C-minus graduates’ hostages

I think that finding oneself living in the vicinity of a disaster is a very unpleasant experience. The warm days that came to replace those of cold rains at the beginning of July inspired optimistic moods, especially after I returned to the cottage to enjoy the long-awaited vacation. Children were playing in the yard, but my doggie by the name of Max was restless. This author, being an ordinary Ukrainian professor, wanted to tidy up the courtyard, also the vegetable garden that promised good harvest yields. There was also that cozy pond in the neighboring village with its clear and cool water. Anod there was the constant radio background for all this noise and my speculations, called Kolhospnyk, the local wire radio network, a hangover of the Soviet period.

All of a sudden my serene countryside mood was ruptured by a voice on the radio, apparently not an anchorman, a very nervous and thus especially unnerving voice saying, “Attention! The local Civil Defense Headquarters has an urgent message!...” At first I thought that there was another drill underway, but the message kept being repeated, with the announcer repeating his horrible grammatical mistakes, something that would have never happened in the event of a drill, with all messages properly edited and taped. The message had it that six tank cars of a train carrying phosphorus derailed between Krasne and Ozhydiv, and that one tank car caught fire, that the populace should take such-and-such precautions...

I happen to be a resident of Radekhiv raion, an area that was affected by the Ozhydiv disaster. I heard the warning in the evening and my next day was invariably planned: a trip to Volyn, not one in terms of Lviv quality, but with potholes; careful and not too careful physicians, tired patients, and other unpleasant matters. There was the unbearable heat wave and exhausting lines to stand in; it was a disaster aggravated by people’s misery and inadequate medical service. Everywhere I heard questions, “What’s happened in Lviv oblast?”, just like when the Chornobyl disaster occurred. People wanted to know and were eager to help. After all, that disaster could affect Volyn as well, for the distance was too close, and because we had been transporting phosphorus as well as cotton, lots of it and with loose precautions.

Have we learned our Chornobyl lesson? There are several answers to this question. We may have learned something. The government appears more transparent and sincerely determined to ward off [natural and man-made] disasters and timely warn the populace. However, is our government capable of keeping such situations under control? Can our authorities work with the populace under such drastic conditions?

What is strikingly apparent is the diversity of controversial information sources. We hear first that there were three tank cars derailed, then six, and still later, twelve! What is the truth about that trainload of death that was allowed to traverse Ukraine, though its largest populated areas? How many tank cars did it actually have before the ax fell in the vicinity of Krasne? What if it happened closer to Lviv? Information remains contradicting. How many victims? We learned about two individuals that are said to have sustained superficial body damage, the number was four, also reported stable, but why in intensive care unit?... If only an official referred to an updated source and told us what was happening. Instead, all we was hearsay, with every functionary pretending to have firsthand information, claiming there was no threat and fleetingly mentioning some phosphoric acid (or, even worse so, phosgene, mentioned by those who happened to have served in the [Soviet] army and knew about chemical warfare) that happened to be spilled en route. For reasons best known to the powers that be, Minister Rudkovsky appeared best informed and offered his “cotton comment” allegedly offered by someone else.

Another obvious discrepancy is that our media appear to have learned their Chornobyl lessons far worse than the government. What we have been fed is the usual misleading and ambiguous official stuff, accompanied by comments provided by the same functionaries.

All those the high offices seemed concerned primarily with keeping the population calm, saying everything was under control, no reasons for getting panicky. It seems to this author that commentaries by alternative researchers must be heard, including simple practical emergency conduct recommendations, because those contained in the existing [Soviet-surviving] manuals are hard to understand, like this clause that reads “...you must keep your livestock on carefully insulated premises...” How can this be accomplished with the temperature up to 33рC in the shade? In such conditions your livestock will be dead in a matter of hours. Or how about a 2% solution of baking soda? How is a local babushka supposed to get it [if she can hardly walk around]?

Fortunately, we can make comparisons. Lublin’s local TV network in Poland issued a formal bulletin that was commented upon bye the local administration and independent experts. They cited historical examples and demonstrated possible consequences. They offered simple understandably recommendations and established a hotline. Their commentaries embraced the phosphorus trainload’s route all the way from Kazakhstan, Russia, and the Polish customer.

The third obvious thing is that we’re letting stones be hurled into our own kitchen garden. Once a brilliant surgeon by the name of Roman Stenyk told this author the following prophetic words (he knew that I was teaching at a [Soviet] institution of higher learning): “...you will actually enjoy your occupation only when your C-minus graduates, underground postgraduate students, and other untalented individuals will start working and receive posts that should be occupied by diligent professionals, not these C-minus graduates. Then they will cause a great deal of trouble.

Now we can clearly see the outlines of this epoch of C-minus graduates, including fire brigades lacking basic protective equipment, unprofessional media commentaries, professionalism. Some of these unprofessional but wealthy managers seem to have seen political examples even here and are lashing out at the president. We even have postgraduate students who occupy ministerial posts.

We have to wait for all these unprofessional students to make their appearance on our political horizon. Lack of professionalism is the biggest obstacle on our daily life roads and adequate progress. Here it would seem to relevant and most material to include the personnel policy in the campaign programs, so that governmental could be vied for by true candidates rather than the incumbent’s relatives and friends of “politically correct party functionaries. You’re going to stay that this is going to be difficult. My answer is absolutely in the negative: any MA fresh out of college/university will tell you precisely what must be done to correct the situation, so we can have contests that will determine the best experts. Also, every functionary will tell what has to be done to prevent this.

Meanwhile, we are fearfully looking at what’s happening at Krasne, squinting at the sky, expecting [the heat wave] to come up with an ominous white chemical cloud, and looking forward to the forecast thunderstorms and rain. We are listening to media bulletins and fearing for our children. This is what’s living by a volcano crater is all about.

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Ukrainian presidential secretariat says Rudkovsky will have to go

Viktor Bondar, deputy chairman of the Ukrainian presidential secretariat, believes that Mykola Rudkovsky must tender his resignation as minister of transport and communications, following the trainload disaster in Lviv oblast. He made this statement during a press conference on July 21.

He noted that he had withold comments on the issue due to ethical reasons, but that the latest developments forced him to change his attitude to the transportation minister: “What has been going on in the sphere of transportation are strongly reminiscent of events shown in 1941-45 newsreels in Ukraine, I mean events in relating to railroads, aviation, and, highways..”

He believes that the transportation spheres have acquired critical hallmarks of late, that Ukrainian means of transport are no longer safe for the populace. Viktor Bondar also pointed out that that those in charge of the transport ministry are, unfortunately doing little if at all about the consequences of recent disasters; that no one has been made brought to justice, and that, in his opinion, this is proof the transportation ministry and Ukrzaliznytsia’s “professional” level.

Commenting on the Lviv disaster, Viktor Bondar stated that it was “the last drop”, but then a trainload burned down in the center of Ukraine. Also, a passenger train car caught fire and a passenger bus crashed in Subcarpathia. “These statistics are getting too much, without anyone held responsible; all the previous accidents appear to be not investigated into, no guilty parties have been named,” he stressed.