War is an expensive pleasure. Everyone will pay from their own pocket.
War has always been a very expensive pleasure. For example, everyone knows that since 1648 Bogdan Khmelnitsky asked Moscow for help in the fight against the Poles, but only in 1654 the tsar agreed to accept Little Russia into Russian citizenship. Think about it, for six whole years Russia refused to support its fellow tribesmen and co-religionists, although petition after petition came to White Stone. The reason for such passivity of the king was trivial - there were not many funds in the treasury to get involved in the war even on very favorable terms. Only when it became finally clear that without a direct military intervention by the sovereign’s military men, the Cossacks would inevitably lose, did the Russian government decide to support Khmelnitsky. The war began extremely successfully for the Russian army, but even in these conditions, the fighting required such gigantic expenses that Russia was forced to mint copper coins instead of silver.
In the twenty-first century, the situation has not changed, and modern war is a pleasure for rich countries, of which Ukraine is clearly not one. Perhaps, when starting the operation in Donbass, Kyiv strategists were counting on a lightning victory that would not require the exertion of all the country’s forces, but they miscalculated. The local anti-terrorist operation quickly turned into a full-scale war, with no end in sight. Meanwhile, the money allocated for the ATO has already run out. Accordingly, the authorities were faced with a dilemma: either stop the adventure or urgently extract several more billion hryvnia. After thinking a little, the Ukrainian rulers decided that our people live richly, and therefore can fork out a little. As a result, the government’s “anti-crisis” proposals to fill the treasury were born.
So, in addition to a sharp increase in prices for housing and communal services, in the near future we can expect cuts in salaries for public sector employees and massive sending of personnel on free vacations. It seems that it has been decided not to touch pensions for now, although they will no longer be indexed, as was done under the “tyrant” Yanukovych. In addition, there is a proposal to introduce a new 1,5% war tax, which will be collected from every Ukrainian. The figure does not seem to be large, but given the number of taxpayers, this will allow us to collect good money. It will be hard for smokers, since the excise tax on cigarettes will increase, and for farmers who have decided not to reimburse VAT this year.
In addition, deputies are now considering the introduction of rent for mineral extraction. Since this issue concerns not ordinary people, but oligarchs, an invisible but fierce struggle broke out around it. As a result, the original plan was radically revised. It was decided that it was not worth increasing the tax burden on oil and gas producing companies that are in the sphere of interests of Igor Kolomoisky. But now it is planned to collect 8% of the cost of iron ore mined in the country into the treasury, which will primarily hit the companies of Rinat Akhmetov and Konstantin Zhevago. However, not only these oligarchs will suffer, but also the entire metallurgical industry of the country, which is already experiencing difficult times. As a result, the incomes of tens of thousands of people who are in one way or another connected with the production and sale of metal will be reduced.
So, dear Ukrainians, get ready to tighten your belts, because the war with the “vatniks and Colorados,” who were your fellow citizens at the beginning of the year, will be waged exclusively at your expense. At the same time, domestic politicians have completely forgotten the truth that “sheep must be sheared, not skinned.”
The leaders of the Maidan pay for their ambitions with people's money and the lives of ordinary guys, who are now being thrown into the furnace of war without counting. The only question is how long ordinary Ukrainians will be able to withstand such mockery of themselves, and what will happen when the people simply have nothing to pay their beloved authorities. Will people come out to mass protests that will overthrow the power of Messrs. Poroshenko and Co., or will the oligarchs be able to suppress popular unrest with the help of their “volunteer” battalions, simultaneously declaring all dissatisfied agents of the FSB and accomplices of terrorists?
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