Thank you for posting this article. I will definitely read it over.
One thing to keep in mind is the fact that the Ukraine and Russia have never, ever had anything like the 'open society' (to use the term of the Karl Popper influenced organization, organized and funded by the George Soros Foundation) that we in Canada/US and most parts of Western Europe had. They went from the Czar, with near total control of the society/government to Lenin inspired Communism and then various forms of this under it former leaders, to Boris Yeltsin to its current 'Czar' Putin. 'Ethical leadership' never occurred there, its never had a chance to grow and flourish.
I remember from my days working in the CR in the mid 90's the challenges that were faced on a daily basis of 'doing the right thing for the right reasons.' So many 'ex-Czech's' came back from Canada and the US to help get them on their feet in terms of day to day running of the media, government departments, businesses, education facilities, etc. These were the people who were raised in the independent Czechoslovakia of the 1920-30's and the handful of years between 1945-48 or they were the children of these people. Russia never had this occur, the old leaders simply took off their party pins and picked up a Coca-Cola and started raping the country of all they could. There was virtually no purging of the old guard and in the case of Russia, there was no returning of ex-Pats on a large scale to help out.
When I was working in the CR there was a common phrase that was used by many to describe those between the ages of 35-60, they were openly called the 'Lost Generation' as it was believed that they would be 'lost' by the new open society that they were going to have to live in. They were considered 'lost' because they were used to the State doing virtually everything for them, decide where they'd work, decide where they'd live, in what sort of 'panelak' (
Panelák - Wikipedia) they'd receive from the State or their employer, where they'd go for the holidays, what sort of food or clothes there would have access to, etc, etc. Those under 35 felt that they were young enough to be up for the challenges that they would be facing and those over 60 still remembered the stories told to them by their parents/grandparents on what life was life before Communism took over. Those people were the keepers of the 'old way of doing things' and they did their best to instill this sense of 'right or wrong' in their grandchildren in the new society. Want to quit your job and start up a new company, go and see your grandparents as they would tell you to do, you're young, take the risk, work hard everyday and mostly, they, the grandparents would be the ones helping out. I saw this and experienced this all the time. And it wasn't just in the CR, I saw it in Hungary and it Poland during my trips there.
