As the West Begins are We Losing?

The world seems determined to change. Consciously or not, after waging a rather clumsy attack on Slobodan Milosevic, the West started opened heavy caliber softening up fire aimed at money-laundering, meaning Russia in the first place. This campaign also extends to the corrupt. Russia is again at the top of the list, but Bosnia is included, and even Western officials suspected of corruption are having a hard time.

Newspaper and wire service reports show that Russia is under the heaviest barrage. Eight years after the USSR's collapse the West has suddenly seen the light, discovering that corruption reigns in Russia's highest echelons of power, that loans given Moscow are simply stolen there, and that the political leadership is in a strange way involved with the underworld. One can only guess what actually set the huge machine of investigations in motion in Switzerland, the US, Great Britain, and Germany. Whatever the reason, this machine is working. Lists of Russian functionaries with Western bank accounts are published, the shadow of a doubt is cast on how clean Boris Berezovsky's savings really are (the press calls him Kremlin banker, and he is a frequent and welcome guest of official Kyiv).

The West is not merely defending itself. It is launching a counteroffensive, using the FBI and special services in other countries. The Western man in the street is inundated with negative (and quite possibly truthful) information about Russia. This could be a face-saving syndrome at work, but there seems to be more to it, a great deal of disillusionment about Russia. And this attitude cannot but affect Ukraine, because we are faced with the same problems, and our attempts to do something about them are even more futile. To make the situation even more entertaining, President Kuchma said for the world to hear that in the United States, as in Ukraine, everything is for sale. Even the cannibal Bokassa would not have gone that far. One will not have to wait long for a reaction from across the ocean. Many publications, reports, and investigations are taking place in the United States, Switzerland, Belgium, Italy, etc. The reputation of the Ukrainian leadership, known for friendly ties with Berezovsky and other Russian bigwigs suspected of corruption, will not be high in quarters capable of helping this country with loans, investment, and even a word of encouragement. Ukraine's closest neighbors are already building visa barriers, no longer believing in Ukraine and Russia.

It looks as though Washington has decided not to place any bets on «our sons of bitches.» Something altogether different is in vogue there, the more so that neither of the two countries has acceded to last year's convention on the struggle against corruption.

The West needs a victory today, especially in view of the NATO mission in Kosovo that did not bring about the expected results and no one knows who will pay for reconstruction in the Balkans or whether Turkey should be allowed to join the crowd (Transparency International says the Turks are just going through the motions of fighting corruption on their home turf).

Here the West may emerge triumphant; in this age of the Internet it is very difficult to isolate oneself from the rest of the world.