“Ishchenko seems to be as mystified as I am that they could fail to understand this.” There is a benefit in this not understanding. The PMC class in the U.S. and Ukraine, socially, economically, and by education are aligned with the “looting oligarchs.” They benefit from dispossessing the rabble, and are not its deplorable victims. Yet.
I wonder how Ishchenko is incorporating the NYT CIA dump and their (very expensive) meddling in the fomenting of Ukraine’s civil war and the ongoing disaster.
Note the strong working men in the glowing presentations on wondrous rebuilding are pretty much dead or gone. So they’ll just put everything online. The FTX of states indeed.” Opportunity knocks for the ghouls of war:
Really interesting and one of the first articles I’ve read to actually discuss internal Ukrainian dynamics beyond simple linguistic terms.
I think the author describes a common Eastern European younger class. To be fair, a Western orientation would serve them materially well: more opportunities to travel or emigrate, jobs at Western funded NGOs or a German company… on the other hand, none of this would particularly help a working farmer or factory worker. This would be similar to Poland, where Tusk represents the Western oriented people (often literally) while the more traditional and Eastern oriented vote PIS. As in the rest of the Western world, the “New Class” wins and uses media and bureaucratic dominance to denigrate their opponents.
Strikingly in Ukraine it has been the older men and the working class doing the dying, not so much the younger and educated people. I understand the recent draft laws propose to include university students and younger men in the draft, who previously have been considered too vital to Ukraine’s future to fight. But there is a lot of resistance and it may not be implemented. The cynicism is overwhelming.
I think, however, that the author’s analysis is too economic and doesn’t adequately address the ideological background of the Banderists and Galician hyper-nationalists who have pushed the government approach, often from a safe distance in Canada or the USA. They are a rather astonishing bunch, as can be seen from their monuments to Waffen divisions in Canada. As happens a lot, the most extreme nationalists claim to be the purest representatives of the nation, driving it to ruin.
“Ishchenko seems to be as mystified as I am that they could fail to understand this.” There is a benefit in this not understanding. The PMC class in the U.S. and Ukraine, socially, economically, and by education are aligned with the “looting oligarchs.” They benefit from dispossessing the rabble, and are not its deplorable victims. Yet.
I wonder how Ishchenko is incorporating the NYT CIA dump and their (very expensive) meddling in the fomenting of Ukraine’s civil war and the ongoing disaster.
Note the strong working men in the glowing presentations on wondrous rebuilding are pretty much dead or gone. So they’ll just put everything online. The FTX of states indeed.” Opportunity knocks for the ghouls of war:
https://www.sir.advancedleadership.harvard.edu/articles/digital-transformation-in-ukraine-before-during-after-war
https://features.csis.org/enabling-ukraines-economic-transformation/#section-1-fw6R6f9ZRF
I don't normally enjoy book reviews, but this was a banger. Great read, thanks.
Really interesting and one of the first articles I’ve read to actually discuss internal Ukrainian dynamics beyond simple linguistic terms.
I think the author describes a common Eastern European younger class. To be fair, a Western orientation would serve them materially well: more opportunities to travel or emigrate, jobs at Western funded NGOs or a German company… on the other hand, none of this would particularly help a working farmer or factory worker. This would be similar to Poland, where Tusk represents the Western oriented people (often literally) while the more traditional and Eastern oriented vote PIS. As in the rest of the Western world, the “New Class” wins and uses media and bureaucratic dominance to denigrate their opponents.
Strikingly in Ukraine it has been the older men and the working class doing the dying, not so much the younger and educated people. I understand the recent draft laws propose to include university students and younger men in the draft, who previously have been considered too vital to Ukraine’s future to fight. But there is a lot of resistance and it may not be implemented. The cynicism is overwhelming.
I think, however, that the author’s analysis is too economic and doesn’t adequately address the ideological background of the Banderists and Galician hyper-nationalists who have pushed the government approach, often from a safe distance in Canada or the USA. They are a rather astonishing bunch, as can be seen from their monuments to Waffen divisions in Canada. As happens a lot, the most extreme nationalists claim to be the purest representatives of the nation, driving it to ruin.