Walter Kish

As the last week of summer draws to a close, and my thoughts are preoccupied more with enjoying Labour Day and mourning the passing of an all too short summer, I will forgo the usual editorial format for this column and expound on a number of unrelated odds and ends that I have accumulated over the past few months.

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First of these comes from the latest annual report from the organization called Transparency International which monitors the level of corruption to be found in various countries throughout the globe. The 2002 report ranks Ukraine in 85th place out of 102 countries surveyed, with a score of 2.4 on a scale of 1 to 10. Top honours as the most honest country to live and do business in goes to Finland with a score of 9.7. Canada placed 7th with a score of 9.0 and the U.S. came in 16th place with a score of 7.7. It is no surprise that Ukraine did so poorly. However, it is interesting to note that Ukraine scored even worse than such paragons of virtue as Russia, Belarus, Albania and Ethiopia. No doubt President Kuchma will claim that the world misunderstands his administration and policies and is judging him unfairly.

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I have been struck over the past year by the sheer volume of articles and publications produced by one Taras Kuzio who is currently a Resident Fellow with the Centre for Russian and East European Studies in the Department of Political Science at the University of Toronto. Without a doubt, he is currently the most prolific and, in my view, most knowledgeable expert on the current state of affairs within Ukraine. His articles regularly grace the pages of this paper as well as most other Ukrainian papers in the diaspora. He is also a regular contributor to the Kyiv Post, the RFE/RL newswire, Janes Intelligence Review, the Christian Science Monitor as well as numerous academic and professional journals. He has written several authoritative books on contemporary Ukrainian affairs including Ukraine. Perestroika to Independence and Ukraine under Kuchma. I happen to be on Dr Kuzios e-mail list, and hardly a day goes by that I dont receive his latest article illuminating the follies, corruption and conspiracies that pass for politics and government in Ukraine. No doubt President Kuchma will claim that Dr Kuzio misunderstands his admini-stration and policies and is judging him unfairly.

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Ukrayinska Pravda is the Internet journal made famous as the forum where the murdered journalist Gongadze

made life so uncomfortable for Kuchma and his administration. Readers may be interested to know that it is still alive and continuing its crusade (www.pravda.com.ua). Last week it featured a damning expos on the doings of Ukrainian diplomats and consulate staff in Canada, and the Toronto consulate general in particular. As well as relating some of the scandals from past years where staff were alleged to have engaged in everything from sexual assault on a minor, prostitution and running private businesses from consulate facilities, it notes that although typically a Consul General posting lasts some four years, the Toronto office has gone through five in the past decade. Most, claims Pravda, where either asked to leave by Canadian authorities or were recalled back to Ukraine, ostensibly for conduct unbecoming or running afoul and/or embarrassing their political masters back in Ukraine. No doubt President Kuchma will claim that Canadians misunderstand his diplomatic appointments and are judging them unfairly.

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Enjoy what little is left of the summer, particularly in a country where, according to Transparency International we can rest easy in knowing that integrity and honesty still rules.