I am quoting Olga Pishchulina of the Razumkov Centre:

“At the beginning of cardinal economic transformation in Ukraine considerable scientific-technical and educational capital was saved up. But the crisis phenomena that has permanently accompanied Ukraine since 1991 and the inconsistency of those economic transformations that take place in the country have led to not really positive consequences. We are witnessing depreciation of human capital. Its value falls. Not only weak social groups, but also strong representatives of the middle class and representatives of small and medium business suffered in the course of economic transformations,”

…

“Ukraine is losing its intellectual capital, there is a deterioration in the state of health and the quality of education,”

Reprinted from Stalker Zone

I have devised a simple test…

Evropské Hodnoty (“European Values”) is a Czech think tank that, among other things, fights against “Russian disinformation”, and makes sure that the populace has opinions favourable to the unbreakable Transatlantic partnership. But there are sinners out there, like yours truly, who do not accept the whole package of correct beliefs. Or rather stray away completely from the right creed.

In 2016, European Values did a survey together with STEM, a Czech polling agency, which mapped the attitudes of Czechs towards subjects concerning Russian foreign policy. There were questions concerning Syria, which I will not cover here. However, I will tell you my opinion about particularly about those questions concerning Ukraine, and Czech NATO membership.

38% of respondents think the Ukrainian crisis was caused by USA and NATO.

I think the Ukrainian crisis was a result of internal unhappiness of the oligarchs with the Yanukovych regime. However, without the blessing of the US State Department, I am unsure they would go ahead with supporting the Maidan. The Maidan and the post-Maidan government has enjoyed unwavering support of United States. So yes, I agree with the above statement, at least where the US is concerned.

30.6% of respondents believe fascist forces have a key influence upon the Ukrainian government.

When you have a government, which names streets after Bandera and Shukhevych, which institutes “Slava Ukrayini! Heroyim slava!”, a slogan modelled on “Heil Hitler! Sieg Heil!”, isn’t that government influenced by fascism? Isn’t it engaged in rehabilitation of fascism? Also, as I noted in my recent post, Ukraine is a country where expressions of fascism are excused and tolerated.

19.6% of respondents think organised Russian forces do not operate in Ukraine.

I also do not believe in Russia’s military non-involvement in Ukraine. But greater involvement would mean Ukrainian forces would not be so bold as they are now.

48.3% of Czechs would choose a position between East and West, and 39.4% would choose neutrality over NATO.

I do not think the Czech Republic has any natural enemies, and our NATO membership is an embarrassment in front of partners and allies. The Czech Republic has a joke of an army, with 12 APCs and antiquated fighters. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs claims the Czech Republic is committed to paying 2% of GDP that she is due but at present, the country simply does not. It is clear that this article of the budget is viewed as not important.

Austria is neutral and is doing fine…

55.6% of the public does not agree NATO should build its infrastructure on the territory of the Czech Republic.

We don’t need to be targets of Russian military.

SPLC has a report on their website about criminal proceedings over violence at rallies against the group “Rise Above Movement”…

This segment of the report is of particular interest to this website:

RAM has been making entreaties overseas, including in Italy, Germany and Eastern Europe. The FBI said Rundo, Miselis and Daley met with European white supremacy extremist groups, “including a group known as White Rex.”

FBI Special Agent Scott Bierwirth, in the criminal complaint unsealed Wednesday, noted that Right Brand Clothing’s Instagram page contained a photo of RAM members meeting with Olena Semenyaka, a leading figure within the fascist, neo-Nazi scene in Eastern Europe. In Ukraine, Semenyaka is an important voice within the Militant Zone and National Corps organizations and the Pan-European Reconquista movement, all of which have ties to the notorious Azov Battalion.

Bierwirth said Azov Battalion, now a piece of the Ukrainian National Guard, is known for neo-Nazi symbolism and ideology and has participated in training and radicalizing U.S.-based white supremacist organizations.

There you have it folks… Is Ukraine a centre for international Hitlerophilia?

Strana.ua reports…

Conscription campaign in Kiev is on the verge of collapse, as of beginning of November less than 40% were conscripted, said the head military commissar of Kiev, Sergey Klyavlin, reports press agency of the Kiev City State Administration.

“As of 5 November, we drafted into Military Forces of Ukraine 39.5% of conscripts according to plan. The turnout of draftees, who should have turned up to draft stations is critically low. In spring we almost did not have any failures, and now we are on the verge of collapse.”

According to the military commissar, the turnout is currently 8%.

“Citizens of Kiev have continued not turning up to draft stations. We are searching for them with the help of the National police, and we bring them to draft stations, where we determine whether they are fit for military service.”

He said the reason for low turnout is common negative attitude towards service in Military forces, drop in the wave of patriotic sentiment, spread of negative information about service in the army by the media, and overall low trust in military registration and enlistment offices.

Earlier Strana.ua reported that 80% of draftees are dodging the army.

It is commonly asserted by the Maidan supporting crowd that nationalist parties in Ukraine, like Svoboda and the Right Sector, do not score election victories, and therefore the accusation of there being a prevalent and socially accepting attitude towards radical nationalism is false. But they fail to mention the almost complete absence of ideological parties in Ukrainian top politics. And I have a theory of why this is?

Elections require a lot of money and electoral base, and this is even further accentuated in Ukraine, where the population is very poor and generally apathetic and distrustful towards politicians. The result of this is that the only parties represented in Ukrainian parliament are oligarch projects with an unclear ideology but good financial backing. Svoboda actually had some notable electoral support, and even won a majority on a regional level in Western Ukraine, and all this was when it was allegedly cultivated by the oligarchs before the Euromaidan. After the Maidan, in which Svoboda took active part, it became useless and embarrassing to the new regime, and quickly faded from top politics.

Parties such as Bloc of Petro Poroshenko, or Bloc of Yulia Tymoshenko, or Narodny Front, do not have a clearly defined ideology, and therefore can be filled with any ideological content the leaders see fit. It therefore begs a question of how much of radical nationalist ideology do these parties espouse. For instance, Poroshenko has been very actively promoting nationalist causes regarding the supremacy of the Ukrainian language, unification and independence of the Ukrainian Church, and promotion of symbols and “heroes” of Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA).

The problem of rehabilitation of radical nationalism in Ukraine should not be dismissed as a disinformation by red herrings like the electoral failures of a certain political party. Electoral success depends upon factors such as money and the size of membership, Ukrainian radical nationalist parties do not have either in abundance. However, that does not mean radical Ukrainian nationalism does not factor in Ukrainian society.