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Figuring Out the Ukraine – Russia Conflict.

1. Kiev (Kyiv) – From the Capital of Russia to the Capital of Ukraine. Super short historical reference.
2. What’s This Conflict About? Three Ingredients.
Geopolitical Economy
Political Prestige
3. How Scary are the Sanctions?
4. Do Russians and Ukrainians hate each other?

I understand how hard it might be to navigate the hot kitchen of the events taking place in Ukraine today, especially if all cooks are limited in their choice of ingredients provided by the media’s pantry.

If I can help at least one of you, my readers, to get a better idea about what has been happening I will consider my mission complete.

1. Kiev (Kyiv) – From the Capital of Russia to the Capital of Ukraine. Super short historical reference.

Kievskaya Russia reached its peak by the middle of the XI century, under Prince Yaroslav the Wise.

The state became whole within 2 centuries with the main fastening elements being the unity of the language (Old Russian Slavic), faith, general way of life, – all under the ruling dynasty of Rurikoviches.

Yaroslav’s Russia had certain territorial boundaries (from the Black to the White Sea) and included in addition to many Slavic tribes, the peoples of non-Slavic origin.

On his deathbed, Yaroslav the Wise divided the state between his five sons and they began acting as governors with their own views of the task. The endless civil strifes began shortly in all five regions.

This was not yet the final collapse of Russia, but less than 50 years later, in 1097, The Congress of Princes gathered in Lyubech with the purpose to end civil strife and unite the princes to protect themselves from the Polovtsians.

The Congress ended with the decision for each Prince to rule on their land. Less than 50 years later again, in the middle of the 12th century, the chronicler writes “the whole Russian land was torn to pieces.” It is important to note that the same tendencies were common in all large states all over Europe.

As a result, Kyiv lost its former strength and power as the population fled the civil strife and the raids by outside tribes. Though it continued to serve as a Capital and presented the reason for discord between the Princes.



At the same time a new State, Lithuania was born northwest of Russian principalities and was gaining strength very fast. The elite of Lithuania had Lithuanian-Russian roots and maintained family connections with the Russian elite through marriages.

At first, Lithuania professed Orthodoxy but in the middle of the XIII century in exchange for the recognition of the Western world, Lithuania accepts Catholicism.

XIII century was the toughest for Russian survival. The Mongol Empire’s hordes roll through the land for the next 100 years, destroying the towns and villages.  One of those destroyed was Kyiv.

The Empire’s invasion spared Lithuania which was only gaining strength through the time and slowly expanded to the weakened by the Mongolian Invasion Russian land.

By the XV century, the country became a strong multi-ethnic state, which included many Russian cities. So, it does not come as a surprise that the population of this Western part of Russia identified themselves as Russians. All commercial and government paperwork was in Western Russian, with the population speaking the language and practicing the Christian Orthodox faith.

In 1569 under the pressure of Poland, and according to the decision of the Lublin Congress, Lithuania united with Poland to form a single confederate state – the Commonwealth. Kyiv is transferred to Poland, and most of modern Ukraine became part of the Polish state, while Lithuania retained most of Belarussia.

By the beginning of the XVII (17) century Poland included almost all of modern Ukraine, except Lugansk, Kharkov (Kharkiv), Crimea, and some other regions.

The Russian population of the Commonwealth began experiencing levels of discrimination based on their faith. By 1620 Orthodox faith becomes basically non-existent. The Orthodox hierarchy was secretly resurrected by the Jerusalem Patriarch Feofan (Pheophan) the same year. *

This time designated the core split in faith-based views between the East and West of the lands West of Volga.

Parts of Ukraine were added to the Russian State (and later, the USSR) at different times. Starting with the Central Part (Left Bank) of modern Ukraine joined the State in 1654, followed by the Central Part (Right Bank) in 1793 after the second Divide of Poland. The Carpathian Mountains region was added in 1945.

The Donbas region – the current hot spot of the 2022 conflict was added to Russia during the XVIII century and then transferred to Ukraine in 1922.

Crimea was added to Russia in 1783 and was given to the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1954.



Over 400 years of transition both sides – Western and Eastern dug heels in the ground, forming different views on politics, USSR totalitarians, even the language dialects began to differ.

2. What’s This Conflict About? Three Ingredients.



It is very important to understand that there are three key ingredients to what is happening in Ukraine right now. There are, possibly, more. I set the purpose of this essay as an attempt to educate in the shortest way possible while covering all major aspects of the current events.

Above I shared the first ingredient – the historical factor behind the conflict. So now I will concentrate on the remaining two, both from modern times.

Geopolitical Economy

To start, I would like to point out the geographical position of Ukraine, located in the center of the trade crossroads between Europe and the rest of the continent. There are two key components of the trade – the consumer goods and the transit of energy resources. The latter is natural gas which plays a main role in the pricing of consumer goods but is often the main component in the production process.

Europe is known for manufacturing a wide variety of very high-quality consumer goods, which come with a hefty price tag, dictated by high salaries and taxes. This makes the US the main consumer of European products, at the same time limiting the size of the profit for European manufacturers. On the other side is China, with sometimes bearable quality and super low prices.

To raise the profit margin, Europe has to find ways to lower the prices, and basically, eliminate the prevalence of Chinese goods on the market. But without having their own reliable and generous sources of energy (again, natural gas as one) they depend on what is being transited to them from Russia.

The transit costs a good penny (or should I say a good Euro?), which in turn, affects European profit margins.

Ukraine had been collecting very good money for transit of the natural gas from Russia. In fact, at some point in time, it was all that supported Ukraine’s economy. That is the part of the iceberg above the water. Under the murky waters is the other, larger part of Europe desperately depending on natural gas.

What’s the solution? That’s right – including Ukraine in the European Union, thus eliminating their ability to get paid for transit, which in turn will help the European manufacturers to larger profits and strengthen the presence of the US economic policies in Western Europe.

With the European Union comes the potential for NATO membership. Wouldn’t Ukraine love that? Yes, until they will be treated similarly as a small part of the EU, poor and insignificant. At the same time, Russia would end up with NATO right at its borders. **



The first attempt to pull Ukraine on the Western side took place in 2004. The West put too much trust into the Ukrainian political leaders. But what the Western business and political minds did not take into consideration, was the greed and corruption of the Ukrainian leaders. It might sound strange, but I wouldn’t really blame them for showing their true colors. Any other country escaping the Soviet tyranny without the strong experience with the principles of capitalism, forward planning, and fair deals did pretty much the same.

Imagine being broke for the longest time and then being waved hundred-dollar bills from every direction. The privatization of former state manufacturers (some very profitable) led to the quick sales of those to… yes, you guessed it – foreigners (and no, no Russians). So, the country was left with losses after those “get rich quick” schemes of their leaders. And that pushed then corrupt Ukraine to seek more treats from the Western world, the US in particular.

The US never surrenders, and when the first attempt failed due to the corruption on so many levels, they turned to the ideological war. The youth was and some extremists groups were targeted with ideology. The leaders were allowed to do whatever. This led to the rise of anger on all sides of the political spectrum of Ukraine and led to a further divide between the regions.

In the end, by 2015 Ukraine began talks with the US in regards to selling half of their transit system, without considering auction involving other countries – such as India, Brazil, even China, and of course, Russia itself. Ukraine could have got much more money in the long run, but the short-slightness and corruption of the Government proved the greedy, “grab and run” politics were indeed the core of the Ukrainian international tactics.

Do not be surprised if the next in line is Byelorussia. Except there will be much less need for military.

Political Prestige



In all honestly, there is no other obvious benefit in this conflict except the one I just described. There is no significant source of oil there, no significant natural resources. The mines of Donbas, once the core supply of coal of the region was flooded in the conflicts of 2014 and continue to be the arenas of constant fighting between the militia, state military, and terrorist groups.

This is not the war of taxpayers, but the war of Generals, where all the latter ever cared about was the political prestige.  However, the State Security Council of the Russian Federation is seriously believed to be playing a major role as opposed to the “personal psychopath tendency” of Putin (P.L.). It is believed that the rise of the opposition to globalization of Russia is true, originated there.

So the idea is to put pressure on all former states in the former Soviet block and to take back as much as possible and to “seal the border and the mind”.

I do not want to miss out on the fact that Russia has been supporting the “not recognized as independent” regions of Lugansk and Donetsk since 2014, part of the support including pensions to the mostly Russian population there. Yes, it would only make sense to try and annex the lands which are already sponsored by Russia. But it is a very insignificant part when it comes to the major scale and more ambitious plans to add as much land back to Russia as possible and then just seal the perimeter. ***

3. How Scary are the Sanctions?

I wouldn’t be surprised if reading the last paragraph your eyebrows were raised and the sanctions came to your mind.

President Biden said in one of his recent addresses that there will be no American boots on Ukrainian soil and the retaliation for the Russian actions will come through extremely tough economical sanctions. Personally, I find good grounds to believe this. Any physical involvement of the US will lead to violations of the Nuclear Agreements and then – watch out. China might be quiet for now, but will not miss the tiniest opportunity to take over the markets and resources. They will step in, and not necessarily on either side.

The latest sanctions may or may not influence the reverse movement of the Russian military. No one now really knows all the tricks up Putin’s sleeves.

However, here are the key sanctions that may sting, and some for a longer time.

As of February 25, multiple financial sanctions took place against Russia.

Most of them are limitations of financial activity, to name a few:

  • inability to conduct financial operations in euro currency, and to hold more than 100 000 K in European banks;
  • “freezing” of the accounts of Bank of Russia by Japan;
  • Prohibition of US dollar activity for Sberbank;

Those will affect mostly the civilians, some very dependable on family members living abroad and supporting the loved ones through financial transactions. Which is very unfortunate. Many immigrants have some family members back in Russia, and they have nothing to do with the political games. So, to those who are really wishing Russia all hell to come loose, this is probably the hardest hit on the civilian pocket.

Note that Russia remains connected to SWIFT at this point.

Another group of sanctions might outweigh the simple financial restrictions such as the limit on semiconductor, computer, and laser imports. ****

Electronics manufacturing in Russia has been only in the slow growth and development stage for the last 15-20 years. So, I am not sure if this is not very painful to them.

4. Do Russians and Ukrainians hate each other?

 Before I answer that question by providing my personal opinion, based solemnly on my own experience, I need to ask you: during the recent events in Canada, particularly, in Ottawa, did you agree that all involved in the protests were truckers?

You bet, the answer is No. The protest created great grounds for all kinds of opportunists. The world was watching. If someone somewhere out there was not familiar with the actual political course of Canada and saw a swastika flag or a gathering around the self-proclaimed “Queen of Canada” crowned with a toque, would it be fair for them to think that Canada is the land of the Nazis and medical ward #6 patients? Again, you bet – the answer is No. Regardless of your viewpoint on the whole event, you do agree the whole country can not be combed with one comb, where some teeth are missing or crooked.

What we learned from the historical introduction above, is the division created many centuries ago led to extremism to some degree. Really fuelled by the oppression of the Soviet Regime (the one I escaped in my late teens), the internal turbulence based on anger over the “unfair” historical divide had all the grounds to grow.

My Father, a very successful physicist had many students in Ukraine, mostly in Lvov (Lviv) and Drogobych regions, practicing and researching under his supervision in the labs of the St. Petersburg’s Ioffee’s Institute, the leader in physics research up to date.

They were not just welcome guests in our home, but we also visited them many times. I loved our trips to Lviv, as the small city mesmerized me with its historical downtown. I ended up with my very first boyfriend being from Lviv. Ironically, we broke up when I announced I was living in the USSR. He was an army cadet and did not want to leave.

Why ironically? Because a large part of the population of Lviv was dissatisfied to be under Soviet ruling more than many Eastern parts of Ukraine. The further West you went (towards the Carpathian Mountains), the quieter you had to be about where you came from. Our very hosts would share the stories of the bloody conflicts between Russians and Bandera’s groups. So, logically you would think my boyfriend would want to jump on the freedom wagon with me?



Well, here is another little detail. I left pretty much at the end of the Soviet era. The fresh wind of changes, blown through the private whispers in the kitchens, was escaping to the streets. He obviously knew more than me. Like many others, he hoped that Western Ukraine would form an independent state. We briefly reunited in 1996 when I was visiting Russia, but we were already too far apart. One thing I remember though is him wanting to move to Russia to escape the constant pressure of local racket groups to join them.

I have a few Ukrainian friends with whom I formed friendships in Canada based on our shared values of the country that welcomed us. Not for a minute did we ever engage in heated arguments over the Ukrainian “divide”. In fact, most do recognize that at some point in time we all were the subject of Soviet tyranny and chose to leave because we did not want to be subject to political division and pressure anymore.

Canada is known to be home to a large Ukrainian Diaspora. Pretty much all North West of Edmonton, large parts of Manitoba are the descendants of the Ukraine population. There is undoubtedly huge support for Ukraine in Canada. But some of the supporters do not really know the history. Life in Canada was so good, the older generations avoided talking much about their past. Except a few with the extremist views of both sides. But they have never been a part of the whole.

After becoming an Independent State, Ukraine quickly realized that it was time to look for new and strong allies to survive. The country found them in the Western world. That happened before the widespread of social media which created a burly stream of never known information. But, there had to be a narrative. There always has to be a narrative. Separated from the main “evil” – the “oppressing” Russia, what else was left to do but to dump as much dirt on the painful past?

So, to answer the question – we, the simple folk, do not hate each other. Furthermore, this very question is the result of the forced division so widely spread nowadays. But many of you my readers often express opinions that Canada itself is being purposely divided by the ideology coming from a few sources on the left. Not that I am saying cut your own lawn first before telling your neighbor he is over-grown, but I guess, I am.

In conclusion

This is a very sad for me time. I did not want it to happen in my lifetime. It is especially hard now that the country that I chose for life is now sanctioning the country where I was born.

I have no support for military actions; I always thought the diplomacy would have reached the results that the rockets are now trying to reach. At the same time, I am making myself step away from any judgment. For the reason that this conflict took a couple of absolutely unexpected turns and is now puzzling even the core experts, leaving them to guess the future.

It hurts to know that there are potentials for the deaths of civilians, that there are many scared children. But the truth and facts must be known. Though I can not change minds, I can share the facts.

In my next essay, I will write about the effect of the “guilty by association” that some of the immigrants from the USSR experienced many times since their arrival abroad. It is so tough to be Russian sometimes. Some of us who did not give an iota about the USSR and then Russian policies and politics, who just wanted a free and decent life have been subject to many demoralizing comments, and poor jokes.

Stay sane.
Your Pionerka

__________________

References and translated abstracts: *”Kievskaya Russia” – volume 1
**Natalya (Natamax) Live Journal, - June 6, 2014;
***Interview with Pavel Luzin, foreign affairs and security expert, “Nastoyaschee Vremya” – February 25, 2022;
****Anastassia Gostischeva, Financial Expert, “VBR”, - February 25, 2022;
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Cuba: What Needs To Be Cured First?

“A “centrally planned economy” by definition discourages and despises participation by the masses. It’s a bureaucratic oligarchy.”
― A.E. Samaan

Cuba is undoubtedly a unique country in its political ways of conducting
both domestic and foreign affairs.
The country that managed to anger two of the most powerful and polar
entities in the world, – Russia and the US (in latter both – the
Democrats and the  Republicans!)

F. Castro and N. Kruschev “Moskovskaya Pravda” archive Reuters. Text in Russian celebrates the great and strong friendship between Cuban and Russian people.

It is important to take a short historic tour to understand what role the Government of Cuba dating back as far as Fidel Castro’s times have played in the latest unrest in the country.

When F. Castro came to power in 1959, he famously asked the people if they
wanted him to become their leader. He received a positive answer from the crowd and it became the red line of Castro’s ruling, – to be the Leader of People yet demonstrating at every opportunity that he was one of them. He often drove himself and it was not a big surprise to see him unexpectedly visit different parts of the Island of Freedom.

In Castro’s mind, the plan for the future of independent Cuba was basically doing his own thing. He saw his own light at the end of the tunnel and was determined to get there without any help.




For many years under his leadership, Cuba enjoyed the multiple venues of
barter with the USSR. Cuba exported sugar, and in return received oil, cars, and many other essentials from the Soviets.  USSR showed extreme generosity in trade, with Khruschev’s own ambitious plans to expand the Socialist empire. Not that Nikita really believed in the bright Communist future, but he never missed an opportunity to poke Washington as hard as he could.

While most of the trade was barter, certain goods were sold, at amazing 31%
– 33%  below the market price.

It was also a great boost for the ego of the new “revolutionary” country to
receive support from the very epicenter of the Socialist ideology, the USSR.
By accepting Big Brother’s help Castro did turn the US against him.
Which would have been OK if the USSR did not collapse.
However, the changes happened.  By 1985, when Gorbachev’s shiny Perestroyka took place, Castro was getting tired of being continually patronized by USSR.

Basically, your teenager living in your basement rent-free and
throwing temper tantrums over not getting the latest video game.
Castro did not like the news of Perestroyka either and he stated, “we don’t need it here.”

By the time Putin came to power, Castro started to entertain the similar
cushy options of trade with China. Soon after it became a reality.
Such a move did very little to affect the economy of Russia, rapidly
recovering from the collapse of the USSR and the following unruly anarchy at
the beginning of the 1990s. But it did make Putin quite upset with the Cuban government.




Poor economic planning as 2008 showed. But at the time Castro had himself and everyone convinced that his way was the right way. Even if there was any criticism of the trade diversion it would have never reached Castro’s ears. Because he had already created the State of Himself.

Learning about the trading “divorce” between Cuba and Russia possibly became one of the major reasons for B. Obama to make a historic move and cancel the blockades, and reestablish relationships with Cuba. Such a historic milestone was cheered on immensely outside of Cuba,  but here is what he got as a Thank you from Castro: “…after over 48 years of ignoring us, sanctioning us, isolating us you think we just going to be friends again?” So, Barack canceled his trip to attend Castro’s funeral and did the same
for the official US delegation.

Castro passed away, but his ruling principles stayed. Under the blanket of continuously defending the “independent, successful way of establishing a new wave socialist society” the country hid many skeletons of the failed system. The major one was of course – the supply and distribution of the state’s wealth goods and services among the people of Cuba.




The sanctions came back to place under the next president, Donald J. Trump,
who as we all know is not particularly a fan of China. It is those sanctions that are used so often to defend the current situation in Cuba. But it is wrong to think that this is all that causes today’s situation on the Island of Freedom.

Cuban unrest you see today is the direct result coming not from the US sanctions, not from the fallout with Russia, and not from COVID.
It is the result of dictatorship and personal ambition, well hidden under
the blanket of fake commitment to the “bright future for the people”.  If History was not neglected by those who see the opportunity to tailor the current situation to their specific agenda, they would have already been on the side of the Cuban people.

The Government strictly regulating the supply of food and medicine as well as COVID-related supplies is only a cover that some foreign groups want to see as the explanation of the unrest. But we are going to look under that cover because we want to see more.



It’s not what you want, it’s what you can’t get.

For someone like me who had escaped the Socialism in USSR, it is upsetting to see how the latest Cuban events are being used on both sides of the political spectrum to tailor it to the suitable agenda.

For those who do not want to admit that the whole government system of the
the country is a failure, it is more convenient to write off the biggest unrest
as a result of poor handling of the latest pandemic.

For those who clearly see and understand that with or without the pandemic
the system and economy in Cuba is dying it turned into the opportunity to
start yet another political argument.

I am not on any side in this. I am right in the middle of it. With people
in Cuba who similar to us in the USSR of the mid-to-late ’80s got fed up with
being neglected and left to tend for ourselves, who stopped believing in
the “bright” Communist future because we already knew it was an ideological
farce.

The difference between circumstances that led to the collapse of the USSR and recent events in Cuba  – in the USSR it was the government itself that realized the system could no longer survive.
In Cuba, the Government is set to continue its way of ruling, at least for now.

While the world was admiring Gorby with his shiny Perestroyka and Glasnost,
which undoubtedly, brought a short-lived but much-welcomed perspective of
defeating the Communist ideology in the very epicenter- USSR, we, the
people were literally starving behind the very slowly rising iron curtain.

Food supply, access to food and advanced medical care, ability to feed yourself and your family – that is the very core of any civil unrest directed against the failing socialist regimen. Stomachs don’t care for politics or pandemics. This is exactly what is taking place in Cuba right now. But again the failure of the socialist system was finally clearly seen in USSR. It does not appear the Cuban government is close to admitting its faults.

Cuba has developed its own anti-Covid vaccine (Abdala), however due to the
a country going through a worse crisis than the one in the former USSR circa 1994, the manufacturing and distribution of that vaccine (with claimed 92%
efficiency) is pretty much diminished to 0.




COVID’s latest variant did hit the country hard, where the previous ones
seemed to have very little impact. However, the hospitals in their universal care system are short on supply of basic PPE, antibiotics, and other essentials to cure the disease.

That universal health care system is a piece of stinking barf if you asked
me. I know. I was subjected to one (read more here).

It is nothing when it is not funded sufficiently. And it is not funded, because there is just simply no money. The current system in Cuba suffocated the last of the consumer’s coins. Without that coin, Socialism is a mere illusional game of stubborn, well-fed ideological leaders.

The US sanctions were and still are, a political game. Though Cuba does
have other sources of trade, it is important to understand that the overall
values of that trade brought the already struggling economy to its knees.

The top profit from the remaining trade (a large percentage of it used to come  from foreign private sellers from countries like Russia) is taken by the
Government and very little is being put back into the economy.

The Communist regimen in Cuba is doing exactly what history told us it
would do, – it will use the livelihood of its own people to survive.
It is the “communal” thinking that is so dangerous. The government does not
care about an individual and sees the people as one community. The
government does not care about the community either, by making it
responsible for its survival and behavior.

But people are tired of not being recognized as individuals, of not being able to improve their living conditions by expanding small business and private trade. They are tired of not being able to use their personal abilities to create a better life for themselves and their families. The grooming of society with the same comb does not mean the wind will not get the hair standing up. People of Cuba want to stand up.

The police presence will increase, more arrests will be made for months to
come, and more people will simply go missing.
It is so important for the international community, specifically,
the US politicians on both sides, to understand: that it is the people of Cuba, not their Government is in need of help.




They need food, they need medication, they need essentials and they do need international support to monitor the distribution.
This is not about trade sanctions. I do believe, those have to become even
harder to push the Cuban Government towards the situation the Communist
Party leaders found themselves in USSR in 1985. This is about helping
people in the unknown prior crisis.

Humanitarian help is very much needed in Cuba with controlled by international community distribution. To make sure the necessities will not be stolen from people by the Government trying to survive at all costs.

People in Cuba do not care at this moment who would come to their rescue.
What they care about is getting rid of the leaders who do not care about
the people. Such help will balance the need and empower the population to collectively seek a fruitful solution.

But that is only one part of the plan moving forward in dealing with this
the crisis caused by the delusional ideology.

I pity those in the Western world who got their popcorn ready to enjoy the
show from their comfort making bets on how bloody the situation will become.
It is the same people who continue to portray Putin as a dictator.
But guess what, folks? Putin was needed badly to patch the country which
was so destroyed by Communist ideology that even the law was below the
dollar (well, the rouble, OK).

You have no idea what it was like in the former USSR in the early and mid
90’s! A drunk driver could walk away from any charges for just 200 American
dollars. Put under the mat In the State Auto Inspection militia’s patrol
vehicle. Because, you know, bribery was bad people were told. But if no one
saw it, it did not take place.

People were robbed and killed in daylight, but those with money (who stole
the most during the anarchy period of transition) walked away free.
Any new businesses (and everyone, from a housewife to an engineer jumped on the private business opportunity) were smothered by the racket, forced to pay bribes to the mafia, to police, and to the Government in the state of Anarchy.

I was visiting my family in St. Petersburg in 1994. I was shocked beyond
belief what was happening there.
The state-funded science, education, medicine were forced to stop and the
very well educated found themselves selling fruit and cheap Turkish goods
in small tents.




I remember seeing one of my Dad’s brightest students, a promising
physicist, a grown man, literally sobbing when my Mother baked a cake for
his birthday.  He ate it at once. So then my mother started crying.
The country struggled tremendously to adjust to the new way of life. It
took Putin to bring law and order. And no one cared what the outsiders
thought.

But this is imminent for Cuba, as well.
After all arrests, punishments, trade embargoes there should come the time
when the Government will be forced to give in. It will be some Cuban version of Putin who will be needed to patch the torn country together. And yes, that will open the flood gates for the “sofa speculators”  and yes, Cuba will receive a “stink eye” from some Western leaders for many years to come. But people of Cuba should be able to decide for themselves how they want to get out of the mess they are in. The Government failed. That’s the truth and nothing but the truth.

This is what happens when Socialism gets defeated and the Anarchy takes
over. Look no further, Western world. Take my word, the hell is needed to
get over the delusional ideology.

But Cuban people need to see that day. So, they need help, not the endless
arguments as to why they are revolting. Because they have the answer. They do it because they are hungry. The Government can not feed them. Because the Government cares more about keeping the delusional ideology alive.

I am sickened by what I hear about Cuba now from all those politicians and
journalists. The same way as I was sickened listening to Bernie Sanders singing hymns to USSR after his visit there.

Just like in Cuba seen through pink glasses of the tourists allowed into
the special districts, shopping in the stores not accessible (never mind
affordable) to the general public, the USSR had a special, “pretty face”
for the foreign world.




Just like in Cuba, where the best products are shipped at the lowest
mark-up to the foreign countries and the scraps are made scarcely
available to the people at five times the price, we in USSR had to give
away the best so that the Communist Party leaders could extend their
delusional existence and fool the world.

The saddest truth is, – no matter how we condemn the Cuban Government or any of our politicians for their reactions, – people of Cuba will continue to
suffer until the snake of the Socialist system bites itself.
We can only pray it happens very soon.

In meantime, help common Cuban folk as much as you can.
Start with spreading their truth.




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SOCIALISM IN ONE WORD

“Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery.”
― Winston S. Churchill

Somebody asked me the other day to describe life in a socialist state in one word. I surprised myself with how lightning-fast my mind served me with the most precise answer. For many years I struggled to find the best explanation of what life was like in a socialist society and could not foresee it being this short.

Frustration. That was the word that came out of my mouth and stunned both my interlocutor and me.

I escaped socialism in my late teens. I was old enough to realize how imbalanced life around me was back then, yet young enough not to get infected with the crumbling ideology. As it turned out, I did bring some memory baggage into my new life across the ocean.

With the latest political currents not so gently washing away the established shores of the Western world, it might be my time to build the lighthouse in the middle of the roaring sea. I am primarily determined to light the path for young minds. Perhaps they will benefit from my essay the most since it is in our youth we are subjected to frustration the most.

The personal needs are not recognized and never prioritized by the society ruled by the socialist ideology. The services provided by the socialist state are check-marked for the fact of delivery, and never for quality. State-funded education, medical care, and other public services designed to exist in general and are not subject to quality control. Any of those areas of service were the endless source of frustration for as long as I remember.



The socialist state does not give a tiny rat’s ass about one’s needs. It has one plan all have to follow without any indulgences for individual abilities. In other words, the state deliberately ignores personal demands and grants the power of the decision to the ideological elite. Neglect of individual needs sets the classic stage for frustration and deals often irreparable damage to young minds.

The school in the socialist state was the generator of frustration for many. Though highly attractive at first glance, the idea of state-funded education can turn into a nightmarish reality for the young.

The curriculum of the socialist school does not have any provisions to accommodate the pupils that might need some extra time or explanations to complete the tasks. The socialist’s state-controlled system of education instead is fully equipped with powerful tools such as totalitarian demand to succeed despite the individual ability. Students who do not meet the expectation of the blindfolded curriculum eventually end up outside of the system and for the lack of healthy alternatives become pariahs among their peers.



The school system powered by socialist ideology reprimanded the outcasts by depriving them of social involvement. The student who has artistic talents but not capable of grasping the concept of some useless trigonometric formula becomes a subject of burdening pressure from the system. Instead of turning on the taps of encouragement to accommodate the individual’s area of interest, the system instead shuts the person down for not meeting the general standard.

My grade 2 English teacher was an angry old lady who switched from being a professor at the University to a teacher’s position in elementary school. Not sure what the reasons were behind such a radical transition. But up to this day, I am convinced it was the system’s fault that that monster was allowed near children.

Without the slightest idea about the educational approach to teaching a foreign language to eight-year-olds, she proceeded to terrorize us for any small mistake we made in her class. Her favorite rhetorical question was: ‘What are you, super stupid?’ We feared her so immensely that we became very creative in making any possible excuse to skip her classes. We had no one to ask for help. Not even our parents as they did not have the power to question the system.



But the parents soon became concerned with our poor grades and constant attempts to avoid going to school. They pulled the truth out of us very quickly as our frustration with not being able to escape her terror by then grew into real hatred of the subject. In tears, I begged my dad to believe me that I was not lazy or dumb and to help me get out of the English class. But we both knew that was impossible.

The luxury of choosing subjects of interest or at least switch teachers did not exist in that educational system. It did not grant recognition to individual ability. To survive, one had to blend in with the mass affected by the ideological incest.

The only requirement to take any professional job was a diploma in the field. There was not such a thing as an interview to determine the social skills set of the candidate. The school had to meet the centralized plan on hours of education, staffing, and the topics deemed necessary by the state. Paid miserable wages without an opportunity to advance in their careers, some teachers resorted to bribery and under-the-table tutoring.
Professional ethics was a distant myth in many of the socialist schools.

One day my dad finally had enough of my begging to get me out of my misery and went to talk to the monster. I remember standing in the teachers’ lounge with my cheeks on fire as I witnessed her screaming at him in front of her colleagues. She shamelessly belittled my father, a world-renowned nuclear physicist, by telling him he had raized a useless and lazy dumb brat.

My dad told her she should stay away from teaching. Her response was fast and as ignorant: ‘you don’t have a voice here, only the State does!’ With glee, she turned for support to her colleagues, who got a little quiet during the whole scene. They suddenly came to life and rushed to support their ideological sister with enthusiastic nodding.




Her victorious statement clearly illustrated the unfortunate truth about the system designed to provoke frustration. The frustration continued to rise and spread among individuals whose voices were silenced by the sheer ignorance of the socialist system.

My dad somehow managed to do the impossible, and she was soon transferred to teach the senior grades. Shortly after that, she retired. I guess older students did not pave her stomping grounds either.

The replacement teacher was a kind and knowledgeable lady with a great understanding of children’s needs. Thanks to her husband, who worked at the embassy, she was one of the very fortunate few who could travel abroad. She was in awe of the Western culture and brought it with her into our classroom. That was forbidden fruit those days, and she risked a lot, including her freedom when she used her travel experiences to indulge our interest in the subject. But it worked magic and very soon the English class became my favorite. I graduated with honors.

However, exposure to the ‘outside of the socialist litter box’ approach only helped with growing more frustrated as I was getting older and entering my teens.



The primary source of frustration was the attitude of those providing services, the secondary – the supply.
The state-funded dental care was one of the extreme horrors forever embedded in my memory. The visit to the dentist was similar to spending a few hours in a medieval torture chamber.
We as kids dreaded that one specific day of the year when the teacher would announce the date of the mandatory dental check-up. There was no escape. Not showing up would get you suspended from school.

The dental care was free, of course. The state paid dentist salaries, provided the equipment and the cheap filling materials, that lasted for about a year, with luck. Freezing even for children was deemed as an unnecessary luxury.

Just like with any other medical facility, one automatically presented an unnecessary expense to the state upon entry. The fact of medical care being free lost the appeal the moment it exposed the actual quality of that care.



Do you remember the last time you visited your dentist? You remember making sure that you got as much anesthetic as possible yet still were reluctant to ‘open wide’? Now imagine yourself being ten years of age and being held by a couple of adults while having your cavity removed. Yes, you got it – without the freezing. If you think that was scary, do not even dare to bring the root canal into the picture.

So many survivors of the entirely funded by the state dental care would attest that it took years for them to overcome the extreme horror of just hearing the word dentist. As far as the simple tools of dental hygiene such as dental floss, they did not exist even in theory.

Of course, the party elite had unlimited and unrestricted access to all those anesthetics and fancy hygiene tools. Those top handlers had full control over the distribution of funding. They assigned the bare minimum to the overall medical care, just enough to continue to trumpet to the Western world about it being free.

The decisions over the distribution and supply of goods belong to the state in the socialist ideology. In reality, it reflected in bare shelves at the grocery stores and long line-ups to get a pair of imported shoes.

I remember how my mother and I stood in line for an hour in the cold rain to get 2 pounds of green bananas. I loved bananas so much but only was able to enjoy them a couple of times prior. They were an exotic delicacy and were a rare guest on the store shelves. Well, they were never on the store shelves, to be precise.

As we were just two persons away from the counter, a tall man in a leather coat came up and flashed a badge and had two full bags of bananas handed to him. Then the store ran out of them. The line began to roar with anger. The tall man gazed at the complaining with the authoritarian look, and that quieted them in an instant.

I could gauge the number of bananas the man took with him. I knew there was just enough for us to get some if he didn’t show up with his elite badge.

The line began to dissipate with people muttering obscenities in regards to the whole regimen and the man. My mom pulled my hand to get going, but I just stood there with tears rolling down my cheeks. I was very frustrated with what had happened, yet not for a minute, I wished I had a badge like his. Instead, I just wanted him to choke on those bananas.

The socialist state was born with a dangerous, self-destructive disease limiting its life span. However, it was hardly noticeable under the heavy make-up of promises of free stuff. Society had been sinking into the abyss of frustration for years. The ideology marched to its drum at its funeral from the very beginning. But health care was free.

In my childhood and early teens, I witnessed way too many times how quickly frustration turned into damaging anger. At the same time, I had to deal with personal struggles to suppress the frustration. To do so, I had to shut off the logic and common sense, just like many others.

In the end, the logic took over, and as a genuine force, destroyed the fake army of socialist ideology. Unfortunately, not without first turning into national anger and causing multiple losses of human lives.

The candy in the bowl is free for all because someone had to pay for it.

“Vsegda Gotov”
– Pionerka Doosya

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Children and Ideological Hysteria A La Socialism

The traditional belief that competition does not exist in a socialist state is based on the simple fact that the Socialist ideology does not allow society to develop and grow independently. Socialist ideology takes growth opportunity away from people and hands it to the government.

Such is true when applied to the meaning of competition from an economic perspective. But here is a historical catch: competition has a special variety, sort of fungus, which allowed it to exist in the dark and cold basement of socialism, spreading fast and just as fast infecting the lungs of society. This variety does not destroy just the infected but is also capable of dealing tremendous damage to its own elements. This variety can be identified as the ideological competition which is in its maturity is described as ideological hysteria.

Ideological competition is the least productive, most useless, and most destroying type of competition. The goal of the ideological competition is to turn the infected members of the society against the rest by creating an issue forcing them to compete through the means of denunciation, fear-mongering, and fabrication of information. When such a goal is achieved, the ideological competition reaches its final and most destructive form – it turns into hysteria.

Those who survived socialism, in reality, would agree that the ideological competition is a super-powerful force in social destruction, starting at the very core – family.
“Son is not responsible for the actions of his father”, said J. Stalin and proceeded to separate the children from their parents. The parents were labeled “the enemy of people” and sent to Gulag, stripped of their dignity, or simply executed in the name of the “bright communist future”.




What happened to children of the “enemies of people”? They were thrown into concentration camps, disguised as socialist orphanages, and subjected to the severe indoctrination of communist propaganda. So in reality children were indeed made responsible for the actions of their parents as early as in the first year of life.
Memoirs of survivors draw a horrific picture of young children, forced to be angry, forced to publicly deny and defame their own parents, – all in fear to be punished again by having to sit all night in a dark cold room with no food or water.

No one can properly scale the effects of fear on a child’s mind. But one thing is for sure – the fear provides a strong boost to the rapid growth of fungus of the ideological hysteria.

Ideological competition does not contribute to the progress of society. Ideological competition only caters to the small form in that society, – the top handlers. Where those infected are left with no choice but to please the handlers by screaming louder, by walking over the heads of the silent ones, by becoming aggressive against those who have not been infected yet. That is the only way for the infected to get rewarded, to get fed. No matter how reasonable the voices of the rest are, they will be silenced by the hysterical screaming of knowledge malnourished crowd.
Those who lived through the reality of socialism would agree that ideological competition is quite a smooth process, in the beginning, making it hard to notice until it is too late. Always nicely dressed in the suit made of best intentions, hiding the spiked lining inside, ideological competition charms the minds of those who due to their age and experience are too short-sighted to notice the bulging all over the suit, – children.

Any offspring depends on their parents to learn the basic skills of life and to get the foundation for their morals and beliefs. In a normal functioning society driven by democracy and freedom of economic development, these skills and morals are the traditionally accepted sets of values proven to be successful for that society. In a society governed by the group of handlers, imposing their goals and achieving them through ideological competition, the very institution of the family is destroyed and the young generation is deprived of the very important opportunity of individual growth.

One of the dangers of the socialist society is the lack of stimulation of an individual mind to conduct their own research to reach outside of the narrow dogma, otherwise known as a constructive argument. The constructive argument is one of the logical pathways to growth. However, in the climate of hysteria raised by the ideological competition, a constructive argument is considered disobedience and is viciously punished.



Immediately after the October revolution of 1917, many threatening diseases, such as malaria, whooping cough, and measles to name a few, were spreading fast, killing thousands in Russia. The reason behind the out of control spread of such diseases was the doctors being proclaimed nasty capitalists, deprived of their practice, and often forced to leave their homeland. Some tried to cooperate with the new regimen and attempted to educate the crowds on how to avoid the spread of infection, but they were immediately accused of sabotaging, lying, and profiting off the poor masses. There was no logic behind such accusations, but ideologically induced hysteria does not recognize logic.

The ideological hysteria à la Socialism thrives on the lack of education, openness to alternative viewpoints, panic, and fear. Ideological hysteria through the means of ideological competition destroys the balance in society starting at its core which is family. Ideological hysteria does not just take children away from parents; it is capable of turning them against each other. Ideological hysteria bans opinions that are contradictory to its course of achieving the goal of winning the ideological competition.
Does any of that sound familiar to you today?

Though it might seem overwhelmingly impossible to tame the ideological hysteria, there are historically developed remedies that provide solutions for defeating this destructive force.
One of such solutions is ridiculously simple – review the approaches to the education of the new generation. Stop putting the vulnerable young minds in a difficult situation where they have to make an early choice between logic and fear. Stimulate them to learn how to work with the issue and not just blindly succumb to the indoctrination with the theory of unavoidable doomsday.
We have to be protective of our offspring and we can not subject them to ideological competition. They will have a chance to deal with it on their own but only if we allow them to get well equipped with functional tools to conquer the issues which the previous generation has not even yet learned how to deal with properly itself.

The transition between ideological competition and ideological hysteria is lightning fast and it is overwhelming. The historical facts can not be discarded and the voices of the actual survivors of Socialism have to be heard. Listen to their warnings and make a note to protect the logic, sanity, and opportunities for the better future of our young.

“Vsegda Gotov” – Pionerka Doosya




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