Share |

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Herman Prescribes Mopeds for Gov’t (‘Ugh,’ Not for Hers)

Talk is cheap.



Deputy Chief of Staff Hanna Herman: And the government in Ukraine — in a poor country like this — has to use mopeds. And that will be right.
Host: And what will Azarov use?

Herman: Ughhhhh...iiiiit's...I think that the premierrrrr caaaaan walk on foot if he lives nearby. He can use a bike, for example. I once was witness to the defense minister of Poland, uh, coming to work on a bicycle, uh, and, you know, he had this peg on...on his pants so he wouldn’t touch the chain. I think the government in a poor country, uh, has to behave modestly, aaaaand I think that we all understand this and we all will be thinking about it, thinking at least.


Let’s think about it.


Ready...


Set...


Go!

Video uploaded from: http://censor.net.ua/go/offer/ResourceID/152877.html
Original source: http://5.ua

5 comments:

akarlin said...

You're too quick to condemn, I think. This sounds like a laudable contribution to making culture change. Having politicians walk or use bicycles or mopeds is an excellent way to draw people away from consumerism, materialism, and ecological destruction.

mathilde said...

About Anna German... she told me before the second round that if Ianoukovitch becomes president, she'll "resign" from his team, and restarts her journalistic's carrer ( she used to work for Radio Svoboda I guess) : "to criticize him freely "...


HA HA HA !!

Unknown said...

In Hungary some politicians really ride bicycle or run but I don't think that they do so for economic reasons. :D However most of them use cars like Audi or BMW.

Taras said...

Anatoly,

You can be sure this government won’t switch to cheaper cars, much less to bicycles:)

As you can see, Herman didn’t quite expect the reporter to challenge her government to practice what she preaches. It’s the same old “do as I say, not as I do” chutzpah culture. This culture runs deep in post-Soviet elites and doesn’t expect to be challenged.

While in the opposition, Herman rightfully accused the Oranges of cronyism. Now that she became deputy chief of staff, she made her son deputy minister of emergency management.

I can imagine Herman borrowing that bicycle for a couple of publicity stunts. But I’ll eat my hat if I see Azarov or Yanukovych (or Tymoshenko, for that matter) switch to bicycles.


Mathilde,

Obviously, Yanukovych made her an offer she couldn’t resist:)


Ropi,

Do you still make those Ikarus buses? Maybe we could borrow one for our government?:)

Unknown said...

Yes, we have Ikarus buses still. Moreover a Hungarian company made a modern bus last year.