Wishes for New Year

By Walter Kish

The beginning of a new year inevitably leads to retrospective looks at the previous year and a desire to make things better for the new one. I don’t typically indulge in New Year’s resolutions, but having had some rare time over the holidays to ponder over the current state of affairs in this world, and in Ukraine in particular, I have come up with a “wish list” of things that I would dearly love to see changed in 2007.

Foremost among them is the wish that all of the so-called progressive, reformist and nationalist politicians in Ukraine would stop their petty, venal and self-serving squabbling, unite under one capable leader and give Ukraine the honest and capable government it deserves.  During 2006, we saw the collapse of the Orange Revolution, the self-destruction of the Our Ukraine bloc, the return of the oligarchs to power and the fading of Victor Yushchenko into political irrelevance. The Ukrainian people deserve better.

Speaking of Victor Yushchenko, I wish that he would finally realize that his inner circle of cronies and advisors has failed him miserably and that it is time to bring in some capable and dedicated professionals on board.  One source for these professionals that has been scandalously ignored is the vast pool of talent to be found in the Ukrainian diaspora.  There are thousands of highly educated and experienced legal, political, administrative, business and scientific minds that would be only too happy to lend their efforts and advice towards rebuilding their ancestral land. 

Even Yushchenko’s arch-foe Yanukovych has made good use of American political and public relations consultants.  Why are Yushchenko and the Ukrainian government in general so reluctant to tap into this valuable external resource?  Other Eastern and Central European countries have done so to great effect since the breakup of the Soviet Union–why not Ukraine!  If Ukraine is serious about becoming a Western-oriented, democratic, free-market state, then why not enlist the aid of capable second- and third-generation diasporan Ukrainians who have vast experience in working in such an environment?

Further, many of the problems currently challenging Ukraine have been faced and successfully overcome in European and North American countries over the past century, and Ukraine should take advantage of proven methodologies and solutions, instead of trying to re-invent the wheel with dubious “made in Ukraine” approaches.  Business, the economy, industry, management techniques, bureaucratic structures and market mechanisms will work in Ukraine the same as in most other countries in the world and do not require “unique” approaches or solutions.  Ukrainian politicians that tell you different are simply indulging in political propaganda for self-serving purposes.

One wish that I am pretty sure is not likely to happen in the foreseeable future is that Putin and the Russian elite come to accept Ukraine as an equal neighbour and economic partner rather than a former colony to be reabsorbed into the Russian fold.  It amazes me how the Russians fail to realize that their continuing imperialistic behaviour is isolating them from the rest of the world and leading inevitably to a new form of Cold War that would undoubtedly lead to an even more problematic future.

Wouldn’t it make sense to try and construct equitable and mutually beneficial economic relationships with all their neighbours?  By combining the vast natural resources of Russia with the industrial base, human capital, entrepreneurial potential and strategic geographic position of countries like Ukraine, Russia could become a catalyst for the formation of an Eastern European Union based on mutual respect and economic cooperation that would benefit all.  Sadly, such farsighted progressive thinking is not part of the current Russian political and economic vocabulary which lately consists primarily of the following words: intimidate, manipulate, dominate and assassinate.

Lastly, lest I be accused of ignoring the Ukrainian world outside Ukraine proper, I wish that all those dedicated, patriotic and nationalistic Ukrainians who during the many long decades of communist rule over Ukraine made such passionate speeches and promises about what they would do when Ukraine was free again, would get off their duffs and do more to help their fellow countrymen struggling to make a go of it.  The number of diasporan Ukrainians doing anything constructive at the grassroots level in Ukraine where help is most needed is pitifully small. 

In my travels throughout Ukraine in the past couple of years, the majority of people I have seen working with Ukrainians at the village level have tended to be idealistic young American (and non-Ukrainian) Peace Corps volunteers or Protestant missionaries of various persuasions.  Of all the dozens, if not hundreds, of diasporan Ukrainian organizations, not more than a small handful is doing anything of substance in Ukraine.  I wish that every overseas Ukrainian organization, of whatever type, would undertake to create at least one constructive program of tangible assistance for their brothers and sister in Ukraine.

My ultimate wish, of course, is that the above wishes would become realities.