Posted on 12/19/2022 12:40:56 PM PST by ransomnote
[H/T McGruff]
SNIP
"The notion that Ukraine was such an appealing democratic model in Eastern Europe that the country’s mere existence terrified Putin may be a comforting myth to U.S. politicians and pundits, but it is a myth. Ukraine is far from being a democratic‐capitalist model and an irresistible magnet for Russia’s groaning masses. The reality is murkier and troubling: Ukraine has long been one of the more corrupt countries in the international system. In its annual report published in January 2022, Transparency International ranked Ukraine 123rd of the 180 countries it examined, with a score of 32 on a one to 100 point scale. By comparison, notoriously corrupt Russia ranked just modestly lower, 139th, with a score of 29.
Ukraine’s track record of protecting democracy and civil liberties is not much better than its performance on corruption. In Freedom House’s 2022 report, Ukraine is listed in the “partly free” category, with a score of 61 out of a possible 100. Other countries in that category include such bastions of liberal democracy as Rodrigo Duterte’s Philippines (55), Serbia (62), Hungary (59), and Singapore (47). Interestingly, Hungary—which has been a target of vitriolic criticism among progressives in the West because of Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s conservative social policy—ranks eight points higher than Ukraine, which is the recipient of uncritical praise from the same Western ideological factions.
Even before the war erupted, there were ugly examples of authoritarianism in Ukraine’s political governance. Just months after the 2014 Maidan revolution, there were efforts to smother domestic critics, which accelerated as years passed. Ukrainian officials also harassed political dissidents, adopted censorship measures, and barred foreign journalists whom they regarded as critics of the Ukrainian government and its policies. Such offensive actions were criticized by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, and other independent observers. The neo‐Nazi Azov Battalion was an integral part of President Petro Poroshenko’s military and security apparatus, and it has retained that role during Zelensky’s presidency.
Indeed, some repressive measures deepened under Zelensky even before the outbreak of war with Russia. In February 2021, the Ukrainian government closed several (mostly, but not entirely pro‐Russia) independent media outlets. They did so on the basis of utterly vague, open‐ended standards. Zelensky has now used the war as a justification for outlawing 11 opposition parties and nationalizing several media outlets. Those are hardly appropriate measures in a democracy, even in wartime."
MORE AT LINK: https://www.cato.org/commentary/whitewashing-ukraines-corruption#
Unless Ukraine invades another country, I don’t care.
We have bridges to replace and a border to fence.
Thanks for posting this. It needs to be seen. However, worshipping Ukraine is a religion for many here on FR. You might get less flack for being against Jesus than Zelensky here.
Your threshold for Animus is military invasion?
Cute.
You've made it very clear you don't care about America's national security or fiscal health.
This is an honest question, for which I do not know the answer. How corrupt was the Polish government in 1938, before Hitler and Stalin chopped it in two and each took half?
It would seem to me that sometimes in geopolitics you have to choose, not between good and bad, but between bad and worse, and we unfortunately have a penchant for choosing “worse” over “bad”: we did in Cuba in 1960, in Bosnia in 1995, and in Libya in 2011, just for three.
Crazy isn’t. What many African nations are doing to white farmers is fine I guess to that poster. Well, I mean they aren’t invading another country.
Hitler killing Jews would have been fine, if they just hadn’t invaded another country!
The mental pretzels the Ukraine lovers here go through to deny the corrupt nature of Ukraine is stunning.
“Your threshold for Animus is military invasion?”
Pretty much. They can hate each other all they want. But they should all stay inside the borders of their own countries.
L
People don’t get it
Ukraine’s corruption IS the American deep state’s corruption
Two sides of the same coin.
Historical
In the early 1920s, during the first years of the Second Polish Republic, Polish institutions were plagued by endemic corruption,[1] and several of the governments of the day were accused of widespread corruption, very likely with a sound cause.[2] Between 1923 and 1926, Józef Piłsudski came to conclude that the system which he dubbed "Sejmocracy" fostered general corruption, ultimately leading him to launch the May Coup and seize power.[3] His byword Sanation referred to the cleansing he promised to introduce, in contrast to his predecessors' shady practices.[4]
However, once in power, his allies uncovered very few cases of corruption in past governments; persistent references to mass corruption amounted to a type of "primitive propaganda", in the words of historian Andrzej Garlicki. Later, it was Piłsudskiites who became embroiled in a well-publicized scandal revolving around election budgets, the Czechowicz Affair.[5] By the 1930s, the country had developed an economic model involving nationalised industry, with key industries in government hands. While this fostered growth in vital areas, it also gave rise to inefficiency and corruption. Private businesses found it hard to compete directly with state-owned concerns, in particular for public contracts.[6]
In the communist People's Republic of Poland, corruption was widespread, particularly by Polish United Workers Party officials (see nomenklatura).[7][8][9] Corruption under the communist regime was so pervasive that some scholars have referred to the system as "legalized corruption".[10]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corruption_in_Poland
What I care? Yes. But that still would make the invasion of that country by an aggressive regional bully wrong, and worthy of resistance. Especially when the regional bully itself isn’t democratic, and has a pattern of aggression against its own ethnic minorities, as well as neighboring countries.
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Bingo. Hard to believe how many here are support Biden and the Deep State in Ukraine, a really corrupt carve out on the map of Europe. We are laundering billions through Ukraine to enrich the MIC and the Uniparty. And this whole thing is none of our business here in our own continent.
Ok. Fair answer
In the General/Chat forum, on a thread titled Whitewashing Ukraine’s Corruption, PGR88 wrote: People don’t get it
Ukraine’s corruption IS the American deep state’s corruption
Two sides of the same coin.
You'd think the fact that Biden is giving away taxpayer money instead of addressing basic needs in the US would make them realize that the Biden puppet regime NEEDS to Ukraine in order to launder money. What must the Ukraine's handlers have on the Biden Regime/Dem party that they can use to extort more money and hardware?
Biden isn't a compassionate person - he knows where he got his '10% for the Big Guy". Joe Biden's son and brother, Nancy Pelosi's son, Schumer's son - that's the government leadership right there - all with ties to corruption in the Ukraine. The Dem party NEEDS the Ukraine, so no amount of public rage will slow them down from transferring American wealth to their money laundering operation.
Ukraine ping
Ukraine has killed 100K Russians in less than a year, on the basis of roughly the same annual expenditures allocated to Afghanistan. Ukrainian equipment and infrastructure is being destroyed by Russian missile and tube artillery on a minute by minute basis. If Ukrainian officials have enough excess resources from these piddling aid amounts to skim while fighting a large scale conflict, I’d call the proceeds a well-deserved performance bonus. Note that 100K dead is likely more KIA than we inflicted on the Taliban in 20 years, for a total tab of ~$1T.
I thought we’d never get to balance the books on the 100K dead GI’s the Russians inflicted on us in Korea and Vietnam. However, the Ukrainians are singlehandedly achieving, with hand-me-downs from us, what seemed impossible prior to the invasion. Through aid to Ukraine, we are paying the Russians back on a one-for-one basis for the loss of our young men all those years ago.
Biden admitted to extortion on air.
And it can be used against him in a court of law...if we had one these days.
In the General/Chat forum, on a thread titled Whitewashing Ukraine’s Corruption, Zhang Fei wrote: Ukraine ping
Ukraine has killed 100K Russians in less than a year, on the basis of roughly the same annual expenditures allocated to Afghanistan. Ukrainian equipment and infrastructure is being destroyed by Russian missile and tube artillery on a minute by minute basis. If Ukrainian officials have enough excess resources from these piddling aid amounts to skim while fighting a large scale conflict, I’d call the proceeds a well-deserved performance bonus. Note that 100K dead is likely more KIA than we inflicted on the Taliban in 20 years, for a total tab of ~$1T.
I thought we’d never get to balance the books on the 100K dead GI’s the Russians inflicted on us in Korea and Vietnam. However, the Ukrainians are singlehandedly achieving, with hand-me-downs from us, what seemed impossible prior to the invasion. Through aid to Ukraine, we are paying the Russians back on a one-for-one basis for the loss of our young men all those years ago.
The Ukraine war is being run by NATO, with NATO weapons and money, and most importantly, NATO military planning and execution. I watched a video of the Ukrainian soldiers executing Russian prisoners with a bullet to the back of the head - that might be purely Ukrainian, or maybe NATO directed that action as well.
"Piddling amount" is going on 100 billion dollars from the US alone for a conflict that we should not be involved in at all. Biden and the Dems are feeding off the aid and the US economy is in a nosedive; I'm not willing to spend money on a proxy war that doesn't involve the US to 'help you cope' with whatever resentments for which you want payback re Korea and Vietnam.
The Ukraine is not singlehandedly achieving anything and they aren't just relying on 'hand-me-downs' from us. NATO is prosecuting this war - moving Ukrainian soldiers where and when they want, to carryout NATO military strategy.
The Ukraine's been givenh 67 BILLION DOLLARS in taxpayer funds and have already another 40 billion dollars promised by their co-collaborator whom they can extort for silence about his crimes in the Ukraine- you know, the 'Big Guy' running our nation into the ground right now.
This idea that the Ukraine is the 'little country that could' is ridiculous. President Trump pointed out the Ukraine interferred in the 2016 election to try to help Hillary win, and every American has heard about the graft being passed around to the Dem crime organization (Pelosi's son, Schumer's son, Biden's son, his brother Jim and the 'Big Guy' himself).
The Ukraine has a 'Nazi problem' because the core of their military are neo Nazis, so I don't care what happens to them. But Ukrainian citizens, already victimized by this proxy war, are being conscripted to fight even though they've had no training or experience. Men in their 50's etc. Young men too - just a wood chipper war they can't win and it's not 'nothing' that these people are being sent to die in a proxy war that they cannot win.
Say, with the Ukraine's core military being neo Nazi, why don't you want 'payback' from them for all the people they killed?
That's completely ignoring financial and technical warfare.
Also, invaders are crossing our southern border with help form the RINOs and Democrats who don't care to stop it.
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