[Grzegorz 246]

25% of Ukrainian export (very small for a country of that size) goes to Russia, in currency units that is less than half of what a several times smaller Czech Republic sells to Germany and about as much as Polish export to the same small Czech Republic... Sure Ukrainian economy is a mess right now but it shouldn't look like that, that's only due to totally incompetent governments running the country for past +20 years. They have huge potential and should produce and export pretty much all categories of products. Investors from all corners of the world would be flooding the country If it was run at least semi-professionally, now they don't as it is more corrupted than many 3rd world countries.

Politicians over there (both gov and opposition) must understand that If they go on with this mess, people will keep revolting (now against Yanuk, next year against current opposition) and in the long term everyone will lose out, politicians, oligarchs, security forces, If people are dirt poor and own nothing, you can't even steal from them... Russia and “west” should forget for a while about geopolitical games and help them stand on their own feet because If shit hits the fan, there will be millions of refugees fleeing in both directions and after such collapse the country will become a huge black hole, which will need to be heavily subsidized by both sides for decades.

[Ivan Mazepa]

It is almost impossible to do business there. The corruption is sickening. The following story is not uncommon:

You decide to invest some money in a new business, hire some workers, buy new computer and machinery, stock up on the inventory, pay off some fat bureaucrat (hey, it’s part of the overhead)
Year passes, you come to work one day, you see 5 big, tough, but not too bright looking individuals standing at the entrance. You ask them what they’re doing here, they say the owner asked them to stand there. Funny, you say to yourself, I don’t remember anything about this. You ask to see who’s in charge there and some guy comes in with a piece of paper. The paper is a document from a court 500 miles away, stating that Mr. X, a minor partner in your business, is involved in an ownership dispute with you. Funny, I don’t know Mr X, I thought this was my property. Meanwhile, Mr X is in control of the facility until the settlement, thus the 5 guys upfront. You go to police, they say they’re not getting involved in any disputes, that’s why there are courts, dumbass. I’ll clear it up at the court, you say to yourself. Six months pass, you go to the court, but Mr X doesn’t show up. The judge says, I guess there is no dispute, the company’s all yours. You go with your little paper that the business is indeed yours, but the 5 guys are no longer there to greet you. The offices and the warehouse are empty. Lastly, you begin to think that gun ownership isn’t that bad of an idea