Stunning Revelations of Apparent Corruption in Ukraine

Imagine How Shocked He'd Be by Corruption in Ukraine

On 31 October The Guardian reported “Ukraine stunned as vast cash reserves of political elite are made public”.

Two years after angry Ukrainians deposed Viktor Yanukovych and broke into his vast, opulent residential compound outside Kiev, revelations thrown up by a new system that requires government officials to declare their wealth and property online have led many to suspect the new elite are no better.

Cash hoards, collections of expensive watches, a Faberge egg or two, a Nazi SS dagger (what sort of Eastern European politician has Nazi souvenirs – oh, sorry this is Ukraine), a church, lists of offshore companies.  And laughable declarations by some politicians that they were living off their government salaries.

AA was stunned as well though for a different reason. 

It’s almost as if The Guardian published the article “Ukraine stunned as sun rises in East”.

Corruption in Ukraine is as commonplace as rain in London or the sun rising in the East. 

It is the one policy that the “pro-Western” and pro-Russian politicians in the country agree on, though of course they remain in sharp competition over the spoils of depredation of the country.  Both share an apparently unbounded kleptocratic avarice that exceeds the usual “beak wetting” by elites.  An avarice that destroys the wealth of the country and inhibits development.      

Given the damage that the previous “pro-Western” Orange government visited upon the country– the wrecking of an already fragile banking system and the sweetheart deal given to Gazprom by the braided hair lady—are Ukrainians really stunned by corruption among the current crop of self-proclaimed pro-Western politicians? 

AA is stunned.