Just be quiet and have patience, or be honest and speak your mind ?
Hi Readers,
It's been nearly 1 year since the momentous start of Ukraine's Maidan Demonstrations, I arrived here last year on the 11th of December, with little advance knowledge of what was going on in the streets. I started hearing from the people what was obvious about this, (now) formerly corrupt society, and what a long, strange flip it's been... Not taking the CIS deal, not going fully into the EU system, then War, armed conflict.
Perhaps it's interesting that a Tweet from a popular journalist, Mustafa Nayem who is of Afghan Pashtun and Iranian Parentage, but spent majority of his life as a Soviet resident, then as citizen of Post Independent Ukraine. Honestly, how would Americans really feel if a tweet by a similar individual who was a citizen / long term resident of Mexico had raised the beacon to prevail against corruption and entrenched elites of Mexican Society, thereby triggering a reanalysis of the Treaty of Gaudalupe Hidalgo, and sparking an armed takeover of territory in USA by Latinos, perhaps supported by China, and bolstered by Russian Diplomatic support (as China was upholding the Russian annexation of Crimea by it's tacit silence).
Actually, I like Mustafa, he is a decent guy and an improbable catalyst, of course he was just one of many hundreds of thousands of people, millions, who were ready to raise up their voices for change in Ukraine. Working people, educated abroad people, Political people who were just tired of the old system. Pretty much every day now, I am taking the Metro in this National Capitol, Kiev : honestly it feels terrific to be here, sometimes space the cars are crowded, but I fit in. And one of my games is to figure out a song that fits the mood I see on people's faces as they go up the escalator, those oh so long, steep, shafts, built to double as bomb shelters, and their moods noticeably change, as a group. This blog post is delayed, I meant it from my impressions of last Thursday. If you visit here, live here, you quickly learn that there is a constant struggle for change, it's a mostly cash based society, and they all want change, or something close to exact change, change in money, lives : it's in scarcity. Most people have a sameness to their lives.
"What It's Like"
We've all seen the man at the liquor store beggin' for your change
The hair on his face is dirty, dreadlocked and full of mange
He asked a man for what he could spare with shame in his eyes
"Get a job, you ___kin' slob"'s all he replied
[CHORUS]
God forbid you ever had to walk a mile in his shoes
'Cause then you really might know what it's like to sing the blues
Then you really might know what it's like [4x]
Mary got pregnant from a kid named Tom who said he was in love
He said, "Don't worry about a thing, baby doll, I'm the man you've been dreamin' of."
But three months later he said he won't date her or return her call
And she sweared, "God damn if I find that man I'm cuttin' off his balls."
And then she heads for the clinic and she gets some static walkin' through the door.
They call her a killer, and they call her a sinner, and they call her a whore
[CHORUS]
God forbid you ever had to walk a mile in her shoes
'Cause then you really might know what it's like to have to choose
Then you really might know what it's like
I've seen a rich man beg
I've seen a good man sin
I've seen a tough man cry
I've seen a loser win
And a sad man grin
I heard an honest man lie
I've seen the good side of bad
And the down side of up
And everything between........
************************************
It's not right to impose these rough, honest lyrics on such a great , historically rich, civilized place as an impression of Ukraine: the mood on the escalator. Actually I missed the Everlast concert over the weekend, as I had other life investigations to pursue, had to see some new places.
Yes, in all I have to admit feeling bad >these folks haven't been running to America, but they have been looking towards us for some time. I am sure, it has to be true, that it totally grates on the Russian social fabric that Ukraine has turned it's back on them, really it's the policy of the Kremlin, as it has toyed with what it sees as the most exigent strategy to this bellicose posturing of the West. The West couldn't help but find itself being liked as the Russians simply symbolized all the bad stuff in the past (or a lot of it, for Ukraine)
As I hang out on the streets, public places and hear this pedantic repetition of Americans, Europeans of these bland rationalizations about why things are this way, where they should go (towards the EU, etc) It feels to me like the West doesn't have an ear open to the folks who worked the mines, digging coal, smelting the steel, working in the factories that made Eastern Ukraine the hulking industrial monolith it is. These Westerners seem to be not interested in the thoughts of working people, they gravitate to this high level analysis, foreign policy reviews (I read them)
But the Soviet Plans were not such a bad deal, they did a lot of rebuilding after the war, the planning had social and environmentally positive aspects, and their culture evolved in ways independent of the West, the group dynamic feels stronger, healthier. I will be at a social event and some Western Ukraine, educated young scholar will blame Viktor Yushchenko for all the problems related to Yanukovych, that he did not do enough to keep Yanukovych from ascending to power. Instead of giving him credit for relinquishing power, he gets disrespected for it. Yushchenko, for those not acquainted with his origins, he was from a smaller town in SUM'ska Oblast, studied accounting at the banking academy. He seems to know the totals and the score as well as anybody else does. It seems like there is a chance of personal accountability to take hold in Ukraine. Just like Democrats blame Nader for giving Bush the victory in Florida , instead of asking why they couldn't work a deal with him to stave off that narrowest of margins. It would be like blaming Nader for the second Iraq war : it was his fault. THe whole thing would not have gone down like that.
When I travel this MEtro, see these cities in Ukraine, as much as the core of the exterior surfaces are ravaged by neglect and hard weather, I think "How much would it cost to totally rebuild all this ?" It is a stable, fertile land, still rich in resources and smart people.
And in all this Maidan 1.0, I really felt badly that such lack of nuance by the folks at the U.S. State Department, the legacy NeoCons who don't even have the straight dope from their own Salt of the right wing Earth In America about what they are doing here, that maybe they marred the USA's chance to look half decent in this, buggered My President's chances to better navigate what would have been some form of social dilemma in Ukraine, certainly something that began before his time in office. Now, I have to frequently tolerate trash talk about Obama's policies, both from people in Ukraine, and the variant US citizens who come here to exercise their feeling about how messed up things are at home, because of the Neo-Liberal Democratic Junta backed by theoretically liberal corporate moguls (who clearly prop up both sides of the fence). I mean, call me jaundiced, because I want to like Senator / Secretary of State John Kerry, as much as I don't want to dislike former President Bush, I mean they all mean well when they get in there, they want to do the right thing, be popular, but also look great in History which contradicts some parts of populism. These Yale Skull and Crossbones guys being shot callers, simply feeds the whole Masonic Conspiracy thing.
Perhaps in my mind, all this geopolitics is another ruse to keep working people from coming together and agreeing on what's right? I mean, I like that there are rich people, some of them are people I admire, think of as friends. Some of them are 100% respectful and cognizant of working people's issues. We are caught in a world of broad generalizations, where everyone wants an easy handle to grab onto, to understand the world, the situation. Every group community has a different emphasis, set of values. But clearly, this state of War in Ukraine is not good for public Health, and it only helps those who profit from the disruptions. These are getting towards harder times in Ukraine. Nothing will continue in any sort of easy way. No one will hold up their hand and say "look, sorry to admit it : I am partly to blame here"
What was the essential logic and reasoning behind Ukraine giving up it's Nukes? Who profited from it, who pushed for it, and where are those people now? One benefit may be that they steered towards an open society, but I don't really buy that perspective. It hasn't been that open, certainly the Maidan would not have gone down the way it did if they had a Nuclear Arsenal equivalent to say what France has today. What is the long view white board on that deal ?
It's been nearly 1 year since the momentous start of Ukraine's Maidan Demonstrations, I arrived here last year on the 11th of December, with little advance knowledge of what was going on in the streets. I started hearing from the people what was obvious about this, (now) formerly corrupt society, and what a long, strange flip it's been... Not taking the CIS deal, not going fully into the EU system, then War, armed conflict.
Perhaps it's interesting that a Tweet from a popular journalist, Mustafa Nayem who is of Afghan Pashtun and Iranian Parentage, but spent majority of his life as a Soviet resident, then as citizen of Post Independent Ukraine. Honestly, how would Americans really feel if a tweet by a similar individual who was a citizen / long term resident of Mexico had raised the beacon to prevail against corruption and entrenched elites of Mexican Society, thereby triggering a reanalysis of the Treaty of Gaudalupe Hidalgo, and sparking an armed takeover of territory in USA by Latinos, perhaps supported by China, and bolstered by Russian Diplomatic support (as China was upholding the Russian annexation of Crimea by it's tacit silence).
Actually, I like Mustafa, he is a decent guy and an improbable catalyst, of course he was just one of many hundreds of thousands of people, millions, who were ready to raise up their voices for change in Ukraine. Working people, educated abroad people, Political people who were just tired of the old system. Pretty much every day now, I am taking the Metro in this National Capitol, Kiev : honestly it feels terrific to be here, sometimes space the cars are crowded, but I fit in. And one of my games is to figure out a song that fits the mood I see on people's faces as they go up the escalator, those oh so long, steep, shafts, built to double as bomb shelters, and their moods noticeably change, as a group. This blog post is delayed, I meant it from my impressions of last Thursday. If you visit here, live here, you quickly learn that there is a constant struggle for change, it's a mostly cash based society, and they all want change, or something close to exact change, change in money, lives : it's in scarcity. Most people have a sameness to their lives.
"What It's Like"
We've all seen the man at the liquor store beggin' for your change
The hair on his face is dirty, dreadlocked and full of mange
He asked a man for what he could spare with shame in his eyes
"Get a job, you ___kin' slob"'s all he replied
[CHORUS]
God forbid you ever had to walk a mile in his shoes
'Cause then you really might know what it's like to sing the blues
Then you really might know what it's like [4x]
Mary got pregnant from a kid named Tom who said he was in love
He said, "Don't worry about a thing, baby doll, I'm the man you've been dreamin' of."
But three months later he said he won't date her or return her call
And she sweared, "God damn if I find that man I'm cuttin' off his balls."
And then she heads for the clinic and she gets some static walkin' through the door.
They call her a killer, and they call her a sinner, and they call her a whore
[CHORUS]
God forbid you ever had to walk a mile in her shoes
'Cause then you really might know what it's like to have to choose
Then you really might know what it's like
I've seen a rich man beg
I've seen a good man sin
I've seen a tough man cry
I've seen a loser win
And a sad man grin
I heard an honest man lie
I've seen the good side of bad
And the down side of up
And everything between........
************************************
It's not right to impose these rough, honest lyrics on such a great , historically rich, civilized place as an impression of Ukraine: the mood on the escalator. Actually I missed the Everlast concert over the weekend, as I had other life investigations to pursue, had to see some new places.
Yes, in all I have to admit feeling bad >these folks haven't been running to America, but they have been looking towards us for some time. I am sure, it has to be true, that it totally grates on the Russian social fabric that Ukraine has turned it's back on them, really it's the policy of the Kremlin, as it has toyed with what it sees as the most exigent strategy to this bellicose posturing of the West. The West couldn't help but find itself being liked as the Russians simply symbolized all the bad stuff in the past (or a lot of it, for Ukraine)
As I hang out on the streets, public places and hear this pedantic repetition of Americans, Europeans of these bland rationalizations about why things are this way, where they should go (towards the EU, etc) It feels to me like the West doesn't have an ear open to the folks who worked the mines, digging coal, smelting the steel, working in the factories that made Eastern Ukraine the hulking industrial monolith it is. These Westerners seem to be not interested in the thoughts of working people, they gravitate to this high level analysis, foreign policy reviews (I read them)
But the Soviet Plans were not such a bad deal, they did a lot of rebuilding after the war, the planning had social and environmentally positive aspects, and their culture evolved in ways independent of the West, the group dynamic feels stronger, healthier. I will be at a social event and some Western Ukraine, educated young scholar will blame Viktor Yushchenko for all the problems related to Yanukovych, that he did not do enough to keep Yanukovych from ascending to power. Instead of giving him credit for relinquishing power, he gets disrespected for it. Yushchenko, for those not acquainted with his origins, he was from a smaller town in SUM'ska Oblast, studied accounting at the banking academy. He seems to know the totals and the score as well as anybody else does. It seems like there is a chance of personal accountability to take hold in Ukraine. Just like Democrats blame Nader for giving Bush the victory in Florida , instead of asking why they couldn't work a deal with him to stave off that narrowest of margins. It would be like blaming Nader for the second Iraq war : it was his fault. THe whole thing would not have gone down like that.
When I travel this MEtro, see these cities in Ukraine, as much as the core of the exterior surfaces are ravaged by neglect and hard weather, I think "How much would it cost to totally rebuild all this ?" It is a stable, fertile land, still rich in resources and smart people.
And in all this Maidan 1.0, I really felt badly that such lack of nuance by the folks at the U.S. State Department, the legacy NeoCons who don't even have the straight dope from their own Salt of the right wing Earth In America about what they are doing here, that maybe they marred the USA's chance to look half decent in this, buggered My President's chances to better navigate what would have been some form of social dilemma in Ukraine, certainly something that began before his time in office. Now, I have to frequently tolerate trash talk about Obama's policies, both from people in Ukraine, and the variant US citizens who come here to exercise their feeling about how messed up things are at home, because of the Neo-Liberal Democratic Junta backed by theoretically liberal corporate moguls (who clearly prop up both sides of the fence). I mean, call me jaundiced, because I want to like Senator / Secretary of State John Kerry, as much as I don't want to dislike former President Bush, I mean they all mean well when they get in there, they want to do the right thing, be popular, but also look great in History which contradicts some parts of populism. These Yale Skull and Crossbones guys being shot callers, simply feeds the whole Masonic Conspiracy thing.
Perhaps in my mind, all this geopolitics is another ruse to keep working people from coming together and agreeing on what's right? I mean, I like that there are rich people, some of them are people I admire, think of as friends. Some of them are 100% respectful and cognizant of working people's issues. We are caught in a world of broad generalizations, where everyone wants an easy handle to grab onto, to understand the world, the situation. Every group community has a different emphasis, set of values. But clearly, this state of War in Ukraine is not good for public Health, and it only helps those who profit from the disruptions. These are getting towards harder times in Ukraine. Nothing will continue in any sort of easy way. No one will hold up their hand and say "look, sorry to admit it : I am partly to blame here"
What was the essential logic and reasoning behind Ukraine giving up it's Nukes? Who profited from it, who pushed for it, and where are those people now? One benefit may be that they steered towards an open society, but I don't really buy that perspective. It hasn't been that open, certainly the Maidan would not have gone down the way it did if they had a Nuclear Arsenal equivalent to say what France has today. What is the long view white board on that deal ?
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