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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

On the Usefulness of Unshakable Traditions

13 November, 2012 - 00:00

Of course, the central theme of the last week was the IMF-budget-hryvnia intrigue. The story is still far from over, but it is developing according to the canons of local traditions, and it looks like even the imminent threat of a financial crisis will not change anything about it. What I mean here is the tradition inherent in our politics of avoiding responsibility. Up to now the game looked like this: the Parliament would order the government to do something, and the government would frantically search for excuses not to do it (the Parliament itself has correctly stated that being a legislative body, it could not do anything). Today we have a situation whereby in order to receive an IMF loan, we need to demonstrate our good intentions for the next year’s budget and to amend the current one. This is an exclusive prerogative of Parliament, but the Speaker quickly suggested farming this job out to the government. I will not go into all the political reasons for this. What is most important here is that of the many options available, the lawmakers chose to pass the buck. The tradition continues.

Another strong tradition is to call black white. Last week this tradition was sacredly adhered to: Crimean Communist leader Leonid Hrach stated that the Communists must be in the forefront of the democratic movement, and the Anti-Monopoly Committee fined Avtosvit (Auto World) for its excessively successful competition with the state-run public transport. In line with this tradition is also Parliament’s resolution to raise the minimum wage. The move looks very nice until you wonder how this rather dubious move will be implemented. It turns out that it is primarily meant to be a calculation figure for all kinds of fines, taxes, and other mandatory payments. Thus, the minimum wage is not what the state pays its citizens but rather what they pay the state.

Another good Ukrainian tradition is its permanent crime-fighting. Some mysterious things are happening here: last week Internal Affairs Minister Kravchenko said that the crime rate in Ukraine has declined, but the number of murders, robberies, and thefts are growing. The logical question is: what kind of crime has dropped? Especially since the President said, while introducing the new Prosecutor General, that the number of prisoners has grown by 20,000 this year. Considering a very strange interpretation of crime by law enforcement bodies in the Minister’s statement and their ability to accuse virtually anyone of criminal activity, we can assume that the major reason for low indicators is the absence of the relevant bodies’ desire to prosecute it. And this is hard to believe.

 

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