uaMuzik

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.

Bravo "Le Figaro"! Not so fast!

2011-09-14T20:32:00.004+03:00

When a government official from any country gives an interview to an international publication one would expect that they maintain certain standards or normalcy. However, as I have mentioned before, the current regime in Ukraine are nothing but bandits who play by their own set of rules, because for them the only thing that is important is to win the game. How they win is not important to them. Fair play doesn't exist in their rule book. They have no qualms about paying off a referee, putting their opponents on the sidelines by physically injuring them, or bad mouthing them without substantiated facts. Team Donetsk now is putting their best striker forward in order to try to score some goals in the international media arena, where they are very well aware that the audience is the diplomatic corps and movers and shakers in the countries of the Francophone world.

When I read the interview with Prime Minister of Ukraine Mykola Azarov in Le Figaro I felt that not only was the normalcy lacking but that Azarov, was following in the footsteps of likes of Romanian footballer Adrian Mutu and former President Aziz Yildirim of the Fenerbahce Football Club and decided to play according to his own set of rules in dealing with Yulia Tymoshenko, the Ukrainian people and the international media. In short he told a number of lies with the intention of obfuscating the facts.

The first thing that struck me was the title of the interview drawn from the interview by the author or editor to catch their readers' attention – bravo Le Figaro you did your job; I'm certain you caught the attention of many! The title read: Azarov: “Tymoshenko is a woman of the past!”

If Ms. Tymoshenko is a woman of the past, then striker Azarov must be from somewhere in the middle ages, where lawlessness and the absolute power of those who were ruling was quite common.

Has the world forgotten how he, striker Azarov, as Ukraine's head tax man from 1996 through to 2002 used his position of power to curb press freedom in Ukraine? He may have very little influence over the foreign media to the level he did over media during his eight year reign as Ukraine's version of the Sheriff of Nottingham; though, what stops a man with not even an iota of moral fabric, from telling outright lies to the foreign media. Clearly, nothing at all!

His first lie to Le Figaro, destined to a foreign audience was that “In 2009, Yulia Tymoshenko signed a one on one agreement with Russian Prime Minister Valdimir Putin...and to do so she falsified do so she falsified documents. This agreement did not receive approval of the cabinet of the government nor of the national gas company Naftogaz.” While those at Le Figaro did a great job at catching their audience's attention, and got a “bravo” Monsieur Pierre Avril, and his editor score low, regarding maintaining integrity of their publication by not verifying facts presented to them by a man representing a government that has done nothing positive regarding press freedom.

On January 11, 2009 Naftogaz was given signatory powers regarding the purchasing of gas from Gazprom and on January 21, 2009 Ihor Didenko, Deputy Director of Naftogaz stated that he agreed with Prime Minister Tymoshenko regarding the price of gas and that he considered the agreement between Naftogaz and Gazprom “to be a victory for Ukraine and common sense thinking in Ukraine.”

Further in the interview, striker Azarov with great skill, once again using his head, deflects a second ball coming his way. That ball was in the form of the following statement by Monsieur Avril: “You yourself accuse Tymoshenko before she has finally been judged. You may be criticized for wanting to influence the course of justice ...” However, when someone of a ministerial level even utters an answer that starts with the phrase: “In this case, everyone has the right to violate laws.” I begin to think where this man is coming from.

I don't believe there is any civilized democracy where civil or human rights that allow one to violate laws. One may be a dissenter of laws, and have the right to gather and to protest things one may not be in agreement with, but we have all seen how the current regime deals with dissent.

If Mutu was ordered to pay €17,173,990 to his former club Chelsea by FIFA for breach of contract and Yildirim was arrested on charges of match fixing in the world of football, then it is high time that the world community start to issue suspensions aimed at the on pitch hooligans of Ukraine's fragile democracy.

Vasyl Pawlowsky
Independent Consultant

Special Ops? Who is she trying to kid?

2011-09-12T13:11:00.002+03:00

When something goes wrong it seems that most Ukrainian public officials always try to find someone else to blame, and this in most cases, is due to one or two factors: The first being their pompousness and the second being their incredibly low level of professionalism, and I mean professionalism in all of aspects, one of which is moral.

When Ukraine's Presidential Administration was contacted regarding the issue of plagiarism in the incumbent “President's” book Opportunity Ukraine by many Ukrainian journalists trying to get to the bottom of the matter, it seemed like its spokes people would be mum on the issue. However, it didn't take long for Hanna Herman to break her silence, though not by offering an explanation, but by launching an assault on the journalists of Ukrainska Pravda who broke the story of about Ukraine's latest plagiarist and absurdist.

Not only did she launch an attract against journalists of Ukrainska Pravda, there were other media, agencies which, most likely due to pressure from the current regime, committed some of the big Public Relations gaffes in the light of this poorly thought out communications project.

The first of these was pointed out by one of the UP journalists who broke the story of plagiarism within Opportunity Ukraine when he brought it to his readers' attention that the TCH the news program of the 1+1 TV station had deleted a report on the plagiarism of the president and his highly paid professionals. According to Mickie Kennedy, founder of eReleases notes in his article “You Can’t Just Delete Online PR Gaffes” one should never delete PR Gaffes.

Secondly, don’t deny it. “Just apologize quickly and move on,” states Kennedy. So what does our legend in her own mind and the mind of those she works for do, she denies it, and goes one step further, she takes a stab at the Fourth Estate in society. Unlike Bohateryova who seemed to not “stress too much. [because] these types of stories tend to have very short self lives,” based not only of the advice of Kennedy but any PR professional. Bohateryova, or her speech writers, clearly lifted the words of Steve Jobs for her own purpose and remained as silent as a single butterfly in the night sky.

Herman, in her attack on one of the journalists, stated on her blog, “The absurdity of accusing someone for every paragraph in a so called “investigation” presented on UP … I have come to the conclusion...that this is a strike against me.” Yes, Ms. Herman apparently it is a strike against you and your lack of morality and respect for intellectual property, not to mention that it is impossible that the incumbent President is capable on his own of drafting anything close to what was lifted from the works of others. As some journalists have already stated, when he shows up with a package of papers in his own hand writing as the manuscript for the book, then maybe the civilized world will understand.

But what really took the cake in Ms. “Double-Speak” Herman, was the following phrase. “I am convinced, that for this special operation, serious strength was put behind it” and further states that a fair amount of monies were spent for such “disinformation” Ms. Herman, who are you trying to fool? Your financiers? It is clear in my eyes that you have become a pig at the trough of those with a lot of money, and you don't want to stop your feeding frenzy. Everything is very simple, not citing sources in any publication and passing it off as your own is a punishable offense in any civilized country.

Oh, I must apologize, not to you or the regime, but to those who respect the Rule of Law. You and all the other sold out cronies, can do anything you wish. The special operation that you speak of could only have been carried out by you personally, maybe you wanted to discredit the incumbent president and find favor with someone who would pay you more. We all know that THEY have no problem of bumping off their own when the time is right.

A twenty-first century theater of the absurd

2011-09-08T13:05:00.004+03:00

While many absurdists, who were developing the theater of the absurd during the last century, were born in France, Ukraine's top absurdist of the twenty-first century was born in the village of Zhukovka near Yenakiieve in Donetsk Oblast. His acting career began at an early age when he had difficulties with the stage performer's regulatory guild, better known at that time as the law enforcement authorities. While still an understudy he was taken off the stage of life for a period of three years for robbery and minor assault. When he returned to the stage he once again ran amok and was suspended for another two years for assault.

As our hero tried to find his way he was assigned a mentor, with very close ties to Moscow, commandant of the “Soyuz 3” mission, Georgy Beregovoy who was clearly not a space cadet, but a man with credentials, and someone that had the full trust of Moscow. It is certain; that Moscow knows all there is to know about our hero.

Though he is not the only one they know everything about. There are plenty others on the stage in his land. It has been with the blessing of Moscow that they were able to not simply be actors, but savvy businessmen. At first, they played roles necessary for the system to continue to function as it always had in the past, but eventually there was a curtain call and the world was introduced to them after they had taken control of the stage material's guild and all its assets. These were primarily cheap rags, and not extremely valuable assets on their own and included materials such as carbon, iron, and other raw materials of the stage; but they also acquired the costumers' workshops which transformed these rags into elegant costumes which could be sold on the world market, for extremely high profits. However, for them to continue to make money hand over fist they need inexpensive gas. His land has gas for the commoners.

Some of the actor's names who performed and continue to perform on the stage in his land have all been anointed by Moscow: Renat Akhmetov, Dmytro Firtash, Yura “Yenakievskiy”, Ihor Kolymoyskiy, Victor Medvechuk, Victor Pinchuk, the Surkis brothers, Serhiy Tyhipko and so many others. There were once many more of them, though only the most talented, and with the drive to get ahead still exist today, while complying with all the regulations set out by the Moscow actor's union.

Some of the understudies were at one time considered progressive NGO leaders, others were presented as new and up and coming rising stars, and continue to be put forth by those who are probably thinking that maybe they were mistaken in backing this actor’s career.

Our hero and his circus of clowns have been holding the Gas Princess in a dungeon of late and long ago decided that she overstepped her bounds in coming to an agreement with the Moscow Gas Guild in 2009. She actually saved face for her land as the lands to the west began to freeze. The scabs have disregarded all the international actor's unions’ regulations, and are not allowing for proper process for her to defend herself with her agents, in the Cave's District Hall of Sentencing. This has drawn the ire of many actors on the world stage.

In a performance held at the Dushanbe Guild Leader’s Summit on September 5, 2011, our hero took things to a new level.

He decided that he had to really act well, and he put on a stellar performance for the people of his land. Though due to his pompousness, he might as well have been standing there in new clothes fit for a king, because everyone knows where his true loyalties lie. He spewed off such a tirade of anti-Russian rhetoric, that it is hard to take him seriously. Particularly on the backdrop of many factors: who he is and what Moscow knows about him; that he was once bowled over by the egg of a chicken; that he and his followers have disrespected the actors unions’ rules by attacking the Gas Princess; and given that Messrs. Medvedev and Putin have garnered greater respect than he has on the world stage – the threats of taking legal action against them in the land to the west, warrant calling him the nation's top absurdist, and not much more.

For a more academic understanding of our hero's fine monologue on September 5, 2011 may I refer you to Flawed Strategy by Dr Andrew Zhalko-Tytarenko and Walter Derzko at SmartEconomy.

Vasyl Pawlowsky
Independent Consultant

A vindictive form of justice

2011-09-06T19:03:00.001+03:00

The lack of an independent judiciary in Ukraine prevents it from becoming part of the civilized world, undermines the principles of Ukraine’s Constitution, and the most basic rights and freedoms which it is supposed to guarantee. The lawlessness of the current regime is nothing more than a vendetta against those who were trying to bring some law and order to what is still a fledgling and now very fragile democracy.

In the spring of 2007 Ukraine together with Poland were awarded to host the Euro-2012 Football Championships, which seemed like a great victory at the time; however, anyone who has been following things since then understands very well that things are far from as smooth as “officials” are making them out to be.

European sources have stated that the reconstruction of the “Olympic” stadium in Kyiv is probably one of the most expensive construction projects in Europe at the given time. On more than one occasion workers on the Lviv Stadium, have gone without receiving their pay. In fact, in one case the company KomfortBud was restructured and renamed and workers not paid four months of salaries, which to this day they still have not received. Just one of the ways of a few pocketing money for themselves. Not to mention the clearly falsified tender for the building of the new L’viv stadium has probably cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars.

It is no secret that Deputy Prime Minister Borys Kolesnikov who is responsible for infrastructure projects was somehow tied into matters of the reconstruction of the Olympic Stadium, and clearly in conflict of interest. While he conveniently extricated himself from the company involved, it would be naïve for anyone to think he is still not personally benefiting from that business project.

When Yuri Lutsenko was the country’s “top cop”, Kolesnikov, who had openly called for the separation of the Donbas from Ukraine, as well as former Kharkiv Governor, Yevhen Kushnaryov, had been detained during ongoing investigations; Kushnaryov was the only non-Donetsk politician who also held high office in the Party of Regions, and died on January 17, 2007 under suspect conditions in a hunting accident. Some analysts have openly stated that Kushnaryov was an expendable body in the Party of Regions. In addition under the instigation of Lutsenko investigations were carried out on many Donetsk-based businesses and politicians, including Rinat Akhmetov’s SCM.

In Lviv the administration is also not as squeaky clean as its Mayor Andriy Sadovy so often likes to portray to the media and the city’s citizens.

In June of 2010, a criminal case was opened against Deputy Mayor of Lviv, Oleh Synyutka, who is responsible for infrastructure development in the city, for the inappropriate use of the municipal budget to the tune of UAH 8,681,617, just over one million USD. In comparison the arrest of Lutsenko and charges brought against him are sadly comical; like a beach bully kicking sand in the faces of those he disrespects.

The numbers speak for themselves and with Donetsk interests continuously growing in Lviv, due to the bedfellows that the city’s leadership keeps, the most corrupt will go unpunished. Lutsenko if not released for treatment could die, and Tymoshenko will be meted out a sentence, by a politically appointed “judge”, decided long before proceedings were started against her.

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.

Vasyl Pawlowsky
Independent Consultant

This opinion was published earlier on Ukraine Business Online.

Ghost writers, plagiarism and “Opportunity Ukraine”

2011-09-05T06:33:00.000+03:00

With the recent appearance of a book entitled Opportunity Ukraine, apparently penned by Ukraine's current President Viktor Yanukovych, one thing is clear. Ukraine has in its core changed very little since Soviet times. The mindset set of copying someone else's creative work and passing their work off as one's own work remains deeply entrenched.

It is completely normal for a leader of any country to want to present a positive image of their country; however, Ukraine's image is not at all enhanced with the appearance of such a publication. Particularly in the eyes of astute individuals, and journalists in Ukraine who have picked up the fact that this book is nothing but plagiarism.

While this is important, there are a few other things that most would never even think of that are just as important.

Does anyone honestly think that Ukraine's incumbent president is capable of putting pen to paper, and actually writing? Let alone an entire book? If there is anyone out there who thinks so consider the following few points, and then consider if this was in fact possible. But on the lighter side, let’s not forget that for the current powers that be, it’s all a show! They really think it is Hollywood. They saw it in the movies, and usually B-Movies of the gangster genre, on the way they should present themselves and behave.

Firstly, and without even considering his questionable past, it is fact that individuals who occupied the positions which Viktor Fedorovych has held seldom wrote anything, they had minions who would do that 'dirty work' work for them. This was the way the system functioned, and to quite a great degree still functions today. Not that it is much different in many big bureaucracies in western democracies, but for the most part the mentality of understanding creative and intellectual property is well entrenched, and it is not uncommon that many politicians use their staff and even ghost writers in order put forth their own ideas.

Secondly, the book “Opportunity Ukraine” was published in English by Mandelbaum Verlag out of Vienna, Austria, a publisher that publishes primarily in German, with less than a handful of titles in English. In trying to present Ukraine in a positive light, would not one want to publish with a reputable English language publisher? But then again, most reputable publishers would want to stay as far away from plagiarism as possible. This was a simple business transaction, we pay you, and you print it.

Thirdly, the book's plug on the publisher's page states the book “is not a memoir. It is a manifesto of deep belief in one's motherland” and then later goes on to state:”This is a practical guide for prospective investors! Naturally, those who come to Ukraine first will reap the most benefits.” Unless it suggests on how to cuddle up with the oligarchs, how can anyone take these sales pitches serious, in a country where Rule of Law is ignored and handful of wealthy individuals, who have no scruples in using any means necessary to achieve their riches are the ones who are really in charge. Yes, those that were in Ukraine first have reaped the benefits, but that was primarily an inside job.

Ukrainians no doubt are viewing this publication with extreme skepticism. Are the ghost writers happy with their final product, maybe they weren't paid enough to disparage the work of its clearly plagiarized passages or at least to follow normal civilized norms of citing sources? Though most likely they see nothing wrong with the practice of plagiarism!

This is not the first time that highly placed public officials have tried passing the words of others off as their own. Not one of them has even been held accountable for their actions. Ukraine truly has potential, but until, such simple things such as intellectual property are not respected, how can one expect the nation to flourish and prosper.

Vasyl Pawlowsky
Independent Consultant

Capable of leadership or just another political project?

2011-09-03T19:13:00.002+03:00

As the current regime has clearly decided that they will not only pass judgment but will determine what the former Prime Minister, Yulia Tymoshenko's, sentence will be in the nearest future, there has been a great deal of speculation of who will be the opposition.

At this point the spin doctors of the project that has been an ongoing on for the entire period of Ukraine’s “independence” seem to be ready to capture the hearts and mind of the readers of the Ukrainska Pravda website. From an authoritative source, I can state without a doubt that “nothing else matters!” If it comes out on Ukrainska Pravda that is the only exit point that is really important. From there in gets redistributed in various formats, be it electronic, print or other means of broadcasting, very often without reference to the source.

Right now those same spin doctors are trying to position Arseniy Yatsenyuk as a possible oppositional candidate to the current regime of Viktor Yanukovych, the current President of Ukraine, and those who live by his rules of conduct.

They state that there is a campaign called for the “Front of Change” which appears to be headed by Party of Regions, financier, Rinat Akmetov and is in fact is a project of David Zhvania, who former President Yushchenko even implicated in his dioxin poisoning, even though Zhvnaia is the godfather of one of Yushchenko's children.

Now who in their normal minds could consider this to be anything more than a political front -- same money and same people?

All this aside, besides where the money could be coming from? Why would Akmetov try to shoot himself and those he is clearly sleeping with, in the foot? Clearly, once again it is the divide and conquer strategy.

Regardless, who is Arseniy Yatsenyuk? I my mind, he is simply another political project. Much along the ilk of Kravchuk, Kuchma and Yushchenko by those who want to make Ukraine their economic haven and zone of plunder.

He is not a leader, but someone who is accountable to his financiers. While, Yulia may have ghosts in her closet, everyone knows this. Yatsenyuk is far from Yulia's stature in charisma, knowledge or independence and values. While his spin doctors have tried to position him in the past as pro-Ukrainian, he does not measure up to the stature of Yulia Tymoshenko on many different levels.

The choice of his career, in my opinion had very little to do with his interest in legal matters, but rather, as a method of being a part of the old Soviet nomenclature. Hailing from Chernivtsi where there was quite an active pro-Ukrainian student movement when he was studying; he chose not to be involved, hence I have every reason to question his pro-Ukrainian sentiment, as should everyone else.

Like many of the Komsomol ilk, he chose a career that was planned for him, planned and laid out in a manner of which those of the communist ilk could all return to power and subdivide the country.

Yatsenyuk is clearly not leadership material for the Ukrainian nation. Maybe as part of the politico-economic project called Ukraine, however, not for the good of the common Ukrainian people.

Vasyl Pawlowsky
Independent Consultant

In Defense of the Ukrainian People

2011-09-02T12:47:00.000+03:00

The kangaroo courts which are trying both former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and former Minister of the Interior Yuriy Lutsenko, not to mention many other Ukrainians, from students to pensioners is clearly in criminal defiance of the Rule of Law.

At the current time there is no doubt in my mind that the regime in power has no interest in the benefit of the nation it "rules with an iron fist" or its people.

Today it became clearer than the light of day that the current regime is trying to physically destroy both Yuriy Lutsentko and Yulia Tymoshenko – in short to kill them.

Yuriy Lutsenko's health is rapidly deteriorating and has been on a rapid decline since the month of May, he has been diagnosed with sclerosis of the liver, for which he requires immediate treatment. This recommended treatment by officials of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine has been denied by “judge” Boyko.

This in itself shows the criminality and disrespect for the Rule of Law by the current regime, and it is clear to me that the current regime understands that it is much simpler if Yuri Lutsenko dies while in custody, than to actually pass any type of judgment on him. Its analysts are counting on the economic problems globally, and even more so in Europe, and the passive stupor that the Ukrainian people have been put into, due to their many foul tactics to ensure that day comes as soon as possible.

Why are they treating him this way? Simple, they operate “beyond the boundaries of any written or unwritten laws.” For them, it is probably simply payback for any of the cases which Lutsenko as Minister of the Interior had interfered with their business. Their disrespect for human life and their attitudes towards “law abiding” and “normal” Ukrainians is clear. It is an “US vs THEM” mentality.

Yulia Tymoshenko, while not in such a dire state of health is being driven down that same road.

At the current time the only option that exists in terms of leadership in the country is Yulia Tymoshenko. She has taken the burden of standing up for what is right and what is wrong in the country, and the case against her. There are few individuals in Ukraine, who can, and will at this point, stand up for the country and all of its people, their dignity and their rights.

The clan and bandit mentality of the current regime with its own personal business interests in mind, which come before those of the country are evident. While political capture has long been an issue amongst political analysts of Ukraine, and countries strongly rooted in democratic principles who have tried to assist Ukraine over the last twenty years; it must be understood that the hunt to capture Ukraine started even before its independence twenty short years ago. It came to its culmination with the inauguration of the country's fourth President.

Ukrainians both in Ukraine and in the Diaspora must get it through their heads that Yulia Tymoshenko, at this point, is the only capable individual in the country with the skills, intellect and testes to do what is necessary and bring some order to the current state of affairs in Ukraine, and the riffraff which governs by the rules which only THEY understand.

Those who are now in power very well understood the maxim of “divide and conquer”. It is time for the people of Ukraine to take back what is rightfully and morally theirs. They have to bury their differences and unite behind someone capable and who has shown in many instances she is willing to bare the burden against her current political foes that morally stand on a different side of the fence than US good people.

Vasyl Pawlowsky
Independent Consultant

More Damage Than Good

2011-09-02T03:01:00.002+03:00

Clearly there are times when people chose to speak out in opposition to an event or action, or in defense of someone or something that is important to them. Yesterday was such a case when a number of well know international political leaders and intellectuals which included Vaclav Havel, Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg, the Tibetan Dalai Lama, Desmond Tutu, former German president Richard von Weizsaecker, Jordan Prince Hassan bin Talal and French philosopher Andre Glucksmann and others published a letter on the Project Syndicate site entitled Ukraine Loses Its Way.

However, Ukraine has more than lost its way, many who follow Ukrainian matters, including many journalists in Ukraine are as lost about what is going on, and as I have stated in a earlier blog post, it is better that they say nothing than play into the hands of the current criminal and anti-Ukrainian regime which has overtaken the country.

Today I received an e-mail from Myron Petriw, the author of Yaroslav's Treasure. I'm fine with being on his e-mail list, but what I am really annoyed with is that Mr. Petriw is extremely misguided and that today his little missive plays right into the hands of today's bandits that run the politico-economic project of a nation which is called Ukraine.

In forwarding an article which appeared in Ukrainska Pravada which sites a statement from the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in defense of ex-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, the of core which stated: “We proceed from the fact that the trial of Yulia Tymoshenko must be fair and impartial, and that it meet all requirements of Ukrainian legislation in ensuring the protection and opportunities to observe basic humanitarian norms and rules.”

Today his two cents stated the following and I quote:”Medvedev and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Muscovy protect Yulia. Well aware that the dock is not only for Julia but for Putin and Muscovy.”

Mr. Petriw, the use of such terminology not only takes many Ukrainians, including friends and the families of many friends I have around the globe who still live in Ukraine a step back to the times of serfdom in Ukraine. For you to make such an misguided and insolent comment and distribute it amongst your mailing list in the Ukrainian community is a travesty. You like so many other “Ukrainian patriots” have lost touch with the realities of not only Ukraine, a country which you no doubt care very much about, but the reality of the geopolitical clout which Russia as well as what has transpired during Ukraine's short twenty years of independence. It would be better if you and any others like you, keep your comments to yourselves, because you are doing more damage to Ukraine and its people than you can even imagine.

The clan of bandits which runs Ukraine right now is anti-everything of what most of those living in the West stand for. They waited for a long time to come to power, and now that they have it, they have gone crazy and are doing everything possible to destroy the human vestiges of what it is to be Ukrainian: its language, culture, morality and the goodness of Ukrainian people. They employ brutal methods which were not even seen during the last years of Soviet rule. In short they operate with a thug-criminal mentality as it is the only one they know. In this case the Russian word “бєспрєдєл” [bezprydyel] comes to mind, which means events which go beyond the boundaries of any written or unwritten laws.

Vasyl Pawlowsky
Independent Consultant

The City That Never Sleeps...

2011-08-24T05:59:00.003+03:00

Some time ago I discovered that my old friend Myroslav Levytsky had just put out a new CD. It in fact is only the second studio production that he has out, even though he has been around for some time. Fortunately enough, Myroslav and I are on great personal terms and he first sent me a number of tracks from the CD for a listen followed up by a signed copy for me personally and a limited number of personally initialled copies to be made available for those who want something different, for a price. We'll get to that a bit later.

Before I launch into reviewing this work, let me preface it by saying that I have known Myroslav for over ten years and have been involved in some of the collaboration he has done with the artists that appear on his latest release. I have written about Myros' here and will continue to do so as long as he continues to develop as an artists. He has always been, in my eyes, a musician's musician and is far from being in the mainstream, thus he has never had an easy row to hoe, but he ventures on and I have to give him credit for that in the very least.

Being a musician in any country is difficult, but being one in Ukraine where corruption is high, and intellectual property is something that is still not understood, after twenty years of the country's independence, makes things a little tougher than for most other artists, though regardless, Myroslav presses on. His gumption is something that admire, both as a musician and as a friend, and because of this I will digress.

Prior to the release of his first studio album Myroslav invited me out to his place near the Minsk metro station in Kyiv. I grabbed a Tetra-Pak® of pineapple juice I had in the fridge. I was living with a friend, his younger brother and their cousin. Myroslav had just received the master of that CD from BMG studios in Munich and he wanted to share it with me before they decided to putting it out.

As we listened to a copy of the master, Myroslav asked me where the juice was that I had brought. He poured us each a glass, and we looked at each other strangely. Not only were IP rights being violated, but so were consumer rights. We looked at our glasses, this stuff was practically water. A number of years later I found out from, directly from my friend's younger brother that he had spent an hour, extracting the pineapple juice from the Tetra-Pak® with a syringe and then re-injecting it with water. Kids – Sashko... you know I know that you did this, and some day you will pay! Just kidding. While our pineapple juice wasn't that sweet. Myroslav's tracks back then were, and I am pleased to say that the tracks on his latest release are also sweet. So without further delay, let me get to this new CD of Braty Bluzu featuring a great acquaintance of mine from Vienna Rens Newland.

Now, unlike so many others, I will get into a track by track review of this latest album by Braty Bluzu, and it's composer Myroslav Levytsky. Maybe I will finish writing this by midnight. It's nearly 20:00 now.

First of all I would like to say that I was pleased to see that the “jewel box” is going the way of the dinosaur, I hope. This CD is in a nicely packaged soft triple-fold package.. The art work on its exterior finely coincides with the title of the work . Who knows, maybe artwork on CD covers will be as coveted as those of our love vinyl albums we had in the past!

Now let's get to the nitty gritty.

No, wait! I have to say one other thing before getting into the music stuff. Rens Newland who is featured on all the guitar work here, recorded it at his studio on Vienna, so this is truly an international album, virtually, “Music Without Borders”!

So now let's get into a track by track run down of The City that Never Sleeps.

Damn it, my controller has died... No super small batteries for it at the moment...Seems to me I will reviewing this on cruddy headphones, as opposed to nice JBL-L19 studio monitors.

Well here we go!

The first track which is called “Intro” features the voice of yet unknown star Romchyk Vintersky, the young son of the band's drummer. It is clearly an atmospheric piece and for the most part sets up positive atmosphere of what awaits us. Who can resist the babble of a young child. Though this is not the only voice one will hear on this primarily instrumental album.

The second tracked called “Sky Coloured Blue Eyes”, features the colourful Oleh Levytsky on sax. While not a blustering Gerry Raferty style, Oleh can hold his own, and the tune has a very positive demeanour to it. Rens Newland first appears here on this album, and, clearly his years of experience are clearly heard. Did I not mention this is a musician's CD.

The third track called “World”, is oddly enough aptly entitled. We are not really sure what is going on now, and the beat set up and the violin, by Zakhar Valaha, son of the bands deceased violinist Andriy Valaha, gives us a sense of uncertainty, while at the same time some extremely positive energy. Ten years ago I spent some time living at Andriy Valaha's in Kalush Ukraine. After the Chervona Ruta Festival in $$$ Andriy suffered an aneurysm in his late twenties. He was a tenacious son of a gun, and I met his son Zakhar, who is clearly carrying on his father's legacy with Braty Bluzu.

Oh, sorry for the digression.. It is extremely clear that Oleh also puts his lips to the reed and blows out some great sax on this track, filled with the energy that our world now needs.

Now we move on to track number four, which can be considered the title track. The clearly electronically generated back beat to the entire tune, in my mind, shows the development of Levytsky in accepting new trends This is most likely the influence of his drummer Andriy Vintserskiy, though this in no way distracts from the composition. In fact the entire album was mixed at Vin Records, Andriy's studio in Kyiv. Oleh Levytsky's sax here is no less prevalent than in other tracks...

Now talking about sax! Clearly, Myroslav has employed his brother's abilities on the fifth track with out end. I will tell you my dear reader, there were probably a few nights that I awoke and knew Myroslav was working on this track entitled “Jazz – Ballet on the Themes of Short Stories by William Shakespeare”. Now, I'm not really certain how may short stories old Willy wrote... But if looking for a name for a song, Myroslav picked a good one here. Newland clearly weaves a fine tapestry in the tale with his guitar work and arrangements. A consummate professional!

The sixth track is in fact for me something special. Sure you all ask, “why?” Well it is a track that I was present at during its first creation between Myroslav and Rens. It was the end of June ten years ago. We had just completed the first collaboration between Myroslav Levytsky, Rens Newland and Lionel Lodge in Linz Austria as a project called “Music Without Borders” Rens had stated he had a few hours to sit down with Myroslav to record something if he desired. I was the medium. Myroslav spoke no English. After four hours, we had a piece. Rens turned to Myrsolav and asked, “What are you going to call your composition?” Myroslav looked out the window of Rens' studio.. and replied in Ukrainian, “ Videnskiy Lis” - Vienna Woods... The song has taken on many transformations in the last ten years, but I can listen to it over and over again, as it brings back some very positive memories of my time in Vienna with Myroslav and the guys he had pulled together for that project. “Vienna Woods” was an extremely pastoral piece when it was conceived, and has grown over its ten year existence.

The seventh track “Father and Son” probably has more meaning that I could even express here in this simple babbling about Myroslav's CD. I'm not going into why this is the case, though there is such a positive feel t this track that I would recommend it as a listen to any father who has a son. The light nuances of piano and guitar make it an extremely positive track. It almost becomes a discourse between two individuals, in this case , Rens Newland on guitar and Myroslav Levytsky on keyboards.

“With You”, now who would that be? I sometimes wonder myself, though I don't have to wonder much. The ultimately positive track right from the beginning even sounds like the words “With You”! If you have made it this far and haven't given up, you will clearly understand that this is a music lover's CD and not something for someone who hasn't the foggiest. Enjoy Oleh's sax here... it is a total sax chill. Wow I even heard some nice bass lines by Vitaliy Savenko on this piece.

Vitaliy and I go back a number of years... and I never expected him to be working with Myroslav when I met him at the “Cowboy Club” in Kyiv, playing bass with “Gaytana” covering a bunch of cover tracks. But I always enjoyed talking to him about music and life in general.

Goodness, only three more tracks to go! Yes, folks I am actually listening to this CD track by track and it is about the thirtieth time and I know I will listen to it many times more.

While “Two Evenings With Love” starts off in a very mellow state, don't be fooled. The interplay between the sax of Oleh and the guitar of Rens, boils into a frenzy that is clearly some hot stuff in the middle of a hot summer night. Slowly subsiding to a relaxed tempo of post coitus and then ... well you will have to listen to it if you want to understand what I mean....

When I was growing up I used to go picking mushrooms, and many other things that nature gifted to us. And I often heard from people in our community, if you don't want to get “Lost in the Forest” take my father along. We never got lost in the forest,. This along with the first track of the album is the only one which features “voice”. I would call it extremely experimental for this day and age. Why? Because I would say that most individuals are not ready for such a mix. Well maybe not most, but those who listen to mainstream, definitely. This piece features the haunting voices of a group called “Drevo” and I am almost tempted to give them the line: “We are not men we are Drevo”.

Finally we are getting to the end of my track-by-track review... Some are probably happy, others are most likely indifferent.

Now what could a track like “Rock – Jazz” mean to anyone? Clearly a fusion of both...

All compositions of this CD are of my good friend and former roommate Myroslav Levytsky, the album was published by Jive Music in Vienna Austria.

If you just need something to listen to, with all the crazy lyrics to boggle your mind you can pick up a copy of this CD initialed by Myroslav himself if you are in North America. Copies are limited, but you will have to drop me an e-mail and I will tell you how we can go about this. Once, I am out of copies you will have to deal with Jive Music in Vienna.

Twenty Years Later.. so what is up?

2011-08-20T01:52:00.005+03:00

So may I ask you dear readers, if there are any, what your day comprised of twenty years ago today? Well let me just start with the following: I had spent a month in a van with four student leaders from Ukraine. I may have very well mentioned that month-long journey here earlier.

We had arrived at my home in Lachine at about four in the morning. The five of us were all tired, to say the least from such a sojourn. Students from Ukraine had a unique opportunity to understand the vastness of Canada. Between Toronto and Montreal we stopped to visit an old high school friend of mine who managed the local Howard Johnson's in Kingston Ontario. He remarked on the condition of our Chevy Lumina – primarily the broken back window. “Oh that happened when we stayed at Jeff's in Greek-town in T.O. I said. His free fill ups of coffee were welcome by the entire group.

I had to return the rental vehicle for ten in the morning, so I did get to manage a few hours sleep. When I did awake I knew I had to run around he corner to the convenience store to pick up some “super glue” the three dollar expense would probably save me the additional cost of a seventy to one-hundred dollar fee for the broken ashtray in the said vehicle.

As I headed out, as my guests still slept, I was greeted by my neighbor, Mark, holding the morning copy of the local daily newspaper.

He says to me, “Bill, do you see what is going on in Russia?”

I grabbed the paper from him, it was still early, I read the headline. I some way the following days were simply but dramatically changed due to the events in Moscow. There had been an attempted coup.

“Mark, let me take this, I'll give it back to you later,” I said. And ran the twenty meters or so to tell my fellow student friends of the events that were transpiring.

Just remember, all of them: Andriy Vynnychuk, Orest Vasyltsiv, Yuriy Zubko and Oleh Khavych were citizens of the Soviet Union; and all of a sudden that international entity was crumbling.

With the news of the events “at home” they all wanted to be able to talk to family members as well as members of their student organizations to understand the complexity of the problem.

For any of you that remember what the Soviet Union was, making a call to Kyiv, Chernivtsi or L'viv meant going through an international operator and dealing with an international operator in Moscow, who may not be totally in favour of your call. In this political situation, no one or his dog had any luck getting through to Moscow. So we had to take a decision, which was extremely simple and facilitated by the people at Immigration Canada and the Department of Foreign Affairs of Canada that was having just as difficult of a time in understanding what was really going on USSR.

My first task after revealing the global news to my friend was to do some paint touch up, and fix the broken ashtray in the Lumina, hoping that “Rent a Wreck”, which it was not, would not charge me for the ashtray... Thank goodness the insurance stuff on the smashed rear window was accepted.

So twenty years ago today after retuning rented vehicle I had to run to extend the visa's of friends.

They all agreed that they had to extend their visa's but for how long was the question?

Clearly that was a history that only those close to could understand, but now I want to put forward a closer history. Where is Ukraine now and why?

While many followers of Ukraine like to consider matters that are going on in a a contemporary setting I think they should not. Why? For the very simple factor that Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union. The environment that it created for close connections amongst the young elite. This was very well illustrated in Christine Freeland's book called the “Sale of the Century” .

At the current time, twenty years after its declared independence, it sits at a very deep precipice. Clearly those how follow the “Rule of Law” and democratic issues will recognize this. However; the Ukrainian situation stems much deeper than many Westerner's think. It stems from the organizational structure that existed during the Soviet Union, and that there is no way of denying that such a structure still exists today. It would be much too simple to say that the whole of Ukrainian society was ready to embrace new democratic principles once they were out from under the yoke of the Soviet Union – they were part of a system, a system that they understood and would use to their full advantage.

Without understanding all these nuances, it is difficult to discern who is naughty or nice. Many individuals look at the events of Ukraine in a vacuum, it is not! All the political players at the current moment have some type of ties to a not so honest past, just as Yulia Tymoshenko, who has become the the target of the current regime.

If we were to be totally honest about the “rule of law” and individuals within the structures of control in Ukraine today, I could with quite a bit of confidence say that everyone one who is an owner of some type of business or institutional organization today, should be tried by the people.

Clearly, to anyone who follows matters, it was usurpation of power due to political prowess. Now if the Yanukovych regime wants to show that it is not being politically inclined, how about it goes after those who made money in the early to mid-nineties. There are probably very few public officials, who have been somehow elected, that were not involved in some type of illegal schemes as they rose to power. Encircling them like vultures, at least another twenty to thirty other individuals.

And now unfortunately, even when we have people like Stepan Khmara who spent a good period of his life in Soviet labour camps for the cause of Ukraine though why I wonder sometimes why he even gives interviews with local media that only use his words for the current regime.

You may wonder why I would say such a thing about Stepan Ilkovych, but it has become extremely clear to me over the last twenty years, that no one in power gives a rats ass about Ukraine. "Society is sick", if were are to think about the future of Ukraine. I don't know how sick Stepan Ilkovych realizes they are? They use his words of those who were once politically repressed such as Khmara and Chornovil who they killed, as mouth pieces for the greater world. If there are patriotic Ukrainians out there it is better that you keep your mouth's shut, or really know what to F* you are talking about. Because, my feeling is, is that you playing into the hands of the enemy.

The fact that the Gongadze murder trial was announced to be held in camera, is just another example of how those who are the Soviet ilk care about democracy and the Rule of Law.

It is a great deal more complicated than many think. I know the people, and I have dealt with one of those who know them at such a level as a friend and business partner.

While, Yulia Tymoshenko may have been guilty for a few infractions... Let's think about it. In all honesty.. Lustration to the full degree. We are probably talking about at lease half a million people here, and I would have no qualms about having them executed. They only have thought about themselves. Every single high level civil servant, every business person and all of their employees should be seeing their day in court. And I will not exclude the folks from those from Donetsk, Kyiv or Cyprus. Maybe the international community that cares about issues such as political capture and democracy should be targeting those off shore zones of the traitors of Ukraine.

I think Yulia has a mission, and while I only spoke to her once in my life. When I she seemed more sincere than most other political individuals I had spoken to.

While we must defend the rule of law... Let's put everything into context. For even the best analysts it is not easy to understand why we are where we are. But damn it. It is time for the common people to at least understand the historical context of why things are transpiring as they are.

Yulia Tymoshenko, may at one point have been part of the system, but I think there is a something a lot deeper than many have to understand.