Quote Originally Posted by maddogslater View Post
It's not just the John pilger article though, new York Times, Washington Post articles from around the same time saying the same basically how corrupt and full of neo nazis at high levels of power is the Ukraine.
Don't know if you read the pilger article on why the UK really voted for brexit a few years ago, he writes the truth however unpalatable it is.
Ok well about Pilger, yes I am familiar with his work. I think it is interesting, but I think it's a stretch to say 'he writes the truth'.

IMO he falls into the category of people who think the West is bad, and all bad comes from the West. He was always going to be in favour of throwing Ukraine under the bus as it now favours ties with the West, while Russia is anti-West (therefore good).

I have seen the angle that 'Ukraine is corrupt so shouldn't be helped' quite a few times, particularly on social media. I really don't understand it.

Here's a list of the most corrupt countries in Europe. I'm sure there are other lists but I'm also sure they would be quite similar to this one.

1- Russia
2- Ukraine
3- Bosnia
4- Albania
5- Moldova
6- Turkey
7- Serbia
8- Macedonia
9- Kosovo
10- Belarus

Two things strike me. The first is very simply that the big daddy of corruption is Russia. When you look at its large military budget, then look at the living conditions and equipment of its new recruits, this makes sense.

The second is that nine of the ten most corrupt European countries are either:

Russia itself

Very close allies of Russia (Belarus)

Former Soviet republics with heavy Russian influence (aka currently partly occupied by Russia) (Ukraine, Moldova)

Former Warsaw Pact country (Albania)

Countries in the territory of the former Yugoslavia, which was aligned with Russia although more loosely than the Soviet republics and Warsaw Pact countries (Bosnia, Serbia, Macedonia, Kosovo).

How anyone can look at that and not understand why most Ukranians want to leave the 'Russian World' and align with the West, is beyond me. Russian influence is a cancer that almost guarantees a high level of corruption.