WEEKLY ROUNDUP 

"Accord is the product of complete nonresistance of the parties concerned." These words belong to the electrician Mechnikov in Ilf's and Petrov's The Twelve Chairs. The phrase left Ostap Bender speechless with admiration, but it seems to have no effect on the Ukrainian powers that be.

Yes, they call for accord, but in doing so they completely ignore one of the parties: the people. In fact, they have never bothered to take their people's opinion into account when playing their cadre games, or at least clearly state what they are going to do to overcome the crisis. Instead, the Ukrainian people constantly hears a choir chanting "accord among the branches of power." The impression is that the President, Premier, and Speaker are like children sincerely believing that by holding each other's hand and shouting together "Christmas tree, light up!" they will see it instantly illuminated.

Children may not know that the lights will never go on if the electrician does not throw the right switch, but grownups do.

True, the President seems increasingly aware that there are not going to be any lights on the Christmas tree. Energy costs too much, the situation with the hryvnia is ambiguous, and no loans are in the offing. So he complains, quite sincerely, about Santa Claus doing nothing to replace the government. In other words, how come none of the parties has proposed candidates for yet another Cabinet rotation? And why is there still no majority in Parliament "which can assume responsibility for the situation in Ukraine?" "This would signify our greatest victory," Mr. Kuchma admits. Indeed, it would be the Chief Executive's greatest triumph if he could find someone to carry the baby of today's economy.

Still, no political kamikaze is in sight, not even among the daring Communists, historically perfectly fit for the role.

Yet, also historically, there is hope that common sense will prevail, and that this common sense will be shown by precisely that party which has been consistently ignored, except during election campaigns, the people.

If all your fuses are blown, you call an electrician, he comes and starts telling you how important it is to reach an understanding and develop accord among the electricians, plumbers, and janitors, you might even listen to him for while, in broad daylight, but if it happens late at night even the most tolerant tenant will realize that the electrician has to be fired, and that something should perhaps be done about the local housing authority.

PS: I do not want to be misunderstood by electricians and other glorious representatives of our housing authorities, the more so that the electricians I have had to deal with turned out quite professional, with a sense of responsibility, unlike, say, our Prime Ministers.