A Call Out to President Poroshenko – Your Inaugural Address

Image: CNN


Dear Mr. President Poroshenko,

As a Canadian of Ukrainian heritage and someone who has dedicated at least all of my adult life to Ukrainian issues including working on democracy development during my nearly ten years living in Ukraine, I would like to congratulate you on your election on May 25, 2013 and upon your inaugural address which you made on June 7, 2014. I wish you Godspeed in trying to accomplish all that must be accomplished during the very difficult times for our nation.

Yes, I have claimed Ukraine as “our” nation because true Ukrainians wherever they may be hold Ukraine in their hearts and minds. While still under the yoke of Soviet oppression many Ukrainians beyond its borders carried our flag when no one had an inkling of the significance of the azure blue and yellow of our country's flag. Things have changed greatly in nearly a quarter of century though it is due time that Ukraine takes its place amongst civilized and dignified nations.

I would now like to comment on your inaugural address. Not as some highly paid analyst, but as someone who looks at things in a slightly different way. Anyone who has read my commentary in the past clearly know where my loyalties lie.

No Modern Ukrainian Nation Without Bloodshed

While the world in the past held up Ukraine as a poster-child of democracy just a little more than nine-years ago after the Orange (R)evolution, I somehow understood very quickly that I was completely justified in refering that period in 1994 as a period of evolution and not revolution. In 2011 I was asked to write an OP-ED for a Ukrainian e-publication, due to some tecnical difficulties I ended up having to self-publish my opinion piece, entitled “Bigger Sticks and Carrots, for Some in Ukraine”. In that piece I clearly put forth the following:

“While I do not condone violent uprising in Ukraine as a way of bringing about the needed changes, it is a prospect that seems to become increasingly realistic if the current authoritarian trends continue to be exerted further and further. People are now being pushed and jostled a little harder than Kuchma dared to push! The decisively anti-national, and socio-economically erosive policies are in fact, riling people in Ukraine to the point that I have not once on various Ukrainian fora seen it being asserted that peaceful means of resistance are no longer considered to be a viable option.”

Apparently, my writing had sparked some discussion and one individual mentioned that sometime before my statements above, former Ambassador of Ukraine to Canada Dr. Yuri Shcherbak speaking to a Toronto audienced stated that “he believed the situation in Ukraine will not be changed without violence.”

Mr. President Poroshenko, unfortunately, my statements somehow became prophetic. There were many heros in Ukraine's past – though these contemporary heroes, Ukraine's Heavenly Hundred was just the beginning, unfortunately. Since then through criminal means have been used to try to destablize Ukraine and more innocent lives were lost. It was very appropriate that you had a moment of silence for these heroes. There have been others who have become innocent victims of these criminal/terrorists with extremely modern and foreign weaponry clearly pointing out who is santctioning their criminality. Those responsible have to be brought to full international accountability for their terroristic means of trying to destabilize Ukraine.

Fig Leaf and Bandit

Mr. President Poroshenko, I appreciate that you want to get down to business in creatng peace and stability and Ukriane's territorial integrity! Without these, conducting business in even its simplest forms is not even possible. You for certain understand the importance of stability for distribution networks, and even as a person going about their day-to-day business. Due to the criminal annexation of Crimea I have friends in Canada who's busineses have suffered a great deal as well as the possibility of Canadian-Ukrainian business projects. Not certain, but could a class action international lawsuit be launched against the perpetrators of this act?

The simple business operations have been denied to the people of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts – and I hear about this daily not only from distant contacts living in those regions, but also from a friend and neighbour who's wife is from Luhansk and still has family members there. I have another acqaintance now living here who's brother was involved ATO in those regions and who was seriously injured, and from thousands of kilometres away he has to comfort his mother. Though this even raises a more core issue? Why did these people leave Ukraine?

I wholeheartedly support that you don't need to be carrying out discussions with criminals and are trying to reach out to the common person in those regions – I believe that due to the media access and choice of media which they have been exposed to they are very suspect of you as President, though nevertheless there are probably thousands of individuals who wanted to vote last week though feared for their lives. Clearly a frank dialogue must be restablished with the people of this doubting region, but also with all of Ukraine.

Regarding mercenaries they should be allowed to ruturn home, though it sould be made official who was financing them and what they cost. If it is criminal Yanukovych, then it is Putin's responsibility to use his due influence on him and recall those soldiers of fortune being paid no doubt with funds which Yanukovych stole from the Ukrainian people, Putin for the first time in his life do the right thing. Extradite Yanukovych to Ukraine to face trial for his criminality or face the wrath of those he treated like second class citizens, much in the way the pakhan treats his underlings. Remember criminals like him have their own system of justice, so before any of that crap happens it should be also a priority for Ukraine to ensure all the funds he stole are repatriated, because his time of being pakhan are over and those funds will be absorbed by the pakhan of the Russian Federation.

Mr. President Poroshenko, I think that those in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts that doubt just what a criminal Yanukovch ever was and still is. Find a public relations means to show these individuals just what an opulent pig he was. Clearly, the media they were watching in their regions wasn't lettting them see what a Nero he was. There was no violin for him in his collesium – his Rome burnt in a different way... as he fled to his puppetmaster, his cronies attempted to destry the evidence of just what a scum he was. His vassals of 17 years have to know the truth! Set up travel tours of Mezhyhirya at a reduced rate for those individuals so they can see the opulence with their own eyes. Let the see where their pensions went! I want them all to be free! Even those in Hughesivka – who want to speak Welsh?

Trust no one – Particularly your enemies

Mr. President Poroshenko, it is all very easy to say in retrospect that we should have done this over that! One of those matters was the Budapest Memorandum. Back in the years before that I had many discussions on Ukraine's nuclear arsenal – in my heart I told friends that I didn't believe that it would be respected. Particularly with a signatory like Russia that has been lying for the last half millenia of its existence. The friends I debated this the most about were some of the early heros of our country, even before Ukraine introduced the Hryvnia as its national currency!

“But freedom is not given once and forever. One must always struggle for it,” as you stated in your innaugural adress Mr. President is very to the point. I spoke on such a them to many while living in Ukraine with my deceased friend Ilko Kucheriv. In short, a greater part of democracy happens between ballot boxes. This was clearly demonstrated in the last six months in Ukraine. I just hope that peace comes to Ukraine and that we never again experience such violence preceding the vote, as demonstrated by the terrorists in the east of the country. Politicians have to be held accountable and have no right to be above the law. This is not part of a democracy!

Now to the military side of things! There are plenty of theories of how the military became nothing more than a piece of paper! I don't have time to get into it Mr. President, though I would like to commend those individuals who have used social media in order to crowdsource the funds needed for very short term needs of the Ukrainian army. There are a few individuals should be at least given a thank you, though it is time that the funds needed for Ukraine's military needs be raised by the state in order to meet its needs.

Regarding true hardware and techonologies! We have some unique manufacturers and now we must ensure they find local and international markets. In this stage of reorientation of the military industrial complex should be carefully evaluated. In addition, with a the type of friend Ukraine has as a neighbour, it is time for Ukraine to re-arm itself in such a way that such wanton use of terror never happen in Ukraine again.

On last matter, it is time that Ukraine's law enforcement agencies be reformed to meet the standards of Ukraine's western neighbours.

The Rule of Law for a New Ukraine

Mr. President Poroshenko, in your inaugural address you state, “It's time to build a new big country. Modern, high-tech, tenable, competitive country.” This is not a new idea, and I'm quite certain I heard such talk in the early 1990s, before Ukraine had a new constitution and before the hryvnia was introduced in the autumn of 1996 as Ukraine's national currency. However, why hasn't Ukraine developed as such over all these years? It is actually we could all enumerate a list as long as your forearm, but in fact it is a lot simpler than that. It's a very simple phrase and principle known as The Rule of Law. Many of Ukraine's problems can be solved by adhering to this simple princple.

Ukraine has plenty of good legislation on the books though it must be implemented equally and fairly for all citizens of Ukraine as well as to its visitors, and business persons. In order to do there there are many reforms which will be necessary and one of these is to reduce the ratio of police to population ratio and to ensure that those individuals are to there to police are there for the right reasons. This will involve the appropriate screening and training of what will be a new and professional police force. These law enforcement officials must be paid at a level which would put them in a position that would not require them to even have the slightest desire to ask for a bribe of anyone for any reason. In fact doing so would become extremely costly, with fines, relief of duty without pay and possible incarceration. They will have to be examplary individuals who will set an example for the rest of society. Now let's return to the police to population ratio. I examined this at the beginning of this year in my piece Europe’s Sado-masochistic Approach Towards Ukraine and having done a bit of research I found that “Ukraine has about 644 at a minimum and other sources say that it is closer to 800 police officers to 100,000 population. In Canada that number stands at closer to 202 per 100,000” and most of Europe's police to population ratios range from 200 to 350 per 100,000 population, though there some anomalies in some countries. A goal should be set to reduce the police to population ratio by fifty percent in the next five years while at the same time improving the qualifications of the officers. The omni-presence of police officers is not good for tourism, particularly when they can't communicate with tourists and being a positive image of their city and more greatly of all of Ukraine.

You Mr. President Poroshenko, from your own experience know and understand the benefit speaking English affords you. Would you not say that it would be good for police officers to be able to speak more than just Ukrainian or Russian? A half-hearted effort was made in a PR effort to teach officers foreign languages prior to the Euro-2012, this should be a part of continuous improvement of all officers, particularly of those who are in cities considered to be tourist destinations.

When, The Rule of Law – becomes a priority for law enforcement, the judicial system and the population as a whole the changes necessary to “build a new big country” will be much more achievable. In doing so there will be foreign individuals and companies who will be encouraged to invest in the people of Ukraine, its most important resource in order to develop different niches within Ukraine's economy. The road map to doing business in Ukraine should be clear without any surprishing hair pin turns in the road as often is the case. Disputes between investors and the beneficiaries of such investments bust be dealt with fairly, which has often not been the case since Ukraine has become independent. I hope you Mr. President and the team that you assemble will work fastidiously in this area. It will play an important role in Ukraine's future and its contemporary history.

A World Culture of Ukraine

You are completely correct in stating, “Nobody will protect us until we learn to defend ourselves.” Mr. President Poroshenko, well said in a military sense. Though those in people in Ukrainian society who are most vulnerable must also be protected by well targeted social policy and the rule of law. However, as grantor of Ukraine's constitution are you prepared to carry this over to cultural matters as well?

This is an area that will eventually need major reforms, though at this point it is not a priority, though it can be done by all consciencious Ukrainians simply as a matter of choice and the creation of a market demand. It must be given serious consideration if we are to develop a national cultural industry. This would include Ukrainian content laws which promote local musicians. This is something I have been dealing with for the last fifteen years in a number of different ways for Ukraine, but the same komsomol organizations let the garbage prosper at the cost of new talent. Music and culture can be a very vialble industry. Right now in Ukraine it is nothing, because of no structured policy and a lack of vision.

I will give you an example, in Canada because of Federal legislation and the competition created by it, I can hear about twenty contemporary bands who travel internationally, many that have not penetrated Ukraine yet, but who will in time. Sweden is another country who's cultural industry policy is well developed in exporting its cultural products abroad.

Ukrainian culture needs a policy. Not conceived by political hacks and musicians in favour of one group or another but composed of professionals who want to lift Ukraine culturally to a different level! It isn't what you think or what the average individual things about it. There has to be a systemic approach to culture, and this means cooperation and shared risk on projects, without the egos that so many seem to have.

This crisis has shown us a physical crisis – which I'm certain not all will ever understand, though the few times below have to be followed trough on in the cultural industry in Ukraine if it is to become a great country we would all like to see it become.
1) The last years of neglience of many aspects of Ukainian life has left us with a lot of third and fourth class artist making money for nothing!
2) We must eliminate the Soviet style of People's artist which has been simply another corrupt means of civil servants of lining their pockets, let the market decide on who is an artist, writer, performer or whatever other type of designations are given in the arts.
3) Copyright and intellectual property rights have to be respected in both contemporary arts as well as more traditional art forms.
Ukraine is a country full of uncut diamonds, they have to be show respect and given the opportunity to show their brilliance. Through the wise implementation of proper and progressive policies in this area, in concurrence with sticking to The Rule of Law, the progress that will be made in the very short period will give all Ukrainians regardless of where they live to be extremely proud to be Ukraine.

May God bless you and the people of Ukraine Mr. President Poroshenko in the challenges you face.

Sources: President Petro Poroshenko's Innaugural Address



Vasyl Pawlowsky
Independent Consultant
The commentary of this was first published on the wpawlowsky.com site.

Montreal's Ukrainian Festival Organizers have gone astray!

One of the first thing's I received in my e-mail today was about the arrest and detention of Ukrainian historian Ruslan Zabiliy who just happened to working on a piece of history that Moscow and the current Moscow friendly regime in Ukraine would rather wish never existed. UPA or the Ukrainian Insurgent Army. This news came to me from my good friend and film maker Yuriy Luhovy who had worked closely with the detained individual in researching his films. 

This incident, in my opinion in but one of many that will follow as Ukraine tries to rewrite its history in such a way which appeases our younger brother to the north. He is younger but he still won't admit it, just like the alcoholic dealing with his problem, Russia, rather than admitting the real historical facts would rather write its own history, and unfortunately the current government in Ukraine is not Ukraine friendly, in fact they are just the opposite. A problem with this, is that most of the world has been buying into Moscow's version of history since it started calling itself Russia.

About six months ago on a discussion list made up of Ukrainian Canadian Broadcasters, journalists, writers, as well as some bloggers and in the know progressive individuals from Ukraine I publicly stated that we should all exercise caution regarding individuals who will be coming to Canada, or tried contacting us for various reasons. In addition I mentioned that while we could and should recognize the institution of Ukraine's presidency it did not mean that we had to accept who is president.

The one thing I ask anyone reading this to remember the following:

• The current president of Ukraine and his entourage along with their financial backers in Donetsk are here to stay for a long time whether we like it or not;
• This administration doesn't give a rat's ass about anything culturally Ukrainian, its as simple as that;
• They have already started to find ways of marginalizing the use of the Ukrainian language through interesting public relations campaigns and will continue to do so;
• Freedom of speech and civic liberties are rapidly on the decline in Ukraine;
• Remember diplomats are not your friends and not necessarily friends of the Ukrainian-Canadian, Ukrainian-Australian or any diaspora community they are going to do what their Ministry of Foreign Affairs tells to them to tell you, as the represent the regime in power and not necessarily the will of Ukrainians who have some cultural esthetics and values.

While those are just a few things I hope you will remember while reading on and putting things I am relating to you the reader, in this light and no other. This is the way we must understand a contemporary Ukraine right now, without doing so does not do any justice to those who have always fought to preserve Ukrainian culture and language and those who died in trying to ensure it was free of foreign occupiers over the centuries.

Now in the light that I have put forward I will now get to the issue which is bothering me. As most of you know, I host a short segment on a radio program called Nash Holos, Our Voice in English. It is not by simple coincidence that I host this segment nor is it because someone pays me money to do so, but is because I have certain values of what it is to be Ukrainian, and that the world really knows too little about Ukrainian culture both in a historical sense and in a contemporary sense. Unfortunately, there are many Ukrainians who live beyond Ukraine's borders who do not understand the contemporary issues which face Ukrainian society today, and part of that is its culture.

As I was preparing my segment for broadcast I had decided to cover a topic that was close to home in the very literal sense in that it is an event which is taking place in my home town of Montreal in the form of the Montreal Ukrainian Festival(hereafter MUF). It's a festival that has its roots in a time that I was not in Montreal, but living in Ukraine, with Ukrainians. At a time when a friend of mine, often referred to as a muckraking journalist, by the name of Georgiy Gongadze, disappeared and his headless body was found in the woods some one hundred kilometers away from Ukraine's capital Kyiv. I lived through the events of a contemporary Ukraine and I worked with a number of different musicians on different projects, so I am not a stranger to contemporary Ukrainian culture.

As I went through the list of performers the MUF has lined up for this weekend there was something that struck me as rather odd, but there were a few other things that bothered me but those are the topic of a completely different blog entry and not a topic which I have not touched on before. As I went town the list of the performers everything was quite copacetic until I hit the name of one individual, but there were others that really have no place in a Ukrainian Festival. The individual who caught my eye is a young man by the name of Andrij Svirsa so I read the little blurb about him:

“Andrij Svirsa is a graduate of the Donetsk Conservatory (voice). He has toured in China and twice received awards at international jazz festivals. Svirsa is capable of singing in a wide range of styles: from operatic arias and jazz stylings to pop and folk. He is even capable of performing female opera parts with his falsetto. Andrij has given solo concerts before large audiences many times. He is also a composer, lyricist/poet and performs his own works.”

Following that little blurb was a link to visit his website. When I got there I was appalled for two reasons, and if I were on the organizing committee I would have had to question what does this individual have to do with Ukrainian culture. Firstly, his site espouses not a single element of Ukrainian culture; secondly, there is not a single recording of his that is in Ukrainian. Were the organizers of the MUF blind, and if so why? Then there was the most obvious which I was able to determine from his PR blurb. He is from Donetsk.

No I have nothing against Donetsk as a place in fact I have been there a couple of times. However, where there is a lot of money there is even more corruption and those who have come to power in Ukraine will do everything in there power to discredit anything Ukrainian including the disapora. Having worked in the cultural sector in Ukraine for a good portion of my time living there I consider myself to be abreast of the comings and goings, so I decided to do a quick search on this Mr. Svirsa. In all of Google his name appeared all but two significant times. The first was as a performer at the MUF website and the second on a page of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, how he was performing at the Independence Day Ceremonies at Ukraine's Embassy in Ottawa. Would you not find it odd, if this individual was worth anything in Ukrainian cultural matters and only to appearing twice in a Google search?. I know I found it extremely odd. Why the Festival's organizers didn't is beyond me? In fact they wouldn't have found a single mention of if it were not for his these two events. And that was for a search for his name in Ukrainian. In English a couple of his videos pop up on YouTube, but the only thing that tells me is that he understands shameless self promotion, and searching for his name in Russian just confirmed the SSP route.

While I have put the question to the MUF organizers, what obligation do they have to this ANDY character? What was their criteria for selecting him? What is it that is so intrinsically Ukrainian about him? Is it because he can sing the Ukrainian standards in his own particular way? Such songs such as Ukraina, Ridna Maty Moya, Znaydy mene, Chornobryvtsi, Ty podobayesh meni, as the MFAU so demonstratively states on their website or is there something we don't know about him? Because he clearly doesn't seem to portray being overtly Ukrainian. There are countless questions that come up and any one who tries to bring up the BS that it is to bridge East and West I lived in Ukraine long enough and I don't buy it.

Now there is another angle which is a little bit more taboo and some will not like me for it, but let's call a spade a spade. Traditionally, Ukraine has been a nation state with Christianity as its back bone. Unfortunately the traditional churches have not been doing that well in Ukraine or anywhere in the world for that matter. I would hear it quite regularly on visits to Ternopil from Kyiv. “What is with all these sects?” “Why are there so many Jehovah's Witnesses around now?” The answer was always the following: “The traditional church is not doing what it should be doing and all these sects as you call them are picking up the slack.”

While many may not believe it, but religion is big business and this is even more of a case where there are people who are trying to find their way in the morass of discombobulated life in post-Soviet Ukraine. So you may ask, what religion here has to do with the MUF. It doesn't but it clearly has something to do with our new friend from Donetsk who goes by the name of ANDY. As it turns out hidden behind ANDYS Company site which has no vestiges of anything Ukraine and is very Soviet in its nature, is a site which I am sure is not sanctioned by the traditional religions in Ukraine, it seems to be more of an Evangelical type of Church, but in short it is no secret that hiding behind a religious organization is a great way to launder money. Take a close look at the name of the previous URL. Do you see the word “exclusive”. The question is for whom is this exclusivity? There are all kinds of videos on that page, yet Mr. ANDYS main page is as barren of much of anything, particularly anything that is even closely being related to Ukrainian culture.

While, I am still waiting for answers from members of the MUF's organizing committee, I am not waiting to get the word out. The principles of being a Ukrainian Festival have been trodden upon, be it by design of some individual or group of individuals or due to the lack of principles which should guide the organizers of such a festival. Now given that the only place that I found mention of Mr. Andriy Svirsa other than on the MUF website was the MFAU website, I am starting to think that the illegitimate government of Ukraine stands behind pushing this piece of trash into Montreal. I have no question of his singing abilities, don't get me wrong, but Ukrainian cultural values do not exist in any form whatsoever.

I welcome thoughts and commentary on this post, as well as some explanations from the organizers of the Montreal Ukrainian Festival who seem to have been misguided on what is Ukrainian and what someone tells them is Ukrainian. Mr. ANDY is no more Ukrainian in his relationship to Ukrainian culture, because he of where he is from, than I am related to native North American culture.  So people, wake up and smell the coffee. You and your committee have been duped!