By Rostislav Ishchenko
Translated by Ollie Richardson and Angelina Siard
cross posted with http://www.stalkerzone.org/rostislav-ishchenko-post-maidan-suicide-of-ukrainian-small-business/
source: https://ukraina.ru/opinion/20181025/1021545197.html
In February, 2014, on the day that Yanukovych fled, the Ukrainian state not only refused the monopoly on violence, but also in principle ceased to carry out the functions of the state. Small and medium sized business very much rejoiced. But they shouldn’t have…
It seemed only from aside that, by discharging the incumbent president from his position under the barrels of the machine guns of militants – contrary to the Constitution – and appointing the speaker and president and declaring early elections, the parliament “restores order”.
In reality it (the parliament) handed over state power to bandits. And these bandits haven’t disappeared anywhere since. Yes, some were killed (but by these same bandits), some were jailed (like “Tornado” militants), but more influential bandits who didn’t share out their income from arms and drug trafficking across the line of demarcation remained.
Yes, now the bandits pretending that they are the state authorities try to hold elections in Ukraine. And I don’t doubt that not only Tymoshenko, who is going to legitimately ascend to the presidential throne, but even Poroshenko, who has no chance of staying in power without the use of force, nevertheless count on solving their problems in a quasi-constitutional field. I.e., they want their coming to power (or holding onto it) to take place within the framework of constitutional procedures.
They won’t actually be able to do it. During the previous parliamentary elections (the presidential ones were “consecrated” by the US Embassy and its sociology) the counting of votes was controlled by armed gangs. The only persons to gain seats in parliament were those who were allowed to do so by gangs, at the order of the authorities and in coordination with the US Embassy. But since then several years have passed, and today the US is indifferent to who will win in Ukraine. Any local kinglets will suit the Americans, because it is from them that the former will buy extremely expensive “muskets” and to them that Ukraine will “sell slaves” on the cheap. Moreover, whoever comes to power in Ukraine will be the enemy of Russia (at the same time the US will even say that it is precisely this person that was “appointed by the Kremlin”).
Today candidates for the presidency fight not for approval ratings and not for the support of the West, but for the support of militants who can dictate the “correct results” to election commissions. And militants understand this. It is precisely for this reason that Yarosh, who hadn’t shown his face anywhere for a long time – stated that he is withdrawing 5 battalions from the frontline (from 1,000 to 2,5000 people) in order to bring order in the rear: “If it is necessary to take them down (to kill) — we will take them down”.
And just yesterday Biletsky – the informal leader of the nazi regiment of the National Guard “Azov” and the mass of structures affiliated with him (in the sum of over 10,000 militants) – stated that it is necessary to allow militants to open carry “trophy” weapons. I.e., Biletsky recognised that they have military weapons, that they constantly possess them, and now, in his opinion, the time has come to legalise these weapons.
In fact, in an interval of a few hours the two most known and popular leaders of militants, who have earned a packet from the coup of 2014, again put up their physical resources for sale. Whoever will pay more will be the “legitimate” president. The difference with 2014 is that Washington doesn’t interfere with local infighting any more, there is nobody to rein in militants, and they can thus offer their services for free auction – whoever pays more is the president.
But according to the Ukrainian tradition, the leaders of militants don’t share out their fee with gangs – small bandits are allowed to “earn” from robbery. In 2014 they robbed Mezhigorye, the estate of Pshonka, and two-three houses of very known and leading regionals [Party of Regions members – ed] who didn’t want to or couldn’t pay the racket.
This time, besides the houses of Poroshenko and Lutsenko, there isn’t even anything to rob. Even Medvedchuk has the most attractive property either in Crimea or even further away. What is within reach in Ukraine can satisfy the requirements of no more than a couple of hundred bandits.
So-called pro-Russian forces and the local servile left had already been robbed back in 2014, and, in addition, since then they have been thrown out of public politics. It’s possible to rob them once again, but it’s impossible to take a lot from them and to sell it to the people as the restoration of social justice. It is impossible to rob oligarchs, as the experience of 2014 has shown.
Firstly, they have private armies, which aren’t any weaker than the combat groups of the Ukrainian special services. And, should the need arise, unlike state law enforcement officers, private ones don’t hesitate to shoot.
Secondly, they control the economy of several regions and at any time can crash social stability in their regions, shifting responsibility onto the government in Kiev.
Thirdly, it is impossible to accuse them of playing any complex political games, since none of them have spoken publicly. In addition all of them held secret negotiations with Tymoshenko and obtained guarantees of future immunity (and in the present they have guarantees from Poroshenko anyway). Of course, they will be dispossessed all the same, but not immediately tomorrow.
It is possible to hire oneself out for the capture of temples of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, but the main bonuses there are received by Filaret, and all expenses, including a very probable rigid physical repulse by Orthodox Christians, fall on the shoulders of militants, who can actually receive a disability, instead of the opportunity to plunder.
Who remains? Yes, medium and small sized business. Clever people left long ago. The stupid ones fight for Ukrainian European integration. The people won’t intercede for such ones: they aren’t Russophiles, they aren’t communists, and they aren’t Ukrainian patriots. It is possible to say that they are Rothschilds, Rockefellers, Vanderbilt, and Soros rolled into one, available for pogroms.
Social networks are struck with hatred towards business half-and-half with primitive anti-Semitism. Society in general believes that business equals Jews, and Jews “stole everything”. Moreover, a considerable part of nationalist, pro-Russian, and even the part of the Ukrainian society that feels nostalgic for the USSR suffers from a sharp form of anti-Semitism. Businessmen, like Jews at the time of inquisition, are alien to all. Even the patriotic ones. Even those who partially “begun to see clearly” and criticise the current authorities from a “Euro-integration” position.
In practice everything is simple. Both camps have to pay militants, who already outlined their intention to earn money on the back of elections. Both don’t want to do it at their own expense, and the property of potential losers available to plunder is even less than what remained from the regionals who fled. It isn’t possible to take a lot from ordinary folk, and it’s better not to even try, because they are already angry. So it is business that is left, which isn’t capable of defending itself — small and average sized.
“Kristallnacht” didn’t enrich the storm troopers, although some nazi leaders indeed made a fortune on it. But freedom to commit pogroms gave storm troopers the chance to feel the salt of the earth and even to grab some stuff.
For Ukrainian storm troopers it is all the same who will win in local elections. The most important thing is that they will have the opportunity to “earn”. And they aren’t to blame if someone didn’t hide themselves.
”Small and medium sized business very much rejoiced. But they shouldn’t have…”
It’s an iron law which nobody seems to have bothered to formulate; thus I decide here and now to proudly let on and give some illustrating examples of
Nussiminen’s law
And I’ll start right at home (Sweden).
In the parliamentary elections of 1991, the winners were the notorious oligarch criminal scumbag and Washington stooge Carl Bildt plus a lesser creature from within the ’science’ of economics, Anne Wibble. Bildt (prime minister) and Wibble (finance minister) came to power after a barrage of successful neoliberal propaganda openly paid for and skillfully promoted by Sweden’s business community throughout the preceding decade. The social mass base of the Bildt/Wibble regime was precisely the owners of Sweden’s small and medium size businesses — understandably enough, as their ’intolerable sufferings’ due to ’oppressive taxation’ and ditto labour laws had been stressed to the utmost in Sweden for 10 long years as per the propaganda frenzy. Of course, the dissolution of the Eastern bloc and the USSR itself gave an extra boost to this regime, which noisily proclaimed ’Ny start för Sverige’ (new start for Sweden). After a year in office with Anne Wibble acting under the banksters’ and big corporations’ very explicit instructions, a whopping 10% of Sweden’s small and medium size businesses had filed for bankruptcy, duly accompanied by a seven-fold increase of the numbers of (officially) unemployed people. Rather than a new start, the regime orchestrated a crash-landing of the country. This soon gave birth to the SD party.
Next example of Nussiminen’s law is another yellow-and-blue case of contemporary political reaction in Europe: Ukraine. Western imperialism had correctly sniffed out fertile soil for reactionary demagoguery based on Russophobic nationalism and ’European values’ (very much the same thing). This appealed to the same social strata as did the abovementioned propaganda effort in Sweden: the petty bourgeoisie/middle classes. Ukraine was already in deep trouble with rampant corruption, deindustrialization, and depopulation when the Nazi putsch was orchestrated from abroad. At bottom, the Maidan debacle in Kiev was based upon the same rent-a-mob template as were the huge manifestations in 1980’s Stockholm in the service of reaction; the Maidan only being more embarrassing and, needless to say, more evil and violent. What it shows is that when the big bourgeoisie calls, the petty bourgeoisie responds eagerly — with or without taking the bribes — only to get shafted in the end. Maidanite Ukraine speaks for itself.
The third example of Nussiminen’s law is also yellow-and-blue: the EU project itself. To the Western Europeans — the Euro-trash in Nussiminen’s parlance — something seems to have gone horribly wrong. The 99% have lost track of the perceived solidarity, compassion, and love of the 1%, the latter now wreaking havoc on their precious Western Heimat. To the Eastern Europeans — the Honorary Euro-trash in Nussiminen’s parlance — the EU is still something to be revered and supported to boost their delusions about Europe and their perceived responsibility to ”protect” it.
Nussiminen’s law states the obvious. Enjoy!
While I’m sure Ukrainians were better off before.Isn’t the circumstances of Ukraine described in the article, simply a more direct and simple form of how all states/governments in the world today operate?The author accuses the self-appointed authorities of Ukraine today, of being bandits, of running a racket, and I agree, but how is it any different anywhere else?Doesn’t every state/government in the world today have taxes and tariffs or some variation of similar involuntary payment?And doesn’t, not paying taxes(for example) result in imprisonment or theft of your property(governments like to call it ‘confiscation’, I believe, and ‘freezing assets’ is preferred in the West)?Does this monopoly on violence by one gang of bandits calling themselves state authorities of a normal state or democracy(in places where there is genuine democracy), make that much of a difference?Well, I guess only having one group of bandits to payoff, reduces the costs drastically.
On a different note, this is a classic case of merchant classes rejoicing(or even helping to destroy?) over the demise of the country’s political class only to end up getting robbed and destroyed themselves.The likes of merchant classes can only thrive within a framework of a nation-state or something similar, should the state cease to exist so too does everyone and everything that can only exist within the state(or dependent on the state).
Globalization is exactly what all empires do. Rape, pillage, plunder.
“Alexithymia”, “having no words for feelings”.
“…It’s a very American practice….”
The “prepuce contains 20,000 nerve endings.”
ARTICLE Sept 22, 2011, intactnews.org/node/131/1316710012/study- links-circumcision-personality-trait-disorder
When an American Federal Judge (Naomi Buchwald) rules the “Metzitzah B’peh” against Federal law AND the Rabbis tell her they refuse her Order AND babies have died or are infected with serious diseases from the vile practice ~
The time is long past WHEN!!!
How to raise our collective consciousness?
Ukraine has been and continues to be violated along with Palestine, Et Al (EG Syria, Libya, Iraq, et al). Too many countries and people in earth are being in the Georgia Guidestones’ numbers for disposing of.
Whatabout everyday, every sentient being STOP for about 10 plus minutes?
and, clear the whole consciousness,
and, image the reality ~~that isn’t the criminally insane totalitarian annihilation of Earth and our species.
The “evildoers” (“George W. Bush”, 9-11) can indeed be stopped in the raising our collective consciousness.
mod-to note: please refrain from using caps for expression.
Here is Murphy’s laws of violence:
The violence in world comes from two sources, young hot blooded Muslims and old cold blooded Jews.
And here is Nussiminen’s second law which, like the previous, isn’t really Nussiminen’s own discovery, but is credited to Nussiminen for stating it succinctly:
Ishchenko as Cassandra.
Ukraine is a helpless fattened animal to be slaughtered and shredded by wolves of its own breeding.
May the ritual happen soon.
(Thanks to Ollie and Angelina for the translation.)
Fascism is all about power. Might makes right is the motto of the fascists.
This means that any fascist is constantly trying to accumulate power. Because a lack of power in a fascist society means that other’s might becomes right. And of course, this means that one of the first things that a fascist do with a bit of power is to try to use that might to dispossess any power that others might have.
Fascists might try to con small and medium businesspeople with the notion that somehow the new form of fascism will somehow lead to more freedom for them and better business for them. Small and medium businesspeople can be susceptible to this, as they are accustomed to wielding at least a small amount of power over those less powerful than them, such as their workers and customers. But they forget that on a scale of 1 to 10 of who’s got power, that their petty power to enforce their will over their workers and customers is rather small compared to the much bigger businesses that are around.
Fascism will always lead to a concentration of power. Those with some power will use that power to grab more power. This always means that the bigger businesses with more power will always crush the smaller businesses in a fascist environment. The bigger business with connections to the new Fuhrer will always have the power to take the power of the weaker, less connected, smaller businesses.
Small business people usualy hate to hear it, as many seem to be wanna-be fascists reveling in their power to enforce their will on employees and customers, but small businesses need the more ‘liberal’ notions that limit the uses of power and which create rules that means that pure might does not make right under a law that protects citizens and small businesspeople. Without that, the gangsters will always come and kick in the door and make the small businessperson an offer they can’t refuse.
https://www.newcoldwar.org/ukraine-a-grim-picture-from-inside-a-collapsing-country/
From last July…cannoot imagine much has changed
https://www.fort-russ.com/2018/10/kovalevich-ukrainians-view-poroshenkos-economy-as-a-bigger-problem-than-putin/
https://russia-insider.com/en/russia-ends-reselling-its-oil-ukraine-belarus/ri25208
Ukraine will not be able to.buy resold Rusdian pil through Belarus….but pay prpoer open market prices from other sources…..just like they must pay increased prices for gas……presumably there will be a report when more sanctions kick in…..