Yalta, Ukraine

Taras took me on a tour of the Swallow’s Nest and Tsar Nicholas II’s Livadia Palace on the Black Sea where Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin decided the fate of Germany and much of the rest of the world. Taras had a lot to say.

Taras

People accuse Roosevelt of selling out to Stalin, but I think he ended the bloodshed. If he had not made the concessions he did, Stalin would have continued his push west. Although the cold war was bad, at least lives were saved. We in the East suffered the consequences, but it could have been worse. We have a corrupt government now. It’s made up of millionaires and billionaires. They steal from the people. Their families live and travel abroad. They drive Bentleys and Ferraris. If they don’t like you or if they want your business, they simply trump up charges against you and throw you in jail. It’s disgusting. With Yulia Tymoshenko as Prime Minister it was better although corruption was still a big problem.

Life expectancy for men in Ukraine is only 62 years. Men generally don’t live to retirement. The problem is cheap alcohol, which the government produces and distributes. It’s easier for the government to deal with drunken people than productive ones. Unfortunately, people would rather drink, and not think about anything, then take responsibility for their lives. For democracy to work, people must take responsibility. We are a long way from meeting that objective. Poland and the Czech Republic are countries we need to emulate. They’re doing it on their own. They immediately tore up their past relationship with Russia, tore down their statues of Lenin and Stalin. We need to do the same here. Western Ukraine has become more like them, but here, we still have our statues of Lenin. It’s the same in Russia. The majority of people there voted for Putin. Yes, hundreds of thousands protested, but millions more sat at home, watching television, drinking beer, and waiting to be told what to do. In 1932 and 1933 when Stalin destabilized Ukraine’s nationalist movement through forced starvation, maybe as many as ten million people died, he relocated thousands of Russians to Ukraine, resulting in Ukraine becoming more like Russia in its culture and language. Everybody now speaks Russian and the majority of us long to return to the days when Ukraine was a part of the United Soviet Republic.

Economic conditions here are tough. A teacher makes about $300/month. They must work second/third jobs to make ends meet. I make $2,000 per month, running my own service business, which is at the low end of the average income scale. My girl friend is a lawyer and makes only $500 per month. Retirees get about $200/month. I’m hoping the Internet and the global economy will force changes as more people are exposed to a wider range of ideas and opportunities, but I’m afraid we have to wait on the younger generation to make it happen. I’m 29 and spent two years in Florida, where I learned things work pretty much the same no matter who’s in charge — you still have the same laws, same services, and same opportunities. That’s the way it should work here, so that it’s up to you what you make of yourself. Here I have two apartments, one I live in and the other I rent out. I’m doing okay, but I’d like to make more so that I can travel abroad more than just occasionally.