Ukraine: A Porous Border

Global Voices Online
Thursday, January 24, 2008

On Tuesday, Ukrainian news site Korrespondent.net posted a translation of Mark Franchetti's recent Sunday Times story on Ukraine's porous borders and illegal migration.

"Britain is target in Ukraine’s people smuggling bonanza," the article's headline declared. "With most border controls in Eastern Europe now gone, people smuggling has become easy business in the Ukraine."

The English-language original has received 16 reader comments so far, the Russian translation - 88 comments.

While many readers admitted that the problem of illegal migration existed in Ukraine and that corruption among border guards and other officials contributed greatly to it, most did not seem too happy about Franchetti's piece. Quite a few were offended by the lead sentence, which described an anonymous Ukrainian people smuggler, who was "chewing slices of pork fat at his house less than two miles from the border with Slovakia," his "grin studded with gold teeth."

Here's one comment, which pretty much sums up other readers' initial reaction:

inn

[...] As for [salo, pork fat] and gold teeth - this is how they imagine us [Ukrainians]. If the article were about the Russo-Finnish border, there'd be [valenki, felt boots] and [balalaika, a musical instrument] in it. [...]

The very first comment, which appeared less than ten minutes after the translation was posted, expressed exasperation with president Victor Yushchenko's pro-Western stance:

Yushchenka na kol:

In Europe, they perceive us as savages, and we continue to faithfully lick their [behinds]. Keep it up, [orangeoids].

Another reader was wondering about Yushchenko's efforts to curb labor migration from Ukraine:

:):

Has Yushchenko accomplished anything with creating jobs at home? I remember there was some talk about it during the 2004 elections...

While some displeased readers automatically concluded that the British journalist had been bribed into writing this article, others were more reasonable:

oleg:

I don't think this article is planted - who would need that? Europe doesn't need us, they don't care about us anyway. Though perhaps the point is to get Europeans to feel hostile towards Ukraine and to make border control tougher. [...]

Naturally, at least one exchange did occur between a reader suffering from Soviet nostalgia and a sort of a realist:

Kievlyanin:

Shame... There was nothing like this in the USSR, and there was no reason to drag yourself to the West when the Iron Curtain was in place, there used to be at least some prosperity, before the collapse under Gorbachev. And now people are prepared to give their last money to Ukrainian officials in order to be able to work as dishwashers at a McDonald's in Poland.

ahimas:

In the USSR, they'd shoot you at the border without much thought, that's why there weren't too many people willing to cross (though some desperate ones did exist). Don't take [this article] too seriously: [the journalist] wouldn't be able to tell a Pole from a Ukrainian, and there are plenty of those over there. Slavs, just as Arabs, aren't too welcome there, even [Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich] is unable to [create positive publicity]...

A number of readers pointed out that Ukraine cannot be held solely responsible for the massive illegal labor migration:

maks:

That Ukraine is the main supplier of immigrants to Britain is nonsense. Where is Ukraine and where is Britain? And how do they [non-Ukrainian illegal migrants] get here from Moscow? Maybe it's Moscow that's the main supplier of immigrants? And what about the rest of the countries through which immigrants make their way to reach Britain - are they not responsible? [...]

***

newsash:

Border guards will understand all the complexity of it when the money for deportation will be taken from their budget - and this is when the boom will quickly stop. In its turn, the EU also has a sufficiently good motivation for border control. So this story has been written to scare the British mommies... P.S. What's needed is border regulations with Russia, this is where the true HOLE is. One doesn't even have to arrange things there, you are free to run back and forth as much as you want.

Here's another suggestion on what should be done to relieve the grave situation along Ukraine's border - and a note that inspires some optimism, pointing out that ignoring illegal migration may soon become unprofitable for Ukrainian officials:

Aleksandr:

They should be firing officials and everyone who gets caught in people smuggling and other dirty business - and give them long-term jail sentences. But we would need the rule of law in this country - something that isn't there. And won't appear anytime soon.

***

):

[...] Now that Ukraine has signed a readmission agreement with the EU, it is responsible for covering all the costs incurred by the stay and extradition of all those who entered the EU illegally from Ukraine. To put it differently, if half of China enter the EU through Ukraine, Ukraine will be obliged to pay all the extradition-related expenses. [...]

Finally, a few comments from two readers who seem to have a firsthand knowledge of the people smuggling business in Ukraine:

Sasha Uzhgorod:

[...] I stopped doing this business four years ago [...] Let's start with the prices. All the calculations used to be in dollars, and now they are in euros. I won't name the specific prices, but [the ones mentioned in the piece] definitely do not correspond to what we charge. The guides were mainly border guards themselves, but also rangers and hunters (they are cheaper) - but not small kids ["boys," as the Sunday Times article states]. It's true that there are plenty of deaths at the border, especially in wintertime. As for who controls this business, it's not criminal gangs but cops together with SBU [Security Service of Ukraine]. I left when they took control of the business. As for the hack who wrote this piece, he must have talked to some drunk at a bar, someone who had heard some bits and pieces, but who is not a real guide. [...]

***

111:

[...] A few times, my work has brought me into contact with people involved in [people smuggling] to Europe. There were no underaged there - the greens [border guards] serve as guides, as well as rangers and hunters, Sasha is absolutely right here. And only the local ones, draftee soldiers are scared to get involved. [...] People from the East [of Ukraine] and Kyiv dominate the business, the locals get involved only because they know the border area. This business is controlled by the police and SBU - it's a big business, after all. [...]

Russia: Bloggers Discuss James Watson

Global Voices Online
Tuesday, October 23, 2007

James Watson, an American Nobel Prize-winning geneticist, provoked international outrage when the following statements of his were quoted in the Oct. 14 profile in The Sunday Times:

He says that he is “inherently gloomy about the prospect of Africa” because “all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours – whereas all the testing says not really”, and I know that this “hot potato” is going to be difficult to address. His hope is that everyone is equal, but he counters that “people who have to deal with black employees find this not true”. He says that you should not discriminate on the basis of colour, because “there are many people of colour who are very talented, but don’t promote them when they haven’t succeeded at the lower level”. He writes that “there is no firm reason to anticipate that the intellectual capacities of peoples geographically separated in their evolution should prove to have evolved identically. Our wanting to reserve equal powers of reason as some universal heritage of humanity will not be enough to make it so”.

The news of the controversy has produced a certain stir in the Russian-language blogosphere, too.

U.S.-based LJ user karial recounted (RUS) meeting James Watson in person:

[...] I met Watson two weeks after 9/11. The first question he asked after introductions and hand-shaking was: "So, are we [the U.S.] going to Afghanistan now to finish off what you guys [the Soviets] haven't?"

[...]

I had been warned about Watson's habit of saying politically incorrect things. I had to sit with a microphone in my hands throughout his lecture, ready to stand up and say that the company that organized this seminar didn't share Mr. Watson's views. No, I don't find the role of a censor pleasant - I find it amazingly disgusting - and I really hoped to avoid becoming one. But, unfortunately, we could face a lawsuit otherwise.

I admit that a few times I did push the microphone's switch-on button - and was about to rise. And each time Watson would stop "on the verge." But he always comes closer to the verge than anyone else on the celebrity lecture circuit, and it seemed to me that he was doing it with a bravado and even with something resembling Schadenfreude.

In the current situation - if you read the actual quote - he has also slowed down almost at the edge. But crossed the line a tiny little bit. And a lot of people were waiting for this moment.

Watson, despite his age, is a wonderful, very interesting lecturer. During the first half of his lecture, we had a feeling that he didn't really understand why he was invited to this seminar; he was beginning with different thoughts - then dropping them halfway through. He was using old slides, not even the transparencies of the early 90s, but slides in square frames. And then he easily, with a few phrases, connected all the lines that he had started and showed how they emphasize the seminar's main concept. So, at least six years ago, he was in his right mind and with solid memory, so to say. And all Watson's political incorrectness is conscious.

We can argue ad nauseam whether a star of his magnitude can allow himself to voice thoughts that [aren't PC]. Whether it's an impudent challenge of a free person to the system or a hole at the bottom of a boat that took much effort to build, a boat that ensures there's if not equality, then a state close to it. [...]

Below are some of the comments (RUS) to this post:

doctor_iola:

Actually, I think it's a paradox that a country with such a level of freedom of speech or something has gotten itself so much of political correctness...

karial:

And thank God that there is political correctness. Or else you wouldn't have become a doctor. IQ tests at the turn of the century used to show that the IQ of East Europeans was lower than that of the native Americans. Would you like to fight every day to prove the opposite? Or keep hearing that women bigger than sixe 10 are neither sexy, nor satisfied with themselves?

drauk:

Still, I think that political correctness (especially, its today's, extreme, version) is not the same as equal rights and opportunities.

karial:

Unfortunately, these are really close notions. Because how can one talk about equal rights, when a certain group of people - based on race, ethnicity, sex, size - would permanently be tied to [...] a certain quality? Say, all Russians are crooks. And yes, they'll invite you to a [job] interview, but they'll always assume that you are very likely to be stealing things.

And what's being said by the public print and broadcast media is what forms these perceptions. [...]

puh:

So much noise because an old person has decided to say what he thinks (and, most likely, it is really the way he says it is)?

karial:

A person who is a public figure, especially in the world of science, has to understand that he can't "just say what he thinks" - it's not his kitchen, his words cause public response. [...]

Moscow-based LJ user ivanov-petrov wrote (RUS):

[...] I'm a stranger, of course, and these problems seem rather remote to me. But if something like this happened in Russia, I'd be extremely upset. I know that things like this did happen in Russia, and even twice as bad, and many times worse. I'm not saying we've got something to be proud of. What I'm saying is that it kind of sucks.

[...]

I'm absolutely not sure that the guy is right. It's very important to know what and how exactly it was said. But it seems to me that it's all about an individual's right to say things - and the right of a group not to want to hear such things. And whose freedom is tougher... All else being equal, I'm rooting for the individual.

And here's one of the conversations that took place in the comments section to this post:

taichi_777:

Everyone agrees that [blacks] have a special kind of plasticity that Europeans lack, and they dominate in many types of sports, and the white aren't offended by this, as far as I know. I mean, if the guy's theory gets a scientific proof, there'd be nothing terrible for the Africans in it. Statistics aside, [Aleksandr Pushkin] did exist after all. :)

Who knows, maybe each race has its niche, each one has its own strengths.

[...]

alamar:

[...] For most people, statistics is a tricky thing, but it's a perfect basis for speculation.

taichi_777:

I can't but agree, especially when we're talking about intellectual skills statistics. Miracle often occur here even at the individual level here - I know D-students with high IQ :)

[...]

ajawa_took:

It's a very standard argument: let basketball and jazz be black, and science and business white, and no one would be offended. The problem is, the niche that you reserve for the blacks - it hasn't got enough money even for a small share of them.

Those who dreamed of becoming great scientists or businessmen, but failed to, they live in private houses and drive Lexuses, and their children continue to dream, knowing that if it doesn't work out for them, they'll be like their papas. And those who dreamed of becoming great musicians or athletes, but failed to, they live in black ghettos and are either surviving on unpleasant, low-paying jobs, or begging for money, or end up as criminals. And their children understand that they have no future in sports or music (or else I'll be like papa), and no one's calling them to science and business - there are only whites there.

taichi_777:

There's plenty of injustice in the world, and, moreover, something's telling me that the life of American jazz-playing blacks is no more horrible than the life of the Russian pensioners.

And one more injustice that we may lament: it's become fashionable in science to be politically correct instead of seeking the truth.