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.

 

The State of Human Rights and the Rule of Law in Russia

While the troops of Syrian President Bashar-al-Assad are pounding with shells, mortars, and rockets two cities of Syrian opposition, Horns and Zabadani, the UN Security Council is still in a political stalemate because both Russia and China vetoed the UN action on Syrian crisis. In the light of current state of foreign affairs, it is very interesting to watch the recent meeting of the Subcommittee on European Affairs of the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations where major stake-holders discuss human rights and rule of law in Russia and the US policy towards Russia. 

The meeting was divided in two panels presided by Senator Shaheen (D-NH). The first panel included excellent experts on Russia such as the Honorable Phil Gordon from Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs at the US Department of State and Thomas Melia, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor at the U.S. Department of State. The second panel included another badge of distinguished specialist on Russia, Honorable David Kramer, President of the Freedom House, Edward Verona, President of the US-Russia Business Council, and Thomas Malinowski, Director the Human Right Watch. You can watch a full video of this panel or read testimonies if you click here. Comments are very welcome.  

Ukraine's FEMEN Protests at Davos Forum

Ukraine's activist group shines on a global scale. Its message, however, is very obscure. "Davos, Switzerland (AP) -- Three topless Ukrainian protesters were detained Saturday while trying to break into an invitation-only gathering of international CEOs and political leaders to call attention to the needs of the world's poor."
Click here if you want to read more.

Human Trafficking in Ukraine

The US State Department publishes a Trafficking in Person report annually. Ukraine is ranked on the Tier 2 Watch List. Amanda Kloer discusses this situation in details.
To read more, click on the link below.

in reference to: Human Trafficking in Ukraine: The Origin of a Stereotype | End Human Trafficking | Change.org (view on Google Sidewiki)

FOX Covers Ukrainian Holodomor

The Glenn Beck Program covers Ukrainian Holodomor in its The Revolutionary Holocaust series.

in reference to: YouTube - Part 3| Glenn Beck Documentary: "The Revolutionary Holocaust: Live Free...Or Die" - 01/22/10 (view on Google Sidewiki)