A View from The Rada (2022 Feb. 17th, 18th)

Clouds were gathering as the evening drew close. Benedict was standing, looking up. He needed a break, it seemed.

“You can eat here, if sausages sounds appealing.”

He nodded, looking fatigued, remained silent, but fortunately made himself clumsily useful. Half an hour later he was burping and seemed cheered up a little.

Their mutual world had shrunk into a tiny bathysphere drifting through the annals of history with no clear purpose or goal. And exactly because of that, they realised they were unable to stop its motion.

17.02.2022

“Lieutenant colonel Tobias Elwood, chair of British Defence Select Committee, stopped by to say hi this morning”, Benedict remarked.

Maurice read with delight. “I have never heard of this guy, but he seems intelligent on the matter.”

TOBIAS ELWOOD

But the big wake-up call for me, for the West, was that Putin’s long-term strategy is now becoming clear. He wants to unite Russia geopolitically, move away from the West and unite with China in order to form a new alliance of the 21st century. But in this way, we will enter a new era of instability, because it could lead to a very dangerous interpretation of our order based on international rules. And in Western Europe, we easily forget that Putin blames the West for having blown up the Soviet Union. And as the world moves away from fossil fuels, how long can countries like Russia rely on gas exports before cleaner energy is used. And Putin has been doubling down on both his gas exports and military power for decades, and so that’s been an undermining of what we stand for.

“»we easily forget that Putin blames the West for having blown up the Soviet Union«… See, this is the kind of discussion we should have had. Not the fantasy world of the news media for whom the entire world was invented yesterday. No history, no cultural intricacies, just those you hate and those you love, those that are right and those that are wrong, no argument needed.

Putin is a rational actor reacting on his perception of the past. His premise is wrong, but that’s all.”

“Half of us thinks that the West openly exploited and aggravated the chaos in Russia after 1991. We were utter assholes in the nineties. We had our New Right moment back then when the West and IMF advised privatisation and shock therapy – hot topics at the time. They still are.

Not sure what he means by »it could lead to a very dangerous interpretation of our order based on international rules«. The world is only safe under Western hegemony?”

And we understand Putin’s long-term goal - to unite the country with China. This is a threat to Ukraine in a different context. Any sanctions we impose may actually help Putin convince the Russians that they should return to China sooner. Putin and President Xi, they think in decades, but we think in days. All our recent diplomacy has played on Putin’s ego, he likes being in the spotlight and thinks Russia is now very grand.

“We knew before the sanctions even began. On a geopolitical level, the sanctions backfired completely.”

“The anti-peace argument is of course summed up in the word “appeasement” as in believing the best in our neighbour will only invite them to exploit that fact and gain an advantage. Basically the entire West warns about budging an inch to Putin. That would be appeasement.

I have seen nothing that convinces me that the Leninist viewpoint is obsolete: Only working class solidarity can conquer the mistrust between nationalistic people. Lenin’s insistence on principle rather than appeal to emotion can bring peace. The nationalists, guided by metaphysical abstracts as they are, let their fears run wild.

Had the Western liberalists had Lenin’s backbone, they would have been unafraid to admit Soviet had its benefits in principle, there would be no verbal caricatures referring to Stalin or the Holodomor anywhere. There would have been no need to satisfy an emotional animal buried inside our brains, as it would have been expunged.”

Maurice let Benedict have his communist spat. The man already had his freedom. What would he have done in Soviet Russia? Factory work eight hours a day? Faking productivity in some rural outpost? A lazy intellectual to the bone, how long before he would be labelled a class enemy?

They resumed.

— EIB loans, airspace with EU, MP salaries and corruption —

“0135 - EU/EIB loan for improving public transport.”

“0144 - Ukraine and EU to form common airspace.”

“7062 - Salaries for the deputies.”

“6557 - Resigning of one Dmytro Sennychenko for allegations of embezzling money according to NABU. He was chairman of State Property Fund of Ukraine.”

“Fatherland refrain from voting unless the accused is present and can give an account. Good. Less witch-hunting, even if he is guilty. Party for the Future also demands that the accused must at least write a report. European Solidarity points accusing fingers at Zelensky’s supporter, oligarch Ihor Valeriyovych. Mr Z did strip him of citizenship later, if that helps.”

“Not all think that Dmytro did bad.”

ZHELEZNYAK Y.I. (VOICE)

If a person wants to leave his position voluntarily for the second time, I think that it is worth supporting. I remember when Dmytro Sennichenko was appointed here, then from this very platform I demanded from him that the platforms that earned billions of money, corruption money from our citizens, which were crushed by some majoritarians here, should be canceled. And Dmytro openly did it. And we thank him for that.

“We rail against state property as a Soviet leftover, and Ukraine constantly fight corruption. But liberalisation created the monster of corruption. When you introduce the notion of each man for himself in a culture used to collective thinking, don’t act surprised if someone grabs all of the assets for himself when given up for almost nothing.”

“5866-1 - Tax cuts for small businesses. Yulia Tymoshenko of Fatherland is giving a speech about the difficulties of small entrepreneurs. I’ve been a small entrepreneur”, Maurice said, perhaps revealing his understanding.

TYMOSHENKO YU.V. (FATHERLAND)

we are at war with Ukraine from outside, and with the middle class… there is a war against the middle class in Ukraine.

“The head of some unspecified committee is in cahoots with Russia, destroying Ukraine from the middle class and out.”

This means that this may simply be a special operation against Ukraine, against our small entrepreneurs, against our lives.

“Some kind of device and software seems to be necessary for businesses to register something.”

there is a monopolist that produces all the necessary devices, provides software for keeping electronic records. This is a monopolist that also has completely Russian roots.

“Why not? If Dominions voting machines are communist because of ties to Venezuela, then everything can happen.”

“7060 - Changes to the schedule of the Rada because of the looming threat.”

“7023 - Zero VAT on food - Covid measure.”

“Honorary mention of a leader of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. Could be Josyf Slipyj”.

SAVCUK O.V.

18 years in exile in Siberia, in prison, his hands were broken, his legs were broken for the fact that he simply believed in God.

R.M. LOZINSKY

We must remember and understand that the figures in Ukrainian history are about our struggle for meaning. If the totalitarian regime did not erect its monuments on every street and corner, destroying ours, renaming its names, taking away our historical ones […]

KNYAZHYTSKY M.L.

At a time when the Russian army stands near our borders, the example of Joseph the Blind and many other Ukrainian ascetics should inspire us with courage. He was broken in the camps, he was offered to negotiate, he was promised release, he stood to the last.

“6306 - Medicare-like bill. The pro’s want palliative care and overall improvements, the con’s don’t want the extra expense.”

“6508 - Quarantine decisions.”

“3475 - Seems like Zelensky and the Rada is determining where their authority borders each other.”

“3637 - Virtual assets. Another Zelensky sponsored bill. "

“2655 - Cloud services”

“5249 - Amnesty laws. Drunk drivers: No amnesty. But also many reasonable situations, like amnesty to mothers etc.”

“3447 - Right to freedom of worldview and religion of believers of the Crimean Diocese. Hmm. Perhaps we should follow that trail at some point.”

“5811 - Urban planning.”

“5202-d - Hydro-technical land reclamation.”

When they both got to sports, they simply collapsed right there, both of them. Benedict managed to push his water bottle over the edge of the table.

“This takes forever! We really could use a better way. All parties answer right on the mark, completely predictable.”

Nevertheless they both went on robot-like.

18.02.2022

“Marshal Tomasz Grodzky from Poland is visiting. His speech is in Ukrainian!”

TOMASZ GRODZKY (MARSHAL OF POLISH SENATE)

We know very well what it means to enslave the people and the Soviet yoke, from which we freed ourselves 30 years ago. We understand how small a nation is, what it means to be deprived of sovereignty, and even in the darkest years of our history - the entire territory divided by invaders.

“Russia is Soviet. There is no escaping it. The yoke of the Soviet regime.”

“Their crimes were abundant, their suppression was cruel. I don’t see the issue?”

“I have several.

1. The Bolsheviks lifted the yoke of the tsarist regime. The tsars lifted the yoke of the mongol regime, which they themselves were under. They all free themselves and others from some kind of yoke. What I mean is that many people today who curse communism would have been enthusiastic communists back in 1925. It was popular, it was rebellious.

2. People always treat encroaching Soviet as something purely external. Now we are silent about the fact that in the countries I have knowledge about, communism thrived and was (of course) supported by Stalin. Difference is that true to their workers-must-conquer-the-world philosophy, the Russian communists sent in the Red Army.

3. Marxism-Leninism really were trying to save the world from the social forces that had plunged them into a world war. A lot of people who so indulgently denounces stalinism today would gladly have sprung out as revolutionaries back then.

But that’s not my main complaint. What I really cannot indulge in is the politicisation of memories!”

“How do you mean?”

“Even in my peaceful life, I can count several »I will never forget« moments. I try to stay true to them all, by not forgetting.”

“… Yeah?”

“I mean it just like that. I will do the remembering. I don’t sum up in words, I don’t hold speeches, I never let the memory work under a political umbrella. Politics.. good. But what does it have to do with life?”

“… Seriously, Benedict? Sometimes you are just a weirdo. You know that you can use politics to avoid pain, don’t you? No enemies shoot your family, no work accidents need to happen.”

“Good, then you appear for a change to agree with me. Let’s avoid the dangers before they occur, in humility, with respect for all. There are no enemies but different peoples trying to survive. Is the West really any less expansionist than Russia? Count the number of forcefully “liberalised” countries which have become export markets by USA’s hand.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know the argument. I just thought you had something new to say. I know how you feel. Let’s get on with it.”

Benedict was irritated that he yet again failed to convey his innermost feelings. That the memories had a soul of their own. That the rooms that had witnessed sorrow were the memories themselves. In fact, they were him. He was not them, they were him. Discontinuously him. There were no people, only a language as non-verbal as music and just as natural.

“A man falls in love with a woman, she loves him back. He is terrified! He is no longer the same man he was two months ago. Literally, he would rage in tears against the very proposition. She vows to be faithful always. He builds her a home. It’s the best he can do. All he hears is a voice of furious devotion, and all he can come up with is to build her a home. Her response is just as meagre. It started as a fire. But in less than a year, the mirrors show different people. Are they still faithful? In a way yes. This is our humble pact with the gods, to run around on earth following their stars, but always ending up being something else.”

Maurice knew better than answering him in moments like this.

And anyway, while Benedict was talking, he finally caved in and had an AI summarise the long speeches of the visiting ministers from the government. When Benedict regained his calm and discovered that, he appeared relieved.

He looked impressed.

“Should we not change our tactics a bit?” He rose from the chair again.

“We know that the dynamics behind war comes from a long range of subsystems. An incendiary remark by a minister one day increases the hostile temperature in the country’s assembly another day, which spills into the executive as a ‘popular demand’ on the president to enforce a certain policy. News media plays in as well, so does pure chance. Skirmishes in cities results in accidents and death to civilians. Which is then presented not as accidents of war but blows dealt on purpose. It’s a whole system.”

“True. I know what you want, and I want the same thing: Let us focus on the system instead. Can we at least finish this day first, before changing method?”

“Yes. Then it is time to see the world from different vantage points.”

— Ministers reporting —

“First an update from the minister of defense”

“Reznikov points out that there is an anomalous escalation right now in Donbas of violations of Minsk and humanitarian law.
Shelling of civilian areas. He links it to the ongoing UN Security Council meeting. Sounds like 17th February 2022.
Civilians sustained injuries in Stanytsia, Maryanka, and Vrubivka.
Calls it a Russian provocation tactic. Ukraine prepares for defense only. Garnering international help, making reforms in the army.
He stresses that Belarus is their friends, not enemies.”

“Next comes the minister of finance.”

“Reports stability after COVID with 130B, planned further 230B UAH.
Budget deficit reduced to 50B
Loans provided by EU, USA, Canada, UK, Germany…
230B UAH allocated for defense.
Presence of troops creates financial risks. People should stay calm.”

“Next up is the prime minister:”

“COVID situation improves: 40% beds in use. 15.5 millions vaccinated.
Confirms financial stability.
Flights and ship import/export working normally.
Military funding going up. International partners.
Coal and gas import ready for season. Own gas production increasing. House insulation planned. An Energy Efficiency Fund has been set up.
Preparing and fighting hybrid wars, cyber attack.”

— Loosely speaking —

“Everything else looks like the usual squabble. Let us instead follow the trails where we can see the dynamic of war happening.”

They skipped over student protests over the minister of education, infantile discussions about writing off the debts and spend money on defense instead, forest industry talks and other small time questions for the cabinet.

“Resnikov confirms that Ukraine does receive drone intelligence from their partners.”

“The consensus inside Ukraine - from minister to deputy - is always that Ukraine has been at war for eight years. This is a stark contrast with how it was presented in the Western media.”

“We needed to think that Russia invaded unprovoked. So we completely silenced the quite ordinary knowledge, that the war had gone on for eight years in advance.”

SHMYGAL D.A. (PRIME MINISTER)

Let me remind you that the war in Ukraine has been going on for 8 years, and we are not on the verge of war today. You said it.

“It even turns nasty witch hunting, if you happen to express another view.”

KLYMPUSH-TSINSADZE I.O. (EUROPEAN SOLIDARITY)

Mr. Prime Minister, yesterday the Head of the Transcarpathian State Administration Viktor Mykyta said that the Russians are our brothers, he must have missed 8 years of war, when the fraternal Russian army was killing Ukrainians. What do you think of these words? And when will you submit proposals to the President of Ukraine about his removal from office?

SHMYGAL D.A. (PRIME MINISTER)

So, regarding the first part of the questions. We will conduct an appropriate investigation or, if necessary, an investigation of words, and in the event that there are legal grounds for this, we will take appropriate measures.

“… The West should have done more to present the story as a sudden escalation of a regional conflict. Now we are just hypocrites and liars.”

“Fedina Romanivna once again calls for missile development, and demands that anybody advocating disarmament should be prosecuted.”

FEDINA S.R.

What responsibility did the SBI investigators bear, who seized the klystrons and actually put national security at risk? And where are the guarantees that such a situation will not happen again? At the same time, when will those who, with the help of law enforcement agencies, thwart the purchase of goods and services for the Armed Forces of Ukraine be brought to justice?

“Holy … here is a member of Servant of the People party who advocates a peaceful solution!”

Given the mood in the hall right now, this guy has absolute guts to stand up and talk like that.”

G.H. MAZURASH

As a member of the President’s “Servant of the People” team, I ask, and as a voter I even demand, to ignore the red and other colored lines and continue to do everything with greater efforts to bring the country closer to a peaceful solution. Because it is very easy to talk about the need to fight… Yes, it is necessary to defend our lands, but it is very important to understand that a large number of our fellow citizens, being and living some in uncontrolled territory, some near the demarcation line, are in a very difficult situation, more so now, when the situation is winding up from all sides. And it is very important to make decisive efforts towards the return of peace to the country, for which we elected Volodymyr Zelenskyi as President in 2019, and then we were elected as his team.

[…]

And those who really want a military solution, I think that the moral right to say that this is the only way we can solve the problem in the east of Ukraine belongs only to those, not even those who fought in the east, to whom honor and praise, and respect, and great gratitude, and those whose loved ones are now there, on the front lines. I also have relatives who are on the front lines, and I do not want to risk anyone’s health and life either as a citizen or as a deputy.

Second. I would ask journalists to be less manipulative, because the manipulations have been on the rise lately. […]

“… That took courage. Advocating peace always do.”

“Compare that with …”

FEDINA S.R.

Dear Ukrainians, it so happened that my birthday falls on a difficult time. Because February 18 is the day of the shootings on the Maidan, it is the day of the Debaltsiv boiler, it is the day of the shootings in Pisky last year. But at the same time, this is the time of a particularly difficult phase of Moscow’s aggression today.

[…]

And every diplomat, every delegate of the PACE, the Parliamentary Assembly of the OSCE, NATO, the UN should receive a message with photos, videos and evidence of how the Moscow Federation is trying not just to break the peace, but is trying to encroach on the most precious thing that every country in the world has, in of each nation, for children.

“I have birthday on a date where others have suffered. God what a snowflake. She is referring to Battle of Debaltseve.”

“She manages to run the gamut of emotional manipulation in few sentences: The shelling of a kindergarten in Stanytsia by a dark and evil Galactic Soviet Empire came just after Zelensky’s hypocritical Day of Unity where he ignored cruelties of the Soviet past - before she was born - that must never be forgotten and should be revenged on the liberals in Russia, who superseded the communists. And even the damn children gets to be part of her propaganda.”

“Benedict, we cannot proceed like this. The plebeian West has turned to histrionics. There are genuine reasons for Ukraine finally withdrawing from Russian sphere of influence, but this child does not represent any of them.”

“It’s a lot worse than that: Given how we can see that the Duma and the Rada monitors each other and exchanges blows, I have a genuine fear that the radicals are remote-provoking each other to the point where they use their considerable influence as elected members of the assembly to pressure the president to war. Both of the presidents.”

I’m tired of reading like this."

“So am I.”

“Even Servant of the People got sick of her abuses.”

BRAHAR YEVHEN VADIMOVYCH (SERVANT OF THE PEOPLE)

Petro Poroshenko did not send his son to the front, he sat here in the parliament, while millions of Ukrainian sons and daughters died in Donbas.

The President of Ukraine is currently in Donbas on the front line, where military operations have escalated.

[…]

But, on the other hand, on the other hand, now we have to state that the mass hysteria, which is also being deployed by your faction, is a much greater threat. Your faction did nothing in the five years it was in power: our GDP dropped a lot, the economy suffered, Ukrainians became impoverished, Ukrainians became impoverished in 2014-2015. (Noise in the hall) Yes, impoverished, impoverished thanks to you, thanks to the fact that you became richer. And including, your faction is still spreading this hysteria in order to gain political ratings, in order to gain political speculation.

Maurice laughed upon reading the small verbal skirmish in the hall.

PRESIDING

I say once again, I don’t think that everything you said may not seem entirely true to someone in this hall either, but they kept their calm because they treat you with respect as a people’s deputy, Mrs. Sofia.

“Sofia is not happy with being lectured.”

PRESIDING

And the phrase that I just heard from the honorable People’s Deputy, even on her birthday, is unacceptable, Mrs. Sofia. I say once again, the phrase “shut up” is not a phrase that a people’s deputy should say in the parliament hall. Thank you, Sofia Romanivna.

But the matter as a whole was getting on Maurice’s nerves.

“How about we change tactics for some time. We cannot focus blindly on the Rada here. Can we instead try to collate Rada, Duma and other sources?”

“I’m fine with that. To show the differences in perception. We have some catching up to do with respect to the Duma. What else do you propose?”

“That UN Security Council meeting seemed interesting. More of those, perhaps?”

/PARADOX