Ukraine?s current president, in an attempt to derail the Klitschko Express, has signed a new law into effect known as the ?Klitschko amendments?…
?The most dangerous man to any government is the man who is able to think things out.??H.L. Mencken
When America has a president who was born in Kenya and a future presidential candidate who was born in Canada, one would think that geography has nothing to do with residency laws and presidential ambition. But the case of reigning WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko, who plans to run for president of Ukraine in 2015, suggests otherwise.
Ukraine?s current president, Viktor Yanukovich, in an attempt to derail the Klitschko Express, has signed a new law into effect, known affectionately or derisively as the ?Klitschko amendments,? to keep Vitali in Germany where Yanukovich insists he lives and should remain.
Using the tax code as barbed wire, the amendments, which were passed by parliament last month, read, ?If a person has the right to permanent residence in a foreign country, such a person is considered to be one who does not live in Ukraine.? The reasoning, such as it is, is that anyone who pays taxes abroad is a foreigner and cannot claim Ukrainian residency.
That is laughable, made even more laughable by the fact that Yanukovich, of all people, signed it into law. His last serious competitor for the presidency, former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, is serving seven years in jail for abuse of power, in what many believe are trumped up charges.
In addition, Yanukovich?s reign has been plagued by scandal of its own.
Yanukovych lives on a private estate known as The Mezhyhirya, a $100 million, five-storey palace of log and stone nestling on the banks of the river Dnieper. It sits on 340 acres and is believed to be the largest wooden structure ever built. It has a private zoo; a private yacht club; a private riding club; a helicopter pad and hangar; an indoor theater, bowling alley, and shooting range; a private 18-hole golf course (estimated to cost between $2-3 million); and a garage complex for the president?s collection of 70 cars.
There may be a grain of truth to the yuppie mantra, ?Living well is the best revenge,? but it?s not the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
When Klitschko speaks about fighting corruption in Ukraine, Yanukovich?s holdings are some of what he has in mind. No wonder the current president of Ukraine is running scared.
