He made this idiotic statement today when unconvincingly trying to justify the disgraceful politically motivated treatment meted out to Yulia Tymoshenko's legal advisor, Serhiy Vlasenko, who was absurdly deprived of his seat in the Verhovna Rada by a law court ruling.
In Yanukovych's opinion, Vlasenko was responsible for the worsening of EU-Ukraine relations.
What Yanukovych said was complete bullshit.
For his information:
"Almost 20% of [British] MPs are earning supplementary incomes through second jobs, with some earning hundreds of thousands of pounds through external positions. The 'Sun on Sunday' reports that Parliament's register of interest shows 119 MPs have jobs outside of Parliament, and that Geoffrey Cox – Conservative MP for Torridge and West Devon – has earned £560,000 since through his work as a barrister since December.
Only 315 out of 650 MPs registered no external income" [Source]
And
"Dozens of MPs are boosting their taxpayer-funded salaries by tens of thousands of pounds by taking second jobs...new analysis found that as well as drawing their MPs salary of £65,738, many are juggling their political work with jobs in careers such as law, consulting and business and making up to 13 times their annual pay." [Source]
All British MPs have to declare their outside financial interests in official registers of interests that are available for public scrutiny, e.g. by journalists.
In Great Britain, Vlasenko's behaviour would be deemed perfectly acceptable - especially as he claims he is receiving no payment for his services as Tymoshenko's legal defender.
Yes, it it complete BS.
ReplyDeleteBut he and the Regionnaires have been spouting this kind of BS about other countries for years - because, for the most part, the population in Ukraine doesn't really know what it's like in other countries, and even if it's double-checked, the population in Ukraine still won't know.
I can't tell you how many times I have nearly fallen out of my chair over the years when I saw the various Regionnaires spouting absolutely false statements about other countries.
And they weren't corrected by the host, such as Savik Shuster, or other hosts.
These days, it is happening less and less, because the TV talk show hosts seem to be much better informed.
But - they still count on lack of information in Ukraine about other countries, among other things.
Your blog is doing a great service for the citizens of Ukraine.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your kind words.
The Vlasenko business is in some ways a watershed event whose timing was intended, in my opinion, to provoke a hostile reaction from the Europeans.
Bullies such a Yanuk often have thin skins - this may also be a reason for the harsh treatment handed out to the brash, shart-tongued Vlasenko...
I normally try to avoid invective in my postings, but Yanukovych's stupid treatment of Tymoshenko's chief legal councillor, and the resonance it has caused, made me deviate from this.
You are well within your right to call BS when you see, especially where yanusvoloch and his sovok mafia are concerned.
ReplyDeleteWhy bother going after Vlasenko?
The verdicts are, after all, pre-determined.
Your explanation is the only plausible one - thin skin on the part of an illiterate, ill-mannered, brainless lout.
Or louts.
They want to continue to propagate their myth that "everything is beautiful" in the sovok mafia state of Ukraine, and they can't have anyone saying that the emperor has no clothes.
It might catch on and people might finally begin to see that the emperor has no clothes.
Just curious, what britains think about their MPs having second jobs? Because, well, MP is not a job where you work fixed hours. And not a job which productivity can be examined precisely enough. I doubt that many of the serious CEOs/top managers have a second job.
ReplyDeleteIf you go to the second link in this posting you will find a discussion about what the general view is about MP's holding second jobs.
ReplyDeleteTraditionally, it is regarded as ok as long as all outside interests are openly declared.
It is generally regarded as a 'good thing' if MP's are not merely products of political parties, but rather also have outside experience and deep knowledge of industry, the law, medicine, etc. etc.
An MP with legal background providing 'pro-bono' assistance to a party colleague would not even raise an eyebrow...
Well that statement is obviously false.
ReplyDeleteUnder Ukraine's Constitution the President of Ukraine can not hold a secondary representation role
The sooner Ukraine abandons the presidential system and embraces a parliamentary system the better off Ukraine will be.
If Ukraine wants to be a part of Europe then it should adopt European models of democracy and governance