Onboard the Titanic

As one of the 1+1 all-night show emcees said in the morning, putting on an act and obviously enjoying it, even though getting ahead of the story a bit, of course, now the losing politicians will blame the people and journalists. I would like to remind the anchorman and all the others of the old truth: every people has the kind of rulers it deserves. As for journalists that on the night following the elections generously secured “equal opportunities,” “freedom of speech,” and the constitutional right to information, I can only say thanks a lot for so much effort put in locking the stable door when the horse is stolen and letting others show their worth. The abysmal cynicism of this feast of democracy is a very precious experience, because everything was seen with a clarity only television can provide.

As for Inter’s Titanic project, its efforts to get away from the inevitable analogy deserve all praise, for no one has thought of a better name to indicate Ukraine’s prospects now that the electorate has made its choice. The direction of the course was outline by Johannes Andersen, a journalist from Denmark appearing on 1+1. Despite the anchormen’s rude attempts to cut him short, he made his surprise clear for all voters to hear: “The elections show that this is an abnormal country. There is a 25-30% decline in the economy and the people elect the same man. Ukraine is like the Titanic, except that it has taken so many years to sink. And some say that this is reform. But I can see that Ukraine is sinking... Kuchma manages this country the way one manages a factory, this is not a state but his farmstead.”

Personally, I regret that Mrs. Vitrenko did not make it to the second round with Petro Symonenko, for this would be an even more adequate development. The Day was right; hard as they tried to make her ratings, the “Zhririnovsky ratio” cannot really go higher than 10-11%.

And The Day is likely to prove right on another point: Oleksandr Moroz, after plunging headlong in the campaign, determined to overtake Kuchma single-handedly, ended in the ditch out of which is will not get, and he has no one to blame but himself. Just as it is true that clever people told his campaign strategists and close associates the that should not rely on their “inner” ratings or those obtained on the other side of the barricade; they looked encouraging but were actually meant to stir Oleksandr Moroz to jump the gun.

He could have got the better of Leonid Kuchma in the second round, but he had first to get there. Mr. Kuchma’s head-spinning success in the west of Ukraine is explained by the local populace traditionally voting for the powers that be, but this is only one reason. Another one is that, had it not been for Mr. Moroz’s rash move, Yevhen Marchuk would have been the only one to prevent Leonid Kuchma from scoring such spectacular success on the Left Bank. As it was, the Kaniv Four’s collapse told people they better stick to the goods on hand and follow the winner, because now the risk of Red revenge was much higher and this was something people in Western Ukraine would not put up with. Mr. Moroz’s people will say now that there was no reason to believe in Yevhen Marchuk’s victory as a single candidate; they are still to learn that one must make the best of a bad bargain, in this case saving face and political prospects. Now what? The game is lost, as is our face. But the show goes on. The Kaniv Four declared its last will and testament before it was killed by Oleksandr Moroz. In that document one finds promises and hopes. Its collapse was a great frustration which, in turn, added a lot of spirit to the President and the hell on what percentage of falsification the opposition will find afterward.

Nothing unexpected has happened. Leonid Kuchma is winning, Ukraine is losing. The people? They did not object when cheated during the campaign, so why should they object to their “free choice?” After all, everything is the way it should be; every ram is hanging hooked by its hind leg: the politicians who got what they had coming, the Ukrainian press which is still probably to realize its prospects, and the wise Ukrainian electorate which will soon discover that the state spent everything on the election campaign, leaving the national purse empty. The feast of democracy has taken place. Time for merry-making and time for everyday work.