I haven’t been to Ukraine in nearly twenty years, but at that time my friends there told me that everything was run by what they called “the Mafia”. They believed that that word for us in America stands for any powerful criminal organization not just the Sicilian mob.
I prefer to make a distinction between informal power structures, the ones who are really running things, and the formal power structures, the elected officials. Both are corrupt, as corrupt as Russia.
“I prefer to make a distinction between informal power structures, the ones who are really running things, and the formal power structures, the elected officials. Both are corrupt, as corrupt as Russia.”
That’s fair. The problem with Ukraine is that mafia (who are the Azovs) are part of the government, and in fact, act as “enforcers” for Neocon policy, should Zelensky or anyone else consider trying to work with the Russians to end the war.
Yes. I know the Ukrainian part of the Soviet Union was treated horribly in the past by the Russian part of the Soviet Union (as in the Holodomor) but in much of the later parts of Soviet history, they shared in the power, and shared in the abuses of their own people.
And the Soviet-style corruption did not stop at an internal border. It had decades to become completely endemic and entrenched.
Even though they may be enemies, they share a common history. As much as the Ukrainians hate to admit it.
That may be simplistic, especially in the minds of Ukrainians, but...I believe that to be a fact.