Where goes Ukraine?

[nikolai]

RE:
"Is it possible, to make a western - standards - based democracy in Ukraine with L. Kutchma as a president?"


I think that Kuchma is not the only one holding back Ukraine from achieving full freedom and democracy.

There are a lot of bureaucrats who are protecting their turf, and who would do their best to derail any reforms which could cost them their jobs.

Perhaps the problem in Ukraine is that many of its people are not patriotic. They don't care much if their country as a whole does well or not.

Almost everyone there is looking out for their personal self-interest, and very few are looking out for the country as a whole.

This is the only way I can explain Ukraine's corruption scandals and its bureaucratic ineptitude.

[titoman]

So you people think CCCP (USSR) had anything to do with socialism or communism?

You can make yourself a hundred and one illusion, but you still wonЄt find the answer.

[Ivans_grandson]

I think many on this thread are right. Unadultered capitalism will get the economy up and running. But don't be so quick to shut it down like we in America did. Everyone says those who built the rail roads and oil industry etc. were crocks - this is envy talking. They were self made men and the only crocks involved were the gov't.

In the case of the railroads the gov't seized land and truned it over to the railraod - crocks in the gov't. If the gov't had statyed out of it the RR people would have payed the landowners or gone around. This would have been better for all involved. It would have infused money in the small farmer and into the businessman. And don't be fooled by the "it is to expensive and the RR's would have never been built" logic, the RR's would have sold stock and raises the money.

With the Oil industry and the Sugar industry the "Trust busters" were the crocks of the gov't. When Standard oil control 85% of the oil in the US gas prices for home heating and autombiles was never lower, this is true when adjusted for inflation and if you add in the current tax rates. The same is true of the Sugar industry, one of the biggest anti-trust cases of all time.

Go the capitalism route, but leave the gov't out of it on both ends.

[ricknorth]

I agree.

[Adamz0r]

Given the way the American economy works today, I agree and edge toward having the government stay out of business' work... to a degree. The days of the AT&T or Standard Oil mega-busters are over. It's not like the monopolies of today are in physical assets that are impossible to reproduce and actually require some company busting, instead you have companies like Microsoft who actually are GOOD at what they do (tho expensive, I admit that much). No good opponent to Windows or Office has risen up yet, and thus there is no competition. People may claim Java, Linux or Netscape, but ultimately, if you've ever USED these programs (or programmed for them, in the case of Java) you'd know that Microsoft's stuff was far suprior on all counts.

When an equal to a Microsoft product comes out, there will be competition.

However, as the Ukraine makes its way towards a free market society, the ownership and control of physical assets WILL be an issue. However, as long as its managed properly from Day 1, it won't matter. Wild and crazy Capitalism is not always the answer (it does not hurt taking it slowly and doing it right the first time). Capitalism is very easy to screw up, especially for a population of people who are used to having everything handed to them and not really having to WORK/COMPETE for it.

The Ukraine has so many resources available to it, and it's a shame that it's not in the better position it should be in. Bring some American farming technology in there and you'd probably be able to feed Europe two times over.

Adam

[ric9001]

Adam


Regarding your comments about agriculture you have to know that currently Europ is producing too much and we have to limit the production
I dont like at all your idea to bring USA technology even West European technology in Ukraine Hope Ukrainian will protect the current production
Customs at airport are so suprised when thye could see in my suitcase 25 kg of Ukrainian food ( In Carpates you could drink one of the best mild of the Word)
Famine will be solve by only a sharing out of all of us but not by new bad productivity
Enjoyed the good food in Ukraine help them to product the same quality
ric