Ukrainian tennis star Sergiy Stakhovsky weighs in on crisis with a Sports Illustrated interview

[MysticHuman]

A great article by Ukrainian tennis star Sergiy Stakhovsky about the situation in Ukraine. Well worth the read....

"I wish people would understand that my country stood up not because of a European Union agreement but because we couldn't take it anymore, especially the corruption in every level of government -- judges, police, lawmakers. Consider this: The former chief of police is said to have issued plastic business cards with the flag of Ukraine on one side and his contact details on the other. He was selling these cards for $2,000 each and 1,000 were made. During a police stop, you would just show this card and they would let you go no matter what rule you had violated."

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/tennis/news/20140304/sergiy-stakhovsky-ukraine/#ixzz2v2EkHJY1

[jberryhill]

1. Did they have a picture of him without a shirt?

Like in a Speedo?

[MysticHuman]

2. :-)

[steve2470]

3. or on a grizzly bear ?

[NaturalHigh]

4. I see what you did there!

[NaturalHigh]

5. I'd like to get one of those cards for hometown.

I'd pay 2 grand for a perpetual free pass.

[MysticHuman]

6. Yes....

I am sure a lot of people would take advantage of that!

But rest assured we have plenty of wealthy citizens who buy their way out of trouble.

I once had a regional sales manager who got stopped for DUI. He refused the breathalizer which in Michigan means you "Automatically" lose your license for 6 months. When he talked to an attorney the next day he told the attorney that losing his license was not an option. The attorney said he could get charges dropped but it would "cost" him. I don't know how much money he paid but all charges were somehow dropped. Rumors were he forked out 10 to 20 k. This was in the early 80s.

[JI7]

7. what i notice is those who have a hard time believing people would protest and oppose

the corruption in places like ukraine are often ones who think the US is so bad that people should be out in the streets.

[MysticHuman]

8. Yep....

To a great degree you are correct. I hadn't thought of that perspective...

[JI7]

9. maybe he should tune in to RT to find out what is really going on in his country