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.

An orange carrot called Euro-2012

Before the early winter of 2004 Ukraine was nothing but a grey smudge somewhere on the periphery of a contemporary Europe. It was a country with a developing democracy and with its fair share of problems as it tried to shake off the legacy of the Former Soviet Union, but when the Orange (R)evolution took place, the world started to take notice. As a result of the bloodless revolution, a revolution of smiling cooperative Ukrainians, wanting to build a better nation, one based on democratic principles, Ukraine was offered a carrot. That carrot was the Euro-2012 Football Championships which it is to co-host with its Western neighbor Poland; a country that through a great deal of shock therapy reformed itself from being a key member of the Warsaw Pact into a functioning democracy.

However, Ukraine somehow, to this day, even twenty years of independence has not gone through the reforms necessary in order to become a truly functioning democracy. The unlawful trial, unethical detainment and the flimsily grounded, yet brutally enforced verdict on former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, announced by a clearly in-the-pocket judge, is just one such incident - prominent because of Tymoshenko’s high international profile, yet very indicative of the unmistakable ruthlessness of the current regime.

“In Tymoshenko’s trial, however, many elements of Stalin’s grotesque legal charades are present: a near-hysterical prosecutor, a compliant judge, a ruler who washed his hands of the affair like Pontius Pilate.” wrote Nikita Khrushchev’s great granddaughter, Nina Khrushcheva in the The Daily Beast on October 10 a day before the verdict was announced.

Yanukovych’s master of spin Hanna Herman had at some point stated that the president was “not aware of the charges brought against Tymoshenko” and annoyed by this, but how will his annoyance play out? Particularly if one takes the time to ask oneself: If despite all the heavy international condemnation of this trial, and despite all the looming political and economic consequences, for a regime that appears so busy trying to build some sort of legitimate image abroad, the verdict was still followed through on, in full force, without even blinking, then one can only speculate about the level of ruthlessness which this government goes about with its daily business when the rest of the world is not watching, and Ukraine is not under the microscope?

Earlier, if the modus operandi by those who came to power was divide and conquer, now it is clearly seek and destroy, using any possible means. It appears that at times principles of revenge are placed higher than any political or even economic rational. Although, there is very well grounded political and economic rational behind eliminating from politics the regime’s Number 1 opponent.

So who will the regime’s next opponent be? Maybe when the consequences of this show trail are felt by Ukraine’s politicos, they will with the restrained brutality of Stalin, put an end to the political careers of the prosecutor and judge in the case as suggested by Nina Khrushcheva? After all they were nothing but useful-idiots employed by the regime to eliminate the opposition, they too are expendable.

But will there be consequences? Yanukovych’s advisors are certain that Ukraine’s strategic importance is too big for Europe to simply switch to hard measures of boycotts, travel bans, account freezes, etc. The officials in Kyiv think that they can manage to balance their instances of unconcealable lawlessness, corruption and brutality, with their efforts to appear democratic and progressive by appeasing the West with select deals and partnerships. Getting ready for Euro 2012 in the most pompous way possible, is one of these efforts.

Yet the common everyday good people of Ukraine have nothing to do with the Euro-2012 Football Championship. Most eek their way through life based on principles that are so far away from the current occupiers of government seats. In speaking to a friend yesterday, his mother’s pension was recently reduced again, and that considering that the average pension in Ukraine is somewhere around 100 dollars a month, in a country where prices for everyday necessities are topping those in the West. In short, any standard of life is unthinkable, and it is a continuously spiraling downward.

Meanwhile Deputy Prime Minister Borys Kolesnikov is touting the economic viability of the country and how all the stadiums and infrastructure for Euro-2012 as such an economic accomplishment. An economic accomplishment that was presented to the people of Ukraine as one that would be financed by foreign investors. Now who can tell me how much direct foreign investment has come into Ukraine because of the wonderful and honorable game of football? Probably not a single nickel! The roads, airports and many other things were all things that should have been taking place regardless of whether Ukraine was hosting Euro-2012, they were things that had to be done and now those in power are doing them in such a way that they can ingratiate themselves to the tune of at least 30% of each project’s value.

For example, let’s take a look at the reconstruction of the Olympic stadium in the nation’s capital. By the best estimates of any professional in the industry, the project should have cost at the very most 300 million dollars, but when you hear that it cost close to 550 million dollars, one has to start seriously wondering. So where did 250 million dollars vanish to? These are monies that could have gone toward pensions, improving the state of health care or education?

The boycotting of the Euro-2012 should be just one of many different repercussions of the grotesqueness of the current state of affairs in Ukraine. The Ukrainian Canadian Congress is calling on the Government of Canada to “send a clear message to President Yanukovych,” however; the Government of Canada better brush up on its lexicon before sending that message, or it, like the many other messages that were intended to be shots fired across the bow will have no effect. Warnings are not enough for these types, as I tried to make clear earlier, they don’t understand diplo-speak. Those shots should not be going over the bow, but actually hitting it, because unless all members of the regime of Yanukovych feel the economic and political consequences on their own skin, Ukraine will continue to slip further away from democracy.

The powers that be in Ukraine think they are entitled to hosting the Euro-2012 championships. They are not entitled; Ukraine was given a carrot for a job that was ongoing in terms of developing a democracy. Under the current regime that democracy has been floundering in many different areas. The common every day people of Ukraine will only be empowered by a complete and ultimate boycott of the Potemkin Euro-2012 village that those in charge are trying to take away from the people that enabled the carrot in the first place.


Vasyl Pawlowsky Independent Consultant
This commentary 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.

Bravo "Le Figaro"! Not so fast!

When a government official from any country gives an interview to an international publication one would expect that they maintain certain standards or normalcy. However, as I have mentioned before, the current regime in Ukraine are nothing but bandits who play by their own set of rules, because for them the only thing that is important is to win the game. How they win is not important to them. Fair play doesn't exist in their rule book. They have no qualms about paying off a referee, putting their opponents on the sidelines by physically injuring them, or bad mouthing them without substantiated facts. Team Donetsk now is putting their best striker forward in order to try to score some goals in the international media arena, where they are very well aware that the audience is the diplomatic corps and movers and shakers in the countries of the Francophone world.

When I read the interview with Prime Minister of Ukraine Mykola Azarov in Le Figaro I felt that not only was the normalcy lacking but that Azarov, was following in the footsteps of likes of Romanian footballer Adrian Mutu and former President Aziz Yildirim of the Fenerbahce Football Club and decided to play according to his own set of rules in dealing with Yulia Tymoshenko, the Ukrainian people and the international media. In short he told a number of lies with the intention of obfuscating the facts.

The first thing that struck me was the title of the interview drawn from the interview by the author or editor to catch their readers' attention – bravo Le Figaro you did your job; I'm certain you caught the attention of many! The title read: Azarov: “Tymoshenko is a woman of the past!”

If Ms. Tymoshenko is a woman of the past, then striker Azarov must be from somewhere in the middle ages, where lawlessness and the absolute power of those who were ruling was quite common.

Has the world forgotten how he, striker Azarov, as Ukraine's head tax man from 1996 through to 2002 used his position of power to curb press freedom in Ukraine? He may have very little influence over the foreign media to the level he did over media during his eight year reign as Ukraine's version of the Sheriff of Nottingham; though, what stops a man with not even an iota of moral fabric, from telling outright lies to the foreign media. Clearly, nothing at all!

His first lie to Le Figaro, destined to a foreign audience was that “In 2009, Yulia Tymoshenko signed a one on one agreement with Russian Prime Minister Valdimir Putin...and to do so she falsified do so she falsified documents. This agreement did not receive approval of the cabinet of the government nor of the national gas company Naftogaz.” While those at Le Figaro did a great job at catching their audience's attention, and got a “bravo” Monsieur Pierre Avril, and his editor score low, regarding maintaining integrity of their publication by not verifying facts presented to them by a man representing a government that has done nothing positive regarding press freedom.

On January 11, 2009 Naftogaz was given signatory powers regarding the purchasing of gas from Gazprom and on January 21, 2009 Ihor Didenko, Deputy Director of Naftogaz stated that he agreed with Prime Minister Tymoshenko regarding the price of gas and that he considered the agreement between Naftogaz and Gazprom “to be a victory for Ukraine and common sense thinking in Ukraine.”

Further in the interview, striker Azarov with great skill, once again using his head, deflects a second ball coming his way. That ball was in the form of the following statement by Monsieur Avril: “You yourself accuse Tymoshenko before she has finally been judged. You may be criticized for wanting to influence the course of justice ...” However, when someone of a ministerial level even utters an answer that starts with the phrase: “In this case, everyone has the right to violate laws.” I begin to think where this man is coming from.

I don't believe there is any civilized democracy where civil or human rights that allow one to violate laws. One may be a dissenter of laws, and have the right to gather and to protest things one may not be in agreement with, but we have all seen how the current regime deals with dissent.

If Mutu was ordered to pay €17,173,990 to his former club Chelsea by FIFA for breach of contract and Yildirim was arrested on charges of match fixing in the world of football, then it is high time that the world community start to issue suspensions aimed at the on pitch hooligans of Ukraine's fragile democracy.

Vasyl Pawlowsky
Independent Consultant

Opening Horizons on Euro 2012

While music is the main topic of this blog there are time when we have to take a step back and look at things in a slightly different light.

In Cardiff, Wales on April 18, 2004, Michel Platini announced that Poland and Ukraine would be hosting the Euro-2012 Championships.



Today, on Skhidna Liha Rostyslav Shtyn and William Patrickovych take a look at what the whole Euro-2012 thing means to Ukraine, as they kick off a new cycle of shows dedicated the the European Football Championships, a little less than five years from now.