The Awakening! A New Reality for Euro-2012

Clearly, the incumbent president of Ukraine, Victor Yanukovych, works within his own set of rules and regulations. The denial of these rules start from where he will spend state monies on his own benefaction and aggrandizement in material property and wealth, to how he will deal with his political opposition. These rules and regulations have nothing to do with the countless international conventions on the dignity of humans that the “nation state” of Ukraine has become signatory to since its independence after the Soviet Union collapsed nearly twenty-one years ago.


Clearly there are other signatories to the various conventions who don't really like the games that the Yanukovych regime is playing and have vociferously stated that they will not be attending the Summit of Heads of Central and European States that was to be held in Yalta on May 11-12. Leaders of Germany, the Czech Republic, Austria, Italy, Slovenia, Estonia, Croatia and Latvia have refused to participate in the summit. These announced no-shows seem to have precipitated an announcement made on May 8, postponing this Yalta Summit indefinitely.


However, for now let's put those politicians aside because none of them will tell you the truth no matter how many questions they are asked. Some are a bit better at it than others while for any skilled political observer, one can tell that they are lying not only through their teeth, but if their mother's are alive, I'm certain they are not proud of them.


Let's turn to an organization that some like and some like to hate – particularly those who like to step beyond any type of rule of law and understanding of what is right and wrong. I'm glad that Amnesty International has finally awoken to the situation in Ukraine, alone with some of Europe's leaders. Amnesty seemed to ignore the copy of a letter I sent to Bryan Adams to boycott all Euro-2012 events... or maybe that letter gave them a little bit of a nudge to dig deeper. If my letter didn't, their own sources gave them a good kick in the backside with a pair of Doc Martins – because otherwise they would not have issued on April 30, 2012 the following press release which had as its header: Ukraine must stop police criminality or Euro 2012 fans risk abuse. However, statements from one of the world's leading human rights organizations should have been coming about along with my personal Travel Advisory which I issued on September 9, 2011; it read as follows:

TRAVEL ADVISORY FOR UKRAINE and EURO-2012
Travel there with extreme caution – levels of barbarity and disrespect for human life by law enforcement officials is at intolerable levels by international standards. They claim that there will be law enforcement officials that speak your language by the time of EURO-2012, but there is no guarantee that you will understand one another.


So what did Amnesty International have on me? A bit of CCTV footage about how two were beaten by police, had their money stolen and not much more. Little has changed in Ukraine over the years, there has been a lot of hot air blowing around the country about reforms and the harmonization of Ukraine's legislation to be more in line with European and international standards, its all be a lot of talk and no action. I recall meeting with some NGO leaders in Ukraine to discuss the matter of reforms to the police force over a decade ago, and some of the partner organizations from Eastern European countries, which at the time were candidate countries for entering the European Union, mentioned that Ukraine's police force was by their reckoning about three times larger than is needed in a population the size of Ukraine’s.


Unfortunately, I have never been able to find figures that back that up, but Ukraine does a problem in its police force, and even the nation's president in mid-December of last year stated, “The strategic goal of reform is the gradual transformation of the Ministry of Interior Affairs into a law enforcement agency of European standard, which protects the rights, honor, dignity, and interests of citizens and the state.” He even went on to state that "Lawful and professional behavior should be encouraged.”


These statements were welcomed by Amnesty International, but they really wanted to see some action and not more of the same smoke and mirrors that the nation's leaders have been using for some time now, and some four days after Yanukovych's statement Amnesty International issued a statement calling him to act and not just talk. The penultimate and final paragraphs of that statement read as follows: “The Ukrainian Ombudsperson’s office stated that they received 5,000 complaints about police torture and other ill-treatment last year, but only 10 police officers were prosecuted.

“Reforms leading to independent investigations of police abuse are long overdue. They will benefit people living in Ukraine and visitors to the country. They will also raise the prestige of the police and help it fulfill its duty to defend the rights of the people,” said Heather McGill of Amnesty.


Unfortunately, I don't think there is a very large percentage of Ukraine's police force that seems to care about their prestige, and there are probably more bad cops than good cops and for them the status quo seems to be just fine. This is the same within all of Ukraine's different agencies, the Ukrainian Security Service, (SBU – Sluzhba Bespeky Ukrainy) is just as corrupt as any of them in my opinion, and they will provide information, even state information to the highest bidder, be it the FSB of Russian, MI5 of the UK, Mossad of Israel or the CIA of the United States. Its agents have no affinity to the country they serve as most senior officials within that agency are all former KGB agents and when the USSR collapsed, they created their one entity. This is also reflected by one who is chosen to head this agency, for nearly two years one of the most influential media moguls Valeriy Khoroshkovskiy and recently there was a return to one from the “old KGB school” since February 3, 2012 – one by the name of Ihor Kalinin. Maybe the appointment of Kalinin was some way of Yanukovych sending a signal which clearly states – back to the ways and methods of Felix Dzerzhinksky. His methods of torture are still being used and I am certain that they will be used against those that Ukraine's “highly professional and well trained” police force deems are breaking the law; either by being a little to loud after a football match, being inebriated (even though not causing and public disturbance), or simply a clear target to rip off. This is the way Ukraine's police works and will work during Euro-2012. Don't let any of the flashy statements made by the nation's top man fool anyone; he comes from the other side of the tracks where understandings between citizens working outside the law have become more important than compliance with the law.


What so few people who have not spent extended periods in Ukraine don't realize is that the all of Ukraine's law enforcement agencies have been long intertwined with the criminal element. You have those in sheep's clothing to look like the good guys, and the bad guys who you can never tell by the way they are dressed but most of them are driving cars worth $100,000 or more. The ones who don't are a just a bit more intelligent than the others and don't want to draw attention to themselves, but that does not mean that one should not be wary of both.


Vasyl Pawlowsky Independent Consultant

The commentary of this was first published on the Ukraine Business Online site.

EURO-2012: Ukraine, why bother?

Back in September of 2011 I wrote up my “Travel Advisory Euro-2012”. It seems to me, all joking aside, that someone has heeded this message. However, I highly doubt it! Clearly the powers that be in Ukraine have not been able to convince the world that they actually deserve hosting the European football championships this year. Somehow it comes as no surprise to me that 13 of the 16 teams involved in a glorious sporting event have actually decided to set up their team home-bases not in Ukraine but in Poland! So why is this?

It seems to me, that the national football federations of the countries involved clearly understand that the facilities available in Ukraine are minimal. Why on earth would they want to subjugate their top players to Third World conditions? Yes, Third World conditions!

Ukraine's own Euro-2012 has in fact become one of the sore points for many Ukrainians, and only an idiot could not see this happening over the last 18 months. It is not a secret to anyone that government financed sporting facilities benefit no one, other than those who build them. This is currently a debate in Canada, regarding one hockey arena that certain individuals want to build in Quebec City, in order to try to draw an NHL franchise back to the city. It will not work on public funds, and most in the West know this, however, there were and still are politicos in Canada and Ukraine that always try to manage to obfuscate the truth when dealing with the public.

In Ukraine we know that the public was never involved, to build or reconstruct stadiums in Kyiv and Lviv. Decisions were made in the personal interests, and not in the public's interest. So how much of the public purse was stolen on these ventures by public officials? I'm not keeping an official record now, but I am sure we are not far from possibly a couple of billion dollars! No, not hryvnia but cold hard green backs. The results, in fact, are not very commendable, from many different points of view: be they architectural, engineering, or even more importantly a return on investment and plans to further exploit these apparent architectural wonders! Or should I say eye-sores?

A number of months ago I wrote a letter to Bryan Adams to not participate in the opening of the Lviv Arena. Why he did not participate, the world will never know, but we all know that Ukraine's own top man backed out. Why? We still don't have an answer! I think he feared for his own safety regarding the shoddy workmanship that had taken place at the “Lviv Arena”. Or maybe he just didn't want to be heckled. We know how these criminal types can't handle any type of criticism.

As times goes on, everything becomes very clear, at least for those who have some common sense and understand how public officials abuse their office in Ukraine.

I sent a letter off to Bryan Adams on September 23, 2011; shortly after this I made contact with some leaders in the Ukrainian Diaspora regarding the possibility of a boycott of Euro-2012. The feedback by those who are leaders in the Ukrainian community appalled me; many of them seem to think they actually know what is going on in Ukraine. For the most part they haven't a clue!

“What, boycott EURO-2012, there will be all kinds of small business that will suffer if we do this!” This was one comment I received during my series of phone calls. What small business? Who is this person trying to fool?

The small business this individual spoke about will gain nothing from EURO-2012 except headaches and harassment.

Of all the small businesses that are not under the control of the Yanukovych Regime the following will take place. It happened before under Azarov, when he was chief Tax Man and it will happen again. They will have at least weekly raids, and will be extorting any earnings that are made by small businesses during the EURO-2012 Championships. Has any person from the Diaspora been involved in such raids? I've known many business people in Ukraine who have lived through such a matter and have in fact been present when all service stopped as Tax Police shut down a register as they verbally assaulted and in one case physically assaulted an employee of a restaurant. Have, they ever had to deal with Ukraine's tax police at all? Do you want to put people under such pressure? That is what I have to ask those who are against boycotting EURO-2012? How about you go up against those thugs? Do any of you have the balls for it, in a land where the Rule of Law doesn't exist? Sorry folks, this isn't just IRS psychological play or pressure, the thugs from the Tax Police in Ukraine have no qualms about hitting you or a co-worker over the head with a night stick! Or even better they won't hit you over the head they will hit you in the kidneys in such a manner that there will be no bruises to show anyone, and it will be your word against theirs in a system that will not side with you but with the authorities.

The current regime is a criminal one; I think that this was long ago established. Those in power completely neglect the Rule of Law, and we all know that there are plenty of the nation's lawmakers sheltering themselves from being judged by whatever kind of judicial system exists in Ukraine by hiding behind their immunity as People's Deputies of Ukraine.

While the average tourists who visit Ukraine on their own gives a decent indication of what is available if one is on a budget, which most football fans are clearly aware of. For their money they will receive substandard service for anything less than 200 euro a night. This shows just how far Ukraine has come in the area of tourism. In 2001 on the outskirts of Vienna I spent 20 Euros a night with breakfast. And within the last six months the same friend who arranged that stay, told me that now it would cost me about 30 euros a night, and this includes a sumptuous breakfast. If someone can point out such places in Ukraine I would be glad to promote them, but I fear if they exist many of them can only deal in two languages: Ukrainian and Russian. But even still what the average tourist expects and what can be provided for elite athletes are worlds apart. Yes, footballers are elite athletes, and their needs are a great deal different than the average individual.

Regardless, it is now very clear that Ukraine, buy the decision of professionals will not be able to host the most of the athletes participating in the EURO-2012 Championships, and this I am certain my dear readers not based on politics whatsoever, but on concrete facts. If anyone, in the tourism industry that truly understands the capabilities of Ukraine would speak up, and not just in a way that carries the official line of the government, then we would learn that Ukraine is not only unprepared for EURO-2012, but that it will in fact probably create a much more negative image of the country. The peace and love of EURO-CAMP in 2005 on Trukhaniv Island during the Eurovision Song Contest after the euphoria of the Orange (R)evolution is not what football fans are expecting, and they surely most are not expecting to pay € 55 a night in a two person tent. This is what is being proposed by one Kyiv-based booking agency.

So who will benefit at all from tourism during an event that is meant to celebrate sport? Clearly it won't be the average individual in Ukraine, nor will it be the average small business owner. The decision by 13 of the 16 national football teams who have decided to set up their home base camps in Poland sends a very clear message. Stay away from Ukraine. The money you spend there will not help the common people but only a few who already have more money than they know what to do with.

Vasyl Pawlowsky
Independent Consultant

The commentary of this was first published on the Ukraine Business Online site.

My Safety First – A presidential no-show

It has always been clear in my mind that the many ills of Ukraine are not the cause of a major sporting event which is slated for 2012, but the European Football championships have clearly drawn attention to the countless problems which exist in contemporary Ukrainian society. Every nation has its problems, in some, it is more apparent than in others, though in Ukraine it seems that all of its citizens just grin and bear it.

Many years ago I heard one civic activist in Ukraine use the following phrase at least twice during every one of his public appearances or interviews with media. “The problem isn’t the elections it’s the electorate!” Well if it’s the electorate then clearly the problems that Ukraine has on its plate, are just as much the fault of the electorate as those who they voted for on this or that party list which a candidate was on, who in no way under the current electoral system or legislation which exists can be held accountable for anything they do, or don’t do, how they vote or how their fellow party members vote for them in their absence.

So when will the electorate, Ukraine’s citizens, start acting and not simply having their discussions on how terrible things are? I am certain that this past Friday night, like any other night of the week, that without a doubt there were hundreds if not thousands of small groups of individuals around the country doing a great deal of talking. Some of them around the kitchen table, others at the local watering hole, and others still without any alcoholic beverages near by whatsoever. But as an old Slavic saying goes, “What is on the sober man’s mind is on the drunken man’s tongue.” It seems that just like in the “pseudo” world of Ukrainian politics, which has more political parties than one is able to count on all of one’s digits; civic society is just as splintered. The formation of a number of loosely knit groups throughout the country in the past eighteen months is just as difficult to keep track of as political parties.

So just what are all these new groups doing? A friend of mine, recently stated on his Facebook page that he was tired of going to any of the numerous demonstrations in the nation’s capital as they were simply nothing but a waste of time, and stated that it was time for Ukrainians to take things into their own hands, like in Libya. Though understanding how Ukraine’s State Security Service (SBU), has been targeting bloggers and others, he clearly said that he didn’t want to be blamed for a call for the taking to arms. Clearly, the frustration of many Ukrainians is there, and this is just one of at least a hundred comments I have seen in the last couple of weeks from individuals I personally know, or am acquainted with through numerous means and who I consider far from radical. They are just sick and tired of it all, but so many of them have to deal with simply “surviving”.

Survival – yes staying alive no other way of putting it. In order to do this there is one factor that is important in any society and that is safety. Though with October 29, 2011 a so-called D-Day in Lviv, and the opening of what is for now being dubbed the Lviv Arena; safety is something that is the furthest thing in the minds of public officials who have stated that the stadium will be officially opened October 29.

On Friday October 28, President Yanukovych stated in a briefing at the still to be completed stadium that they decided that the opening would take place in October as a matter of convenience for everyone involved, regarding the weather and temperature and in order that this festive event would be remembered. However, the key agencies that are to sign off on allowing to put this architectural construction into operation have not done so, and probably won’t until some time in 2012, as the stadium, is far from being ready to be, as they say in Ukraine, “delivered for exploitation”. According to unnamed sources amongst construction workers on the site, there have been a number of short cuts taken in order to meet the crazy, but nonetheless, already year-late deadline of completing the stadium. In places where things should have been bolted, they simply welded two pieces of metal together.

This doesn’t surprise me, and it probably doesn’t surprise many Ukrainians, though it is time for them to start saying “NO! We will not have any part of this insanity that has been thrust upon us!” This would have be an appropriate stance of citizens of Lviv regarding the stadium that was delivered to them in part. And for some it will be. One comment on YouTube by one such citizen of Lviv named Volodymyr wrote on October 28th. “Tomorrow I will not go to that stadium, I fear for my life and the most important thing is that everything that is being done in a rush for the Euro will not be achieved, in the spring they will be putting down asphalt and so forth, and it is pile of our money, it’s a nuthouse."

In addition, who was at the opening of what should be a landmark event in the history of such a city as Lviv? Clearly, President Yanukovych himself was a no-show. I guess he too had come to his senses like the earlier commentator on YouTube and probably knowing a bit more of the truth thought twice about setting foot in a stadium, which legally should not have had anyone on its territory but the workers building it.

A video was presented on the history of football in Lviv and as it came to a close the voice over of the video pumped up the President’s image, while lambasting the previous administrations during which the building of the stadium had come to a halt. For those locals who were there, they didn’t take kindly to those words about the “virtual president” whistling and shouting cat calls of shame. It was a show, which was deplorable and simply depicts how the powers that be continue in the vein of Potemkin, in trying to paint a rosier picture than the reality.


As I related above, at least one citizen of Lviv and another of Kyiv have voiced their opinions. “We have had enough!” But how many who have voiced their opinions will in the future carry out some activity which will bring down the soviet style dinosaurs who were resurrected by the electorate; dinosaurs, who are not only anti-society and safety but who are also anti-Ukrainian in their policies? It appears that the level of what the people of Ukraine are able to tolerate is being stretched further and further by the current regime, and only two questions remain. Just how much will they tolerate and how long will their pressure valve continue to function? And when the pressure valve finally fails, just how far will Ukrainians go in order to bring some order to their land, which so far has only lined the pockets of a very small portion of the population?


Vasyl Pawlowsky Independent Consultant

The commentary of this was first published on the Ukraine Business Online site.

Euro-2012: They shoot horses, don’t they?

When we hear about all the grotesque things going on in Ukraine, most of us are thinking about politics on a human level, but unfortunately there is an element that is permeating Ukrainian society that may get some individuals even more appalled then they would about the country’s politics . While it is clear to everyone who has ever visited the host cities of Euro-2012 -- Donetsk, Kyiv, Kharkiv and Lviv -- they all have something else in common, a problem with stray dogs.

The issue of homeless animals exists everywhere on the face of this planet. However, anyone who has spent some time in Ukraine will tell you that the issue of homeless dogs has been one that animal rights advocates have been trying to deal with for many years. If human rights issues have taken a number of steps backward under the administration of President Yanukovych, then on the eve of Ukraine hosting the Euro-2012 Football Championships, the fate of man’s best four-footed friend has reached a very low level.

The issue of how stray dogs were being dealt with in the aforementioned cities was brought to my attention late last week by a reader of my commentary, and I have been aware of this issue throughout my years living in Ukraine. After a little bit more digging and reading I was appalled, though not surprised. It became clearer that Ukraine has some very sick and inhumane decision makers. It is high time that Europe and the rest of the world start seeing what Ukraine truly is, and I don’t mean the average Ukrainian, who for the most part are the most hospitable and kind individuals I have met anywhere in my travels. However, just how twisted some of its officials are in is shown in how they deal with their local problems, in this case the stray dogs that wander their streets.

For the most part their methods have been brought about by trying make Ukraine look like a European country for the Euro-2012. Damn it, they have had twenty years to do so, but all that seems to be happening is that those in power, keep playing Potemkin, with nothing seriously taking place in truly bringing Ukraine closer to the standards of Europe and the world of the civilized. Clearly the incumbent President is the farthest away from understanding what the Rule of Law is in the last twenty years.

How man’s homeless four-footed friends are being dealt with varies from region to region, with the worst of it all happening in the Donbas, and it’s been going on for some time now. By order of the municipal council on March 16, 2009 in Makiyivka, on the outskirts of Donetsk, between three-hundred and four-hundred homeless dogs were killed. They were not simply caught and put to sleep in a humane manner but hunted down and killed, by three private firms using 9mm firearms. In one case this was even done on the territory of a local children’s hospital in full view of children. Furthermore their carcasses were left to rot on a tailings pile of one of the local mines, and this was less than three-hundred meters from some family homes in the area.

After a bit more digging I finally found a recent publication which revealed just how low some will go. Even more shocking than the hunting of dogs mentioned above was something that really took the cake. According to Volodymyr Boreyko, a well known advocate of animal rights in Ukraine, there is even a crematorium in Luhansk oblast set up to deal with the dogs. Other ecologists have confirmed that even a crematorium on wheels has existed there for nearly two years. Word on the street is that in some cases dogs were even burnt alive, saving those in charge not only on timely and expensive euthanasia procedures but also on bullets.

In that same article Asia Vilgelmovna Serpinskaya, President of the Kyiv Society for the Protection of Animals, revealed how there were a few Internet forums on which youth in Kyiv would share information on where to purchase the latest dog killing “vitamins”, where to find stray dogs, the best time to poison them etc. The so called vitamins are the drug Isoniazid, a first-line anti-tuberculosis medication. The death of dogs poisoned in such a way is very inhumane, and from what I determined, in the way that hepatoxicity could affect humans if there is a bad reaction, imagine what such a drug does to the liver of dogs.

So while shooting these dogs may not be the most humane method, poisoning or burning stray dogs is clearly a more sadistic method, and the authorities seem to think that it is all fine and dandy. They are simply playing into the hands of those that want to pretend they have everything under control in terms of showing off Ukraine to the European football fans that will be arriving in Ukraine for Euro-2012. In the twenty years of Ukraine’s independence, not only have few major changes been made in order to bring Ukraine closer to Europe in the human sphere, none have taken place regarding the protection of animals.

This barbarism seems also to be mirrored in the way that Ukraine's top official takes to the sport of hunting. Whether you agree or disagree with the fact that hunting is a sport, and whether it is necessary at all is not up for debate here. When practiced by true outdoors people this form of recreation requires some knowledge of animal behavior and the principle of fair chase as safe practices when out in the woods or field. Ukraine's president through some type of scheme has taken over what was once a thirty-seven thousand hectare wild life preserve and turned it into his personal hunting ground. It is fenced, moated and protected from the prying eyes of regular citizens and journalists by Berkut, special reaction teams of the militia.

Though unlike the skilled hunter, the President of Ukraine and his hunting buddies, sit perched in towers and then have the wild animals herded towards the towers for them to take pot shots at these creatures, be they deer, boars, or anything else he desires to import for his rest and relaxation. This is almost akin to Internet hunting or computer-assisted remote hunting. In the United States, amendments were introduced to existing legislation which would call for a fine and or prison sentence of up to five years for such a method of hunting True, that President Yanukovych's method of hunting does not include a computer, but what difference does it make if the animals are one, captive and two practically served up on a silver platter to him. Some hunt, eh?

If there are animal lovers out there in Europe who are also football fans, maybe it is time for you to start calling your local representatives, your football associations and anyone you know that deals with the humane treatment of animals to start putting pressure on the Ukrainian authorities, as well as UEFA regarding this barbarism. Such incidents are truly appalling and really do show just how sick some people are in Ukrainian society. Should they not be punished? Certainly! How to punish them is another question. Take away Euro-2012 and let the disgruntled population let their voices heard at the ballot box. Because neither the average individual nor dog will see dime one of the tourist dollars that some extremely misinformed individuals claim are reason not to boycott the football championships.

Vasyl Pawlowsky Independent Consultant

This commentary of was first published on the Ukraine Business Online site.

And it is thanks to them for providing me with more information on just how barbaric some are in Ukraine.

We won’t get fooled again!

The wheels of democracy at times seem to turn extremely quickly, however, when it comes to diplomacy they clearly move at a cadence that few can understand. There have been many statements of warning from Western leaders condemning the seven-year sentence handed down to former prime minister of Ukraine Yulia Tymoshenko, however, will such statements ever materialize into action?

Yanukovych clearly by his rhetoric does not seem concerned with the statements made by the west, and why should this surprise anyone? I have mentioned this thrice, he does not understand diplospeak, and the only way that he will understand is to be dealt with in a manner that those in his world deal with one another, with force.

"It appears that they have been stringing us along," said a senior Western diplomat in Kyiv, to the Financial Times. Maybe some diplomats out there do understand the way Yanukovych and his band of robber barons operate, but maybe they don’t. When I read these kinds of comments veiled behind anonymity there seems to me a preponderance of the later.

It is time for Western diplomats to think beyond the box of Western diplomacy, and start to think they way those who are now holding court in Ukraine think. The polite statements in a language that is as foreign to the regime of Yanukovych might as well be delivered in Old Church Slavonic, which is just as foreign to him and his henchmen as the language of diplomacy which to them is an artillery of words, which they simply do not understand.

Clearly, the West has been strung along by this jester and those who preceded him. But somehow, his predecessors understood diplospeak, and in the past those words were backed up with actions. Because as the idiom goes: “Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.” It seems that the West for the last couple of years have been in the “shame on me” mode in its relationship with Ukraine, and until their recent statements are followed through with targeted actions which will have direct repercussions on those who have and continue to rape Kateryna, economically and culturally, very little headway will be made.

The barrage of statements delivered in the direction of those in power in Ukraine has clearly fallen up deaf ears, because until someone finds a way to deliver the message using vocabulary used in the criminal underworld that they will understand there will be no reaction. However, such language just may be understood: “You son of a bitch, you are such a petukh that you are afraid of Volodymyrivna! All you can do is lock her up! You shit; you know the only way you can win an election is with her out of the way! You good for nothing mudak! This is the end for you and your groups who care nothing about your country, but only wish to rob its people!” And once the message is delivered in a language that is understood, then clear and forceful action is required.

Some tough love is necessary and has to be delivered by clear and targeted actions. The passage of legislation which would allow countries to freeze and arrest of the assets of those associated with the current regime; travel restrictions on all those associated with the regime; a complete and total review of all companies owned by these individuals and to ensure that no foreign aid intended to help the development of the country in different spheres, is being skimmed by these characters; and pressure on the EUFA by countries of Europe and its football fans to revoke Ukraine’s right to act as host of the Euro-2012 Football Championships. These and other creative and targeted actions are required, because without them the civilized democratic countries of the world will continue to be stuck in the mode of “shame on me!” and will take on a new mantra, first voiced by Pete Townsend of “The Who” back in 1971, where they will:



Smile and grin at the change all around me
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
Then I'll get on my knees and pray
We don't get fooled again
Don't get fooled again


The question remains: Will they be strung along and fooled again?

Vasyl Pawlowsky Independent Consultant

The commentary of this was first published on the Ukraine Business Online site.

Euro-2012 and image in wonderland UA

Yes, Wonderland UA. Sounds enchanting, doesn’t it?

For many years individuals traveled to Ukraine as a form of extreme tourism, and some still travel to Ukraine for sex tourism. Why do you think the girls from FEMEN have their knickers in a knot? Even the folks in Lviv have been spending a lot of money on how to entice young men with their sexually implicit public relations videos for 2012.


Yes, ultra-soft porn sells, but it does little for the image of a nation. Meanwhile there are elements of the Diaspora that also have their shorts knotted; in that Yevhenia Carr, the daughter of former Prime Minister Tymoshenko hasn't been able to learn Ukrainian. There is good reason for both these groups to be a little pissed, but may I put to my fellow members of the Ukrainian Diaspora the following question:”How many members of Ukraine's current government which the Diaspora continues to deal with in an as-if-everything-is-ok kind of mode actually speak Ukrainian or even respect the language?”


Besides the Rule of Law being a problem in Ukraine and which is trampled on a daily basis, there are a few things that caught me by surprise recently. Just when you think you have it all figured out Ukraine throws another surprise your way.


The first surprise is a revelation for football fans planning to travel to Ukraine by car for the Euro-2012 Football Championships. To my brethren in the Diaspora, you are also in for a surprise, which you should be just as angry about as Mrs. Carr's inability to learn Ukrainian.


In tourism, for the last couple of hundred years, there have been four “S's” that have played a role, and we cannot deny these. They are Sun, Sand, Ski and Sex! But these are only elements which are employed to sell a destination.


In 2012 the key drawing card to Ukraine will be the European Football Championships, if anyone can fit in one of the first three “S's” into their itinerary then more power to them. Respect Ukrainian women like you would your own, or don't bother visiting Ukraine. As the women from FEMEN say, “Ukraine is not a brothel!”


So you are coming to Ukraine for Euro-2012 by car? Do you know where you are going to park that car of yours? Recently, I saw a report on the TV show, Znak Oklyku (Exclamation Mark), how individual companies have taken over the available parking spots available by simply putting up official looking signs that state those only cars of “such-and-such a business can park here”. Under the Highway Code of Ukraine none of these signs are recognized. Along with these signs come burly security guards with about as much couth as a brick wall to enforce their own rules of the concrete jungles of Ukraine.


Parking in Kyiv, Ukraine's capital and in Lviv is nuts, just ask anyone with a car. When Michel Platini was in Ukraine last week what did he see? He saw a Potemkin village. He saw squat about the realities of current Ukraine and how prepared it is for the Euro-2012 Ukraine. Ukrainians, particularly officials, are very good at presenting the false-reality of their nation.


So, maybe anyone who plans to travel by car to Ukraine for the Euro-2012 should start preparations by doing the following. Make sure that you prepare yourself a sign that reads: “For the automobiles of Football Fans of Euro-2012.” You may also want hire some burly types to enforce your parking space. There is clearly no guarantee that there will be any type of parking for fans who decide to make their way into Ukraine under their own means of transportation.


Now regarding the issue of language, here is some news that really floored me. In trying to improve Ukraine's image and the image of the Kyiv National Linguistic University, the university has set up a new Supervisory Board. Well, that is great until you hear about the clowns who were appointed to it.


First on the list is Yuriy Ivanyushenko who according to media reports is also known as Yura “Yenakievskiy,” an allegedly criminal authority who also happens to be a member of Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada.


Then there is Tariel Vasadze, chairman and primary shareholder in the UkrAvto Group, Ukraine's largest car importer, and former member of BYuT who voted for the new Tax Code earlier this year and was expelled from the party and now sits with the Party of Regions.


The third should be a big hit amongst those who recognize the atrocities committed by Stalin. She is none other than Kateryna Samolyuk one of Ukraine's top commies who in 2010 stated that statues of Stalin should be placed in all regional centers of Western Ukraine to remind them who saved them and the rest of Europe from the Fascist-Germans.


The fourth member is none other than Ukraine's Minister of the Energy and Coal Industry Yuriy Boyko, another Party of Regions member who is alleged to have been involved in a scheme to bilk $150 million out of the state’s coffers in the purchase of an offshore oil platform.


Heading the Board is Valentyn Zaychuk, a bureaucrat within the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, who at least at one time was tied to something positively Ukrainian as a teacher of the Ukrainian language and literature.


What this Supervisory Board has planned to do to improve the University's image and that of Ukraine's image abroad is anyone's best guess. Though I have serious doubts as to what the true intention of the creation of such a board is, and filling with such characters of such moral fiber. Only time will tell.


In short, Ukraine is a wonderland and it ceases to amaze me in the things that happen there. The levels of corruption, influence peddling, arbitrary decisions by different people who are in positions of power, and the simple grab for more and more by a select few. Have any of these individuals who have pillaged the country of its wealth ever looked around to see how their neighbor is doing?

Clearly not! Such behavior is in fact very non-Ukrainian, for those who have some moral fiber.

Vasyl Pawlowsky Independent Consultant
The commentary of this was first published on the Ukraine Business Online site.

September 23, 2011 - My Letter to Bryan Adams

Mr. Bryan Adams, O.C., O.B.C.
c/o Mr. Bruce Allen
Suite 520 - 425 Carrall Street
Vancouver, BC
V6B 6E3
Canada


Dear Mr. Adams,

I am writing to you with regard to your planned performance on October 28, 2011 in the city of Lviv, Ukraine at the opening ceremony for the Lviv football stadium for the Euro-2012 football championship, alongside the event’s reported attendance of Ukraine’s current President Viktor Yanukovych.

While you have been to Ukraine to perform in the past, there are a few things I am certain you stand for as a Canadian and as a member of the Order’s of Canada and British Columbia and that you should be made aware of. These are matters which not only disturbing to me as a fellow Canadian, and should be to you, but also to Members of Canada’s Parliament, as well as the close to 1.25 million Canadians of Ukrainian descent.

Mr. Bernard Trottier (Riding of Etobicoke—Lakeshore, Conservative Party of Canada) made the following statement to our Parliament earlier this week:

"Mr. Speaker, recently we have seen some very troubling events take place in Ukraine. The persecution, arrest and continued detention of Yulia Tymoshenko, along with many others, are cause for great concern both in Canada as well as in the international community….These apparently politically-motivated actions undermine the rule of law and human rights, which are at the core of all democracies. The Ukrainian people, having long lived under the rule of regressive and undemocratic Soviet policies, will not accept a return to darker times. Ukrainians deserve to live in a peaceful and prosperous society, where they can enjoy the same freedoms and safeties seen across other western nations.”

Now, while it can be understood that political rivalries within a country may not be of direct concern to you as a musician asked to perform in that country, and despite the fact that the handling of Ukraine’s two opposition leaders’ (Ms. Tymoshenko’s and Mr. Lutsenko’s) “trials” as well as the conditions of their imprisonment could all be reason enough to reconsider any dealings with Ukraine’s current regime by any Western activist or institution, given the political nature of these particular cases, I shall focus instead on just a few examples amongst the plethora of other examples of serious ethical, political, administrative and humanitarian wrongdoings in Ukraine directly related to Mr. Yanukovych’s regime as well as to the preparations of the Euro 2012 football championship in Ukraine, and in the City of Lviv in particular.

The first example is the completely corrupt tender process that the municipal officials in Lviv ran for the building of the stadium, where they announced a financial tender which was to be awarded to the company that could finance building the new stadium and its infrastructure without burdening the local economy and population. The tender was awarded to a company that had no financing and was eventually given to a Ukraine based company to be fully financed at the tax payer’s expense. When the rest of the world is trying to be frugal, the powers that be in Ukraine continue to try to squeeze the most out of their populace, only exacerbating the country’s deepening economic and societal crisis.

Regarding the building of the stadium, workers who were hired to do so were not paid for four months, and then the company that they were employed for was folded, and they were left without four months of wages. To this day they have not seen compensation for their labor. A lavish opening ceremony of this stadium will be just another blow to the dignity of these workers and their families.

What you will be paid for your performance, is not clean money. It is money that has been stolen from the population and the municipal and national budgets through deep-rooted schemes of endemic corruption, by officials who from day one of the tournament’s announcement have done everything possible to reap personal advantage of this landmark event in every imaginable way. Improvements to the quality of life of the people in the host-cities of the Euro 2012, i.e. creation of job opportunities, economic growth and capital inflow are all a fairy tale that even pre-school kids will not believe anymore.

However, the problems in Ukraine are much deeper than a systematically corrupted and economically ruinous mismanagement of the preparations to the Euro-2012 football championship. There is a constantly growing opposition in all spheres of society to the current regime - a regime that cannot be labeled as anything else but criminal. This opposition is being answered to with increasingly worrisome methods. Among many other unnamed instances, this year’s Amnesty International Report on Ukraine is filled with unaddressed cases of unlawful detainment, torture and ill-treatment of protesters and students that stood up on various occasions to voice their opinion against the current regime represented by Mr. Yanukovych.

Back in July, Sting canceled a concert in Kazakhstan over claims of human rights violations on oil workers in that country. I believe that the current situation in Ukraine gives many more reasons for the same kind of action.

As a fellow Canadian, I would very much like you to reconsider whether you will play in Lviv or not. I know that there are plenty of other performing artists out there who would support you in your stand. A stand which would be just, regarding the current state of affairs in a country with an extremely fragile democracy, and which is turning into a police state run by a few who care very little about those they were elected to represent. I call on you and anyone who believes in democracy to boycott all events related to the Euro-2012 Football Championships in Ukraine.

Sincerely,


William (Vasyl) Pawlowsky
Independent Consultant
B.A.; M.A.; M.L.I.S.

Cc: were a slew of individuals, organizations and media which you can see here in the first published version of my letter.

Travel Advisory Euro-2012

While it is completely normal that states offer travel advisories in order that its citizens can make informed decisions regarding their chosen destination of travel, in order that they be adequately prepared for what they may encounter on their trip, who out there has ever issued such an advisory regarding Ukraine? Individuals who have traveled to Ukraine both before its independence and during the last twenty years will tell you without much hesitation, “It’s not what I expected it to be!” So what should travelers to Ukraine for the Euro-2012 be expecting and what kind of advisories should be going out to the fans of one of the world’s most watched sports?

Well before getting to the copy of those potential advisories, let’s get to the perception which all of Ukraine’s politicos are trying to create. Starting with the most basic and important feature, that of preparing the police for the onslaught of fans who neither speak Ukrainian nor Russian. Will this make any difference? I doubt it, and it’s not because that they will not be able to communicate with fans, but it is probably more due to their attitudes, than their ability to learn a foreign language.

Europeans have very different attitudes towards their police forces than those which Ukrainians have. A recent survey by the Razumkov Center in Kyiv showed that only received 6.4% of respondents supported the activities of the police, and 52.5% did not support them. While the question wasn’t on how much you trust the police, one gets the picture. In reviewing similar survey results for Western democracies, it is almost the exact inverse where the level of trust in the police is often higher than 55%, and this is where worlds collide.

So what are some of the factors which cause such a low level of trust in Ukraine’s law enforcement agencies? Examples abound, but I will simply provide two recent examples.

On September 16, 2011 the lawyer of the All-Ukrainian Network of People Living with HIV reported that a young man by the name of Volodymyr died while in custody for the theft of a suit worth no more than one-hundred dollars. Volodymyr was HIV positive and while there were social workers who would visit him at the Lukiyanivsky jail to provide medication, there was only one time in which he actually received it. As his state of health deteriorated and without legal counsel, he was not even in a capable state of mind in order to formally draft an appeal – he was dying a slow and most likely agonizing death, handcuffed to his bed.

Eventually, he was transferred to Kyiv’s Hospital № 5 where he was once again handcuffed to his bed. Volodymyr lapsed into a coma though he was not transferred to the ICU because of the handcuffs. Apparently the inspector in the case of Volodymyr was expecting a bribe from the family, and because he didn’t receive one, he was left to die. The mother of the deceased is ready to speak with human rights organizations and journalists, she stated, “Maybe this will help save other people.”

The same in Kharkiv, one of the host cities for the Euro-2012 Football Championships a much greater action film type of event took place when the Alpha Special Tactical unit raided the police station in the Komintersky districted of the said city. The reason for the raid was quite simple. Those who were supposed be “serving and protecting” in fact sold twenty-five Makarov pistols, five thousand rounds of ammunition as well as Kalashnikov rifles to organized criminals in that city, which included five members of the local precinct. The equivalent of nearly a million dollars was also found in the precinct’s safe.

So is there any reason why you would trust the police in Ukraine? There are many ex-patriots and Ukrainian nationals who have had their experiences with the police in Ukraine and they will tell you it’s no fun.

So how would you word our Euro-2012 Travel Advisory after hearing of just the two simple events which happened last week?

Mine would be short and sweet:

TRAVEL ADVISORY FOR UKRAINE and EURO-2012
Travel there with extreme caution – levels of barbarity and disrespect for human life by law enforcement officials is at intolerable levels by international standards. They claim that there will be law enforcement officials that speak your language by the time of EURO-2012, but there is no guarantee that you will understand one another.

A vindictive form of justice

The lack of an independent judiciary in Ukraine prevents it from becoming part of the civilized world, undermines the principles of Ukraine’s Constitution, and the most basic rights and freedoms which it is supposed to guarantee. The lawlessness of the current regime is nothing more than a vendetta against those who were trying to bring some law and order to what is still a fledgling and now very fragile democracy.

In the spring of 2007 Ukraine together with Poland were awarded to host the Euro-2012 Football Championships, which seemed like a great victory at the time; however, anyone who has been following things since then understands very well that things are far from as smooth as “officials” are making them out to be.


European sources have stated that the reconstruction of the “Olympic” stadium in Kyiv is probably one of the most expensive construction projects in Europe at the given time. On more than one occasion workers on the Lviv Stadium, have gone without receiving their pay. In fact, in one case the company KomfortBud was restructured and renamed and workers not paid four months of salaries, which to this day they still have not received. Just one of the ways of a few pocketing money for themselves. Not to mention the clearly falsified tender for the building of the new L’viv stadium has probably cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars.

It is no secret that Deputy Prime Minister Borys Kolesnikov who is responsible for infrastructure projects was somehow tied into matters of the reconstruction of the Olympic Stadium, and clearly in conflict of interest. While he conveniently extricated himself from the company involved, it would be naïve for anyone to think he is still not personally benefiting from that business project.

When Yuri Lutsenko was the country’s “top cop”, Kolesnikov, who had openly called for the separation of the Donbas from Ukraine, as well as former Kharkiv Governor, Yevhen Kushnaryov, had been detained during ongoing investigations; Kushnaryov was the only non-Donetsk politician who also held high office in the Party of Regions, and died on January 17, 2007 under suspect conditions in a hunting accident. Some analysts have openly stated that Kushnaryov was an expendable body in the Party of Regions. In addition under the instigation of Lutsenko investigations were carried out on many Donetsk-based businesses and politicians, including Rinat Akhmetov’s SCM.

In Lviv the administration is also not as squeaky clean as its Mayor Andriy Sadovy so often likes to portray to the media and the city’s citizens.

In June of 2010, a criminal case was opened against Deputy Mayor of Lviv, Oleh Synyutka, who is responsible for infrastructure development in the city, for the inappropriate use of the municipal budget to the tune of UAH 8,681,617, just over one million USD. In comparison the arrest of Lutsenko and charges brought against him are sadly comical; like a beach bully kicking sand in the faces of those he disrespects.

The numbers speak for themselves and with Donetsk interests continuously growing in Lviv, due to the bedfellows that the city’s leadership keeps, the most corrupt will go unpunished. Lutsenko if not released for treatment could die, and Tymoshenko will be meted out a sentence, by a politically appointed “judge”, decided long before proceedings were started against her.

How the regime must be rejoicing that they have nearly achieved victory in silencing their two strongest opponents, who once insulted, and investigated their questionable behavior and have a great deal of dirt on them all for certain. In their world, vengeance has always been more important than justice. In their world there are no civilized rules.

Vasyl Pawlowsky
Independent Consultant

This opinion was published earlier on Ukraine Business Online.