Ukraine’s libertarian revolution

[Oaks]

Agreed! the Kyiv Lavra (run by the Orthodox Church of Russia) is full of corruption.

I haven't seen the new splinter Ukrainian Orthodox churches, but I assume the same.

I met an honest , independent Orthodox Priest in the USA and attended services there. He told me his church has nothing to do with the Eastern European churches but I didn't understand why until I saw with my own eyes.

 

[Louis IX]

Have you been up to the Lavra yet? If you walk into the right part, you will see as fine a collection of Bentleys and Mercedes as in any oligarch's driveway.

It is also quite possible to bump into your local priest gambling with the collection money at unlicensed casinos across Ukraine.

Absolutely.

 

[Kid Twist]

That's sad, the gambling stuff if true.

One thing I've noticed (as a trend, not saying this is a rule or in call cases) with slavic orthodox as compared to other orthodox ethnicities is that they are much cheaper. This is part of the equation of people's expectations for free (trying to guilt the christian to do it because isn't poverty your thing?) while being nominal. Similar to the jews that go to the high holidays maybe twice a year and as a result, the actual congregations make them pay for their not-so-devoted time for the "new year" and "atonement".

 

[Oaks]

@KidTwist

Well, it certainly makes for a profitable business.

 

[Belgrano]

Haha, I just finished smashing my 2nd Ukrainian 'libertarian' that is an active member of their party - 5.10

Both her and the first were complete narcissists and believed they were saving Ukraine with their activism.

All activism is rooted in narcissism.

 

[Eddie Morra]

As someone who had lived and worked in Ukraine for over 20 years, I've heard the same thing over and over again, everytime a new government or "revolution" takes place. In Ukraine, it's always been one step forward, two steps back...We'll see. At the beginning the rhetoric has been encouraging, especially since Ze's government won a majority in parliament as well.

However, the latest news is that Ze's onetime benefactor, "Igor Kolomolskiy" former owner of PrivatBank, is back in town after self imposed exile in Israel. He was behind Ze's hit TV show, since it was on his television station. It's too coincidental that after just two years on air, the actor of the lead character runs for President and wins! Talk about fiction becoming reality. Anyone who thinks this wasn't preplanned is fooling themselves. Anyway, it's payback time...Kolomolskiy's back and they've just had a meeting, fill in the dots.....

A lot of the tone and direction of reforms including IMF and EU help as well as the investment climate outlook, will be dependent on how much influence Kolomolskiy is going to have in the new Admin. There's already talk of him regaining control of PrivatBank which had been taken away from him and nationalized. If that happens, then most bets are off....Also, there are some disturbing holdovers from previous regimes surprisingly still in positions of power like Arsen Avakov "Minister of Internal Affairs" a powerful post, among others.

Again, we'll see. Ukraine has too many powerful Oligarchs and businessmen who will not surrender control or risk losing their assets so easily to a comedian and a bunch of overrated hipsters in skinny jeans who think everything can solved by apps....

 

[Mage]

I am watching Zelinsky's TV show where he played Ukranian president before he became President in reality. I must say that show is pretty funny and depicts people in some realistic light, although of course there are many over the top naive moments there. It contains some good serious thoughts on nature of man and corruption of power too. Zelinsky is very charismatic. If he fails to deliver at least some good results and is not at least somewhat better then his predecessors, then Ukrainians will probably fall into total political nihilism.