Ukraine is the land where time has stood still and the consequences of what has been sown are now being reaped as anarchy is unleashed upon its rotting corpse.
Just over a year ago, in rather more peaceful times, I was on a train from Kharkov to Simferopol, sharing a cabin with two Russian gents from the Far Eastern outpost of Nakhodka and, breaking the monotony of long distance rail commutation, we were musing about the differences between Ukraine and Russia.
My travelling companions were journeying to visit close family who they hadn't met before - unusual to European ears but understandable when the distance between their home and Crimea is about the same as that between Paris and Chicago.
The two Russians spoke effervescently about the kinship between the nations and the fraternal ties but they did notice how decrepit and haggard the country looked by comparison with their homeland. "What have these guys being doing for twenty years? Even the escalator stairs in Kharkov train station was broken, I asked the woman at the station and she said it stopped working in 1995 but they never bothered to fix it," the older of the two, Sasha, told me.
I had noticed the 'ornamental' escalator myself but as I'd been in Ukraine many times before I was able to explain to my companions that the same bedraggled appearance and function was general all over the nation, so it hadn't surprised me. “Russia in the 90's,” they both exclaimed. I had heard this before - Ukraine is a place where time has stood still since 1991 and basic services have been allowed to rot and decay while neighboring lands have made attempts to modernize.
In my view, this is the central reason that inspired the violent overthrow of the previous Ukrainian government at Maidan earlier this year. It wasn't about the EU, the USA, Russia or NATO, it was prompted by frustration at 20 years of misrule by successive Ukrainian governments and by the Ukrainian people themselves who allowed it to happen. As Bill Clinton's Presidential campaign mantra-ed in the 90's “It's the economy, stupid.”
Now, sadly, as a consequence of Maidan, the economic situation has disintegrated to an even more calamitous level and Ukraine has 'over-taken' Moldova to gain the dubious honor of being Europe's poorest state when measured in average monthly incomes. This is due to the almost complete breakdown of civil society and the collapse of the hryvnia currency following the 'revolution' which has wiped out what little wealth households held.
According to Kiev's own figures, the average monthly net wage is now a paltry €173 a month. This is almost four times less than in neighboring Poland and nine times lower than in Moscow. Meanwhile, the richest Ukrainian, Rinat Akhmetov has a personal fortune of $12.6 billion according to Forbes and the new President Petro Poroshenko sits on $1.3 billion. Is it any wonder a large section of the public have had enough?
Complete story at - Ukraine, the country no one cared about — RT Op-Edge
Just over a year ago, in rather more peaceful times, I was on a train from Kharkov to Simferopol, sharing a cabin with two Russian gents from the Far Eastern outpost of Nakhodka and, breaking the monotony of long distance rail commutation, we were musing about the differences between Ukraine and Russia.
My travelling companions were journeying to visit close family who they hadn't met before - unusual to European ears but understandable when the distance between their home and Crimea is about the same as that between Paris and Chicago.
The two Russians spoke effervescently about the kinship between the nations and the fraternal ties but they did notice how decrepit and haggard the country looked by comparison with their homeland. "What have these guys being doing for twenty years? Even the escalator stairs in Kharkov train station was broken, I asked the woman at the station and she said it stopped working in 1995 but they never bothered to fix it," the older of the two, Sasha, told me.
I had noticed the 'ornamental' escalator myself but as I'd been in Ukraine many times before I was able to explain to my companions that the same bedraggled appearance and function was general all over the nation, so it hadn't surprised me. “Russia in the 90's,” they both exclaimed. I had heard this before - Ukraine is a place where time has stood still since 1991 and basic services have been allowed to rot and decay while neighboring lands have made attempts to modernize.
In my view, this is the central reason that inspired the violent overthrow of the previous Ukrainian government at Maidan earlier this year. It wasn't about the EU, the USA, Russia or NATO, it was prompted by frustration at 20 years of misrule by successive Ukrainian governments and by the Ukrainian people themselves who allowed it to happen. As Bill Clinton's Presidential campaign mantra-ed in the 90's “It's the economy, stupid.”
Now, sadly, as a consequence of Maidan, the economic situation has disintegrated to an even more calamitous level and Ukraine has 'over-taken' Moldova to gain the dubious honor of being Europe's poorest state when measured in average monthly incomes. This is due to the almost complete breakdown of civil society and the collapse of the hryvnia currency following the 'revolution' which has wiped out what little wealth households held.
According to Kiev's own figures, the average monthly net wage is now a paltry €173 a month. This is almost four times less than in neighboring Poland and nine times lower than in Moscow. Meanwhile, the richest Ukrainian, Rinat Akhmetov has a personal fortune of $12.6 billion according to Forbes and the new President Petro Poroshenko sits on $1.3 billion. Is it any wonder a large section of the public have had enough?
Complete story at - Ukraine, the country no one cared about — RT Op-Edge
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