This is a translated version of the german version.)
…here an E-Mail from Ukraine. There it’s really much more bad than here in Germany. But that doesn’t mean we should rest. The letter describes the situation in a drastic manner. Mostly just young people who want to change things but can’t (the writer is 23):
Hello Reinard,
I’m fine in general 
The job is okay, the iMac is great and serves me a good job by replacing PC and Mac at the same time 
Yep, things do not seem to be getting any better. However it’s not noticeable at the local scope of my village. It’s just that nothing changed at all. The problem is that it never changed to the good here even after the Orange Revolution. So it’s not so bitter for the people now
Perhaps some people (maybe even the majority) understand that membership in NATO is the ticket to EU, but that the majority of our politicians do have their business (mostly illegal) that can exist as long as we’re not in EU or any other union. It is sure enough that they’re not keen to loose it. So, my frightful prediction is that we’re not going to enter any union until the politicians of my age (who have no business at all… and all they have is maybe an iMac or iBook in their pocket ))))))) ) come onto the stage.
Yet another problem is our people. It is a really the most difficult problem that is placed on our way toward any development. Take a look at the situation… I think you remember that building of the officials’ in my village (Big gray construction on the square. I remember you told it has a lot of mortar and small windows ). So, if for example I wanted to find a job in this building, I would have to bribe our authorities. The most curious is the sum of the bribe . It’s not a secret that the price is about few thousand dollars/euros!!!! Just think about how long would it take to get this money back by means of so low salary rate. And I’m not joking that it would take a YEAR OR MORE! And there’s actually a queue for the positions in this organization. It turns out that the question is not simply the money. You’ll have to wait some time because there’s a lot of ladies and gentlemen ahead of you in the queue. Perhaps some of them are ready to pay even more to take the job.
So what is the reason for all this, you would ask. I think that it’s the mentality of our post SU nation. The job of this type seems to be protection and a guarantee of the future, even despite of the low salary. I asked some young men about their reasons for the positions in state organizations. Some of them told me that having this job means to be close to the most important people in the region and thus to be able to solve any problems with their help. Other told me that it’s a good choice to be in the position to take bribes by their own hands… It seems natural for them.
Personally I’m not longing to get a job of this kind. And I never longed. I know my real abilities and I know how to turn them into some reasonable income that’ll allow me to live without being afraid to find myself in a jail some day I like to be independent of this system. But it turns out that the majority don’t. They’re simply used to live without any developing. The look for the possibility to pull strings instead.
So that’s the problem of Ukrainian people. Sometimes it seems that they want to enter EU and change their lives for better, but on the other hand they would like stay with their regime.
I would describe it like “I don’t want to EARN more, I simply want to be PAID more” ))))))
I think that the situation is really difficult. And it’s not going to change until we tear the strings and start living in a normal way. But I don’t know how can we achieve this goal.
That’s it. I hope was honest enough
X.X
For all who are interested in the cultural environment, »somewhere in Galicia«: Here are pictures and annotations (Attention: big HTML file).
And a comment about anonymisation: It could be possible that the writer or his family would get into difficulties if he could be identified …
