The symbolic signing of nothing special

There is much to be said for symbolism.

It can be inspiring, it can be unifying, it can be a moment of hope or defiance that ignites the courage of others – in short, it can have impact.

It can also be completely empty of meaning, condescending, devoid of rationale and ultimately, pointless in the extreme.

And so, 18th May brought to an end the 2 month “Rise Ukraine” strategy of the United Opposition – Batkivshchyna, UDAR and Svoboda parties – in Kyiv.

After countless rallies in numerous (opposition friendly) cities drawing crowds of a few thousand people each time – worryingly low numbers if you are an opposition party leader to be blunt – the finale in Kyiv attracted a only few thousands people once again.

I would have expected for 10,000 – 15,000 after months of rallies leading up to a well publicised finale – and even that number would be disappointing.

All the issues I raised in the above link back in March have proven to come to fruition – not that it would take anybody with a modicum of common sense and even the most basic understanding of Ukrainian politics and society any effort to come to that same conclusion.

When adding all the reported attendance numbers from all the rallies over the past 2 months, it doesn’t even get close to the gate numbers of Manchester United playing an average team on a very wet and cold Tuesday night at Old Trafford.

To be quite honest I still have no idea why the opposition embarked on such a strategy that was so clearly doomed to failure.  I still cannot deduce why I was asked to “rise” over the past 2 months just to now sit back down again – possibly until October 2015 when the next presidential elections are due.

There has certainly been no impact or identifiable causal effect from the “Rise Ukraine” campaign, other than to identify just how few people the opposition parties have managed to turn out during this time.

Hmmm.

Anyway, back to today’s “Rise Ukraine” (anti)climax of the 2 month campaign, which saw the opposition party leaders sign a joint agreement in front of a pitiful crowd of about 4,ooo people relating to the presidential elections in 2015.

This agreement states that all opposition parties will support any opposition candidate that makes it to the second round of voting in the presidential elections.

That is a significant change in rhetoric from the past few months where is has been consistently claimed that a single nominee from the United Opposition would run.

Now it seems rather than a single opposition candidate to run against the current incumbent from the very beginning of any presidential election campaign (in the first round), the opposition leaders have failed (unsurprisingly) to agree on one of them running for the top job with the unified support of the others from the off.

Thus the plan after the least popular two have been eliminated in the first round of voting, leaving one to go head to head with Yanukovych, is to then unite behind their last man standing for the second round of voting.  A cozy little agreement granted – but will the opposition voters turn out in sufficient number in the second round to vote for a candidate that is not the man they voted for, not from a party they voted for, and does not share the same ideology as the man and party they voted for in the first round only a few weeks previously?

As Klitschko never seems to tire of saying, there are ideological differences between himself, Yatseniuk and Tyahnybok, and the parties they lead.  That is also true of their supporters differing ideologies.

Time will tell if opposition unification around a single presidential candidate after the first round of voting, rather than prior to any voting, will prove to be a sound strategy – I have serious doubts that it is a good strategy, although I also have serious doubts (at the time of writing), that Yatseniuk, Klitschko or Tyahnybok will beat Yanukovych anyway (even with full transparency and on a level playing field – which they may not get).

And so to the impact and underlying realities of the symbolic signing of the joint statement of opposition leaders,  pledging to support each – other only when they themselves have been eliminated from the presidential race.

The underlying  and sad reality is, there is little genuine unity amongst the opposition.  The impact of this agreement is almost zero, given that when all is said and done, ultimately, the public will be faced with the choice between Yanukovych or another in the second round of voting – opposition agreement or not.

* * * * *

On a completely different subject, there will probably be nothing from me tomorrow as I am doing something for the BBC – and their filming may take some time as I am not a great fan of being on camera, so single takes are very unlikely.   Thus I doubt I will have the time or interest to blog after being “Beeb’d” all day.

A mixed day for the Ukrainian Ministry of Health

A day of contrasts for the Ukrainian Ministry of Health on Wednesday – albeit one with symptoms that runs through the current government.

Firstly and in a move lauded by Human Rights Watch, the decision to approve easier access and dispensing of pain killing drugs such as morphine to terminally ill people was approved.

“This is a major advance, ensuring that Ukraine’s drug policy addresses the legitimate needs for medical opiates for pain relief.  Tens of thousands of patients who are in pain will benefit from this reform.” – Diederik Loham, Human Rights Watch

Some pain relief for a nation all too often decried for its human rights issues.

Thus it should have been a good day for those within the Health Ministry, and in particular the Health Minister Raisa Bogatyryova.

Raisa Bogatyryova

However whilst Human Rights Watch was quite properly lauding the aforementioned decision, the cancer called corruption, a systemic disease that cannot have the pain dulled by morphine, was simultaneously being called to account in relation to the Health Ministry by the RADA.

With the Communist Party unusually siding with the opposition, a vote was taken and passed to create a parliamentary committee and inquiry into corruption within the Health Ministry and opaque purchases of UAH 203.48 million of drugs from certain companies.

One has to strongly suspect that once the biopsy of the opaque drug purchases has been made, more than a hint of corruption will be found in the system of the Health Ministry.

The question then arises over whether the infected parts can or will be efficiently surgically removed and if so, whether remission will be a long lasting result.

Sadly, I fear not!

$40 Billion annual road maintenance budget – Ukraine

The current budget for road maintenance in Ukraine sits at $16.9 billion – which sounds, and indeed is, a lot of money – and yet the state of Ukrainian roads resembles something like those of Berlin circa 1945 after the 363 air raids to which it was subjected by bomber command.

As such, Vice Prime Minister Oleksandr Vilkul has made very forceful representations to increase the annual road maintenance budget to $40 billion – almost a 300% increase.

He also proposes to reorganise the accountability of those responsible for road maintenance.  In short, the 117.7 thousand kilometers of regional roads will become the personal responsibility of the heads of the regional state authorities – thus removing the involvement of Ukrautodor, the State agency responsible for road maintenance, leaving it responsible for a paltry 52 kilometers of State adopted roads.

Naturally there is an increased opportunity for either direct theft of funds, or cronyism and associated kick-backs, but there is also a very clear area of responsibility and indeed personal responsibility for road maintenance within the regions – which is a good thing.

Odessa, March 2013

The above is a rather extreme example of holes in the road in Odessa I will grant – most are only ankle deep, but there are so many ankle deep holes that the 1.5 million residents of Odessa could all put a foot in each hole and there would still be more holes than feet to put in them!

The question relating to the solid lobbying for such a massive increase in funding is really whether it has been worked out on a cost basis for maintenance alone – or whether there is a percentage included for the undoubted graft that will occur at regional level to be plundered for personal gain, and yet still provide a significant and noticeable difference to the quality of the regional road infrastructure.

With no noticeable improvements over the decade I have lived in Odessa at $16.9 billion annually – what improvements will $40 billion annually get me?

A positive outcome will only be forthcoming if some regional authority heads are suddenly lopped off should road quality remain exceptionally poor I suspect – but  I won’t hold my breath for that to happen!

Property prices – Ukraine

Every now and again I get a message from some readers who have a desire to relocate to Ukraine and I am frequently asked, amongst numerous questions, if I think the price of property will further fall or if it has plateaued.

It would seem that it is neither likely to drop any further nor remain stable.  Due to the increases in the cost of construction materials, it seems that property prices will rise between 6 – 10% in 2013.

Now you can stop asking me!

Счастливого Рождества

Government/local government hotlines – Ministry of Justice

Now it is not often I bother to visit the Ministry of Justice website, but the New Year is always a good time to do so as that is when many passed laws are always planned to come into force.

I was prompted to do so when I realised that the administrative changes to (unmoveable) property rights is now in effect and a hotline for concerned citizens introduced – Blimey!

Perhaps I should visit the Ministry of Justice website more often, as it does seem to be rather busy.

International collection of child support coming to Ukraine….maybe

Not a post that will please the absent parents in Ukraine failing in their obligations to support children and spouses they have left behind in other nations – but -

On 25th December Viktor Yanukovych submitted to the RADA bill Number 0010.  This bill is designed to ratify the International Recovery of Child Support and other forms of Family Maintenance.

Very good – unless you happen to be a parent/spouse indebted.

However, the explanatory note accompanying this bill, whilst necessarily recognising the decisions of foreign courts and their execution over recovery of funds in such matters, does not foresee any costs involved or shouldered by Ukraine.

So we have a proposed law agreeing to cooperate with other States over outstanding family maintenance with an agreement to assist in such legal execution of such foreign court decisions – and yet what appears to be no actual effective administrative method to do so when considering the explanatory note accompanying the proposed law states very clearly there will be no cost to the Ukrainian State – and any official spending any administrative time on such matters is naturally a cost to the Ukrainian budget.

It seems to be yet another “paper compliance” with no effective implementation strategy whatsoever.

Why am I not surprised?

It also seems quite ironic that Ukraine will ratify such a position when Ukraine cannot even enforce its own family court decisions over maintenance.

Sexually Transmitted Infections – Sex Workers Ukraine

Before I begin, I should make a declaration of (previous) interest.

No – I am not and never have been a sex worker in Ukraine!

I did, however, spend 8 years dealing with the issue of prostitution and all the surrounding issues in the 1990′s in the UK.  Over such a period of time, and witnessing closely, both the ups and downs of those I came to know very well during that time, attitudes if not changed, certainly become somewhat more understanding – or even mellow – depending upon individual circumstance.

The UN has just released its December 2012 “Prevention and treatment of HIV and other Sexually Transmitted Infections for Sex Workers in Low/Middle Income Countries Policy Brief” – a catchy title I’m sure you’ll agree.

It does not mention Ukraine specifically, but due to the huge variation in living standards here, it can be inferred that this report will apply to a large section (but not all) of the sex workers in Ukraine (and those trafficked out of, or via, Ukraine).

I have to state that I agree with all that is said in the UN policy brief, even the proposal to de-criminalise such work (which is not the same thing as legalising it).

However, in a country such as Ukraine, where under the Tymoshenko government pornography was banned – without defining what was to be classed as pornography and what was not (where would nude sculptures, classical paintings of nudes etc stand?), the pending homophobic laws under the current government et al,  then can we expect any such implementation of UN policy/domestic liberalisation here?

No.