Ukraine: Star Wars
Never has the news about reforms in Ukraine achieved such high ratings on television and YouTube as in the past few weeks. Unfortunately, the reason for the sudden peak in interest isn’t a new social awareness, but rather an internal war waged at the highest political levels. One of the most popular memes this week in the Ukrainian blogosphere was a photo of parliamentarian Olexandra Kuzhel, captioned: “Not the bottle, please, the glass is better.”
The picture itself is taken from a video of the National Reform Council this week. Kuzhel wasn’t at the center of the attention this time, but she was undoubtedly reminded of a scandal little more than a month ago when her male colleague threw a glass bottle of water in her head.
This time she was merely adjacent to the main target of an aqua-assault – head of the Odesa region and former Georgian President Michail Saakashvili. The water glass was slung by Ukraine’s minister of interior, Arsen Avakov, after losing his patience with Saakashvili.
As the new year approaches, more political conflicts and scandals are rising the ratings of the Ukrainian media, which usually experience a dead zone around the holidays. Ex-President Yanukovych could only dream about such coverage of his meetings. After Joe Biden's visit, the Ukrainian ruling class seems to have forgotten completely about decorum and literally fights for ratings. It seems politicians believe this is the only way to ensure their reputation and earn some street credit in case of a resignation or a new parliamentary election.
Usually Ukrainians choose their leaders by vote at elections. This time, the Internet is defending Saakashvili, who was offended at the National Reform Council by both the Interior Minister and the Prime Minister himself, who called the official with Georgian origins "a barnstormer" after Saakashvili accused loudly accused his Government of corruption.
The scandal could easily avoided public scrutiny, and it almost did, but in the end the politicians themselves demanded it be shared. The President’s Press Secretary announced that the water-hurling incident would not be on YouTube due to its potential damage to Ukraine’s image – this apparently did not concern Mr. Avakov, who was the first to deliver the video.
The picture is nothing short of ridiculous: two politicians of Armenian and Georgian origin respectively are fighting over who is more Ukrainian. This is just one more stone in the current government’s garden. Whatever achievements and reforms it claims to accomplish are quickly overshadowed by the dismal economic situation and the PR power of a scandal.
Meanwhile the offended Saakashvili, himself a master of self-advertisement with a reputation for successful reform in Georgia, is the social-media favorite for the next Prime Minister of Ukraine. When on Thursday Russian President Putin reminded Saakashvili in his speech as a slap in the face of Ukrainian people there could never be better advertisement for any pro-Ukrainian politician. But even if Saakashvili gets the chair of the Head of Ukrainian Government, there is a small chance this Georgian fighter for Ukraine will become the next disappointment. After all, Yatseniuk’s government also contained many of the people’s favorites from the period following Azarov’s reign. Last Monday he was lifted from the tribune of the parliament like a ballerina, in a bizarrely unchoreographed incident that went viral in Ukraine and across Europe.
So far, only President Petro Poroshenko has escaped a major loss of dignity on YouTube. Yet humiliating enough is the fact that while the president daily announces the unity of Ukraine’s political powers, the reality is so obviously different.
My prediction is more scandals erupt as parties and politicians desperately join the PR-to-power melee. This time the uproar will be centered on two essential state documents: Both the budget and the tax code must be passed by the end of the year. Though after Thursday negotiations the Tax code has almost no chance to be voted until 2016. It could be the last chance to catch a piece of the action, what with external pressure from the West and internal pressure from civil society mounting for reforms.
So even if it means taking a punch or a glass of water to the face, deputies and ministers will pull whatever stunts will bring them YouTube popularity and perhaps some more power. Just out of respect to poor Olexandra Kuzhel, please don’t throw the bottles.
