A Lesson of History: From Sir Robert Walpole to President Victor Yanukovych

History can teach us really good lessons. For example, the British history can shed light on the current events in Ukraine and other former Soviet states.
So here is a tough question for you. What do Sir Robert Walpole (1676-1745) and President Yanukovych have in common? If your answer is political corruption, you are the history buff.

In the 18th century the House of Commons was useless link in the British government. The House of Commons stood aside doing nothing when the British government expenditure got out of control. The British National Debt experienced a ten-fold increase over the course of the 18th century.

While the British government was approaching the debt crisis, the government of Sir Robert Walpole, First Lord of the Treasury and the de facto first British Prime Minister (1721-1742), went in all history textbooks as the "government by corruption". Walpole who was the Crown's favorite manipulated individual members of the parliament and the aristocratic groups to wield control over parliamentary nomination. He bought and sold seats in the British parliament. The parliamentary members also received bribes for their votes. The legislative branch of the British government became a commodity that was sold and bought. Does it sound familiar?

So what happened to the pervasive corruption in the British Empire? The government implemented several reforms to eradicate the corruption. Intellectual elite actually pressured the government to change the situation. The main advocate for the change was Adam Smith, Scottish political economist. Yes, the same Adam Smith who wrote the Wealth of Nations (1786). Actually, his seminal work was the foundation for critical review of the British government policy.

The British government had economic advisers who represented the Mercantilist school of economics. The Mercantilist economists believed that international trade can reduce the government debt if the British Empire exports more than imports. The Mercantilists were fools who believed that free market is a zero-sum game because someone always gets hurt. The connection between the Mercantilism, socialism, communism, and interventionism is obvious, right? All these fools believe that free market is a bad institution. By the way, American electronic libraries are reporting a significant increase in online search requests for "the Mercantilist school" from China, Russia, and Argentina.  

Admin Resource

Administrative resource or admin resource is what Ukrainians say when they refer to government's abuse of power. I had a blog post about how the Yanukovych administration rigged the 2012 parliamentary elections using their admin resource to affect election results in hospitals, prisons, armies, public schools, and the rest of the public sector. Now I can show cool data from NGO Maidan. The following charts show that public support of the Party of Regions and voter turnouts are shooting through the roof at the special polling stations like hospitals and prisons. Basically, if you don't know how it's done, you must see that mainly sick people and prisoners support the Party of Regions.

Big Family Election

Here are pretty cool observations from one of my friends about the 2012 Parliamentary Elections (ht Diana Cucos):
FYI: MP - member of parliament

MP of the Party of Regions (presidential party):

Viktor Yanukovych Jr. is MP. He is one of two sons of President Viktor Yanukovych (the Party of Regions). Viktor Yanukovych Sr. is a dentist who has recently joined the Forbes list of the 100 wealthiest people of Ukraine. How many fillings and crowns does it take to become a millionaire? Kids, you should become dentists.

Alexei Azarov is MP. His father is the Prime Minister Nikolay Azarov.

Peter Melnik is MP. He is the president of the Tax Administration University. Prime Minister Azarov is the god-father of Melnik's kid.

Viktor Baloga is MP. He is the director of the State Emergency Management Agency.

Baloga Jr. and Baloga Sr. who are Mr. Baloga's brothers are also MP. So all three brothers are MPs.

Andrei Kluev and his brother Sergei Kluev are MPs. Andrei Kluev is the Secretary of the Security Council.

Artem Pshonka is MP. He is the son of Viktor Pshonka who is the General Attorney of Ukraine.

Julia Levochkin is MP. Her brother is Sergei Levochkin who is the Director of the Yanukovych Admnistration.

Dobkin Jr. is MP. His brother is the odious governor of the Kharkiv province, Dmitry Dobkin. Until recently Dobkin Jr. has been admitted to the drug rehabilitation center in Switzerland.

Artem Semenyuk is MP. His father is the governor of the Chernovtsy province, Michael Papiev. The change of the last name was a cheap trick.

And this list goes on. I am just tired of translating the big family of the Party of Regions.

Sick Leave Voting

I just got off the phone (actually, Skype) with my friends from Ukraine. Of course, we talked about upcoming parliamentary election. Things are getting worse every day. The pro-presidential Party of Regions just pulled another ace out of their bottomless sleeve - the sick-leave voting. Illiberal democracies watch and learn how it's done in Ukraine.

What is the sick-leave voting? All employees of public sector are forced to vote for the Party of Regions. School teachers, university professors, students, army generals, soldiers, police officers, firemen, prison guards, prisoners, doctors, and even their patients are forced to vote for the pro-presidential Party of Regions. Voting in public hospitals is a case in point. Like military base or prison, hospitals fall in a category of separate electoral district in Ukraine. To win elections in the special electoral districts, the Yanukovych administration forces doctors, nurses, and other hospital employees to take a sick leave and check in their own hospital for the upcoming election. Moreover, doctors, nurses, and other hospital employees have to check in at least two friends or patients to their hospital so that all they together can vote for the Party of Regions as one big happy family. Of course, you can refuse to do that for a very tiny cost of losing your job. That's how it's also done in the army, the police force, the schools, and everywhere else in the public sector in Ukraine.  

The Party of Regions is so power hungry that they don't stop at anything. I have already written that all TV cable companies dropped TVi that was the only independent TV channel in Ukraine. TVi was the last bastion of mass media representation that the opposition politicians could count on for the parliamentary elections. The Party of Regions proudly checked the mass media control off their election prep list. I am still amazed or dazed by how political situation has made a 180-degree turn since 2010. Less than two years ago Ukraine was a troublesome emerging democracy. Now Ukraine is a solid consolidating autocracy.

The Party of Regions or the Regionnaires (ht Alexander Motyl) were unstoppable on their way to exterminate any meaningful political opposition. The Party of Regions threw dozens of opposition politicians and businessmen to jails without any proper judicial procedures. Those opposition politicians, businessmen, and journalists who saw "the writing on the wall" fled Ukraine. The political opposition is meaningless now. It takes at least three powerful men to replace a woman. Yatsenyuk (Tymoshenko's replacement), Klitschko (yes, the heavy-weight boxing champ of the world), and former President of Ukraine, Mr. Yushchenko cannot still get their act together while the elections will be next Sunday.

Ukraine has one week left before the nation will completely fall off the political map of world democracies. Most of my friends are just sick of this situation. They are sick to their stomachs because they cannot change anything and because there is no demand for this change from the political opposition. My friends who happen to work in public sector like hospital or school are also sick to their stomachs because they are losing their freedom. They cannot vote for the opposition politician and keep their job at the same time. Neither they can vote for the odious Party of Regions and keep their dignity intact. Human dignity or job - that's a trade-off for many Ukrainians at the upcoming parliamentary elections. If human dignity paid your bills, the choice would be fair.

Last Days of Freedom of Speech

Just a month before the upcoming parliamentary elections the Ukrainian parliament is making a new advancement against the freedom of speech. And it could be the final stage in reversing the Ukrainian democracy back to autocracy. In the light of the upcoming parliamentary elections, the overall political situation is becoming very dismal in Ukraine, the country of the Orange Revolution.
The parliament has recently passed the Law on Libel in the first reading. Mainly, three political parties voted to pass the infamous law: the Party of Regions (leader: President Yanukovych), the Communist Party (leader: Peter Symonenko), and the People's Party (Speaker of the Parliament Lytvyn). The Law on Libel considers any defamatory statement or published statement that cause a public contempt illegal. If you look for a source of inspiration behind the Law on Libel, it's the Stalinist constitution. The picture (titled: Don't Speak) that you see below shows how the Stalinist regime treated the freedom of speech. If you wonder why they pass it now, the answer is the upcoming parliamentary elections (end of October).

If the parliament passes the law, the freedom of speech as well as democratic election is over in Ukraine. Several newspapers and TV channels started a campaign against the Law on Libel. They posted the following ad:

 One of TV channels that opposed the Law on Libel is TVi. If you follow events in Ukraine, you should know that all cable companies "voluntarily" cancelled their contracts with TVi. You cannot watch TVi on your TV anymore. You can watch it only online. Needless to say, a number of TVi viewers has already shrunk significantly. TVi follows the life story of Russia's NTV. And another one bites the dust. So what are the chances that this campaign will be successful given that some of supporters are under the government pressure?  

The TVi Case: TVi Scores while the Ukrainian Government Loses..

Ukraine's Tax Administration dropped the tax evasion charges against TVi's chief editor Mykola Kniazhytsky. It was a bit unexpected after all recent events. President Yanukovych allegedly ordered the Tax Administration to drop charges when the United Opposition offered Mr. Kniazhytsky a place in their party list for the upcoming parliamentary elections. I guess that the opposition television station TVi wins this battle. Does it mean that TVi and opposition win the upcoming major battle?

On the sad note, Ukraine's Department of Justice announced that the Klementiev homicide case was closed. Investigative journalist Klementiev went missing two years ago in Kharkiv where he was collecting material about several members of the Party of Regions. The Department of Justice says that former detective of the local Organized Crime Unit is the suspect in the Klementiev case. It starts reminding the infamous Gongadze case. 

TVi and LB.UA Are Under Fire

The World Affairs' Alexander J. Motyl writes about the most recent government crack down on independent media: one, independent television station TVi and, two, independent internet news portal LB.ua (Levyi Bereg or Left River's Bank). Each story is interesting. But it's nothing new. Putin has already done it with NTV mass media group and there are many similar cases in other non-democratic countries. I think that the main issue is that civil society remains very apathetic to ongoing events.

LB.ua is under investigation for breaching confidentiality of state issues because the internet portal published personal text-message correspondence of MP Volodymyr Landik (Party of Regions - Luhanks). In a nutshell, their photographer snapped pictures of MP's cell phone screen while Mr. Landik was texting during the parliamentary session.  The correspondence relates to Mr. Landik's son who was videotaped beating a young girl up in a restaurant in Luhanks more than a year ago and subsequently imprisoned. The infamous video was made public on YouTube, Facebook, and other social networks. When the criminal charges were pressed against the LB.ua,  the chief editor Sonya Koshkina fled the country fearing for her life. The criminal charges are bogus. If someone has to be charged here, it must be Mr. Landik for wasting tax payers' money by doing personal business while he is in his public office.

TVi that is the only television station supporting the political opposition was pushing buttons of the Party of Regions for a long time. TVi was provoking the Party of Regions methodically. The last
straw in the conflict between TVi and the state authorities was a genius of political journalism, Mr. Portnikov. He did excellent job by raising public awareness about values of democracy and government embezzlement of power.The Party of Regions and its leader, President Viktor Yanukovych, took the bait. Now the Party of Regions' political capital is bleeding while the Yanukovych administration is cracking down on TVi with another bogus charges of tax evasion.

It's really nothing new or unexpected. If TVi or LB.ua really wanted to avoid the conflict, they could be based somewhere in Europe close to their partners like Voice of America and Radio Free Europe. They pushed buttons of the Party of Regions and Mr. Yanukovych effectively. The state authorities unleashed their fury by violating all norms of democratic society. Civil society, however, remains very apathetic to all events. In the light of the upcoming parliamentary elections, it is a bad signal to the opposition leaders.

Black Harvest

The Ukrainian government announced that grain harvest was 20% lower than it was anticipated. Though bad news came as a surprise to the Ministry of Agrarian and Food Policy, the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) talked about it for a couple of last months. In June the FAO predicted that Ukraine's grain production will fall to 46 mln tons, 18% below the previous year, because of unfavorable weather conditions. 

I am sure that Ukraine's total grain output will be lower than it's anticipated now due to drought and lack of irrigation system. Needless to say, most Ukrainian farmers still rely on the two-rain rule to harvest their crops despite all advancement in the modern agricultural technology. They rely on favorable weather conditions because they lack funds to rebuilt irrigation system that was dismantled in the early 1990s during the transition period. 

But I am afraid that Ukrainian farmers suffer more from lawlessness than from the current drought. The main issue is the so-called black harvest. In a nutshell, small-scale farmers are forced to load trucks with their grain for free. It's the so-called black harvest. The black harvest trucks operated by thugs, allegedly from Donetsk region, show up when a farmer harvests his crops. Thugs take grains by force and load them in their trucks. Farmer is left with nothing. If farmer cannot recuperate his losses, he will go bankrupt. 

If you wonder why farmer doesn't call police, the answer is quite simple. It does not change anything. If the local police receives this call, they have to check with their headquarters whether someone is behind the stickup operation. Their headquarters has to check with other law enforcement offices at district level, city level, and province level. By the time they are done with the so-called background check, thugs are gone. But you cannot blame cops for their inefficiency. Cops and farmers have to play by the same rules.If cops arrest well-connected thugs, they will loose their jobs and they will be also fined. 

What causes these unfavorable business environment? It's also drought. Other kind of drought. The Ukrainian elite is running short on cash that it needs for the upcoming parliamentary elections. To get cash, they do what they do the best - rob hard-working people.

Anti-Ukrainian Western Propaganda or Another One Bites the Dust

Have you read Adam Swain's op-ed yet (Kyiv Post, July 15, Western Propaganda War Falsely Frames Ukraine Authoritarian)? It's a must. If you follow Ukraine's political life closely, you are in for some treat. I am sure that each of you will find something dear to your heart in this article. I would like to highlight three main points that caught my attention.

The first point that Swain makes is that there is a propaganda war against "democratic" Ukraine led by the western mass media.  The western mass media dishonestly describes Ukraine as a country lacking democratic norms. Moreover, there is no reason to believe that President Yanukovych wants to establish an autocratic rule of governance. 

Sure, President Yanukovych wants to build a nation with a consolidated democracy and free market economy. And he does everything to achieve these goals. First, he rigs the elections. Second, he throws dozens of opposition leaders in jails where they are deprived of their human rights and beaten up like Mrs. Tymoshenko. Third, his family takes business from opposition businessmen like Avakov, Fel'dman, Burda, Nemirovsky, and many others. And this list can go on. 

None of what President Yanukovych does has something to do with a democratic rule of governance. Instead, he is reversing Ukraine's history of political and economic development when Ukraine went from kin-based society to feudalism and then to capitalism. Ukraine is sliding back to the kinship system of governance where political and economic power is only kin-based. 

The second point that Swain makes is that the criminal case against Mrs. Tymoshenko is not politically motivated because it's legit. If a definition of legitimacy means different things in different countries, her case could be legit. But I doubt it that it's the case. The legitimacy of the Tymoshenko case is the last thing that comes to mind of anyone who has been following it. President Yanukovych used his kinship connections to push the Tymoshenko case through the judicial system. Should we even talk about how the judicial system works in Ukraine? Look, it does not work for regular people. And it cannot work when President of Ukraine has vested his interest in the case.    

Finally, Swain writes that the international pressure from western political leaders on the Tymoshenko case undermines the rule of law and the independence of judiciary in Ukraine. 

To make it a reasonable claim, you need to have the rule of law and independent judiciary in place. None of them exists in Ukraine. Cops are thugs and thugs are cops. Any court room is for sale. Any criminal sentence has its price.

To make democracy work, you need to have at least these democratic values in place: protection of individual rights, respect for the rule of law, independent judiciary, accountability of government, trust in government, and respect for tolerance and pluralism in civil society (ht Larry Diamond). To make capitalism work, you need to have freedom of contracts, property enforced and protected private property rights, constitutional rule of law, and independent judiciary (ht to Francis Fukuyama). So what does Ukraine have now? Nothing. That's why Ukraine's needs more attention from world mass media, international political community, and human rights activists.

 

Ukraine's Democracy is in Pain

I got back from Ukraine couple weeks ago. I was there for quite some time. But I can't still make up my mind about what I expected to see there and what I really saw there. I kept my expectations very low. But I was still shocked with the extent of cronyism and illegitimacy of government. The executive branch of power usurped other two branches of power. The constitution does not mean anything anymore. The Party of Regions and their puppets, including the Socialists, the Communists, and other twenty five parties make amendments to the constitution without calling for a national referendum. The number of the politically-motivated prosecutions is sky-rocketing reaching its peak with a physical abuse of the former prime minister Tymoshenko. 

What has happened to Mrs. Tymoshenko must send shivers down the spine of everyone who is a firm believer in human rights. The physical abuse of the political inmate # 1, the unmasked violence against the queen of the political opposition, and the blatant use of the prison guards' knuckles against the body of the Ukrainian woman draws a line between two stages of political life in Ukraine: one, with weak human rights and, two, without human rights. The second stage started on the same day when the pictures of Mrs. Tymoshenko's bruised body were revealed.  

Look I am not even mentioning the D word (i.e. democracy). I doubt that anyone has ever understood what the D words means in Ukraine. Neither Schumpeterian nor Przeworskian definition of the democracy can explain what is happening in Ukraine. According to Larry Diamond, democracy needs protection of individual rights, respect for the rule of law, trust in government, accountability of government, and respect for tolerance and pluralism in civil society. None of these democratic values exist in Ukraine.


Moreover, people are very confused about how democracy and rule of law must work. Everyone understands that you must report any kind of crime. But if you do it, you are a snitch. How can I tell on someone if I don't want to be a snitch? It's very confusing. So what do people do? They hide behind their smartphones, YouTube videos, and twitter accounts. Who gets these messages? Does anyone really trust a virtual social network in Ukraine?

In Europe and USA people talk smack about government on Facebook. In Ukraine a similar social network Odnoklassniki gives you impression that people do not care about what's happening with their democracy or they prefer to distance themselves from political events.  Are people apolitical in Ukraine? I do not think so because they talk about politics in private all the time. Once again, it's confusing. The civil society is either very weak or inexperienced. It could also be that the Yanukovych government's thuggish aggressiveness sent the whole nation in a very deep knockout. Well, sooner or later you need to get back on your feet, make pain go away, and fight back.

EURO 2012: Quid Pro Quo or Not

      It turns out that only three national soccer teams out of sixteen will reside in Ukraine during the 2012 European Soccer Championship, co-hosted with Poland. So who is staying Ukraine? Of course, the Ukrainian national soccer team will stay in Ukraine. The Swedish team and the French team will also stay in Ukraine.

      I am sure that you wonder about Russia. Where is our big brother? Well, the big brother has very low expectations about infrastructure in his small sister's homeland. That's why the Russian national team prefers democratic and capitalist city of Warsaw, capital of Poland, to any sketchy urban area in Ukraine.

      It also turns out that all teams that have group stage games in Kharkiv and Lviv still prefer to stay in Poland rather than in Ukraine. I assume that Sweden and France decided to stay in Kyiv and Donetsk because they had to play their group stage games there. So did Ukraine. The English soccer team, however, prefers to stay in Krakow and commute to group stage games in Kyiv and Donetsk.

      So where is quid pro quo? As a matter of fact, Poland will get a lion's share of hotel revenues from the EURO 2012 because Ukraine get to host only three teams and their fans. Wait a sec! Will the Ukrainian national team need a hotel to stay in Ukraine? That's a tough one. Will the Ukrainian fans need hotel to stay in Ukraine? Another tough question. It looks like Sweden and France will be the only two teams to foot the bill for staying in Ukraine. What about their fans? And what about all other teams? I really wonder why they do not want to stay in Ukraine? I just can't find a good answer.

       It's so unfair after everything the Ukrainian government and the Ukrainian philanthropist Akhmetov did. Common, Beyonce, Shakira, and Rhianna who were personally invited by the wealthiest person of Eastern Europe, Mr. Akhmetov, performed in Donetsk in front of thousands of factory workers and coal-miners who didn't receive their salaries for months and had to work in illegal and unsafe mines.

       The Yanukovych administration also did so much to promote EURO 2012 in Ukraine. Their original ideas of cutting this school year short by a month and kicking out students from dorms so that foreign tourists who pay a humble price of $100 per day can stay in rodent- and insect-infested rooms with shared utilities (if they work) and rolling blackouts. Another original ideas of cutting down public parks and demolishing historical sites like the 16th-century-old synagogue and building roads and hotels there should have also showed everyone that the Yanukovych government welcomes everyone to Ukraine for the EURO 2012. Personally, I am still puzzled what stopped thirteen national teams from staying in Ukraine.   

   
Here is a list of all teams and their locations:  

•  England - Kraków - Hotel Stary
•  Croatia - Warka - Hotel Sielanka nad Pilicą
•  Czech Republic - Wrocław - Hotel Monopol
•  Denmark - Kołobrzeg - Marine Hotel
•  France - Donetsk
•  Greece - Jachranka - Hotel Warszawianka
•  Spain - Gniewino - Hotel Mistral
•  Netherlands - Kraków - Hotel Sheraton
•  Republic of Ireland - Sopot - Hotel Sheraton 
•  Germany - Gdańsk - Hotel Dwór Oliwski
•  Poland - Warszawa - Hotel Hyatt
•  Portugal - Opalenica - Ośrodek Remes Sport & Spa
•  Russia - Warszawa - Hotel Bristol
•  Sweden - Kiev
•  Ukraine - Kiev
•  Italy - Kraków - Hotel Turówka