Slava Ukraine!

Well dear readers, I have just spent some time reading articles about Ukraine on the Internet from various sources around the globe.  Most seem to be written by ethnic Ukrainians abroad completely rubbishing the country and in particular the current administration.

Now everyone has a point of view of course, and strangely all the articles rubbishing people and the nation are all opinion peices, selective in fact……if there is any fact at all……in these peices.

I feel it is time to put things into perspective from a long term westerner’s point of view living in Ukraine for many years now…….and under various political administrations.

Yes only half the country supports the current administration……but less than half the country supported the loser.  That is democracy.

Put into context, the last Labour Party victory in the UK in 2005 was achieved on a mere 35% of the vote.

Therefore more of the population support the current administration in Ukraine than has supported the UK administration since 2005. 

The wild claims of some expatriated ethnic Ukrainians in the press…….do editors not edit opinion peices for fact?……..that this is the most unpopular aministration in Europe are therefore statistically untrue by way of percentage or even head count of the populous.

To claim the Constitutional Court was bought off to overturn it’s previous ruling on the composition of government has so far been backed up by absolutely no evidence.  No nation or political block on the planet has expressed concerns over it and indeed are engaged with this government on bilateral issues daily.  If anyone is to blame for the ruling or accepting bribes then it is the judges of the Constitutional Court for they have to accept them…….if they were bribed at all.

The opposition have more than a few billionaires amongst their ranks who are more than capable of bribing the judges themselves.  There could have been a dutch auction for a judges vote but there is no such claims.

Please do not claim the previous administration was not corrupt.  I have lived here many years and done business with RADA MPs from PoR, BYuT and OU-PSD.  I can absolutely guarantee you that there is no difference whatsoever when doing business with any of them.

There is no point is screaming about an administration which has been in power for less than 6 months regarding promises yet to be fullfilled.  The ousted administration was in power for 5 years and it would be far quicker to list the promises it kept rather than those it broke.

Everyone agrees there needs to be reforms top to bottom and across almost every sphere of Ukrainian life……even the opposition say so.  That would be the same opposition, who were in power for 5 years and did not make those reforms I would add. 

Spin it how you like, but Yanukovych did well not only for himself but also for Ukraine in Washington.

Be very careful about citing nepotism and mafia rule in the halls of power.  There are numerous documented incidents of the past regime doing the exact same thing.  Look at historical posts in blogs like Ukrainiana and they are there to be seen.  Ukrainiana is at least equally scathing towards any administration in power.

The current administration will not be perfect just as the last administration was not.  Nobody is fool enough to believe otherwise, but consider Ukraine rather than the personalities involved.

That would be the Ukraine you state you love so dearly whilst writing about it from the USA, Canada and elsewhere and holding those nations citizenship not Ukrainian.

What image do you give of the nation? 

Are you trying to sabotage Yanukovych at the expense of the country, the people and businesses in it?

You paint a picture of a nation where nothing can be achieved, the people are oppressed and everyone lives in fear of the police.

It is simply not true on all three counts.

How about an opinion peice talking about the positives of Ukraine?  You can stay away from politics completely if you wish.  There are many positives to promote.  For a start, for a nation so corrupt and business unfriendly, Ukraine is a major exporter of food, coal, steel and metal products, chemicals and arms.  It is a major space launching nation cooperating with many nations in the field of space science.

The young people of Ukraine are some of the most gifted computer programmers I have ever met.

The vast majority of people here are extremely friendly and more than hospitable.

Not everyone who holds a position of power in business, the legal system or politics is corrupt.  Some are actually genuinely not on the take.  I know, I have met a few myself.

Not everything has stood still since independence in some form of Soviet time-warp.

How about, just for a while, doing those who share your ethnicity a favour, and bigging up Ukraine as a people and a nation……..even if you don’t like the current leadership!