Code of Cordelia

So many people said so many nice things about me when I recently turned fifty, that my wife was afraid I might actually believe it and become impossible to live with. I assured her that would not be the case and reminded her of what one old friend, a well-known scion of the national democratic camp told her some time ago: “With friends like Jim, Ukraine doesn’t need enemies.” I thank those who greeted me, but still I think back to Shakespeare’s King Lear and his three daughters. When the old fool was dividing up his kingdom, the two evil ones gave such flowery soliloquies that he divided his kingdom between them, while the third, Cordelia, refused to do so and got nothing. But when his favored progeny betrayed him, it was Cordelia who came to his aid.

I recall addressing a diaspora group in America shortly after Ukraine became independent. They were shocked when I said, “The Ukrainian cause is dead. Now there is a living Ukraine with a host of problems that will have to be dealt with.” Some of those problems have been addressed and others not. Some remain poorly perceived if at all. And as an analyst (in the West, at least, a decent historian has to be both researcher and interpreter), I have to call them like I see them. Over the years I have heard and read so many honeyed words, often from those who recited the same dithyrambs to the great Communist Party, about how they love Ukraine and often they even became the heroes of our time among our so-called professional Ukrainians. I cannot and will not do this. Ukraine is a nation and state with deep problems it cannot solve until it addresses them. In 1994, when people were afraid to write about corruption, I called Ukraine a kleptocracy, which it still is. In 1996 I wrote about the deep-seated dysfunctions in this society inherited from the way the Soviet system actually worked. I am trying to understand Ukraine the way it is and training students (through this newspaper perhaps even the public at large) to develop the tools to understand this historically unprecedented situation and at least try to figure out how to make things better. After all, as President Kuchma said not long ago, politics reflects society, and Ukraine will not have different politics until it has a different society. He was right. The problem then becomes how to help society evolve from its admittedly damaged present to a healthier future. Cordelia told her father the truth and got nothing. I try to tell Ukraine the truth and got more kind words than I expected, but love is not about reward. Love is about trying to do the right thing, trying to make things better.