OPINION:
James A. Lyons’ “A ’culture of impunity’” (Web, 10 July) made me remember the American playwright Arthur Miller, who two days after his wedding reportedly found out that his new wife, Marilyn Monroe, was a drug user. Perhaps because of Monroe’s immersion in the Hollywood culture of addiction impunity, Joe DiMaggio divorced her. Now, two years after Ukraine’s pro-E.U. Maidan revolution, something similar is happening to the West.
How can Ukraine be reform-oriented when, according to our Russian media, in 2016 a one-room Kiev flat’s monthly maintenance is about 1,800 hryvnias (about $72.50), while its owner’s pension is just 1,670 (about $67.25)? Only by being corrupt.
Here in Russia, our employers often avoid paying taxes by giving unofficial monthly cash payments to unregistered government employees. But at least we fight this crime by occasionally imprisoning our most corrupt officials. So don’t be too optimistic about Ukraine. A new wife is a new life, as Arthur Miller discovered.
MERGEN MONGUSH
Moscow
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