The fall of the Soviet Union and the rise of corrution.

After the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, Ukraine finally gained its independence. The dream of our ancestors had come true, at last we became free from the dictatorship of the Communist regime, on our way to develop our country's future. The Ukrainian language and culture are no longer suppressed, and our economy has a chance for the new start and a potential growth. However, agriculture could have become a major export, and our metallurgy could have been developed to the competitive level on the European market as well. So much for the dreams of our ancestors. Once the doors of communism opened and people came out after years of suppression, everyone resembled each other. People were lost and still followed the group opinion. While freedom, democracy and individualism were the foundation of politics in the West, most of the Soviet people needed to be told what to do. Individualism was not praised in any way.
While the majority of people followed the group opinion, there were some exceptions. Those business minds, who survived the suppression under the communist rule, who lost all their money at the time of the fall of USSR (just like most of the people) - but who did not lose the desire to get it all back. Those minds were hungry for money and they just gained an opportunity to turn crisis into profit, since they were no longer held back by the government. In fact the best way to launder the money- after the fall of the Soviet Union - was through most of the ex-Soviet governments.
Ukraine got its independence and while the majority of people were blinded to the future for their children by the freedom and the light of hope, they ceased to see that their country was continuing to sink under the new corrupt government.
Leonid Kravchuk was elected as the first president of Ukraine, but did not last in office for long (from 1991 to 1994). Kravchuk failed to avoid corruption in the privatization sector and failed to stabilize the situation at the time of the crisis. The level of inflation rose to the extreme, banks started to default, salaries were delayed. All of the above led him to resign.
He was succeeded by Leonid Kuchma, who held the position of prime-minister at that time. When Kuchma came to power, the first thing he did was re-establish relations with Russia; then he brought new reforms which stabilized our economy. Even though he "did something", everyone knew that he stole a lot of money from the budget of our country. Everyone knew, but kept silent. It seems like people were still living in an illusion, satisfied by the rights of 'freedom of speech', freedom of choice and independence from Russia.
One man was not silent though. His name was Georgiy Gongadze, and he was the founder of the newspaper 'Ukrainian Truth'. He knew that there was no freedom of speech in Ukraine. He knew that Kuchma was involved in several crimes, but his attempt to speak up and present evidence of Kuchma's crimes, was soon stopped. Georgiy Gongadze was found beheaded in the forest outside of Kiev.
Speaking of the generation that is in power right now, it seems to me that the chances for us to see a real change for the best are very small. Why? Because they still has not gotten over those suppressed desires for power and money, and it is very unlikely that their values to change. All they are thinking of right now is to be able to provide for themselves and their children, to avoid poverty- which is now very high in Ukraine - by trying to steal today as much as they can, because tomorrow they may not be "sitting on the throne" anymore. We can blame them and say that they stole our dream for a better future, but it seems as if the people have to come to the realization that they have allowed that too. There is a lot of corruption going on in Eastern Europe and it is not only due to a survival instinct, but also to the urge to get back what was stolen from them in Soviet times. In these circumstances it is hard to believe that we will see any change anytime soon. The new generation has a better potential, if they outgrow the ideas of their parents, that is: going with the flow just like everyone else, so they can find their own truth.
The economy and education - should be a priority for our government. Some reforms in our economy should be made in order to attract foreign investors, which will help us to restructure and develop our agriculture and metallurgy sectors. Education reforms would help us to start fighting corruption at its root. I think the new generation will bring change, but we too have to help them and the first step must be to fight corruption.