Come Aug. 24, Ukraine will have been alive as an independent nation for 9,125 days.
There are many lessons in all of this: This is a true nation, no matter what its external enemies, Vladimir Putin chief among them, think. This is a nation with a strong society and weak state, made weaker by the corruption and impunity of its leaders. This could be a rich nation without all the robbery.
Yet there is still so much to be proud of and, in the print editions this week and next, the Kyiv Post will revel in areas of business, leadership and culture where Ukraine has made its mark on the world.
However, another overriding lesson is a hard one: That the fight for independence and liberty never ends.
As Ukraine turns 25, an anniversary Russian imperialists are loathe to recognize, the Kremlin continues its war without much of a strong response from the world. Emboldened, Putin has taken to trying to undermine Western institutions and meddle in elections – most recently the American presidential contest – in his desperate quest to stay in power and rebuild an evil empire.
Additionally, Ukraine is threatened from within, by leaders who weaken the state with their own corruption and by not allowing for strong law enforcement institutions to punish the corruption of others. Ukraine’s corruption is so strong that its cancer is seeping into the U.S. presidential election, with secret records showing $12.7 million in 22 illegal payments to Paul Manafort, who worked for the Kremlin stooge, ex-President Viktor Yanukovych. Manafort, who denies receiving cash payments from Yanukovych, is now Republican Donald Trump’s campaign manager and doing his best, it seems, to turn Trump into Putin’s lackey as well.
It’s a sad spectacle that Ukraine, despite employing 15,000 prosecutors, 9,000 judges, 150,000 police officers and tens of thousands of Security Service of Ukraine agents, still cannot successfully prosecute a major corruption case. The spectacle of the General Prosecutor’s Office and National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine scuffling last weekend is even sadder. Still sadder is the government’s sabotage of the e-declarations system designed to hold public officials accountable, but rendered toothless at the moment because of a refusal to certify software.
The political will of Ukraine’s leaders is lacking to fight corruption, dismantle the oligarchy and to make progress on joining the European Union and NATO. The elite still battle their own people and ignore their aspirations. The struggle for the soul of the nation is still very much alive.
