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada signed by Metropolitain Yurij, born in Lachine, Quebec where I grew up. As a former parishioner of St. George's Orthodox Church in that same vicinity, I understood that they were continuing their dirty work.

As Bishop Jesep quite rightly makes the point in his commentary, Patriarch Kirill (Vladimir Gundyaev) is alleged to have amassed considerable personal wealth during his climb through the Moscow Patriarchate leadership ladder. Other publications recently pointed out, and included documentary photographic proof, Kirill has an extremely expensive watch given by a follower, alleged to have cost USD 35,000. Photographs taken at a public ceremony clearly showed the patriarch wearing the watch in question. However, in the same photo was shown in a Moscow Patriarchate publication, the watch had mysteriously disappeared, airbrushed into non-existence.

If I were in charge in the Moscow Patriarchate, I would be working very hard to have the same photo retoucher who made the Patriarchate’s expensive watch disappear make Metropolitan Yurij’s hate-filled letter sent to all his parishes also disappear. The letter commands all officials and followers of the Moscow Patriarchate to observe that Patriarch Filaret “cannot at this time be welcomed nor have banquets organized in his honour in the parishes, or their properties, of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada.” The letter even goes so far as to instruct that no one should even be in the vicinity of the visiting official, fearful that someone might be seen in a photo with Filaret and somehow thereby legitimize his visit.

What makes the letter by Metropolitan Yurij all the more obnoxious that it states that these hateful instructions are in “accordance and blessing of His All-Holiness Bartholomew.” The so-called Ecumenical Patriarch, at least theoretically head of the Orthodox Church worldwide, is a pitiful and pitiable figure who has little power and fewer resources. Increasingly, Bartholomew has been marginalized as the Moscow Patriarchate seeks to establish its pre-eminence among all Orthodox Churches, enriched and supported by the government of the Russian Federation.

My message to Metropolitan Yurij is simple and direct. I don't like corruption and I don't like the politics that are dictated from Moscow to you via Istanbul. Because you have chosen to play the political game and not one of any ethics you have chosen to pass on the instructions of Moscow, at least theoretical reinforced by the Ecumenical Patriarch.

For the reasons that Bishop Jesep points out, I could do no more than agree with him. Moscow, in not only Church matters has had much more influence than it is due, because of primarily a lack of understanding of the politics of Moscow, but also in the grandiose world of politics.

It is a mystery how Metropolitain Yurij, as someone who grew up for most of his life in Canada, can propagate the nonsense of Moscow, particularly supported by those parishioners of St. Georges Orthodox Church in Lachine, who grew up with him. I sometimes wonder how any of those who consider themselves to be ethical individuals can support his “aiding and abetting” of the Moscow Patriarchate that has one thing in mind – to destroy Ukraine and its people and believers.

Vasyl Pawlowsky Independent Consultant

The commentary of this was first published on the Ukraine Business Online site.

Press Release from the Danish Helsinki Committee for Human Rights on the sentence against Valeriy Ivashchenko

2012-04-12T18:20:00.001+03:00

12th of April 2012.

Former acting Minister of Defence Valeriy Ivashchenko has today been sentenced to 5 years imprisonment for violation of Articles 364,2 and 365,3.

The Danish Helsinki Committee for Human Rights has monitored the investigation, detention, prosecution and trial since the beginning of 2011. In August 2011 it launched a Preliminary Report II on the monitoring, which points at a number of general problems in the Ukrainian Criminal Justice System and in this specific case. It does not take side in the question of guilt or innocence.

The Danish Helsinki Committee has just (April 2012) publicized a Report IV on the Ukrainian reactions to the demands of the Council of Europe to improve the rule of law; the Report also comments on this case.

The conclusion is that the sentence in the Ivashchenko case is not the result of a fair trial in a legal system respecting the rule of law and basic human rights principles.

The attention is especially drawn to the facts that

• the actions and decisions for which Mr. Ivashchenko has been prosecuted would in other countries be considered normal political activities which potentially would draw political but not criminal consequences. Due to the political environment in Ukraine and the rule of law situation there is a strong suspicion that the prosecution is politically inspired and selective.

• the indictment against Mr. Ivashchenko concerns violations of Article 364 (“abuse of office”) and Article 365 (“excess of authority or official powers”) of the Criminal Code which both are vaguely worded and open to interpretation, having their origin in the old Soviet Penal Code where having an office and the authority of power had a completely different meaning from today (see Report II). They have been criticized by the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly in its Resolution 1862 of 26th of January 2012 (see Report IV)

• the three judges are all very young. The chairman of the court (Serjiy Vovk) has two criminal investigations pending against him (as described in Report IV). One judge (Oksana Tsarevych) is not even appointed permanent judge (Oksana Tsarevych) and is later to have her permanent appointments confirmed by the Verkhovna Rada (criticized in Resolution 1862, see Report IV). They have been under pressure to deliver a judgment which will not be controversial to their future careers. It is remarkable to see so young judges in such a politicized high profile case and most unlikely that they have been selected by the prescribed random procedure, the purpose of which is to prevent biased judges. That has also been criticized in Resolution 1862 (see Report IV).

• in general the Ukrainian Courts acquit only 0.2% of the persons indicted by the Prosecution, strongly indicating that there is a lack of presumption of innocence and that the Judiciary does not function properly as the impartial and independent controller of the executive power.

• Mr. Ivashchenko has been in detention for 19 months. No time limits have been set and no justification given by the Court for most of that period which in similar cases by the European Court on Human Rights (ECtHR) has been declared a violation of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

• Mr. Ivashchenko has been placed in a cage in the court room, which by the ECtHR in a similar case has been found to be a violation of the ECHR.

For further information contact Mikael Lyngbo (+45 2343 7905 or mikaellyngbo@hotmail.com

Karsten Fledelius
President

This Press Release is published with the permission of the Danish Helsinki Committee for Human Rights.

What goes around...comes back around for St. Patrick's Day

2012-03-17T13:49:00.000+02:00

There are times when you just have a feeling you have to either make that phone call to the local radio station or in my case it was simply filling in a form and clicking submit. Why was it that at the end of last week or the beginning of this one that I had a hankering to do so? Not really sure why I entered the St. Patrick's breakfast at Hurley's Irish Pub contest on CJAD but I did. I guess it was the Irish side of me yearning to get out, or maybe it was just a chance to see Bill Hurley the owner of the fine establishment and congratulate him for being Irishman of the Year. Or maybe there was something else that was not so explicable.

A few years before Bill Hurley opened his establishment on Crescent Street in Montreal, I was often approached by fellow frequenters of The Old Dublin Pub in Montreal, asking me when I was going to be opening Hurley's. There was some strange reason that there were individuals out there that thought Bill Hurley and I were the same individual. Years later, when I finally met Bill in person through a common acquaintance I was to find out that his wife was Ukrainian. Some years later I met up with both Bill and his wife during one of my short visits home to Montreal from Kyiv. When I met her with Bill we were both to learn that we had a number of Ukrainian acquaintances in common from Lachine, though we grew up at opposing ends of the island of Montreal.

Though I have digressed, as I usually do, but such is part of telling stories. Something which apparently I have been gifted with since high school, as in my graduating year of Lachine High School, now called Lakeside Academy, a classmate and good friend Scott Pittman, whom we all amicably knew as “Moose” wrote: “Tell us another story uncle Bill!” I must confess, to some degree or less I have been doing so ever since; either formally or informally, based on my life experiences and those of the thousands of people I know and have met throughout my studies and travels.

Now let's get back to the whole contest thing. No big deal breakfast at Hurley's, it may not be a million bucks but it turns out to be a bit of a story. During the middle of this past week I receive a phone call and I'm told that I have won breakfast for myself and three friends at Hurley's during the Andrew Carter Morning Show on CJAD being broadcast live from the said venue.

Andrew and I attended CEGEP together, and are mere acquaintances, but there are other broadcast professionals on that same station that went to high school with and are a little closer: Trudy Mason and Rick Moffat. Though I figured that Trudy would not be on location, but in the newsroom back at the studio a few short blocks away, it would be nice to see Andrew and Rick.

The show starts at the crack of dawn and I went through the list of the three others who I would invite. Naturally, my Mother was first on the list. She is more Irish than I, and while still very active at the fresh young age of 82, such an event would be a nice change for her, even if it meant getting up nearly two hours earlier than she usually rises. I, for the most part, am up by five in the morning so it was not big deal, or so I thought. A text message to my brother who was out of town on business, determined that that he was not going to be able to make it because of early Friday morning coaching commitment, and then, off to meet clients, an arm's length long. Good for him, I say!

I decided to invite one of two of my last remaining uncles and his wife on my mother's side. You do remember that's the side with Celtic blood so for something along the lines of a pre-St. Patrick's Day breakfast at one of the best Irish pub's in town, would be something he would enjoy. While he accepted, my aunt denied, and I was stuck with one seat to fill.

Then I said to myself, hey why not Ed Doro!

Ed Doro as he is commonly known in the non-Ukrainian community of Montreal, or Edward Dorozhowsky, is someone I have met less than a dozen times in my life. He is old enough to be my father and he is someone who probably knows the St. Patrick's Day Parade better than anyone in Montreal's Ukrainian community. In addition Ed, is responsible for “Ukraine on Parade” and the Ukrainian community's presence in Montreal's St. Patrick's Day Parade. Though, after writing an article about Ed last year, somehow our common roots in Point St. Charles, a working class district of Montreal during the last century, and for a number of other reasons we seemed to hit it off.

On Wednesday after speaking to my uncle Henry and Ed, I promised to give them a call confirming our meeting time on Thursday.

That evening I agreed to pick my uncle up on our way into town. Go figure, my uncle with Celtic roots living on Shevchenko Boulevard the borough of Ville LaSalle. Though when I spoke to Ed, about our meeting it was kind of an odd conversation. In my mind at least!

“Bill thanks for inviting me tomorrow for breakfast it is my honour, but I really hope you can do something for me on Parade Day?” I paused and replied.

“Ed, what would that be?”

He said, it like it was but it still left some questions in my mind.

“Bill, I want you to be at the St. Patrick's Day Parade on Sunday and I want you to sit in the same seat as James Slobodian, was sitting last year,” he emphatically stated and concluded with, “You make sure you are ready to smile, and make sure you brush your teeth you will be kissing a lot of girls on parade day!'

For the most part I was little surprised with his comments. James Slobodian was Ukrainian of the Year last year for the Ukraine on Parade float in the St. Patrick's Day Parade, and for him to want me to be sitting in the lead car were James had earlier sat left me room for question.

So I asked Ed.

“What does this mean?” There was a pause and then he says to me.

“I'll tell you in the morning, Vasyl.”

Ed really had me perplexed and after a few phone calls to a number of people who may have been a key to the answer, and to which some stated, “I'm not saying, but wait for the surprise and I'm not saying anything more,” I decided to wait until morning.

So here was a man whom I had given a gift to earlier, and now it seemed to be going full circle.

To some degree maybe it was!

On Friday morning, Ed Doro was oddly enough late. During our wait for him and and a couple of coffees I had had the time to say hello to Andrew, and spent some time talking to Rick Moffat. It was actually a nice little reunion.

As always, I found it kind of odd to witness my mother's reaction to crowds and traffic. For some reason she felt that Hurley's was extremely packed. Clearly she had not experienced the venue on a Thursday or Friday evening. Having lived through traffic in Kyiv, and demonstrations which make those in Montreal look very amateurish and without any particular focus and even unjust reason for demonstration, I look at things very differently.

So when Ed Doro finally showed up at Hurley's, more than an hour later than he had promised to be there, I was itching to understand why he wanted me in the St. Patrick's Day Parade. He had a valid reason for being late, and from him I could accept it. Had it been anyone one in my peer category I would have had some very serious questions as to their excuse for being so late.

What was his reasoning for me to be sitting in the same spot of last year's Ukrainian of the Year? I didn't sleep very well the night before and it was time for me to understand why.

I asked him straight out. “Ed what gives that you want me sitting in the seat where James Slobodian, sat last year during the Parade? Are you trying to surprise me that somehow I for some unknown reason to me have been chosen Ukrainian of the Year, or you simply need to fill a seat, and I kind of fitting the both Ukrainian and Irish is someone you want there?”

“Vasyl, don't get me wrong it is an honor to have you in the parade and it is too difficult for Father Lev Chayka who is this year's Ukrainian of the Year to make the eight hour trip one way for him to be here with us, and I'm honoured that you have agreed to be sitting in that place!” While many would think that maybe my ego was a little hurt, I wasn't! It was an honest approach between one man and another, and if Ed wants me there I consider it an honour. If we had such honest approaches in the Ukrainian community at large over the last twenty years, maybe we would be a lot further forward? Simply the opinion of a story teller! But think about it?

So here we have it. Last year I wrote about Ed Doro who is one man who do really does an incredible job of public relations for more for the Ukrainian community in Montreal; in one of the greatest public displays known as the St. Patrick's Day Parade, which this year is in it's one hundred and eighty-eighth year. I am not turning him Ed down and on on Sunday March 18, 2012, I will be sitting where he wants me to be sitting. It is in fact for me an honour to be chosen by Ed Doro to not simple come out to the parade to watch but to be part of it. The parade starts at noon on Sunday March 18, and will be following the route below. Hope to see you there, they are promising beautiful weather for parade day tomorrow!

You can click on the map to get it full size or better yet visit the official Montreal St. Patrick's Day Parade website for more information.

Vasyl Pawlowsky Independent Consultant

EURO-2012: Ukraine, why bother?

2012-02-12T06:52:00.000+02:00

Back in September of 2011 I wrote up my “Travel Advisory Euro-2012”. It seems to me, all joking aside, that someone has heeded this message. However, I highly doubt it! Clearly the powers that be in Ukraine have not been able to convince the world that they actually deserve hosting the European football championships this year. Somehow it comes as no surprise to me that 13 of the 16 teams involved in a glorious sporting event have actually decided to set up their team home-bases not in Ukraine but in Poland! So why is this?

It seems to me, that the national football federations of the countries involved clearly understand that the facilities available in Ukraine are minimal. Why on earth would they want to subjugate their top players to Third World conditions? Yes, Third World conditions!

Ukraine's own Euro-2012 has in fact become one of the sore points for many Ukrainians, and only an idiot could not see this happening over the last 18 months. It is not a secret to anyone that government financed sporting facilities benefit no one, other than those who build them. This is currently a debate in Canada, regarding one hockey arena that certain individuals want to build in Quebec City, in order to try to draw an NHL franchise back to the city. It will not work on public funds, and most in the West know this, however, there were and still are politicos in Canada and Ukraine that always try to manage to obfuscate the truth when dealing with the public.

In Ukraine we know that the public was never involved, to build or reconstruct stadiums in Kyiv and Lviv. Decisions were made in the personal interests, and not in the public's interest. So how much of the public purse was stolen on these ventures by public officials? I'm not keeping an official record now, but I am sure we are not far from possibly a couple of billion dollars! No, not hryvnia but cold hard green backs. The results, in fact, are not very commendable, from many different points of view: be they architectural, engineering, or even more importantly a return on investment and plans to further exploit these apparent architectural wonders! Or should I say eye-sores?

A number of months ago I wrote a letter to Bryan Adams to not participate in the opening of the Lviv Arena. Why he did not participate, the world will never know, but we all know that Ukraine's own top man backed out. Why? We still don't have an answer! I think he feared for his own safety regarding the shoddy workmanship that had taken place at the “Lviv Arena”. Or maybe he just didn't want to be heckled. We know how these criminal types can't handle any type of criticism.

As times goes on, everything becomes very clear, at least for those who have some common sense and understand how public officials abuse their office in Ukraine.

I sent a letter off to Bryan Adams on September 23, 2011; shortly after this I made contact with some leaders in the Ukrainian Diaspora regarding the possibility of a boycott of Euro-2012. The feedback by those who are leaders in the Ukrainian community appalled me; many of them seem to think they actually know what is going on in Ukraine. For the most part they haven't a clue!

“What, boycott EURO-2012, there will be all kinds of small business that will suffer if we do this!” This was one comment I received during my series of phone calls. What small business? Who is this person trying to fool?

The small business this individual spoke about will gain nothing from EURO-2012 except headaches and harassment.

Of all the small businesses that are not under the control of the Yanukovych Regime the following will take place. It happened before under Azarov, when he was chief Tax Man and it will happen again. They will have at least weekly raids, and will be extorting any earnings that are made by small businesses during the EURO-2012 Championships. Has any person from the Diaspora been involved in such raids? I've known many business people in Ukraine who have lived through such a matter and have in fact been present when all service stopped as Tax Police shut down a register as they verbally assaulted and in one case physically assaulted an employee of a restaurant. Have, they ever had to deal with Ukraine's tax police at all? Do you want to put people under such pressure? That is what I have to ask those who are against boycotting EURO-2012? How about you go up against those thugs? Do any of you have the balls for it, in a land where the Rule of Law doesn't exist? Sorry folks, this isn't just IRS psychological play or pressure, the thugs from the Tax Police in Ukraine have no qualms about hitting you or a co-worker over the head with a night stick! Or even better they won't hit you over the head they will hit you in the kidneys in such a manner that there will be no bruises to show anyone, and it will be your word against theirs in a system that will not side with you but with the authorities.

The current regime is a criminal one; I think that this was long ago established. Those in power completely neglect the Rule of Law, and we all know that there are plenty of the nation's lawmakers sheltering themselves from being judged by whatever kind of judicial system exists in Ukraine by hiding behind their immunity as People's Deputies of Ukraine.

While the average tourists who visit Ukraine on their own gives a decent indication of what is available if one is on a budget, which most football fans are clearly aware of. For their money they will receive substandard service for anything less than 200 euro a night. This shows just how far Ukraine has come in the area of tourism. In 2001 on the outskirts of Vienna I spent 20 Euros a night with breakfast. And within the last six months the same friend who arranged that stay, told me that now it would cost me about 30 euros a night, and this includes a sumptuous breakfast. If someone can point out such places in Ukraine I would be glad to promote them, but I fear if they exist many of them can only deal in two languages: Ukrainian and Russian. But even still what the average tourist expects and what can be provided for elite athletes are worlds apart. Yes, footballers are elite athletes, and their needs are a great deal different than the average individual.

Regardless, it is now very clear that Ukraine, buy the decision of professionals will not be able to host the most of the athletes participating in the EURO-2012 Championships, and this I am certain my dear readers not based on politics whatsoever, but on concrete facts. If anyone, in the tourism industry that truly understands the capabilities of Ukraine would speak up, and not just in a way that carries the official line of the government, then we would learn that Ukraine is not only unprepared for EURO-2012, but that it will in fact probably create a much more negative image of the country. The peace and love of EURO-CAMP in 2005 on Trukhaniv Island during the Eurovision Song Contest after the euphoria of the Orange (R)evolution is not what football fans are expecting, and they surely most are not expecting to pay € 55 a night in a two person tent. This is what is being proposed by one Kyiv-based booking agency.

So who will benefit at all from tourism during an event that is meant to celebrate sport? Clearly it won't be the average individual in Ukraine, nor will it be the average small business owner. The decision by 13 of the 16 national football teams who have decided to set up their home base camps in Poland sends a very clear message. Stay away from Ukraine. The money you spend there will not help the common people but only a few who already have more money than they know what to do with.

Vasyl Pawlowsky
Independent Consultant

The commentary of this was first published on the Ukraine Business Online site.

The Bitter Cold Truth

2012-02-07T07:14:00.000+02:00

While I'm not experiencing it first hand at this very moment, I'm no stranger to cold weather having grown up in Canada. With 122 people now dead in Ukraine due to the extremely frosty weather Ukraine has been experiencing for just over the last week one has to wonder what really is happening in Ukraine. The number has in fact risen since I first sat down to write this. Clearly neither government agencies nor what exists of civic society in Ukraine seem to care very much about those who are hit the hardest when such climatic conditions occur – the homeless and the poor, and in fact it’s not better anywhere else in the world. Of those who have died to date due to the climatic conditions, 78 of those individuals were found frozen to death on the street, and 32 others were found in buildings which no doubt were either poorly heated or not heated at all. The remainder had succumbed to the effects of severe hypothermia in the confines of Ukraine's hospitals, which are extremely underfunded, and for the most part poorly heated and have little or no insulating materials in them whatsoever.

While it has been some time since temperatures have reached as low as the -30 Celsius, in Ukraine, I quite clearly remember that back towards the end of January in 2006 the mercury had dipped as low as minus 27 and was sub minus 20 for a few days in Kyiv. It was the coldest winter I had experienced during the many years I spent there. The old wooden door leading out to the balcony from my bedroom of my flat had a about a centimeter of ice on its panes, and the inside temperature was not much warmer than 10 degrees, the space heater did very little in heating a room with ceilings that were nearly three meters high. Having lived through Montreal's “Ice Storm” of 1998, where I had no power or heating for nearly a week, and having gained from that experience, I know that had I had a tent in January of 2006 it would have made my nights a great deal more pleasant. Tents can work wonders under such dire situations and if used properly indoors can make a sleepless night uncomfortable night into one where you are rejuvenated and able to think in the morning.

So why would I want to think in the morning. First of all, hypothermia is not a simple process and can take some time to develop. It doesn't have to be minus 20 degrees for someone to start experiencing the symptoms of hypothermia, but let’s say that Ukraine's bitter cold temperatures of late would definitely contribute to the death of the homeless, who I am certain in sub-zero temperatures suffer many of the early symptoms of hypothermia from being exposed to the elements long before the advanced stages of hypothermia set in. You don't have to believe me, but having pulled individuals out of the St. Lawrence River when canoeing in early April when the water temperature is just about zero Celsius, I have seen how individuals have lost coordination, and experienced drowsiness as an early signs of hypothermia when the air temperature was nearly fifteen degrees. I am quite certain that those who were found dead on the streets of Ukraine were probably experiencing early signs of hypothermia long before the climatic shift which the geographic territory experienced.

To deal with the current situation the Ministry of Emergency Situations has set up 3,172 heated tents around the country as shelters. How effective such a measure will be is extremely questionable. It like so many other measures will be undertaken to show that the government is doing something at the current moment, but it does not address the problem at all.

As mentioned above, there seems to be very little concern for Ukraine's homeless and for that matter the poorer segments of the population. Just how many times has anyone currently living in Ukraine seen those who are there to serve and protect helping the homeless to get somewhere that is warm to spend the night? Or working with NGO's that exist to help the homeless in doing so? In Ukraine it always seems to be an us and them kind of attitude. Those who have and those who have nothing, and this is particularly so amongst public officials. Human life, it seems to me, has little or no value to them.

Can you even imagine the following scenario.

The head of state is flying from his palatial estate to a meeting in Luhansk to shake some people up regarding the Kopanka (illegal mines often employing child labor) fire in the village of Pavlika in the night of February 2, which may have claimed the lives of ten to twelve individuals, according to Konstyantyn Ilchenko, a labor activist and blogger on the politiko.ua site. Vitya is clearly upset, he pounds his fist on the vacant seat next to him on his AugustaWestland-139 helicopter as they fly over Poltava Oblast. “Damn if we have any more incidents like this one, drawing attention to the Kopanky, I definitely won't be able to buy that island off the coast of Greece for my retirement home!” For some inexplicable reason he takes a pair of binoculars out of his armrest and starts scanning the land below. What thoughts are going through the gray matter between his two semi-circular canals, we can't be certain, but it is clear he is looking for something.

From Vitya's point of view, we through the binoculars see him focusing in on a bench near some small settlement. He sees someone wandering around as if inebriated. But in fact it is a state of confusion caused by hypothermia. The person stumbles and falls. He presses an intercom button and screams at the pilot. “Put this thing down over there, that person is in trouble!” The pilot adeptly examines the area for power lines, knowing they can wreak havoc to such dual PT6C powered aircraft or any other for that matter.

The pilot finds a spot to land the helicopter within about thirty meters of the fallen elderly person and as they prepare to land Vitya says to one of his security no-necks. “Grab the camera; we need to get some good press out of this!” Like some military medical specialist, the nation's top man opens the door and jumps from his seat as the rotor above slows. He taps on the pilot's window and screams, “Find out where the closest medical facility is?” He pauses, and yells an order to his no-neck. “Get your ass over there; I need a few good shots of me rescuing that freezing person!”

As he lifts the frail and elderly woman in his arms his no-neck snaps a few photos.

What happens next is anyone's guess. Did he rescue the woman? Or did he just dump her there to let her die. We will never know!

How likely would such a scenario be in Ukraine? You and I dear reader know the truth.

Though just like this far-fetched scenario, we never know how many individuals, who work in different branches of those who are to serve and protect the population, left individuals to freeze on the streets of Ukraine's cities, towns and villages.

Though this aside, standard knowledge about health and disease in Ukraine for the general population is still in the Stone Age! When it will change, probably never because the government has to this day, from my knowledge never implemented any type of program to combat the stereotypical myths which exist in Ukrainian society. If it has, it clearly not working because many kids I have met educated since Ukraine's Independence still somehow seem to believe that they are going to get sick because of a draft. They won't get sick from a draft, but clearly hypothermia kills.

It's a process of dying which is a long and slow one, and unless those who are in touch with the homeless and destitute poor in Ukraine, an understand how hypothermia kills, there are certain to be many more deaths in Ukraine due to this silent killer, not only during this bitter cold snap, but for the next few months to follow. Though it is not just this understanding that it necessary, but clear levels of humanitarianism and professionalism amongst the cadres of all civil servants in Ukraine. When we will see that, I'm not sure. But it will be at least one more generation. All those in positions of power in Ukraine are still Homos Sovieticus, no matter what flags they have draped themselves in.

Vasyl Pawlowsky Independent Consultant

The commentary of this was first published on the Ukraine Business Online site.

A 2012 wish

2012-01-01T20:30:00.001+02:00

To all my friends near and far,
The New Year is like wishing upon a star!
May that star bring you the strength to fulfill your dreams,
May you be healthy and strong, and that every day be filled with song.
May it be a melody which gives you all that you need to preserver
Moving forward in waters that are unknown without a touch of fear!
Take each day in stride and always know that you have many friends by your side.
Share with them your accomplishments, and consult them to overcome
The obstacles which alone seem insurmountable!
Together with others you will accomplish what alone is not always possible,
Look forward, learning lessons from the past
And as you pass each milestone of your plans, you will laugh -
Because not only you believed achieving your dreams,
But behind you stood your family, friends and the power of the Universe!
I wish you all the best! Stay safe and never succumb to the dark side!

Vasyl Pawlowsky Independent Consultant

Justice? It's been stricken from the Ukrainian vocabulary

2011-12-09T15:17:00.001+02:00

Life gets in the way sometimes, but RRS feeds keep me abreast of the happenings of a land like no other, and that land is known as Ukraine. If you haven’t heard of the place by now, maybe its time check out the CIA World Fact Book or Wikipedia; though regardless of what you read there you will never get a clear picture of the place that amazes even those who have personally experienced it and all of its nuances and often grotesque absurdities, which at times make one think that one is living in the middle ages.

Society in the country is close to a boiling point as elite politicos seem to always find ways of doling out funds for their own interests rather than dealing with segments of the population that need their help. The blatant spending carried out by the President of Ukraine and his entourage, placing him leagues above the people and nations he is supposed to be serving is by far one of the greatest absurdities if not travesties the people of Ukraine have to tolerate.

One of the groups of Ukraine’s society are those who are referred to as Chornobyltsi; this is a segment of society which during one of the worst nuclear catastrophes in mankind’s history, paid with their health, both physical and mental, in either having been involved in bringing the disaster under control, or who were children when the disaster happened and together with their families were relocated from the “Exclusion Zone” and who were often ostracized by their peers, regardless of their age. Unfortunately, the burden of supporting these individuals fell on the newly independent nation when the Soviet Union crumbled in 1991.

One of the catalysts in Ukrainian society’s boiling point are those Chornobyltsi together with veterans of the Soviet war in Afghanistan, and for the last number of months they have been most vociferous in voicing and acting out their fury against the current regime in Ukraine which, like its predecessors, has not only failed in meeting their needs, but had decided to cut their benefits. For this particular group of Ukraine’s population, I believe the breaking point took place on Sunday November 27, 2011 when the militia stormed a tent encampment in Donetsk. As a result, there was one fatal casualty! He was a miner with some disabilities by the name of Hennadiy Konoplyov, and according to Member of Parliament Mykhaylo Volynets, he was also a long time pro-trade union activist. The victim was not part of either of the above mentioned groups; but like Volynets - a member of the “BYT-Batkivshcyna” which had started the hunger strike - he was protesting the decrease in pensions.

The group which had set up its tents next to the office of the Pension Fund in Donetsk had done so in opposition to a court order, one of the organizers, Mykola Honcharov, stated, while there are still many cases, decided upon by the court, on file regarding the pensions which the state is still not acting upon. Given this fact they decided to ignore the court order forbidding them to gather. But these are trying times in Ukraine in which court orders are used to forbid so many things one would think that the current regime, thinks that it is the “king” and uses the courts to deal with all of the dissent it has to deal with.

In fact, according to Volodymyr Chemeris long-time activist and coordinator of a working group created as part of a public committee under the auspices of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, in an interview on Radio Liberty on December 2, 2011, stated that judges and law enforcement officials in Donetsk broke some laws in the storming of the peaceful protest and the tent city which resulted in the death of Konoplyov. “The Donetsk militia's management did not have enough reasons to approach the mayor of Donetsk with the proposal – to turn to the courts to forbid the protests of the “chornonbyltsi”. The activity of protest of the “chornobybltsi” is a peaceful one. “Neither the militia, nor the Ministry of Emergency Situations – in accordance with the legislation which is in effect – had no right to enforce the court's decision,” said Chemeris. After the working group had completed its own investigation of the tragic event.

This is all very fine and dandy but in a country where Rule of Law seems to mean nothing at all, who will be held accountable for these illegal actions? No one of course! Throughout this last week, there have been twenty members of this initial group that has continued its hunger strike by the Pension Fund building in Donetsk and on December 1, the Regional Administrative Court issued an order forbidding the hunger strike to continue in its current location. Meanwhile, Ukraine's Ombudsman on Human Rights Nina Karpachova has called on the Verkhovna Rada's speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn to make changes to legislation that would forbid the carrying out of court orders on holidays or outside of regular working hours. The regime will probably offer Karpachova an olive branch by making such changes to the appropriate legislation, but once again, what difference will it make?

The current regime is one which works in accordance with a set of rules which the civilized world cannot comprehend. Karpachova on a different matter, that of former Premier Yulia Tymoshenko, had spoken to the current Premier regarding Tymoshenko's state of health a few weeks ago. As all observers of this case can see, “humanitarian grounds” are not something that the current regime understands or wants to.

As I had mentioned a number of months ago, it would not at all surprise me if the current regime simply wants to destroy Tymoshenko. Her current state of health is quite dire, and probably needs treatment for whatever it is that is ailing her in a hospital and not in the confines of the Lukiyanvska Detention Facility, but then again, what's another life to the regime in power? Particularly when she is someone who had the courage to stand up to them, and expose the crooked schemes which caused a number of oligarchs a great deal of money. That is why they have her imprisoned now, and not because of any normal legislation or judicial process. I'm sure that the CIA World Factbook or other sources will never tell you that the word 'justice' is absent from the vocabulary of most Ukrainians.

Vasyl Pawlowsky Independent Consultant

Freedom from what? Or should it be from whom?

2011-11-24T14:19:00.001+02:00

Seven years has passed, and I'm still trying to figure out what Ukraine has achieved in that relatively short time, though still more than a third as many years that the nation has been independent. This commentary may very well be disjointed in many ways, just as the people of Ukraine have been for so many years. Regardless, I and many Ukrainians will state that the Orange (R)evolution, and that short period of the nation's short history, was one of the nation's greatest and positive moments. Clearly the benefactor of the Orange (R)evolution, Viktor Yushchenko, enacted one of those symbolic decrees on the Day of Freedom on November 19, 2005 just short of a year of the first anniversary of an event that caught the eye of the world, that clearly could never be guaranteed in the future.

For many who have a relationship to the events of seven years ago, it is difficult to comprehend, that on November 22, 2011, that all that many could see around the downtown core of Kyiv was special divisions of militia units on what is dubbed the day of Freedom? Clearly there are many people who are just as disenchanted with the current regime, a regime and a direction which many opposed seven years ago – not for who they were as a political group backing then presidential candidate Yanukovych, but for the methods which they were using to try to come to power. I'm certain, that those who were on the central square, known as Maydan, in Kyiv on November 22, 2011, are many of those same people who were there seven years ago, and they are clearly not those who voted the current regime in. Though one must also remember the old adage, governments don't get elected in, they get voted out.

On the morning of November 22, 2004, after a very short night sleep and dealing with many international observers as well as journalists, and prompted by a phone call I headed down to meet a good friend and to be introduced to Judge Bohdan Futey by my friend, my Kum, the father of my godchildren. We stood in front of the Post Office on Maydan. We had a short conversation of what could happen in the next day as well as the days to follow, but none of us could have with any certainty predicted of what stood before us.

As a Canadian of Ukrainian extraction, who had already spent some time in Ukraine and working on Ukrainian issues for most of my life, I felt that somehow I would play my part. Be it lesser or greater, I did not know, though I think that all of those who I knew and encountered during the course of what peacefully transpired over the next two months, and who were more involved than I, can only be the judges of my contribution.

Like many of those individuals I had befriended long before and during what came to became known as the Orange (R)evolution became disenchanted with the inactivity of the President who came to power, Viktor Yushchenko, and the squabbles which he was having with his now incarcerated, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko. However, the methods employed through the court to forbid the assembly on Maydan on November 22 of this year are as absurd as those taken in the winter of 2000 after the “cassette scandal” of 2000, while Maydan was beginning its transformation into the Globus Shopping complex; back then it didn't surprise me that such a post-soviet mentality and a total lack of understanding of the principle of the right to peaceful assembly took place. This year the court order had to do with the city's New Year Tree, which is do to be officially opened on December 17. Somehow, I fail to realize how the assembly of such a structure requires nearly a complete month to be assembled. Clearly, just an additional incompetency of the municipal administration.

As I viewed posted pictures on the Internet of the number of Berkut special forces on Kyiv's main thoroughfare, Khreshchatyk on November 22, I could only think of one thing. Ukraine, under the current administration has taken at least a dozen steps back from where it was seven years ago. However, even before this, in reviewing the situation and statements of individuals who truly have done their time for the Ukrainian cause, I am even more impelled to state that the only way things will change for the better in Ukraine is through a “New Revolution”, and if necessary it will be a revolution and not an evolution as has happened in the past.

Seven years ago I was there, on Khreshchatyk. I spent many hours and days there! It seemed like an eternity at times! Would there be an onslaught of troops against those peacefully protesting. Now, seven years later, the possibility of protest is becoming less realistic than it was, even under Kuchma.

Above I mentioned the term, “New Revolution”. It is not by chance, but more due to the historical events which have transpired. Ukraine to this day has not had a revolution, but rather an evolution. One which has unfortunately done little for the people of Ukraine with the exception of providing a segment of that population to believe it can change things; while at the same time it has allowed for those with capital to become wealthier and to conduct a variety of anti-national policies which diminish the rights as well as aspirations of the nation's citizens.

Political capture in Ukraine is a reality. It has become an obsession of those in power, not only to ingratiate themselves as much as possible, but also to ensure that they become the “untouchables” without any accountability. This is clear with the new election law which has no mechanism for the accountability of deputies to their constituents.

What will transpire when the populace realizes that once again their votes have been stolen in the upcoming elections? How will they react? Will they even have an opportunity to do so as the current regime steps up its physical authority as it has shown by its absurd use of the court system, and show of physical might?

On the Day of Freedom, there was one image that stood out a great deal regarding among so many others. It was a young girl on the shoulders of her father holding a sign which read, “The Government is Shit”. As an American friend of mine commented and I must paraphrase this. So what would they, the Berkut, who could see this do? I guess we will have to wait and see.

Maybe, a real Revolution awaits?

In my opinion, the current regime only understands force and strength and they seem to rely on that dangerous card much more frequently and much more assertively than any of the previous Ukrainian governments have done. This in turn makes it much more likely that the very same card could soon bounce back to them, and when in does, no one can really tell how the rest of it all could play out. One can only hope that, come a critical point, that those young men who at this time simply obey orders, will be governed by at least some sort of common sense or by some level of attachment to their own nation - a nation that is slowly but surely reaching the limits of what it can tolerate. The people of Ukraine have a government that is has been captured by the controlling interests of a few, they will have to call the shots on how to deal with them and it will have to be their choice. Lets hope that in whatever the path they choose that they have will find alliances from the young men who have been sworn in to protect the nation and its people, and who have some semblance of morality and believe in serving their country and not just the figureheads who are are now in control.

Vasyl Pawlowsky Independent Consultant

My Safety First – A presidential no-show

2011-10-31T01:05:00.000+02:00

It has always been clear in my mind that the many ills of Ukraine are not the cause of a major sporting event which is slated for 2012, but the European Football championships have clearly drawn attention to the countless problems which exist in contemporary Ukrainian society. Every nation has its problems, in some, it is more apparent than in others, though in Ukraine it seems that all of its citizens just grin and bear it.

Many years ago I heard one civic activist in Ukraine use the following phrase at least twice during every one of his public appearances or interviews with media. “The problem isn’t the elections it’s the electorate!” Well if it’s the electorate then clearly the problems that Ukraine has on its plate, are just as much the fault of the electorate as those who they voted for on this or that party list which a candidate was on, who in no way under the current electoral system or legislation which exists can be held accountable for anything they do, or don’t do, how they vote or how their fellow party members vote for them in their absence.

So when will the electorate, Ukraine’s citizens, start acting and not simply having their discussions on how terrible things are? I am certain that this past Friday night, like any other night of the week, that without a doubt there were hundreds if not thousands of small groups of individuals around the country doing a great deal of talking. Some of them around the kitchen table, others at the local watering hole, and others still without any alcoholic beverages near by whatsoever. But as an old Slavic saying goes, “What is on the sober man’s mind is on the drunken man’s tongue.” It seems that just like in the “pseudo” world of Ukrainian politics, which has more political parties than one is able to count on all of one’s digits; civic society is just as splintered. The formation of a number of loosely knit groups throughout the country in the past eighteen months is just as difficult to keep track of as political parties.

So just what are all these new groups doing? A friend of mine, recently stated on his Facebook page that he was tired of going to any of the numerous demonstrations in the nation’s capital as they were simply nothing but a waste of time, and stated that it was time for Ukrainians to take things into their own hands, like in Libya. Though understanding how Ukraine’s State Security Service (SBU), has been targeting bloggers and others, he clearly said that he didn’t want to be blamed for a call for the taking to arms. Clearly, the frustration of many Ukrainians is there, and this is just one of at least a hundred comments I have seen in the last couple of weeks from individuals I personally know, or am acquainted with through numerous means and who I consider far from radical. They are just sick and tired of it all, but so many of them have to deal with simply “surviving”.

Survival – yes staying alive no other way of putting it. In order to do this there is one factor that is important in any society and that is safety. Though with October 29, 2011 a so-called D-Day in Lviv, and the opening of what is for now being dubbed the Lviv Arena; safety is something that is the furthest thing in the minds of public officials who have stated that the stadium will be officially opened October 29.

On Friday October 28, President Yanukovych stated in a briefing at the still to be completed stadium that they decided that the opening would take place in October as a matter of convenience for everyone involved, regarding the weather and temperature and in order that this festive event would be remembered. However, the key agencies that are to sign off on allowing to put this architectural construction into operation have not done so, and probably won’t until some time in 2012, as the stadium, is far from being ready to be, as they say in Ukraine, “delivered for exploitation”. According to unnamed sources amongst construction workers on the site, there have been a number of short cuts taken in order to meet the crazy, but nonetheless, already year-late deadline of completing the stadium. In places where things should have been bolted, they simply welded two pieces of metal together.

This doesn’t surprise me, and it probably doesn’t surprise many Ukrainians, though it is time for them to start saying “NO! We will not have any part of this insanity that has been thrust upon us!” This would have be an appropriate stance of citizens of Lviv regarding the stadium that was delivered to them in part. And for some it will be. One comment on YouTube by one such citizen of Lviv named Volodymyr wrote on October 28th. “Tomorrow I will not go to that stadium, I fear for my life and the most important thing is that everything that is being done in a rush for the Euro will not be achieved, in the spring they will be putting down asphalt and so forth, and it is pile of our money, it’s a nuthouse."

In addition, who was at the opening of what should be a landmark event in the history of such a city as Lviv? Clearly, President Yanukovych himself was a no-show. I guess he too had come to his senses like the earlier commentator on YouTube and probably knowing a bit more of the truth thought twice about setting foot in a stadium, which legally should not have had anyone on its territory but the workers building it.

A video was presented on the history of football in Lviv and as it came to a close the voice over of the video pumped up the President’s image, while lambasting the previous administrations during which the building of the stadium had come to a halt. For those locals who were there, they didn’t take kindly to those words about the “virtual president” whistling and shouting cat calls of shame. It was a show, which was deplorable and simply depicts how the powers that be continue in the vein of Potemkin, in trying to paint a rosier picture than the reality.

As I related above, at least one citizen of Lviv and another of Kyiv have voiced their opinions. “We have had enough!” But how many who have voiced their opinions will in the future carry out some activity which will bring down the soviet style dinosaurs who were resurrected by the electorate; dinosaurs, who are not only anti-society and safety but who are also anti-Ukrainian in their policies? It appears that the level of what the people of Ukraine are able to tolerate is being stretched further and further by the current regime, and only two questions remain. Just how much will they tolerate and how long will their pressure valve continue to function? And when the pressure valve finally fails, just how far will Ukrainians go in order to bring some order to their land, which so far has only lined the pockets of a very small portion of the population?

Vasyl Pawlowsky Independent Consultant

The commentary of this was first published on the Ukraine Business Online site.

Consult a Librarian

2011-10-30T22:38:00.002+02:00

UPDATE: Yesterday, on October 31, 2011, Mr. Goodman from the New York Times contacted me for some clarifications. I can' t be certain whether he contacted me because of this entry or not, but it is clear there are always people who keep track of where they are popping up in the blogosphere. Maybe Mr. Goodman is one such a person!

On Friday I got a little bit of a surprise, however it was a pleasant one. As many of you who read my blog, you are aware that it appears on a site called Ukraine Business Online, however, on Friday I was told that somehow some of my earlier commentary made it as far as the New York Times, well at least a blog on the NYT website. However pleasant it was I do have a few point I would like to make to media owners, your writers have to get their facts straight!

It was a pleasant surprise when I read some of the words of NYT writer J. David Goodman when he wrote on his blog "For William Pawlowsky, a Ukranian former journalist living in Canada, the plagiarism charges were not surprising. “Does anyone honestly think that Ukraine’s incumbent president is capable of putting pen to paper, and actually writing? Let alone an entire book?”

This piece was in regard to President Yanukovych's "book" entitled "Opportunity Ukraine" Which as if you are unaware, also appeared on Ukraine Business Online to which he refers.

While Mr. Goodman or his spell checker can't spell "Ukrainian" he also somehow didn't quite present me correctly. I am not a Ukrainian citizen but a Canadian who lived many years in Ukraine there is a difference. Though my understanding of Ukraine is much better than any average Canadian, American or Brit, and probably most of those who work in their analytical departments of their respective foreign ministries. But that is his problem and not not mine, I know who I am and what I stand for. As a professional, I consider that he consult the information specialists and librarians that work at the NYT, as opposed to trying to interpret my public profile on LinkedIn. While I have a public profile, I also have been involved professionally in my field for many years. Too many journalists, public writers and many others are still very illiterate when it comes to doing online research or even paying attention to minute details. Their problem is that they are too full of themselves, and what they think that can do, because they really have no understanding of information.

For my piece to draw his attention is a pleasure. The fact that so many of my colleagues in Ukraine considered me a journalist while I am by training an information specialist/librarian is also something that was always pleasure and somewhat of an honour, given what conditions many had to work under. However, the getting facts right and spelling right clearly shows to me that while the NYT is a great paper, its standards are slipping.

I suggest that all management of major news outlets use their library staff appropriately. You folks out there that think you can research you are gravely mistaken! And until you start doing things right and respect fellow professionals in other professions, you will make both misleading and incorrect mistakes.

Vasyl Pawlowsky Independent Consultant
B.A.; M.A.; M.L.I.S.

Euro-2012: They shoot horses, don’t they?

2011-10-22T19:29:00.000+03:00

When we hear about all the grotesque things going on in Ukraine, most of us are thinking about politics on a human level, but unfortunately there is an element that is permeating Ukrainian society that may get some individuals even more appalled then they would about the country’s politics . While it is clear to everyone who has ever visited the host cities of Euro-2012 -- Donetsk, Kyiv, Kharkiv and Lviv -- they all have something else in common, a problem with stray dogs.

The issue of homeless animals exists everywhere on the face of this planet. However, anyone who has spent some time in Ukraine will tell you that the issue of homeless dogs has been one that animal rights advocates have been trying to deal with for many years. If human rights issues have taken a number of steps backward under the administration of President Yanukovych, then on the eve of Ukraine hosting the Euro-2012 Football Championships, the fate of man’s best four-footed friend has reached a very low level.

The issue of how stray dogs were being dealt with in the aforementioned cities was brought to my attention late last week by a reader of my commentary, and I have been aware of this issue throughout my years living in Ukraine. After a little bit more digging and reading I was appalled, though not surprised. It became clearer that Ukraine has some very sick and inhumane decision makers. It is high time that Europe and the rest of the world start seeing what Ukraine truly is, and I don’t mean the average Ukrainian, who for the most part are the most hospitable and kind individuals I have met anywhere in my travels. However, just how twisted some of its officials are in is shown in how they deal with their local problems, in this case the stray dogs that wander their streets.

For the most part their methods have been brought about by trying make Ukraine look like a European country for the Euro-2012. Damn it, they have had twenty years to do so, but all that seems to be happening is that those in power, keep playing Potemkin, with nothing seriously taking place in truly bringing Ukraine closer to the standards of Europe and the world of the civilized. Clearly the incumbent President is the farthest away from understanding what the Rule of Law is in the last twenty years.

How man’s homeless four-footed friends are being dealt with varies from region to region, with the worst of it all happening in the Donbas, and it’s been going on for some time now. By order of the municipal council on March 16, 2009 in Makiyivka, on the outskirts of Donetsk, between three-hundred and four-hundred homeless dogs were killed. They were not simply caught and put to sleep in a humane manner but hunted down and killed, by three private firms using 9mm firearms. In one case this was even done on the territory of a local children’s hospital in full view of children. Furthermore their carcasses were left to rot on a tailings pile of one of the local mines, and this was less than three-hundred meters from some family homes in the area.

After a bit more digging I finally found a recent publication which revealed just how low some will go. Even more shocking than the hunting of dogs mentioned above was something that really took the cake. According to Volodymyr Boreyko, a well known advocate of animal rights in Ukraine, there is even a crematorium in Luhansk oblast set up to deal with the dogs. Other ecologists have confirmed that even a crematorium on wheels has existed there for nearly two years. Word on the street is that in some cases dogs were even burnt alive, saving those in charge not only on timely and expensive euthanasia procedures but also on bullets.

In that same article Asia Vilgelmovna Serpinskaya, President of the Kyiv Society for the Protection of Animals, revealed how there were a few Internet forums on which youth in Kyiv would share information on where to purchase the latest dog killing “vitamins”, where to find stray dogs, the best time to poison them etc. The so called vitamins are the drug Isoniazid, a first-line anti-tuberculosis medication. The death of dogs poisoned in such a way is very inhumane, and from what I determined, in the way that hepatoxicity could affect humans if there is a bad reaction, imagine what such a drug does to the liver of dogs.

So while shooting these dogs may not be the most humane method, poisoning or burning stray dogs is clearly a more sadistic method, and the authorities seem to think that it is all fine and dandy. They are simply playing into the hands of those that want to pretend they have everything under control in terms of showing off Ukraine to the European football fans that will be arriving in Ukraine for Euro-2012. In the twenty years of Ukraine’s independence, not only have few major changes been made in order to bring Ukraine closer to Europe in the human sphere, none have taken place regarding the protection of animals.

This barbarism seems also to be mirrored in the way that Ukraine's top official takes to the sport of hunting. Whether you agree or disagree with the fact that hunting is a sport, and whether it is necessary at all is not up for debate here. When practiced by true outdoors people this form of recreation requires some knowledge of animal behavior and the principle of fair chase as safe practices when out in the woods or field. Ukraine's president through some type of scheme has taken over what was once a thirty-seven thousand hectare wild life preserve and turned it into his personal hunting ground. It is fenced, moated and protected from the prying eyes of regular citizens and journalists by Berkut, special reaction teams of the militia.

Though unlike the skilled hunter, the President of Ukraine and his hunting buddies, sit perched in towers and then have the wild animals herded towards the towers for them to take pot shots at these creatures, be they deer, boars, or anything else he desires to import for his rest and relaxation. This is almost akin to Internet hunting or computer-assisted remote hunting. In the United States, amendments were introduced to existing legislation which would call for a fine and or prison sentence of up to five years for such a method of hunting True, that President Yanukovych's method of hunting does not include a computer, but what difference does it make if the animals are one, captive and two practically served up on a silver platter to him. Some hunt, eh?

If there are animal lovers out there in Europe who are also football fans, maybe it is time for you to start calling your local representatives, your football associations and anyone you know that deals with the humane treatment of animals to start putting pressure on the Ukrainian authorities, as well as UEFA regarding this barbarism. Such incidents are truly appalling and really do show just how sick some people are in Ukrainian society. Should they not be punished? Certainly! How to punish them is another question. Take away Euro-2012 and let the disgruntled population let their voices heard at the ballot box. Because neither the average individual nor dog will see dime one of the tourist dollars that some extremely misinformed individuals claim are reason not to boycott the football championships.

Vasyl Pawlowsky Independent Consultant

This commentary of was first published on the Ukraine Business Online site.

And it is thanks to them for providing me with more information on just how barbaric some are in Ukraine.

We won’t get fooled again!

2011-10-19T05:42:00.000+03:00

The wheels of democracy at times seem to turn extremely quickly, however, when it comes to diplomacy they clearly move at a cadence that few can understand. There have been many statements of warning from Western leaders condemning the seven-year sentence handed down to former prime minister of Ukraine Yulia Tymoshenko, however, will such statements ever materialize into action?

Yanukovych clearly by his rhetoric does not seem concerned with the statements made by the west, and why should this surprise anyone? I have mentioned this thrice, he does not understand diplospeak, and the only way that he will understand is to be dealt with in a manner that those in his world deal with one another, with force.

"It appears that they have been stringing us along," said a senior Western diplomat in Kyiv, to the Financial Times. Maybe some diplomats out there do understand the way Yanukovych and his band of robber barons operate, but maybe they don’t. When I read these kinds of comments veiled behind anonymity there seems to me a preponderance of the later.

It is time for Western diplomats to think beyond the box of Western diplomacy, and start to think they way those who are now holding court in Ukraine think. The polite statements in a language that is as foreign to the regime of Yanukovych might as well be delivered in Old Church Slavonic, which is just as foreign to him and his henchmen as the language of diplomacy which to them is an artillery of words, which they simply do not understand.

Clearly, the West has been strung along by this jester and those who preceded him. But somehow, his predecessors understood diplospeak, and in the past those words were backed up with actions. Because as the idiom goes: “Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.” It seems that the West for the last couple of years have been in the “shame on me” mode in its relationship with Ukraine, and until their recent statements are followed through with targeted actions which will have direct repercussions on those who have and continue to rape Kateryna, economically and culturally, very little headway will be made.

The barrage of statements delivered in the direction of those in power in Ukraine has clearly fallen up deaf ears, because until someone finds a way to deliver the message using vocabulary used in the criminal underworld that they will understand there will be no reaction. However, such language just may be understood: “You son of a bitch, you are such a petukh that you are afraid of Volodymyrivna! All you can do is lock her up! You shit; you know the only way you can win an election is with her out of the way! You good for nothing mudak! This is the end for you and your groups who care nothing about your country, but only wish to rob its people!” And once the message is delivered in a language that is understood, then clear and forceful action is required.

Some tough love is necessary and has to be delivered by clear and targeted actions. The passage of legislation which would allow countries to freeze and arrest of the assets of those associated with the current regime; travel restrictions on all those associated with the regime; a complete and total review of all companies owned by these individuals and to ensure that no foreign aid intended to help the development of the country in different spheres, is being skimmed by these characters; and pressure on the EUFA by countries of Europe and its football fans to revoke Ukraine’s right to act as host of the Euro-2012 Football Championships. These and other creative and targeted actions are required, because without them the civilized democratic countries of the world will continue to be stuck in the mode of “shame on me!” and will take on a new mantra, first voiced by Pete Townsend of “The Who” back in 1971, where they will:

Smile and grin at the change all around me
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
Then I'll get on my knees and pray
We don't get fooled again
Don't get fooled again

The question remains: Will they be strung along and fooled again?

Vasyl Pawlowsky Independent Consultant

The commentary of this was first published on the Ukraine Business Online site.

An orange carrot called Euro-2012

2011-10-13T05:56:00.000+03:00

Before the early winter of 2004 Ukraine was nothing but a grey smudge somewhere on the periphery of a contemporary Europe. It was a country with a developing democracy and with its fair share of problems as it tried to shake off the legacy of the Former Soviet Union, but when the Orange (R)evolution took place, the world started to take notice. As a result of the bloodless revolution, a revolution of smiling cooperative Ukrainians, wanting to build a better nation, one based on democratic principles, Ukraine was offered a carrot. That carrot was the Euro-2012 Football Championships which it is to co-host with its Western neighbor Poland; a country that through a great deal of shock therapy reformed itself from being a key member of the Warsaw Pact into a functioning democracy.

However, Ukraine somehow, to this day, even twenty years of independence has not gone through the reforms necessary in order to become a truly functioning democracy. The unlawful trial, unethical detainment and the flimsily grounded, yet brutally enforced verdict on former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, announced by a clearly in-the-pocket judge, is just one such incident - prominent because of Tymoshenko’s high international profile, yet very indicative of the unmistakable ruthlessness of the current regime.

“In Tymoshenko’s trial, however, many elements of Stalin’s grotesque legal charades are present: a near-hysterical prosecutor, a compliant judge, a ruler who washed his hands of the affair like Pontius Pilate.” wrote Nikita Khrushchev’s great granddaughter, Nina Khrushcheva in the The Daily Beast on October 10 a day before the verdict was announced.

Yanukovych’s master of spin Hanna Herman had at some point stated that the president was “not aware of the charges brought against Tymoshenko” and annoyed by this, but how will his annoyance play out? Particularly if one takes the time to ask oneself: If despite all the heavy international condemnation of this trial, and despite all the looming political and economic consequences, for a regime that appears so busy trying to build some sort of legitimate image abroad, the verdict was still followed through on, in full force, without even blinking, then one can only speculate about the level of ruthlessness which this government goes about with its daily business when the rest of the world is not watching, and Ukraine is not under the microscope?

Earlier, if the modus operandi by those who came to power was divide and conquer, now it is clearly seek and destroy, using any possible means. It appears that at times principles of revenge are placed higher than any political or even economic rational. Although, there is very well grounded political and economic rational behind eliminating from politics the regime’s Number 1 opponent.

So who will the regime’s next opponent be? Maybe when the consequences of this show trail are felt by Ukraine’s politicos, they will with the restrained brutality of Stalin, put an end to the political careers of the prosecutor and judge in the case as suggested by Nina Khrushcheva? After all they were nothing but useful-idiots employed by the regime to eliminate the opposition, they too are expendable.

But will there be consequences? Yanukovych’s advisors are certain that Ukraine’s strategic importance is too big for Europe to simply switch to hard measures of boycotts, travel bans, account freezes, etc. The officials in Kyiv think that they can manage to balance their instances of unconcealable lawlessness, corruption and brutality, with their efforts to appear democratic and progressive by appeasing the West with select deals and partnerships. Getting ready for Euro 2012 in the most pompous way possible, is one of these efforts.

Yet the common everyday good people of Ukraine have nothing to do with the Euro-2012 Football Championship. Most eek their way through life based on principles that are so far away from the current occupiers of government seats. In speaking to a friend yesterday, his mother’s pension was recently reduced again, and that considering that the average pension in Ukraine is somewhere around 100 dollars a month, in a country where prices for everyday necessities are topping those in the West. In short, any standard of life is unthinkable, and it is a continuously spiraling downward.

Meanwhile Deputy Prime Minister Borys Kolesnikov is touting the economic viability of the country and how all the stadiums and infrastructure for Euro-2012 as such an economic accomplishment. An economic accomplishment that was presented to the people of Ukraine as one that would be financed by foreign investors. Now who can tell me how much direct foreign investment has come into Ukraine because of the wonderful and honorable game of football? Probably not a single nickel! The roads, airports and many other things were all things that should have been taking place regardless of whether Ukraine was hosting Euro-2012, they were things that had to be done and now those in power are doing them in such a way that they can ingratiate themselves to the tune of at least 30% of each project’s value.

For example, let’s take a look at the reconstruction of the Olympic stadium in the nation’s capital. By the best estimates of any professional in the industry, the project should have cost at the very most 300 million dollars, but when you hear that it cost close to 550 million dollars, one has to start seriously wondering. So where did 250 million dollars vanish to? These are monies that could have gone toward pensions, improving the state of health care or education?

The boycotting of the Euro-2012 should be just one of many different repercussions of the grotesqueness of the current state of affairs in Ukraine. The Ukrainian Canadian Congress is calling on the Government of Canada to “send a clear message to President Yanukovych,” however; the Government of Canada better brush up on its lexicon before sending that message, or it, like the many other messages that were intended to be shots fired across the bow will have no effect. Warnings are not enough for these types, as I tried to make clear earlier, they don’t understand diplo-speak. Those shots should not be going over the bow, but actually hitting it, because unless all members of the regime of Yanukovych feel the economic and political consequences on their own skin, Ukraine will continue to slip further away from democracy.

The powers that be in Ukraine think they are entitled to hosting the Euro-2012 championships. They are not entitled; Ukraine was given a carrot for a job that was ongoing in terms of developing a democracy. Under the current regime that democracy has been floundering in many different areas. The common every day people of Ukraine will only be empowered by a complete and ultimate boycott of the Potemkin Euro-2012 village that those in charge are trying to take away from the people that enabled the carrot in the first place.

Vasyl Pawlowsky Independent Consultant
This commentary was first published on the Ukraine Business Online site.

Euro-2012 and image in wonderland UA

2011-10-10T02:41:00.000+03:00

Yes, Wonderland UA. Sounds enchanting, doesn’t it?

For many years individuals traveled to Ukraine as a form of extreme tourism, and some still travel to Ukraine for sex tourism. Why do you think the girls from FEMEN have their knickers in a knot? Even the folks in Lviv have been spending a lot of money on how to entice young men with their sexually implicit public relations videos for 2012.

Yes, ultra-soft porn sells, but it does little for the image of a nation. Meanwhile there are elements of the Diaspora that also have their shorts knotted; in that Yevhenia Carr, the daughter of former Prime Minister Tymoshenko hasn't been able to learn Ukrainian. There is good reason for both these groups to be a little pissed, but may I put to my fellow members of the Ukrainian Diaspora the following question:”How many members of Ukraine's current government which the Diaspora continues to deal with in an as-if-everything-is-ok kind of mode actually speak Ukrainian or even respect the language?”

Besides the Rule of Law being a problem in Ukraine and which is trampled on a daily basis, there are a few things that caught me by surprise recently. Just when you think you have it all figured out Ukraine throws another surprise your way.

The first surprise is a revelation for football fans planning to travel to Ukraine by car for the Euro-2012 Football Championships. To my brethren in the Diaspora, you are also in for a surprise, which you should be just as angry about as Mrs. Carr's inability to learn Ukrainian.

In tourism, for the last couple of hundred years, there have been four “S's” that have played a role, and we cannot deny these. They are Sun, Sand, Ski and Sex! But these are only elements which are employed to sell a destination.

In 2012 the key drawing card to Ukraine will be the European Football Championships, if anyone can fit in one of the first three “S's” into their itinerary then more power to them. Respect Ukrainian women like you would your own, or don't bother visiting Ukraine. As the women from FEMEN say, “Ukraine is not a brothel!”

So you are coming to Ukraine for Euro-2012 by car? Do you know where you are going to park that car of yours? Recently, I saw a report on the TV show, Znak Oklyku (Exclamation Mark), how individual companies have taken over the available parking spots available by simply putting up official looking signs that state those only cars of “such-and-such a business can park here”. Under the Highway Code of Ukraine none of these signs are recognized. Along with these signs come burly security guards with about as much couth as a brick wall to enforce their own rules of the concrete jungles of Ukraine.

Parking in Kyiv, Ukraine's capital and in Lviv is nuts, just ask anyone with a car. When Michel Platini was in Ukraine last week what did he see? He saw a Potemkin village. He saw squat about the realities of current Ukraine and how prepared it is for the Euro-2012 Ukraine. Ukrainians, particularly officials, are very good at presenting the false-reality of their nation.

So, maybe anyone who plans to travel by car to Ukraine for the Euro-2012 should start preparations by doing the following. Make sure that you prepare yourself a sign that reads: “For the automobiles of Football Fans of Euro-2012.” You may also want hire some burly types to enforce your parking space. There is clearly no guarantee that there will be any type of parking for fans who decide to make their way into Ukraine under their own means of transportation.

Now regarding the issue of language, here is some news that really floored me. In trying to improve Ukraine's image and the image of the Kyiv National Linguistic University, the university has set up a new Supervisory Board. Well, that is great until you hear about the clowns who were appointed to it.

First on the list is Yuriy Ivanyushenko who according to media reports is also known as Yura “Yenakievskiy,” an allegedly criminal authority who also happens to be a member of Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada.

Then there is Tariel Vasadze, chairman and primary shareholder in the UkrAvto Group, Ukraine's largest car importer, and former member of BYuT who voted for the new Tax Code earlier this year and was expelled from the party and now sits with the Party of Regions.

The third should be a big hit amongst those who recognize the atrocities committed by Stalin. She is none other than Kateryna Samolyuk one of Ukraine's top commies who in 2010 stated that statues of Stalin should be placed in all regional centers of Western Ukraine to remind them who saved them and the rest of Europe from the Fascist-Germans.

The fourth member is none other than Ukraine's Minister of the Energy and Coal Industry Yuriy Boyko, another Party of Regions member who is alleged to have been involved in a scheme to bilk $150 million out of the state’s coffers in the purchase of an offshore oil platform.

Heading the Board is Valentyn Zaychuk, a bureaucrat within the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, who at least at one time was tied to something positively Ukrainian as a teacher of the Ukrainian language and literature.

What this Supervisory Board has planned to do to improve the University's image and that of Ukraine's image abroad is anyone's best guess. Though I have serious doubts as to what the true intention of the creation of such a board is, and filling with such characters of such moral fiber. Only time will tell.

In short, Ukraine is a wonderland and it ceases to amaze me in the things that happen there. The levels of corruption, influence peddling, arbitrary decisions by different people who are in positions of power, and the simple grab for more and more by a select few. Have any of these individuals who have pillaged the country of its wealth ever looked around to see how their neighbor is doing?

Clearly not! Such behavior is in fact very non-Ukrainian, for those who have some moral fiber.

Vasyl Pawlowsky Independent Consultant
The commentary of this was first published on the Ukraine Business Online site.

Presidential lexicon vs the lexicon of diplomacy

2011-10-01T13:53:00.003+03:00

As the countries which base themselves on the Rule of Law await what will happen in the “show trial” of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, there are a few things that I like the readers of this column to think about for at least the time that it takes to read this opinion over maybe at the water cooler with colleagues if possible. Some of these ideas have been reflected by others, such as Hryhoriy Buzenko writing for ORD, but these were not necessarily aimed an Anglophone audience, and it is due time that that audience begin to understand the fundamental difference between their world and a contemporary Ukraine.

From my piece entitled “A vindictive form of justice,” I would like to use my concluding words of that piece as a launch pad. I wrote: “How the regime must be rejoicing that they have nearly achieved victory in silencing their two strongest opponents, who once insulted, and investigated their questionable behavior and have a great deal of dirt on them all for certain. In their world, vengeance has always been more important than justice. In their world there are no civilized rules.”

It may not be as much civilized rules that are issue here, but two different civilizations and two different lexicons of those civilizations.

Firstly, I have known Yuriy Lutsenko personally since about mid-1993, and one thing I know for certain, he likes to joke. Unfortunately for him, jokes and being made fun of are not something that individuals with a questionable past, such as Ukraine’s incumbent President take very kindly to.

Secondly, over the centuries, the international diplomatic community has developed its very own lexicon and terminology in order to send signals to one another.

And while these always ring very clearly in the ears of the schooled and experienced diplomats or state delegates, it really does not seem to be the case for Yanukovych and Co. Many observers have noted that the lengthy, veiled statements and indirectly expressed implications by his European counterparts are simply not understood on his end, and the intended ‘warning’ messages lack any level of strength sufficient enough to exert the slightest form of political pressure. Diplomatic etiquette, just like intellectuality and politeness in general, is also something that his ilk of individuals does not take fondly to. To them it is all a demonstration of “weakness” and of an inability to do anything about whatever it is that the West is “deeply concerned about” in Ukraine.

Thirdly, for those who understand some Soviet history, it is no secret that after Stalin starved those in Ukraine to death, including in the Donbas region he carried out mass internal migration programs to turn Ukraine in a different type of land and to work in the mines of Donbas. A very large proportion of those sent to Donbas were simply criminals who had already developed their own cultural norms, their own lexicon and their own “ponyatiya” or notions between what is right and wrong. The significance of the impact of this criminal sub-culture on the social norms of the population of these regions should never be disregarded when doing any kind of analysis of Ukraine’s current ruling ‘elite’ and its actions.

As one Ukrainian observer noted, on one of the many sites I monitor regularly. The recent conflict between the authorities and a Kyiv-based company called ProstoPrint is based solely on the difference in lexical understanding, and the fact that most people from Donbas can’t take a joke, especially if they are the brunt of it. It was simply because of the lexicon and there its criminally twisted “notion” between what is right and wrong which caused major problems for ProstoPrint. Without going into lexical details for the Western reader, the problem with the ‘scandalous’ T-shirts that were sold on Kyiv square at a stand led to violent raid of the ProstoPrint offices on September 6, 2011 by special police forces, was not the content of what the T-shirts said, but rather how that content was interpreted by the authorities, who looked at it through their usual prism of convict sub-culture terminology, and saw in the harmless phrase too close of a rhyming potential to what is considered a major insult in criminal circles, which, if not ‘adequately’ retaliated against would be perceived as a blow to the reputation of the insulted individual, who in this case happened to be the President. Hard to grasp, really, but the owner of ProstoPrint, Denis Oleinikov has already left the country with his family out of concerns for their safety.

Finally, does all that mean now that in order for the EU to exert more pressure on Yanukovych, their statesmen/women need to start addressing the issues during his visits with an increased, almost gangster-like bluntness? Could be, yet while there has been a noticeable escalation in the EU’s rhetoric with regard to the Tymoshenko trial and the state of democracy in Ukraine in general, it is still far from enough for Yanukovych and Co. to even feel the slightest amount of political pressure. Actions always speak clearer than any words, be they blunt or veiled.

This Thursday in Warsaw, Volodymyr Ariev and Andriy Pawlowsky, members of Ukraine’s opposition have called upon the governing bodies of the European Union to switch from talks with Yanukovych, which he - quote - “does not understand” - to starting concrete action. Among the demands voiced were: the enforcement of a travel ban for key members of Yanukovych’s cohorts beyond the borders of Ukraine, including those who head institutions of the Government. The blocking of foreign accounts of all business owners, judges and administrators that support the incumbent regime, as well as a call for a general boycott of the Euro-2012 football championship, were amongst the methods suggested by the opposition’s representatives in Warsaw.

It seems to me that the powers that be in Ukraine need some tough love and to have their ears boxed by the international community. The pussy footing around and diplomatic language is clearly something they don’t understand and are unlikely to understand for the reasons outlined above. We all know that the road to hell is paved with good intentions, but it is time for those who care, both in Ukraine and beyond its borders, to start setting up some roadblocks on that road.

Vasyl Pawlowsky
Independent Consultant

In the gardens of the exiled

2011-09-29T22:39:00.011+03:00

When one lives in a garden of one’s own creation, be it through absolute necessity, as it was for parents of many active members of the Ukrainian Diaspora, or because you live in that garden by default for generations and have tried to maintain that garden of culture, ethnicity and language, one can not deny that there is something different on the other side of that garden wall. The Great Rusty Wall, as some refer to it as, went up on August 13, 1961 but by November 9, 1989 its molecular bonds which held it together had changed and it completely crumbled by the end of 1990. The Great Rusty Wall was a symbol of the Garden War; it separated two different gardens in which plants grew under very different conditions.

The plants in the garden, tended to by the Good Gardeners of GGs of exile flourished, while those on the other side of the wall were poisoned by a gamut of different afflictions which were not natural but created by an whole string of Bad Gardeners or BGs under the guise of being Russian, but we know that evil knows know ethnic boundaries.

The first of the BG’s was geneticist Leninsky, who twisted the gene pool of the garden introducing a new hybrid Family called Plantus Soveticus, the roots of this plant were kept short, its growth was hampered by a variety of means over time. The political progeny of Leninsky was Stalinsky, who was not a geneticist, but rather a horticulturalist with no training, but nevertheless he decided to impose his methods in various parts of the garden during the 1930s. During this period from five to seven million Plantus Soveticus genus Ukrainiana, perished, of the genus Khazakiana nearly two million, and of the genus Russiana, we are not quite sure, but it could have been close to two million. Stalinsky expanded the massive compost piles which had been created very distant from any others on that side of the garden wall. They were used as a place to relocate the undesirable genus’ which existed amongst Plantus Soveiticus and from 1934 to 1954 as many as 1,053,829 plants withered on those compost heaps.

The garden tended by the GGs in exile flourished as best it could, they had been cut off from the land of Chornozemia, but during particular attempts and defoliation during of the intelligent plant life of the genus Ukrainiana by the BGs for the thirty year period before the wall came down the GGs stood their ground, calling foul to their local garden councils of the planet.

When the Great Rusty Wall finally disintegrated the GGs were not at all prepared, to them the unexpected had happened. The plants they had tended to were of a different breed than those tended to by the BGs. The plants that had grown up in the garden in exile were nurtured to love the lands that they come from, but to a great degree they were and still are naïve. The few plants that did love Chornozemia had become marginalized and the children of the BG’s took over the garden, but without any of the vestiges of the culture, ethnos and language which was theirs. They imported all kinds of things from the West, and often that which had little semblance of culture to the intelligent plant life on the planet.

The progeny of those who tend what was once the gardens of exile fail to realize many of the realities of Chornozemia. They create issues where none really exist. They fail to realize that the defoliation of there brethren through all the means used by the children of the BGs, be they corrupt nitrogen distribution schemes, over irrigation schemes, the hosting of a garden parties for the benefit of a few, and their notion of the enemy being genus Russiana, only become self-evident to those who grew up in the gardens of exile and were repotted for some time in Chornozemia. The tenders of the gardens beyond Chornozemia’s lives are as distant to the realities of that land, with the exception of their genus, as they are with those who live in the lands of the sands or snows.

Chornozemia will always play an important geopolitical role simply due to where it located, how the plants there manage is not up to those from the gardens of exile, nor are they in a position to understand what is going on there. Those from the gardens of exile have become genetically modified plants which can neither absorb nor adapt to the realities of Chornozemia, but the seeds of change must be sought out in all the gardens in which the genus Ukrainiana exists. Those seeds must be able to understand all the intricacies of Chornozemia’s place in contemporary and rapidly changing planet. If they continue to function like those which have been genetically modified, then Chornozemia’s future is bleak, but I believe that those seeds can be found!

September 23, 2011 - My Letter to Bryan Adams

2011-09-24T16:05:00.001+03:00

Mr. Bryan Adams, O.C., O.B.C.
c/o Mr. Bruce Allen
Suite 520 - 425 Carrall Street
Vancouver, BC
V6B 6E3
Canada

Dear Mr. Adams,

I am writing to you with regard to your planned performance on October 28, 2011 in the city of Lviv, Ukraine at the opening ceremony for the Lviv football stadium for the Euro-2012 football championship, alongside the event’s reported attendance of Ukraine’s current President Viktor Yanukovych.

While you have been to Ukraine to perform in the past, there are a few things I am certain you stand for as a Canadian and as a member of the Order’s of Canada and British Columbia and that you should be made aware of. These are matters which not only disturbing to me as a fellow Canadian, and should be to you, but also to Members of Canada’s Parliament, as well as the close to 1.25 million Canadians of Ukrainian descent.

Mr. Bernard Trottier (Riding of Etobicoke—Lakeshore, Conservative Party of Canada) made the following statement to our Parliament earlier this week:

"Mr. Speaker, recently we have seen some very troubling events take place in Ukraine. The persecution, arrest and continued detention of Yulia Tymoshenko, along with many others, are cause for great concern both in Canada as well as in the international community….These apparently politically-motivated actions undermine the rule of law and human rights, which are at the core of all democracies. The Ukrainian people, having long lived under the rule of regressive and undemocratic Soviet policies, will not accept a return to darker times. Ukrainians deserve to live in a peaceful and prosperous society, where they can enjoy the same freedoms and safeties seen across other western nations.”

Now, while it can be understood that political rivalries within a country may not be of direct concern to you as a musician asked to perform in that country, and despite the fact that the handling of Ukraine’s two opposition leaders’ (Ms. Tymoshenko’s and Mr. Lutsenko’s) “trials” as well as the conditions of their imprisonment could all be reason enough to reconsider any dealings with Ukraine’s current regime by any Western activist or institution, given the political nature of these particular cases, I shall focus instead on just a few examples amongst the plethora of other examples of serious ethical, political, administrative and humanitarian wrongdoings in Ukraine directly related to Mr. Yanukovych’s regime as well as to the preparations of the Euro 2012 football championship in Ukraine, and in the City of Lviv in particular.

The first example is the completely corrupt tender process that the municipal officials in Lviv ran for the building of the stadium, where they announced a financial tender which was to be awarded to the company that could finance building the new stadium and its infrastructure without burdening the local economy and population. The tender was awarded to a company that had no financing and was eventually given to a Ukraine based company to be fully financed at the tax payer’s expense. When the rest of the world is trying to be frugal, the powers that be in Ukraine continue to try to squeeze the most out of their populace, only exacerbating the country’s deepening economic and societal crisis.

Regarding the building of the stadium, workers who were hired to do so were not paid for four months, and then the company that they were employed for was folded, and they were left without four months of wages. To this day they have not seen compensation for their labor. A lavish opening ceremony of this stadium will be just another blow to the dignity of these workers and their families.

What you will be paid for your performance, is not clean money. It is money that has been stolen from the population and the municipal and national budgets through deep-rooted schemes of endemic corruption, by officials who from day one of the tournament’s announcement have done everything possible to reap personal advantage of this landmark event in every imaginable way. Improvements to the quality of life of the people in the host-cities of the Euro 2012, i.e. creation of job opportunities, economic growth and capital inflow are all a fairy tale that even pre-school kids will not believe anymore.

However, the problems in Ukraine are much deeper than a systematically corrupted and economically ruinous mismanagement of the preparations to the Euro-2012 football championship. There is a constantly growing opposition in all spheres of society to the current regime - a regime that cannot be labeled as anything else but criminal. This opposition is being answered to with increasingly worrisome methods. Among many other unnamed instances, this year’s Amnesty International Report on Ukraine is filled with unaddressed cases of unlawful detainment, torture and ill-treatment of protesters and students that stood up on various occasions to voice their opinion against the current regime represented by Mr. Yanukovych.

Back in July, Sting canceled a concert in Kazakhstan over claims of human rights violations on oil workers in that country. I believe that the current situation in Ukraine gives many more reasons for the same kind of action.

As a fellow Canadian, I would very much like you to reconsider whether you will play in Lviv or not. I know that there are plenty of other performing artists out there who would support you in your stand. A stand which would be just, regarding the current state of affairs in a country with an extremely fragile democracy, and which is turning into a police state run by a few who care very little about those they were elected to represent. I call on you and anyone who believes in democracy to boycott all events related to the Euro-2012 Football Championships in Ukraine.

Sincerely,

William (Vasyl) Pawlowsky
Independent Consultant
B.A.; M.A.; M.L.I.S.

Cc: were a slew of individuals, organizations and media which you can see here in the first published version of my letter.

Travel Advisory Euro-2012

2011-09-22T11:20:00.003+03:00

While it is completely normal that states offer travel advisories in order that its citizens can make informed decisions regarding their chosen destination of travel, in order that they be adequately prepared for what they may encounter on their trip, who out there has ever issued such an advisory regarding Ukraine? Individuals who have traveled to Ukraine both before its independence and during the last twenty years will tell you without much hesitation, “It’s not what I expected it to be!” So what should travelers to Ukraine for the Euro-2012 be expecting and what kind of advisories should be going out to the fans of one of the world’s most watched sports?

Well before getting to the copy of those potential advisories, let’s get to the perception which all of Ukraine’s politicos are trying to create. Starting with the most basic and important feature, that of preparing the police for the onslaught of fans who neither speak Ukrainian nor Russian. Will this make any difference? I doubt it, and it’s not because that they will not be able to communicate with fans, but it is probably more due to their attitudes, than their ability to learn a foreign language.

Europeans have very different attitudes towards their police forces than those which Ukrainians have. A recent survey by the Razumkov Center in Kyiv showed that only received 6.4% of respondents supported the activities of the police, and 52.5% did not support them. While the question wasn’t on how much you trust the police, one gets the picture. In reviewing similar survey results for Western democracies, it is almost the exact inverse where the level of trust in the police is often higher than 55%, and this is where worlds collide.

So what are some of the factors which cause such a low level of trust in Ukraine’s law enforcement agencies? Examples abound, but I will simply provide two recent examples.

On September 16, 2011 the lawyer of the All-Ukrainian Network of People Living with HIV reported that a young man by the name of Volodymyr died while in custody for the theft of a suit worth no more than one-hundred dollars. Volodymyr was HIV positive and while there were social workers who would visit him at the Lukiyanivsky jail to provide medication, there was only one time in which he actually received it. As his state of health deteriorated and without legal counsel, he was not even in a capable state of mind in order to formally draft an appeal – he was dying a slow and most likely agonizing death, handcuffed to his bed.

Eventually, he was transferred to Kyiv’s Hospital № 5 where he was once again handcuffed to his bed. Volodymyr lapsed into a coma though he was not transferred to the ICU because of the handcuffs. Apparently the inspector in the case of Volodymyr was expecting a bribe from the family, and because he didn’t receive one, he was left to die. The mother of the deceased is ready to speak with human rights organizations and journalists, she stated, “Maybe this will help save other people.”

The same in Kharkiv, one of the host cities for the Euro-2012 Football Championships a much greater action film type of event took place when the Alpha Special Tactical unit raided the police station in the Komintersky districted of the said city. The reason for the raid was quite simple. Those who were supposed be “serving and protecting” in fact sold twenty-five Makarov pistols, five thousand rounds of ammunition as well as Kalashnikov rifles to organized criminals in that city, which included five members of the local precinct. The equivalent of nearly a million dollars was also found in the precinct’s safe.

So is there any reason why you would trust the police in Ukraine? There are many ex-patriots and Ukrainian nationals who have had their experiences with the police in Ukraine and they will tell you it’s no fun.

So how would you word our Euro-2012 Travel Advisory after hearing of just the two simple events which happened last week?

Mine would be short and sweet:

TRAVEL ADVISORY FOR UKRAINE and EURO-2012
Travel there with extreme caution – levels of barbarity and disrespect for human life by law enforcement officials is at intolerable levels by international standards. They claim that there will be law enforcement officials that speak your language by the time of EURO-2012, but there is no guarantee that you will understand one another.

Talent must live for a nation to prosper

2011-09-20T04:35:00.001+03:00

It seems to me that the Ukrainian nation is sick. Though not only is the nation sick but its people are sick as well. What is the sickness they are all suffering from? Do I have a name for it? I can't say that I do, but the core of this sickness goes back to some time during Stalinist times, and unfortunately it has permeated the hearts and minds of Ukrainians who still live on the territory of contemporary Ukraine, and to a lesser extent to those who live beyond its borders.

The great proletarian revolution had nothing to do with the proletariat nor did it have anything to do with human life or individuals, because everyone had to become a Soviet person. During the creation of this Homo Soveticus, life became cheap; millions were killed during the Holodomor and millions more in the labor camps of the gulag. People were belittled, and if not destroyed psychologically they were destroyed physically. Somehow, that trend continues to this day in a contemporary Ukraine.

Surely I must be kidding? No I kid you not! There is quite a bit of evidence that makes me believe that this is the case. Let's start with the number of fatal traffic accidents that have taken place on Ukraine's roads since 1991, can anyone give me figure? In monitoring the just in the last few days there were four accidents resulting in the deaths of two individuals. In two of the cases the drivers left the scene of the accidents. So what is the safety and life of others worth in Ukraine? How many of these incidents happen on a daily, weekly or yearly basis. Has anyone ever kept count? If my memory doesn’t fail me, close to 17,000 individuals die every year in Ukraine vehicular related accidents.

Now what about industrial accidents? Particularly in the coal mining industry that has long been privatized, and still to this day the slum lords of that industry, make the families of the victims believe that it should be the state which pays them compensation for the death of their loved ones. The richest SOB’s of the nation want to carry no responsibility for the death of their employees, upon whose sweat, blood and lives, they make their riches.

Eleven years ago on September 16, 2000, Georgiy Gongadze disappeared, and we all know the result of his disappearance. The incumbent President is even trying to get some political mileage out of the anniversary of his disappearance. This goes beyond the grotesque! How many others before him disappeared or were eliminated? Do we know? I know of at least of one person that was poisoned in December of 1994; his name was Orest Vasyltsiv, he was in his late twenties. He was charismatic, a leader and a friend to many, but clearly he must have had some enemies. The investigation to find the perpetrators of that crime was conveniently closed. How many more were there like him, before a relatively unknown journalist became a symbol, though only a symbol after he was no longer amongst the living?

Just over three years ago the body of a young woman was found near her home, she was twenty six years old. She was beautiful when she lived. She was talented as a writer, a painter and a designer, her name was Yulia Pihel'. In artistic circles she was better known by her pseudonym Ruta Viter. Shortly after her body was discovered law enforcement officials were not certain if she was killed on the spot or whether her body was simply dumped near her home. The rumor mill was running full steam ahead with some stating she had fallen out the window, while others suggested that someone helped her fall out the window, while still others were certain she had been hit by a car. She was put to rest on September 17, 2008. To this day Georgiy Gongadze has not been put to rest, and how many others are there?

There seems to be a tendency for Ukrainians to not value what they have. This is even more the case in official circles, as the nation can neither provide a true market economy where talent would flourish and be rewarded, nor provide the services for those who have grown less fortunate as a select few plunder the nation. Those who felt stifled by the post-Soviet mentality have left the country and many of them have achieved success in their adoptive countries. While there are many others who are making plans to leave as I write this. How many more individuals will die, or be morally degraded to a point where they can no longer function in their native land? There are many cancers growing in Ukraine with one of them being corruption, but there is also one which is not so evident to the naked or untrained eye, it’s the cancer which finds its roots in the evil of Stalinist times. Where anyone who wasn't with the system was an enemy and therefore destroyed by any means possible.

For Ukraine to become a strong and prosperous European nation it has to start from the bottom up. Every individual has to value the talents of their family, friends, and coworkers while they are still either in Ukraine or among the living. The psyche of the Ukrainian people must change from one of simply surviving to one of thriving, developing and growing! We all know Ukraine has talent, and it’s not just that which is demonstrated on a licensed television program. Talent must be fostered and promoted – it must live and maybe someday Ukrainians will stop saying “I remember when so and so was still with us!” and will have their friends and colleagues by their sides building a new and prosperous nation. I am sure that Orest, Georgiy and Yulia would want it to be that way if they were still with us!

Second in Command – to whom?

2011-09-17T03:27:00.002+03:00

Without a doubt many will probably agree that Ukraine's democracy is extremely fragile, and while the world observes the young nation and its apparent political persecution of the opposition by the current regime there is plenty more going on in the country. Many events slip under the radar of most, though an event which transpired last week, while not as resonant as the absurd trials of former Ministry of the Interior Yuriy Lutsenko and former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, there is an event and how it is being handled and why it ever even happened that deserves some reflection.

On the evening of September 7, 2011 Volodymyr Mozharovsky after work returned home to his residence at 26b Dehtyarivska Street in Kyiv, like he had countless times before. This building is not a simple apartment building. It serves as the residence for senior and higher ranking officials of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Like any other evening, he used his magnetic key to enter the building. A short time later he was found in a pool of his own blood on the landing between the second and third floors by another officer who had entered shortly after General Mozharovsky, Deputy Minister of Ukraine's Ministry of Defense entered the building.

The General suffered an open head wound, has a concussion and is expected to remain in hospital for up to two weeks according to reports.

Now just imagine if General Sir John Nicholas Reynolds Houghton of the UK, Admiral Michael Mullen of the United States or General Walter J. Natynczyk of Canada were bopped over the head by unknown assailants. What would the reaction to such an incident be by their respective ministries or departments? You would imagine that there would be a full investigation and the law enforcement officials would be on top of such an incident, if it were ever allowed to happen in the first place? Would you not?

Clearly Ukraine operates under some very different rules of conduct, and those who have been following my commentary are probably becoming aware of this if they were not already aware of it.

But what did Ukraine experience? Not much. The current Minister of Defense Mykhaylo Yezhel held a press conference where the typical double-speak was employed, though to this day nothing in terms of the attack on General Mozharovsky has been published on the Ministry of Defense news portal. As one of the commentators of the event, a military reservist, who brought my attention to this matter, reserve Colonel Viktor Tymoshenko, reported in UNIAN, Yezhel did very little except in the words of Tymoshenko: “We found out that the state of mind of the first person of the nation responsible for military affairs was to save his own backside.”

It seems that the most important thing that Yezhel said was, “There were no working documents in his satchel.”

Tymoshenko goes on further to question the same things that anyone else would question, particularly anyone with some degree of professionalism. Why on earth has nothing been publicly undertaken?

The answer is very simple. The level of professionalism that exists at all levels of Ukrainian government at this time is laughable. Those in positions of power are a bunch of kids playing in a sandbox, and to add they are bandits with no understanding between “right and wrong”.

As Tymoshenko states in his report in UNIAN, the army as a political institution is losing its' voice. So who controls the Ukrainian army now? Is it the people who they are supposed to serve or the bandits that who have come into power? If they are for the people, those in control as well as all who have taken an oath to serving the country should get to the bottom of this incident as quickly as possible.

If the army is really serving the interests of the nation, then why do his fellow officers and individual soldiers allow such as this to happen. Clearly, if one has a general who may be carrying “secrets in the interest of the nation” then such an individual should be appointed the appropriate security.

Once again, Ukraine, or at least its officials show that they are nothing but two-bit crooks trying to run a nation, a nation and people that are not just geographically located in Europe.