Pipeline in Greek tragedy

Dramaturgy emerged on the basis of Greek tragedy. The latter in turn originated from satyrs’ songs of praise. The algorithms and rules of big art are also often typical of real-life drama. Once sweet songs in praise of the chief deity begin to flow from the mouths of the gentlemen who look like satyrs, this is bound to end up in a tragedy. The gas sphere, so distant from Melpomene, alas, confirms this rule. How many accordions were torn apart to hail Mr. Yushchenko’s innovations in blue fuel payments! How many harmonious choruses “Glory!” rang out to Mr. Yanukovych who stretched a hand of friendship (and the Crimean peninsula) to Gazprom! But ovations eventually die out and the curtain of the “goats’ sad song” rises. The stage shows the Pipeline and our King Midas. Whatever he touches turns into gold. As long as the pipeline is in hand, there is sure to be wealth and power, but once you let go of it, you’ll be in for a misfortune. Some were harassed to death, and some are in prison or under investigation. In other words, the passions of a Greek tragedy are running high. But the difference is that neither Sophocles nor Euripides could have imagined this kind of passions.

Greeceis no longer in the spotlight of the Ukrainian media, for there is nothing to cause a sensation – no disorders, protests, or dangers of a default. The conflicts moved from noisy streets and squares to the quiet offices of banks and other organizations. Gestures are smooth there, but receptors sparkle from excitement. The country is being sold out. Spheres and roles have been parceled out. The Chinese are vying for transport communications, Russia is, naturally, ready to buy the gas company DEPA lock, stock and barrel, and the Qataris, satiated with hydrocarbons, are interested in real estate. Greece is for all investors a gate to Europe, a bridgehead, and a continental stronghold – for this reason, most of the buyers come from the fringes, while only the elect yachtsmen may be arriving from the Old World.

The list of the facilities to be sold to the world hints us about two things. Firstly, who is the birthplace of tragedy going to belong to in the near future? Secondly, what will they be buying in Ukraine if, God forbid, we do not veer off the blind alley? Touch wood…

To quote a Russian classic, there is everything in Greece and, as the London-based Guardian reports, everything is on sale: the metropolitan international airport Hellenikon, three times the size of Monaco; all the regional airports; the national gas corporation lock, stock and barrel; the ports Piraeus and Salonika; the islands with wharfs, the railroad network with rails and ties; water supply companies with their infrastructure; hotel chains; beaches; some land with and without real estate; and even thermal baths. Opening the website on the Hellenic country’s sights, we can see the overall picture of the auction which excludes the UNESCO-protected Acropolis, monasteries, the Zeus temple, and the Erechtheion. All that is left to the Greeks is the ancient ruins of a unique culture and the language.

In all probability, it makes no difference to an ordinary person, who goes to pluck olives in a Messenia grove, whether the latter belongs to Mr. Photiadis, Ivanov, or Xing-Jing. If, of course, the grove had not been his property before the tragedy the Greeks invented.

RESHAPING THE REGIONS

The angle of view is of a decisive importance. When you are taking a bird’s eye view of the rivers, fields, and mountains, this makes your heart sing. But when you come down to earth, you suddenly notice the walls of tumbledown houses, dumps, ravines, and this upsets you. For this reason, a positive outlook is usually concentrated high above, where the small details of an unsightly reality do not mar the picture’s optimistic concept.

An umpteenth attempt is being made to repaint the Ukrainian administrative landscape of patch-like districts and oblasts with broad strokes of the brush in the manner of a new reform. At first they intended to enlarge districts, heaping together hospitals, schools, courts, and other governmental and social offices. The result was bad. For example, Kotovsk, a big district center in Odesa oblast, has everything to live a decent life, while the neighboring Kodyma, Balta, Liubashivka, Chervoni Vikna, and others do not. Even bread-baking plants sometimes grind to a halt. But even Kotovsk is not exactly happy about the enlargement. The district hospital is packed every day with patients and sufferers within the radius of 70 kilometers. They reach the place in discomfort and anguish, not to mention that doctors will not necessarily receive them. Both patients and doctors are, of course, unable to fathom the concepts of high-flying reformers, but the past few years’ trend is quite clear. Staff cuts trigger staff multiplication, while a better quality of state-provided services makes them difficult of access. The new project of forming 8 regions out of 24 oblasts also implies relocation of people at enormous distances and multiplication of the current problems by three. Even a cursory look at the new Ukraine’s jigsaw puzzle clearly shows that the picture still remains unformed. How on earth can Lviv and Transcarpathia oblasts be integrated with each other? Perhaps under coercion… Why should Kherson oblast, which covers all the lower Dnipro basin with its overflow lands, estuaries, and a special history, be part of the Black Sea Region together with Odesa and Mykolaiv oblasts rather that part of the Dniproside Region which is closer geographically and mentally? Yes, back in the ever memorable times, Odesa district was part of Kherson guberniya, but it is no longer a governor-general’s fief after all. And Rivne and Zhytomyr? Like the two banks of the same river – they are next to each other but will never meet. In a word, I can see this project show the hand of a tailor who hastily sewed the sleeve of somebody else’s overcoat on to the fly front of your trousers. Is this really an intention to offer a new map of Ukraine to mark the coming elections? I can’t see any other sense. For if the current administrative setup features a lot of God-forsaken villages and town into which the oblast authorities’ creative energy cannot penetrate, what will happen when the new big regional eight bosses choose to decide where to dig up a well in a village?

In general, territorial repartition on our continent is carried out on a different principle called “local self-government.” When fighting for the Ukrainian vertical chain of command, it was knocked out and locked up in a dungeon until further notice. This is why reforms are planned and carried out from above by the criteria of easy rule. But we know only too well: when the governmental machine’s engine is failing, repacking a cargo from small to big boxes will not cause it to rev up.

TEAPOTS IN THE STRUGGLE AGAINST NAZISM

It seemed to a Los Angeles customer that the teapot he bought looked like Adolf Hitler. Whether his consumerist imagination ran high or he took a dim view of the designer Mike Graves, the man posted the teapot in the Web and received a host of comments. We don’t want to drink coffee with a taste of genocide – that was the leitmotif of the opinion of thousands of Americans about the design of an important household appliance. Naturally, such a unanimous protest affected the sales. They have dropped but are going to rise again, for the worldwide media have duly advertised the Hitler-looking teapot. After all, the teapot is cute and cost just a bit more than 40 euros. I would buy one. For details see spiegel.de

But I think we also advertise, quite in a big way, teapots that look like the Nazis. They also spoil, rather than adorn, our households.

That’s all, friends! It’s time to stop playing wars with Hitlerites. They are long gone. And if we don’t stop, we will be also looking at a toilet bowl with fear. For it looks white but is as brown inside as Bormann… I’ll write about it on Facebook.