Quote of the Day

I care not what puppet is placed on the throne of England to rule the Empire, ... The man that controls Britain's money supply controls the British Empire. And I control the money supply.

--- Baron Nathan Mayer Rothschild

Exclusive: Ukraine Protestors Disorganized, Part 2

As the protests in Ukraine continue, it is difficult to understand the mentality of the protesters themselves. When I visited the protest site yesterday, there were very few protesters, but I was told by several people that Today the real protests would start, the demands would be set, and the government would be forced to answer.

I woke up early this morning to get ready for the show. After checking the weather, I dressed warm so that I could support the protesters throughout the day and possibly into the evening. I grabbed my camera, a little food and some bottled water. After getting ready, I decided to walk to the protests anticipating that parking would be difficult. Considering I live less than a Kilometer from the protests, it wasn't a difficult decision to make.

As I approached the protest location, my excitement grew. I could picture myself cheering on the leadership, pointing out the government's inaction, taking pictures and encouraging those around me. However, as I approached, I noticed something missing ... noise. It was extremely quiet. As I look around, I also notice that there are very few parked cars. Now I begin to have my doubts as to the size of the protests. Did the government scare them all away? Were the people worried about being arrested?

I rounded the corner and stood head on with the protesters location. As I look around I realize that there are no protesters. I simply saw a repeat of yesterday, some tents, a food cart and people signing petitions. Confused, I approached one of the tents to learn what had happened.

The first question I ask is, "What happened to the protest?" I was told that last night it was decided to delay the protest by one, so the protests would be held tomorrow. Apparently, announcements were made on local television channels, but I had missed them. While I was disappointed by the unfortunate turn of events, I decided to use this opportunity to learn a little more about the protests themselves with all my questions directed at one of the organizers.

It is important to note that within the first few questions, I was immediately under the impression that the man with whom I was speaking wasn't comfortable. Maybe it was my accent, maybe it was my camera or maybe it was my line of questions. It is difficult to tell, but my questions were intentionally very simple ... Why are you doing this? ... What do you want from the government? ... Who is organizing this? ... opinions ... thoughts ... and so on. Regardless of his personal feelings, the man answered my questions, and I was very grateful. What I learned, however, was a bit surprising.

The organizers are a little known political party known as "Rodina", translated it would be "Motherland". They claim support for Russia, the elderly, an end to corruption, and other standards that are required to gather votes. They are opposed to the oppression by the current government to quell protests, primarily because their leader is now in Kiev trying to bribe his way out of Jail. They have taken the protests under their wing in Odessa and are trying to gather the people around their cause.

I was most surprised when I asked them why they are protesting. The organizer couldn't give me a straight answer. I asked what their demands were and again no straight answer. I then asked what their hoped to achieve from the protests, thinking that maybe by rephrasing the question I may be able to get a little information, but again to no avail. I couldn't understand how the organizers were so clueless about what is going on. In effect, there was no agreed upon protest, everyone had their own personal agenda.

Shortly after I began to show confusion, an older man approached me and asked, "What would you have me do? I lost my factory job several months ago. I have no income, no savings and I need to feed my family?" I was under the impression that he felt that I am trying to stop the protests in some way, but I assured him that I sympathized with him and simply said that they need better organizers ... ones with fixed goals, and a fixed schedule. Those standing around heard what I had to say, but it seemed like I was speaking on deaf ears. These people weren't looking for order, they were looking for work. Unfortunately, their chaotic nature makes it virtually impossible for the government to meet a fixed set of demands.

With this completely disorganized group of protesters, I am in shock that the government is putting so much effort into stopping them. I understand maintaining the peace, but I don't think the government has anything to fear from this group. When it was simply the Lorry Drivers, they had fixed demands. Now that the group has grown, and a political party is taking them under their wing, there is no fixed demands list. I am sure that if the government simply stayed out of their way, keeping them from hurting one another as well as state property, the protests would end out of boredom.

I plan to visit once more tomorrow to see if the protests will happen this time. Maybe by tomorrow the organizers will have a plan, a set list of demands, or something resembling order. My confidence is waning, but maybe a good speaker will show up to rally the crowd. I guess I will find out tomorrow.

Echoed on Mizozo

Ukrainian Protests Being Suppressed, Part 1

As had been reported earlier numerous times, Ukraine is greatly suffering during this financial crisis. The Hrivna is collapsing, the people's support for President Viktor Yushchenko has dropped from 4% to 1.5%, protests gripping are the country and a great deal more. A normal government, such as the USA and most European governments, do what they can to appease the people. They listen to the people's complaints, often in the form of protests, and try to accommodate their people's needs. Not in Ukraine!

As reported last week, Lorry Drivers started protesting and the government clamped down on them. The Lorry Driver's protest started because the Financial Crisis has eliminated their source of income. But, this is only the beginning.

The fact is, all European and American Lorries are purchased with US Dollars. Since most Lorry Drivers do not have enough spare cash to purchase a Lorry outright, they all received loans. The problem begins with the fact that their loans are in US Dollars. Now that the Hrivna has dropped in value almost 50%, the Lorries have literally doubled in cost. Without steady deliveries, the Drivers don't know what to do.

The story gets much worse. The fact is, Ukraine is an extremely corrupt country. While the ports have slowed to a crawl, there is still ample work to go around, assuming you know the right people. Big Lorry companies may have lost substantial revenue, but they are still receiving enough loads to remain profitable. The ports don't want to be completely unfair, so they give some work to the private drivers, but the bulk of the loads go to their friends that own the larger companies.

Now we get to the meat of the problem. Before the Financial Crisis struck, a load travelling from Odessa to Kiev (450 km) and back would net about $1200. After expenses, the owner of the Lorry is left with about $700. Seeing as how this trip usually takes about a week, considering loading/unloading and waiting, the drivers made enough money to pay off their loans and put some money aside. Now, with ample drivers but fewer loads, the price has changed, as could be expected. In order for the ports to maximize profits, they pay an absolute minimum for transportation. Current rates give Drivers about $500 for the same trip, leaving them with nothing to pay their loans, and virtually no leg room to feed their families. To drive the nail into the coffin, the friends of the ports that were mentioned earlier only see a small reduction in their rates, they are still netting about $1000 for the same trip (of course, they kick back to the person providing the job). The Drivers know this and are a little upset.

So, the protests began. The Drivers, with nothing else to do with their time, gathered and concluded that without government help they would die. The banks are threatening to take back the Lorries and they have no money to feed their families. When you have no money, you have no food and you are angry, what do you do? ... you protest. The Lorry drivers at first asked for very little, they wanted work and they wanted the banks to ease payment terms until the economy picked up. The government was not only deaf to these demands, but as shown in the previous article, they tried crushing the protests by force.

This was the government's biggest mistake. By doing so, they alerted the entire city of Odessa to the Drivers cause, which led to a massive following of the Driver's cause. Various workers in different spheres began joining the drivers in their quest for justice from the government.

Open Market workers joined the fight. With the financial crisis in full effect, the government needs to fill their coffers. How to do this? Raise rents and raise taxes of course! If the government would look two steps ahead they would see that their problems pale in comparison to the open air markets, where there is no business at all. By raising rents and raising taxes, the open air markets have absolutely no means to survive. They can't pay the old rent considering their small earnings, how the government expects them to pay more boggles the mind.

The Pensioners have also joined the fight. When the government raised rents and taxes, it affected virtually everyone. Some Pensioners who make less than $70/month can barely survive as it is. They already rummage the trash bins for food, beg on the streets and do whatever they can in order to live an extra day. It seems like the government is trying to kill them off to ease the government's payments.

As more and more groups join the protests, the government is getting more and more nervous. There is already no support of the government, so if riots begin the government officials may be forced out physically. They have done everything in their power to contain this, from arresting those running the protests, to arresting officials that support the protests. At this point not a single protest has become violent, but that has not slowed the police response.

Yesterday, a small protest was staged outside Odessa's central court building. While not too many people attended, it aggravated the government. No arrests were made, but there were many threats. Today, at the site of yesterday's protests, a group organized a petition entitled, "Say NO to Oppression", directly aimed at stopping the government from arresting more people. While there, I witnessed dozens of people coming and going, signing the petition, speaking to organizers and pledging their support. The organizers provided food for those that wished to stay, coffee and tea. It was a very calm atmosphere, but the police were all over. While I was there, the police began to harass the organizers, explaining that some of their literature can be construed as libel, and may ignite the crowd. While the organizers didn't agree, the literature simply stated a fact, they didn't argue and removed all traces. Tomorrow, a new wave a protests will occur on that same spot.

The literature in question described a government official close to the mayor that sympathized with the protesters. He had openly pledged his support for the protesters several days ago. The day he did so, he was arrested and has yet to be released. The arrest was extremely questionable. It turns out that about 2 or 3 years ago, this official had been in a fight of some kind. The courts 'coincidentally' came across this case and ordered him to appear in court. The order was made at 1600, and the court appearance was scheduled for 1700 of that same day. Since no one bothered to tell the official of this, he didn't make his court appearance. A warrant was immediately ordered, and the official was arrested. These are the true Ukrainian games.

Ukrainian games are for grownups, children should stay at home. If you upset the status quo, you will first be arrested and then charges will be thought up. You can always pay your way out of jail, but the price will always be just more than you can afford, regardless of how much you have. Going into debt is a sure fire way to keep people quiet, and bowing to their masters.

Tomorrow I will join the protests, talking to more people, and providing more news. I have only skimmed the surface here, I will try to add more detail as the days pass. Check back if you are curious.

Echoed on Mizozo.

The Hypocrite

For the past 8 years, the USA was run by President George Bush. During that time, the Right cheered and the Left balked. When the Left balked too much, the Right labeled them as “anti-American”. Eventually, the Left take offense and a heated debate takes place. Time passes, and now the Left have their man in office, Barack Obama. It is now the Left who are cheering and the Right who is balking. Slowly, the Left now begin to call the Right “anti-American” as they cross the line and once again the Right are taking offense, leading to a heated debate.

The situation is identical and neither are willing to admit it. One would think that the Left would see the similarity considering they are the ones in power, but logically that would lead to an equilibrium in the future when the Right gain power and no Leftist wants that.

The strangest thing about this entire situation is this current Bailout. When Bush was writing off almost $8.5 Trillion in various gifts to corporate America, the Left was outraged. There were cries of favoritism and driving the country into debt. The Right was very quiet at the time, knowing that something needed to be done and Bush was doing the right thing. Now, Obama is in office and is continuing Bush’s lead. Suddenly, the Left are quiet. They have accepted that this needs to be done and are encouraging more bailouts. Corporate America is receiving $Billions more, and the Left have nothing negative to say. Strangely, the Right are now kicking and screaming. They are now pointing out how much money they and their children will need to spend in order to get out of this debt that the government is accruing. They are pointing out special interests, corporate ties and everything that they can find to show how “un-American” this is by tying it to Socialist practices. Also, the Right have completely forgotten that Bush has already spent nearly $8.5 Trillion while in office, and Obama has yet to spend $2 Trillion.

Admitingly, there is a sharp contrast with spending practices between Bush and Obama in some fields, but in a broad scope there is very little. What’s more, neither Left nor Right are willing to see the similarities between the two parties.

Hypocrisy is a part of human nature. People tend to believe that they are right no matter what, and their enemy is wrong no matter what. American’s, for example, only see the evil caused by foreign powers throughout the world, but when their government commits the exact same atrocities, or ones considerably worse, it is completely ignored. I use American’s for example because it is closest to me, however she can be replaced with any nation or religion.

It would be nice to see humanity begin to take a step back before criticizing their opponents. If humanity would simply reflect on the actions being taken, looking at them impartially and putting themselves into the shoes of their enemy, there would be far fewer enemies in this world. The American Left and Right share an immense deal in common, yet they concentrate on their differences. It is sad, really.

The US is Not a Democracy or Republic, it is a Polyarchy

It is important for people to realize that the US government is neither a Democracy or a Republic. On paper, the US government looks like a Republic. In reality, the US government functions like a Polyarchy.

A Polyarchy has many similar characteristics to an Oligarchy, however it consists of a relatively large ruling class while giving working class people the illusion that they are participating in government. Wikipedia has a great definition of a Polyarchy.

This subject is easy to debate, and there is strong outcry by the Right and Left to counter this fact, but I feel Noam Chomsky makes the point best so I will not try and improve on it.