Posted on 08/20/2024 9:50:19 AM PDT by Navy Patriot
The war unleashed by the Russian Federation in Ukraine is having a devastating impact on Ukraine. Despite unprecedented support from the United States and European countries, Ukrainians’ standard of living is declining, exacerbating preexisting issues. Yet, according to recent polls, corruption tops the list of domestic problems for Ukrainians. The current administration is trying various mechanisms to combat corruption, but are they enough?
For Ukraine, the problem of corruption is most acute among European countries. This can be explained by the slow post-Soviet changes in the country’s economy, frequent changes of ruling groups that politicize governmental institutions, and an entrenched habit of looking for private solutions to everyday issues. Quite often it is easier to bribe than to resolve problems using legitimate existing mechanisms.
The most noticeable manifestations of everyday corruption are observed at the communal level in Ukraine. According to an in-depth study of local government in Ukraine, 38 percent of respondents characterized local authorities as corrupt, 29 percent as nontransparent, and 23 percent as indifferent to people's problems. At the same time, ordinary citizens themselves engage in corrupt schemes as well: 19 percent of respondents indicated that they personally had given a bribe to solve a problem with a medical institution and 8 percent did so with educational institutions.
(Excerpt) Read more at wilsoncenter.org ...
They can't seem to get rid of it, just elections.
Who knew? 🙄
Corruption is always an issue, in every country, during wars and during peace times.
The country with the most corruption in the world, is the U.S.. So, we would end up with very few leaders (if any) if corruption were to be completely wiped-out.
I wonder how corrupt things were over in South Vietnam during our time at war there.
Just occasional or blatant and open?
I mean were quartermasters and their staff selling US goods intended for the war effort to black marketeers and then those goods get sold in shady marketplaces around cities.
Or was it more subtle?
Without question it is a serious problem, people forget that in 2014 Ukraine was even more corrupt than Russia.
Ukraine has greatly improved on corruption since 2014 but still ranks below where it needs to be.
Are they setting up a narrative to inoculate them when Trump gets in office?
“Gee, we had no idea all these officials bought these cars, villas, and yachts.”
Billions gone, up in smoke? Yeah, there must have been some nefarious corruption somewhere, but sorry, the money is gone now.
“The country with the most corruption in the world, is the U.S”
Another lying foreign weirdo. Get lost.
There is far more of it, and it is far worse, however it is identical to Prog Socialist Democrat corruption, fully approved throughout the West.
Every Zeeper on FR.
I have told this story before—but it sounds like you need to hear it.
My grandfather created and owned a construction business—and he wanted me (his only grandson) to take it over someday.
So—when I was sixteen years old (and he was getting infirm and needed a driver) he invited me to do that job for one summer.
I agreed—and drove him all over the Northeast as he met with suppliers, other subcontractors, visited job sites etc etc.
The summer is almost over—and he had a surprise for me.
Normally he took me to nice restaurants for lunch since he was a gourmet. The fancy food did not particularly appeal to me—so I was thrilled when he said we were going to a hot dog stand out in the countryside for lunch.
The place was an old shack with a dirt drive-way. We were the only ones in the parking lot.
Grandpa gets out of the car and the shack owner gives him a big hug and calls him by his nickname (known only to close friends and relatives).
The hot-dogs were surprisingly good—and then my grandfather explained why we were here.
He said he wanted me to know how he managed to win so many state of CT contracts. He explained that this hot dog stand was critical to the business. He said that he met with the governor, other cabinet officials, the speaker of the state house and other key state legislators and gave them suitcases of cash here—at this hot-dog stand, far from prying eyes.
I did not believe him.
So—I asked him if I could talk to the hot dog stand owner alone.
Grandma said sure.
I visited with the owner and asked him if any prominent state officials ate here. He proceeded to give me a long list of names that matched my grandfather’s list.
He said that my grandfather met with these dignitaries from time to time and confirmed my grandfather handed them briefcases during those meetings—and this had been going on for decades.
Americans are so naive.
—
As for me—when I graduated college I fled to the opposite coast to get far away from that business.
Untrue. From the article:
Monitoring studies by Active Group record negative trends in the perception of corruption levels in Ukraine. If in January of 2023 only 15 percent of respondents thought that the level of corruption was increasing, by June of this year that figure had grown to 49 percent.
In June 2024 nearly half the citizens of Ukraine perceived an over 300% increase in corruption, despite the Western Media's attempts to play it down.
The increase since 2014 is even more.
The only change is the group that profits from the Corruption, now it's Western Globalist Oligarchs.
Corruption for their profit is acceptable and not reported by Western Media or Investigators.
Example: Hunter Biden and the Biden Crime Family, and their Ukraine exploits.
My Opinion: the politician who takes the bribe should be pauperized and executed.
The person that pays the bribe should get a tax deduction for a business expense, like a tax on inventory.
In 2015 Russia was ranked as less corrupt than Ukraine.
In 2015 Russia was at 119 and Ukraine at 130
Today (2023) rankings, Russia is at 141 and Ukraine at 104.
The Ukrainian improvements are huge but as I said there is much to be done and being attacked by the world’s second most powerful army hasn’t helped, but still better than it used to be and better than Russia.
The article states that Ukraine citizens living in Ukraine now disagree with you.
Trump will bring on an audit, thankfully. Democrats will be very nervous.
It doesn’t even mention what I posted, and if you read the article you will see that it supports what I posted, Ukraine has been improving greatly during the last decade and while problems still exist they are working on it.
Moving from 130 to 104 hasn’t been easy and that rating shows what the articles states, that corruption is still a problem and exacerbated by the war.
To quote your article:
“Transparency International’s corruption perception index, which provides an opportunity to comprehensively monitor changes in the level of corruption in different countries, is of special importance here. In particular, the 2023 index shows continued improvement on the part of Ukraine, testifying to the country’s partial success in the fight against corruption. However, public opinion polls show that Ukrainians themselves are skeptical. This may have to do with the fact that citizens’ perception of the changes in corruption levels is fragmented: government reforms and legislative changes aim at the long term, and their results may not be immediately visible to the general public.”
“Most analysts consider the existing anti-corruption bodies in Ukraine to be independent and effective. The European Union Anticorruption Initiative finds that while corruption remains a serious problem in Ukraine, anti-corruption efforts and reforms can help reduce it. Anti-corruption bodies can be a key tool in this process. President Volodymyr Zelensky’s initiatives have also helped. For example, on July 5, 248 new local court judges, vetted by independent anti-corruption organizations, were sworn in. Renewing representatives of state authorities can help reduce the number of corrupt schemes.”
It's not all gone - a lot got funneled back to D@mocrats & uniparty RINOs here in the US, to help them win elections. Bankman-Fried & FTX (which had a direct connection to the Biden White House) got caught cycling Ukrainian dollars to pro-Ukraine politicians here, but that was probably just the tip of the iceberg...
Never said that didn’t happen here, but it’s your one anecdote. I’m 68 years old and I’ve lived in several states and cities. I’ve never had to bribe a policeman or any government official or even offered one. Question is, who was the crook in your story?
That was just one anecdote.
I personally bribed John Kerry to get special treatment from the state of Massachusetts—long story and past the statute of limitations.
I have worked for companies who openly bribed politicians to get favored treatment.
In the business world this stuff is routine.
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