Ukraine's Age of Stupidity
Less than exact thinking in demented times
On May 21, one of Ukraine’s most watched programs, The Right to Power, aired on 1+1 TV. A half a dozen guests participated in the 140-minute shit show, which was devoted to the impact of the publication of a half a dozen or so heavily edited snippets from audio recordings of conversations between former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko made in 2015 and 2016.
FoxNews, The Guardian, The Washington Post, Euronews, Newsweek, Mother Jones, Bloomberg, The Daily Beast, The Independent, et cetera wrote about the leak, which was promoted a day earlier by thousands of Kremlin bots and pro-Trumpy ezines. Even renowned Ukraine expert Nina Jankowicz had something to say. But all these stories and self-aggrandizing Twitter dot com posts missed the point.
On May 20, President Volodymyr Zelensky was also eager to talk about the leak at a press conference teeming with pro-Russia trolls in Kyiv. He confirmed that the Prosecutor General’s Office had indeed registered a investigation of possible treason committed by Poroshenko based on the recordings.
“Yes, I heard about the [scandal] involving Poroshenko and Biden. I will comment about this. I don't think this is the last case Ukrainians, citizens of Ukraine, will hear about (це не останній дзвінок,який побачать українці). It's the job of Prosecutor General's Office and law-enforcement agencies to respond. I know that the Prosecutor General's Office yesterday registered a pretrial investigation on possible treason pursuant to the appeal by member of parliament Andriy Derkach. They will investigate. I know that [what Poroshenko said] may be qualified in the criminal proceeding as state treason. This is up to law-enforcement agencies to decide.” Zelensky said.
The Pechersky Court of Kyiv later the same day ordered the Prosecutor General's Office to enter into the Unified Register of Pretrial Investigations information in a related case involving the possible interference of Biden in the activities of former Prosecutor General of Ukraine Viktor Shokin.
Poroshenko’s lawyers responded that evening.
While kooky conspiracy scandals cooked up by Trump’s re-election campaigners are getting all the headlines, the country is being ravaged by war, poverty, joblessness and disease.
Ukraine’s European Business Association on May 20 published its annual survey of business trust in the nation’s courts. The results are alarming.
Business does not trust the nation’s courts.
The Prosecutor General’s Office is a joke.
No one takes Ukraine’s SBU State Security Office seriously.
The State Bureau of Investigations is a mess.
Ukraine’s State Tax and Customs Services are being reorganized.
The Health Ministry is totally corrupt.