The Ten Commandments of Ukrainian Politicians

It is Christmas time and season of festivals – Thanksgiving, St. Mykolaiv day, Yuletide, The New Year, “Twelvetide” (the 12 day celebration that begins on December 25 and ends on January 06 with the feast of the Epiphany), the Slavic Christmas and so on.

We all love to exchange greetings, wishes, presents and gifts with relatives, friends, family members and are happy to share moments and memories with near and dear ones. Christmas and New Year is also the time to reaffirm our faith and belief in human values of love, compassion, kindness, pity and empathy. It reminds us to be charitable, big-hearted and caring to all our fellow beings. We reiterate the basic moral principles and fundamental thoughts that govern our behavior, make us humane and strengthen our resolve to be good and nice to the world which we live in. We recall the Godly message of "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" that reinforces our will and determination to be better in our thoughts, actions and deliberations.

The holy season of joyous festivities preaches and teaches us to remain devout and faithful to almighty omnipresent and repose our commitment to the sacred discourses and sermons given by God to the mortals and which have been passed on from one generation to another. The holy texts of various religions/faiths all espouse kind human behavior, love, peace, care and concern for each other. The “Ten Commandments” are part of such treatises which in ten brief sentences canonizes moral values associated with human lives and social living. Many of us know the significance of these ten ethical principles and most often follow them.

What Ten Commandments Ukrainian politicians follow and/or hold dear. Most of them have their own tenets and ideals which may sharply differ from the ones held and followed by ordinary Ukrainians and general populace of Ukraine. This is so as Ukrainian politicians are a breed apart and pedigree of rare quality (very hard to find among civilized, democratic, value-oriented societies). They are avowed followers of Mammon and Bacchus (Dionysus) and proud inheritors of Machiavellian designs and maneuvers in their political activity and day to day living. Instead of serving the people and the nation they harbor the false notion that it is they who should be served (and wherever possible revered for being the elected representatives). They live by the principle of “Make hay-every night, every day" and swear by the axiom of “Damned be the world after us”

Their pet engagement is to fool, make merry, hoard happily (on whatever expensive and extravagant they can lay their hands upon), live for themselves and if omens portend unpalatable change(s) in the environment and situation around then they don’t mind the dictum of “loot, boot and scoot”. Their personas often resemble the craftiness of double-faced Janus (who is supposedly a master of verbal duplicity). The Ukrainian politicians excel in the stratagem of saying one-thing and doing another thing. The art of slyness and wiliness in communications and dealings has been perfected to a science by them.

Most of them are endowed with the narcissistic ability of grandiose self love, indulgence and crass, vulgar display of their ill-begotten riches and wealth. They are no less greedy than Poseidon and their love for lucre knows no bound. Taking others for fools is their birthright which is non violable and undisputable. Blessed are the Ukrainian politicians because they will inherit the sunken stinking treasure of lust, greed, betrayal and loathe.

Often devil is symbolized as a black evil beast with horns and a tail but many of the Ukrainian politicians can easily be personified in the garb of the devil and he would still appear as mean, callous and sinful as is portrayed in his original semblance.

Although politicians worldwide are not supposed to be saints or incarnations of angels or fairies but many consider it both a duty and honor to take decisions and actions which would make a qualitative difference to the lives of their fellow brethrens in particular and in the lives of other people around the globe in general. Here Ukrainian politicians would be at odd with such orientation and value system of their global contemporaries.

Well enough of drawing caricatures of thick-skinned Ukrainian politicians. Let us look at the possible Ten Commandments that most of these “honorable men & women” – the elected representatives ostensibly belonging to a higher caste (The Untouchables) and living in stellar cosmic galaxies – might be following and applying in their lives.

The new Ten commandments of Ukrainian politicians

1. You shall have no other deity than Mammon (the evil spirit personifying riches and wealth). You shall have no other faith or belief than amassment of wealth and self enrichment by whatever method, legal-illegal, lawful-unlawful, doesn’t matter.
2. Thou shall only worship the icons of fallen people, hoarders and marauders known for their sins, crimes and excesses.
3. Thou shall not notice the general degradation, stagnation and poverty engulfing Ukraine. Thou shall put a blind eye to the sufferings of people and your fellow countrymen.
4. Thou shall consider fellow citizens and ordinary Ukrainian people totally vain fit to be used and discarded.
5. Thou shall be proud of your ill-begotten wealth and never be satisfied by the amassment, hoarding and laundering.
6. Remember that every day brings new opportunities to bluff, to lie, to steal, to fool others, to rob, to betray. Do it without remorse or guilt and rue the day when you fail to do so.
7. Thou shall maim, kidnap, threaten, hold hostages, and seek ransom (and if it furthers your evil interests than order/plot killings). You would be marauders, black-marketers, conspirators, schemers, raiders and traitors.
8. Thou shall steal and do it professionally, competently and avoid being caught. That is the right you have been bestowed by virtue of your election to the state legislative body.
9. Honor your motto of being reckless, remorseless, ruthless, heartless and pitiless politician (Who lives for himself/herself without bothering about the national interest, safety, security, wellbeing and welfare of common people and ordinary citizen). Thou shall not see the apathy, grief, sorrow, troubles, and the problems of the people around you.
10. Thou shall covet and covet shamelessly, decadently, and corruptly. Be it power, designations, Government positions, money, wealth, women, or whatever that attracts your fancy. Thou shall consider thyself the blessed one born to rule, dictate, govern and trample others without the slightest hint of pain, grief, remorse and regret.