Yuschenko Jr., the Orange Revolution and Peru

It is possible the brat son of Yuschenko is taking advantage of his name and not of some behind the scenes calls from daddy. The risk that something might happen because you nabbed the top man's son would outweigh most anything else even if the top man doesn't call. That means a pass for junior. People are habituated to that kind of influence here. It seems to be in the cultural DNA. So the risk of it can be the fact of it. At least I hope that's what it is.

But if dad is running interference for junior that should be made public and Yuschenko take his lumps for it. The problem is that it is not only junior that does it. Anybody with connections or money will do the same thing. Life is cheap here and any consequences for risking it or taking it can disappear through the magic of money or of the right contacts. Get to the right person and pay the right fee and it will be as though it never happened. Kind of like what you might expect from a capitalist version of 1984.

I was going to post a link to the article below over a year ago--January 5th, 2005 to be exact-- to serve as a cautionary tale for Yuschenko. (We have done this quite a bit here on Foreign Notes. A lot of the posts have been with the idea that maybe they could avoid making some mistakes that were obviously in waiting. Not much luck though, I'm afraid.) I didn't then but now seems like a good time. There are some similarities between the two presidents and situations. Reading too much into it might not be helpful, but there could be something to be learned from the similarities.

Anyway, here it is: Peru President's Kin Create Headaches.