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Where there is no law, but every man does what is right in his own eyes, there is the least of real liberty
Henry M. Robert

Are You Satisfied, Dmytro?

13 November, 2012 - 00:00

Last week, the editors received an article written by Dmytro Korchynsky, a noted Ukrainian extremist. He writes that all processes are sluggish in Ukraine, the working masses are passive, no one is building barricades or otherwise resisting the authorities. In a word, there is no active political struggle, because there is simply no one to fight. It looks as though Mr. Korchynsky sent copies of this article not only to The Day, but also to other organizations and institutions, including the Cabinet which paid heed to the sage advice and took hostage managers indebted to the state budget. This did not bring the Cabinet any money but did put the government in the media limelight, something it must have craved in the first place. Personally, I did not find the whole thing admirable. I agree with Mr. Korchynsky's theory, but I am horrified to think of what will happen to my career; if things will follow this course in the political domain a journalist's job will become too easy, I will lose my skills, be fired, and die of starvation.

Valeriya Novodvorska, another well-known extremist, although democratic-minded, shared her ideas with Kievskie Vedomosti. Among other things, she said Ukraine needs a President like Vyacheslav Chornovil who would rule with an iron hand, like Vaclav Havel, except that Mr. Chornovil would prove an even more demanding Chief Executive. This statement caused raised eyebrows, for everyone knows the Rukh leader for his frequent course changes, even when the wind is right and steady. Analysts consider this as evidence of two things: (a) the dissidents' epoch is over, and (b) Russia and Ukraine are two different polities now, with Russian politicians having a rather vague idea about what is going on in Ukraine (and the same being true of Ukrainian politicians trying to follow Russian developments). Thus when an enterprise called Poshuk, located in Vinnytsia, decided to start making Ukrainian globes no one regarded this as a practical joke. Few know anything about Ukraine in the West, so this alone seems reason enough to support the Ukrainian globe project.

The extremist government idea is indirectly backed by statistics. In 1995, it appears, only 3,400 tax evasion cases were opened. This year the number has reached 6,000. Considering our tax legislation, making any businessman an easy prey to the local Tax Administration, this increment, most likely, does not mean that a greater number of business entities have started evading taxes. Rather, it means that the Law has taken a more rigid stand, and that more businesspeople are being sued. The reason looks simple enough: state budget revenues are down, and so are business revenues in Ukraine. Previously, additional income could be squeezed out of business entities, now the only way seems to send the businessmen to jail.

 

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