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Showing posts with label Victor Pinchuk. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Victor Pinchuk. Show all posts

Sunday, February 16, 2014

A twenty-first century theater of the absurd



I wrote the piece below on September 8, 2011 and while the main body below will remain intact as a parody, there are a few things that I would like to preface them with due to some recent comments of our hero below. The man who took a complete about face after publicly announcing his nation's European aspirations, that man is no other that Viktor Yanukovych, the world's newest dictator.

To an audience of loyal serfs on the Inter TV channel our hero stated, "Society was not informed in a timely manner. We didn't have time for such work. Lately, that dream, and that romanticism, to a great extent the emotions and dreams of the those people led to this protest," said the vassal of Moscovy.

The vassal of Moscovy along with his entire MinTru is not only dilusional, they for the most part suffer from pseudologia fantastica. This is on top of having the traits of people of the steppe which is mentioned in an interview by The Ukrainian Week with Petro Antyp of the Horlivka School of Sculpture. "I think that a common genetic code is what all Ukrainians share. We have common culture, only with different shades. If you take Donetsk Region, it is Ukraine of the steppe....If you take examples from politics, Donetsk residents defended Viktor Yanukovych as one of their own men." However, this is just the tip of the iceberg.

The Steppe mentality is more clearly defined by Oleksandr Halenko, in an interview conducted for Istorychna Pravda on January 22, 2014 and the day that the romantic protests, as expressed by our hero, experienced their greatest violence. Halenko, is a historian-orientalist, turkologist, and a specialist in primary resources. He holds a PhD in History and his head of the Black Sea Institute of Ukrainian History, under the auspices of the National Academy of Sciences of UKraine. In short, he knows a lot more about our hero than our hero knows about himself!

When Halenko is asked about our hero's desire to acquire expensive things his reply is simply the following:"When the Persian historian Rashid-al-Din was asked about how Ghengis Kahn asked his adivisors, "What is happiness for a real man?" Their replied to him in the following way: that you have to sit astride a good horse, which in todays terms means to be in a great car. In order to ensure one's status!

The same historian then said, according to Halenko - the greatest joy for a real man - it is to see their enemy, that is on his knees on the ground before him that is begging him for forgiveness. It is then that the "real man" can continue to be satisfied by the humiliation of his enemy, and entertain the idea with his friends.

This statement in itself confirms very clearly some statements I made two days earlier on my blog and as commentary for Ukraine Business Online, in a piece called "A vindictive form of justice" back in 2011.

With what is going on right now, our hero must be considered in the following light regarding any of his agreements. According to Pavlenko, agreements are one important aspect of the Steppe traditions. Which are narrowed down to to lies and provocations, which are "essential" as all members of the Party of Regions have been voicing. It is an effective means of Steppe diplomacy.

This being said, our hero and his cohorts can not be trusted nor should they be!


Below starts my piece of 2011...and please do read on!

_______

While many absurdists, who were developing the theater of the absurd during the last century, were born in France, Ukraine's top absurdist of the twenty-first century was born in the village of Zhukovka near Yenakiieve in Donetsk Oblast. His acting career began at an early age when he had difficulties with the stage performer's regulatory guild, better known at that time as the law enforcement authorities. While still an understudy he was taken off the stage of life for a period of three years for robbery and minor assault. When he returned to the stage he once again ran amok and was suspended for another two years for assault.

As our hero tried to find his way he was assigned a mentor, with very close ties to Moscow, commandant of the “Soyuz 3” mission, Georgy Beregovoy who was clearly not a space cadet, but a man with credentials, and someone that had the full trust of Moscow. It is certain; that Moscow knows all there is to know about our hero.

Though he is not the only one they know everything about. There are plenty others on the stage in his land. It has been with the blessing of Moscow that they were able to not simply be actors, but savvy businessmen. At first, they played roles necessary for the system to continue to function as it always had in the past, but eventually there was a curtain call and the world was introduced to them after they had taken control of the stage material's guild and all its assets. These were primarily cheap rags, and not extremely valuable assets on their own and included materials such as carbon, iron, and other raw materials of the stage; but they also acquired the costumers' workshops which transformed these rags into elegant costumes which could be sold on the world market, for extremely high profits. However, for them to continue to make money hand over fist they need inexpensive gas. His land has gas for the commoners.

Some of the actor's names who performed and continue to perform on the stage in his land have all been anointed by Moscow: Renat Akhmetov, Dmytro Firtash, Yura “Yenakievskiy”, Ihor Kolymoyskiy, Victor Medvechuk, Victor Pinchuk, the Surkis brothers, Serhiy Tyhipko and so many others. There were once many more of them, though only the most talented, and with the drive to get ahead still exist today, while complying with all the regulations set out by the Moscow actor's union.

Some of the understudies were at one time considered progressive NGO leaders, others were presented as new and up and coming rising stars, and continue to be put forth by those who are probably thinking that maybe they were mistaken in backing this actor’s career.

Our hero and his circus of clowns have been holding the Gas Princess in a dungeon of late and long ago decided that she overstepped her bounds in coming to an agreement with the Moscow Gas Guild in 2009. She actually saved face for her land as the lands to the west began to freeze. The scabs have disregarded all the international actor's unions’ regulations, and are not allowing for proper process for her to defend herself with her agents, in the Cave's District Hall of Sentencing. This has drawn the ire of many actors on the world stage.

In a performance held at the Dushanbe Guild Leader’s Summit on September 5, 2011, our hero took things to a new level.

He decided that he had to really act well, and he put on a stellar performance for the people of his land. Though due to his pompousness, he might as well have been standing there in new clothes fit for a king, because everyone knows where his true loyalties lie. He spewed off such a tirade of anti-Russian rhetoric, that it is hard to take him seriously. Particularly on the backdrop of many factors: who he is and what Moscow knows about him; that he was once bowled over by the egg of a chicken; that he and his followers have disrespected the actors unions’ rules by attacking the Gas Princess; and given that Messrs. Medvedev and Putin have garnered greater respect than he has on the world stage – the threats of taking legal action against them in the land to the west, warrant calling him the nation's top absurdist, and not much more.


For a more academic understanding of our hero's fine monologue on September 5, 2011 may I refer you to Flawed Strategy by Dr Andrew Zhalko-Tytarenko and Walter Derzko at SmartEconomy.


Vasyl Pawlowsky
Independent Consultant




Friday, May 27, 2011

The Asset Grab is on

Once again my good acquaintance Ivan Lozowy hits the nail right on the head with his INSIDER. Ivan is kind enough to allow me to share his insight with you all and commentary can be addressed to him, or discussion is welcome here on my blog.

THE UKRAINE INSIDER - is distributed via the Internet free of charge to
all interested parties as a source of in-depth information on political
events in Ukraine, including behind-the-scenes coverage of significant
current issues, the positions of policy-makers, tactics and strategy
information on Ukraine's ongoing struggle toward a free and democratic
society.

THE UKRAINE INSIDER
Vol. 11, No. 1
May 27, 2011

ITEM A.: THE REAL TARGET BEHIND KUCHMA
When the General Procuratura made the sensational announcement on March
22, 2011 that a criminal case had been opened against former President
Leonid Kuchma, analysts scurried to speculate over the reasons for the
move. But those with a good understanding of Ukrainian politics and the
principal players involved got it from the get-go.

The case against Kuchma is a shot across the bow of his son-in-law and
one of Ukraine's richest men, Viktor Pinchuk.

The priority of President Viktor Yanukovych's Party of Regions (PoR) is
to amass even more wealth for its senior members. They are interested
in assets, only assets. Since most of Ukraine's formerly state-owned
property has been privatized, members of the current government have no
choice but to look to private wealth as the source of their own
aggrandizement. Oligarchs like Pinchuk hold most of Ukraine's wealth.

The primary purpose of the Kuchma case is to bring Pinchuk to the
bargaining table, at which he would negotiate favorable terms for the
PoR to take over his assets. It was Kuchma, after all, who put most of
Pinchuk's wealth in the oligarch's hands through corrupt privatization
deals. Pinchuk is still married to Kuchma's daughter.

Other benefits to the PoR of the Kuchma case are incidental. Doubtless,
Yanukovych holds a grudge against Kuchma for not agreeing to his
demands -- at the time, Yanukovych was Prime Minister -- to disperse
the protesters of the Orange Revolution by force. But Yanukovych has
many grudges, including, for example, against Serhiy Tyhipko, who ran
his failed presidential bid in 2004 and then jumped ship when the
Orange Revolution got under way. Yet Tyhipko was invited into the
government following his strong third-place showing in last year's
presidential race.

Also, the PoR realizes that the Kuchma case is an argument against
accusations that they are persecuting the opposition in the person of
Yulia Tymoshenko. A good PR move, nodded PoR heads in unison. But the
current government has not bothered to buttress this PR move with
criminal cases against non-Tymoshenko supporters, other than Kuchma.

The shot, aimed at Pinchuk, in the form of the criminal case against
Kuchma may, however, turn out to be a blank. Its principal intention
has failed already and Pinchuk has fought back. He understands that to
give up anything to the PoR is the beginning to giving up everything.
Harvard Professor Alan Dershowitz has been hired to defend Kuchma, who
has appeared recently on Ukrainian TV as a sponsor for schools.

More important than the legal and PR defense mounted by Kuchma is the
relative ineffectiveness of the campaign of pressure against him and
Pinchuk.

For starters, it has not escaped the attention of Ukrainian observers
that Kuchma is accused of "exceeding his authority in issuing illegal
orders to the police which led to the murder of a journalist." In other
words, he is accused of ordering the killing of Georgiy Gongadze, but
is not being tried for murder.

The principal proof in the case, recordings made by former presidential
bodyguard Mykola Melnychenko, have been so diluted by time and multiple
distribution that it forms a flimsy evidentiary base. The person to
whom Kuchma allegedly issued orders to kill Gongadze, then Minister of
the Interior, Yuriy Kravchenko, is dead.

In other words, for a crowd that has tried to make a name for
themselves as people who "can get things done," the Party of Regions is
behaving more like traditional governmental bumblers.

ITEM B.: THE POOR PoR - PRESSURING THE OLIGARCHS
The campaign by the Party of Regions (PoR) to grab assets belonging to
Ukrainian oligarchs runs wider than just Pinchuk.

When Israel's President, Shimon Peres, visited Ukraine in November 2010
his real purpose was to negotiate with the PoR to leave alone a
prominent Jewish oligarch, Ihor Kolomoisky. During his visit, Peres met
personally with Kolomoisky and Hennadiy Boholiubov, Kolomoisky's
partner, in their home base of Dnipropetrovsk.

Another oligarch, Hryhoriy Surkis, who rules Ukraine's football
(soccer) sports sector as head of the National Football Federation
(NFF), came under sustained pressure initiated by the government and
was almost removed from office. Only after Surkis appealed to the
international governing body, FIFA, and the latter issued a letter
supporting Surkis, was he granted a reprieve. FIFA's letter, which was
probably drafted by Surkis himself, threatened not to recognize any
vote by the NFF removing Surkis from his post and even went so far as
to demand the cessation "of any activities directed at organizing early
elections of the leadership of the NFF."

Thus, the current score is: Party of Regions - 0 : Oligarchs - 3.

(In the following issue: Tymoshenko as martyr?)

(c) Ivan Lozowy
Correspondence should be addressed to: lozowy @ gmail.com


Monday, August 11, 2008

Sir Elton sings for former President Kuchma

Reported by a number of different sources in Ukraine, apparently Sir Elton John was to have been in Yalta on Saturday to sing for former President Kuchma's 70th birthday. Rumors have it that the price tag for such a little birthday gift was in the range of 5 million USD, however, this is not easy to confirm.

Though it wouldn't surprise me if Pinchuk wanted to make sure he stayed in his "father-in-laws" good books and paid for Sir Elton's second visit to Ukraine. Would it not been more constructive for such money to help the people of the flooded western regions of Ukraine. Obviously not!

Monday, August 4, 2008

First Sir Elton, then Sir Paul ... maybe Sir Mick?

I was sitting around with some friends on Saturday night, talking about a number of things including music and life and a whole lot of other things thrown in. Somewhere in the conversation there was mention that word out in industry circles is that not too long ago Viktor Pinchuk, who has become a somewhat of a philanthropist in the past little while, had met with either management of, or personally with Sir Michael Philip "Mick" Jagger.

Could this be a precursor that Sir Mick will be in Kyiv sometime in June of next year? I guess we will have to just wait and see. But if this is the case, then this will be the third rumor related to Viktor Pinchuk that I have heard related to music, that will have came to fruition.

Saturday, June 14, 2008

You say you want a revolution

As I walked down to the Maidan Nezalezhnosti metro stop to head to the office this morning there were a couple of things I noticed as I walked down by the Conservatory. There were all these barricades up from just below Mr. Snack... not that all of you know where that is, but if you do it will help you orient yourself geographically. As I walked closer to Maidan I could hear music from the conservatory, some discordant arpeggios, some trombone and some woman's voice! I thought for a second and the Lennon/McCartney song which I have titled this blog entry came to my head.

I thought back to a week ago when the semi's rolled in and the cranes were assembling the stage, and let me tell you its a kick-ass stage, I'm sure the first one of its type in Ukraine. For the last three days Khreshchatyk in front of Maidan has been closed to traffic, and finally its the big day. Paul McCartney will be playing in Kyiv. As I got closer to the entrance to the metro, the barricades began to remind me more and more of what I saw on Bankova on those November and December days of 2004, but there was no (R)evolution going on. Though no riot geared goons but a lot of smartly uniformed security watching the perimeter from the stage... At least 60 meters is barricaded off. What I guess is that one the VIP zones is set up on the other side of Khreschatyk, barricades run parallel with the curb two rows deep. While I couldn't see any seating closer to the stage I'm sure that that has been set aside for the special VIP members of Ukrainian society. Yes, nothing like bring one of the legends of contemporary music to Ukraine and closer to Ukraine's people, Mr. Pinchuk!

Well Mr. Pinchuk you have done it again... First Sir Elton now Sir Paul, you are trying to change your world, your Ukraine and the way people see you. "We all want to change the world." But everyone knows how you got your money, that is not a secret here, though Sir Paul may not be aware of it. You tell us that its evolution, but that actually happened in 2004. So you Mr. Pinchuk are mistaken!

Last night as we drove from the Riffmaster gig, I could hear the clearest sound of music coming from Maidan, in fact I could hear it from European Square as if it were right in the vehicle we were driving in. After seeing what I had seen this morning I thought about whether I really wanted to be right there on Maidan to see Sir Paul McCartney live...

I thought about it for some time, and then came to a conclusion. I will not even make an attempt to be on Maidan to see Sir Paul McCartney live on Maidan in what is dubbed as his Independence Concert. Easy for you Mr. P it was Ukraine's independence which allowed you to accumulate what you have, then you hired some nice suits to take care of you and sanitize you and your money. Dang, I have digressed...

So why will I not be there to see Sir Paul live. Firstly, I despise the rudeness of most Ukrainians who attend such free events who haven't an inkling of knowledge about music, nor manners. Secondly, Maidan to me is a symbol, that goes back to the student hunger strike of 1990, and then the protests of Ukraine without Kuchma, and the events of 2004. Actually the reconstruction of Maidan during the UBK protests and the real estate that was to be developed underneath, in my estimation was an attempt to change the vision of what the square looked like from those early protests of 1990, and also for the incumbent mayor at the time to line his pockets with some money. But I digress... When I had to be out there I was there along with thousands of other Ukrainians back in 2004, those who clearly know how Mr. Pinchuk made his money.

Ah the expected rain has started... whether it will continue for another 9 hours is uncertain, but this is one more reason to not go to the show tonight. Besides, there won't be a rain check. You lose Mr. Pinchuk.

I'm not sure how much the concert tonight is costing Mr.Pinchuk, but like concerts in the past on Maidan they are broadcast live, so I can sit and watch it in the comfort of some local with friends, a bevy and no people stepping all over me. The people out tonight will not be of the same ilk as those who were out in 2004.

Besides, given that the concert is being broadcast on Noviy Kanal, owned by Pinchuk, I'm sure that the concert isn't going to really cost him all that much. The advertising revenues for the broadcast, I estimate that they will be about at least USD 30K per minute, will probably cover a good part of his costs and increase his channel's ratings.

With everything this oligarch is trying to do to improve his image not a soul who is at the concert tonight will in three years remember who brought McCartney to Kyiv, nor will they give a damn. So if Mr. P is really trying to turn into a philanthropist I'm going to ask him the same questions that were put to the politicians of the time by Lennon and McCartney:

"You say you got a real solution
Well you know
We'd all love to see the plan
You ask me for a contribution
Well you know
We're doing what we can"

So Mr. P, its easy for you to flaunt what you stole from the people of this country... but give it back to those who need it most... Not to your image, nor to your media holdings. While, I will probably watch the concert on Noviy Kanal... I will have to remind you Mr. P... I will make a note of the advertisers during the show and make every attempt not to purchase their products...

Monday, June 9, 2008

The Town's a Buzz with Sir Paul playing Kyiv on June 14th, 2008

Kyiv has not seen the likes of this much hype on a concert ever before, this I am certain of. As I walked across Maidan Nezalezhnosti there were three cranes working on the assembly of the stage for the Sir James Paul McCartney concert to be held Saturday June 14, in Kyiv.

Reports have it that there are 80 semi's of equipment being shipped into Kyiv for the gig. Yesterday I aw at least 12 of them and that was just for the stage, all the bulky stuff, being transported buy firms that soley transport equipment for such shows. One the trailer of one of them I could see an A4 sheet taped with the name Springsteen in large letters.

It was clear who the non-Ukrainians on the site were. They were wearing work boots, and hard hats - clearly these guys know something about safety on the job.

A little later on I had to stop by the third line of the Globus shopping complex which is located behind the "chick on the stick" on maidan, and there were at least a dozen people in the span of about ten minutes that I overheard mentioning to friends that they were going to the Paul McCartney show next Saturday. In all honesty I think they should start squatting now if they want to have a decent view of Sir Paul. On the other hand with the peformance being broadcast live on Noviy Kanal somehow I feel there will be much more comfort to be had at a local bar in front of the tele.

Later on that evening I walked down Prorizna Street and up in front of the golden arches was a big tower already assembled. I'm not sure how much oligarch Pinchuk is paying for this gig, but it is clearly a lot more than he paid Sir Elton John last year.

Well I'm sure a very small proportion of those who intend on going to the show will actually get a glimpse of Sir Paul... but one thing is clear, people are definitely going to be able to hear him.

It's too bad that an old friend of mine still doesn't work at the Central Post Office, his office window was in clear view of where the stage is being set up.

Monday, June 18, 2007

The Sir Elton John Show - Who I want to see in Concert if I'm a Ukrainian Billionaire

Like almost two hundred thousand other people in Kyiv I headed down towards Maydan Nezalezhnosti on Saturday June 16 in order to see a living legend. Yes, at 60 years old one can consider Sir Elton John can be considered a living legend. I had earlier predicted that I would probably watch the concert on television, and I was right. With the number of people that were at the concert, there was no way that I was going stand, especially for what turned out to be a two hour and twenty minute gig, surrounded by thousands of Ukrainians who some day will be able to tell their kids or grand kids. "I saw Elton John on Maydan back in 2007!" Well that's if being at the concert really meant anything to them, or if they were part of the so many flocks of sheep in Ukraine that just go to events if they are free.

Whatever my comments are worth I would like to make a simple observation, which I believe will confirm my belief that the music listening public as well as those in radio in this country have a long way to go regarding understanding what has transpired in the international music industry over the last 40 years, and what good music is.

In any recording of concerts of Sir Elton John I've seen right from the first note his fans have sang along to all of his songs during the concert. While I can't say say that I know every single song of Sir Elton's but I definitely know the words to nearly all his early material released on his first albums Honky Chateau, Don't Shoot me I'm Only the Piano Player and Good Bye Yellow Brick Road. By the look on his face at times during his performance on Saturday, Sir Elton was surprised that practically no one was singing along with him during the songs that most Baby Boomers and Gen-Xers in the west grew up with to some degree or less.

One might be able to say, "Well Ukraine never had a chance to listen to that music!" OK if that is the excuse, let's not forget that the Iron Curtain fell over 15 years ago.

Who is it that forms the listening tastes of Ukrainians? To my knowledge there are some radio stations in this country that have a play lists of over 10,000 songs, out of that number there must be some other good music other than what actually gets played. So what am I getting at here... In short DJ's on those radio stations know very little about the music they have at their disposal. Some of the recorded concerts I have seen of Sir Elton have been in countries which were under the influence of the USSR where western music was not exactly given a green light, but at most of those concerts in those countries everyone was singing along.

Where as this wasn't the case last Saturday. Well there was one exception, those who were at the Drum watching the concert on Victor Pinchuk's Noviy Kanal.

While I never met her personally, the young woman who was with Sean Carr's guitarist Mick, whom I have met, was singing along to many of the songs.

Friday, June 15, 2007

Elton John - AIDS awareness

A number of months back a good friend of mine told me that Elton John would be coming to Kyiv for a concert, though he wasn't sure of who was bringing Sir Elton in. First there was speculation that it was the mobile operator Life, and Ukraine's richest man Renat Akhmetov, after all last summer at around the same time we saw Canadian rocker Brian Adams in town. In the last week or two it has become perfectly clear that Victor Pinchuk was bringing him in as part of an AIDS awareness campaign that his foundation is involved in. There has been plenty of advertising, and the show will be broadcast live on Novyj Kanal.

I am certain that it will be sheer pandemonium no Maydan Nezalezhnosti tomorrow, after all it is not every day that knighted performers perform in Kyiv let alone Ukraine. And it is no surprise why. There are a couple of reasons. First and foremost Ukraine lacks appropriate venues for concerts of such a scale, in fact Kyiv lacks venues for some of its upcoming talent, and safety issues are something that organizers must always consider. I recall shortly after I arrived in Kyiv in 1999, there was a fatal incident in Minsk, Belarus in which 53 people died.

One of the second problems of well known groups coming into this country is the poorly developed audience awareness and how this effects promoters. A good example of this was the Chick Correa concert in Kyiv held at Palats Ukrainy, the organizers went into the red by $60,000. I'm not sure what Victor Pinchuk is paying Sir Elton, or whether the later is doing this as part of his goodwill work for AIDS Awarness, the case is clear until we have radio in Ukraine that not only promotes but educates listeners on the diversity of music in the world, and a number of excellent venues, Ukrainians will not have the opportunity to listen to some of the best in the world, and as a result become more aware of the world around them, and not just the of mostly second rate music that our 'big brother' ships south of his border.

When I started this musing I wasn't sure where it would lead. Maybe, I will watch the gig on TV, or maybe I will venture out close enough to Maydan to determine on whether Sir Elton will actually be singing live, and not a la Milli Vanilli.