How Corruption Guts Militaries

Ukrainian servicemen march away, after negotiations with Russian troops at the Belbek Sevastopol International Airport in the Crimea region March 4, 2014. Credit: Reuters/Vasily Fedosenko

How Corruption Guts Militaries: The Ukraine Case Study -- Sarah Chayes, Defense One

Here’s a contrast that sums up the David and Goliath aspect of the Ukraine crisis. Picture the sleek, white-hulled vessel Vladivostok, one of two Mistral class warships France is selling to Russia, and compare the bedraggled tents some Ukrainian soldiers sleep in with donations of food jumbled outside and rain-soaked blankets drying over a brushwood fire.

The Russian behemoth outmatches its smaller and weaker neighbor, intrinsically. But the gap did not have to be so stark. Nor did the task of confronting irregular separatist militias have to be so hard. At fault is what drove the Maidan protesters to the streets in the first place: corruption. Ukraine is a case study in one of the ways corruption threatens international security: it guts armies. It makes them useless for defending their borders and as allies. United States officials in their rush to aid the Ukrainian military should resist the temptation to turn a blind eye to lingering venality. Ukraine’s future depends on some tough love.

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My Comment: Ukraine produces some of the most impressive weapons in the world .... during the Soviet time the bulk of it's advanced aeronautical industry was in Ukraine ... that is why the contrast of today's Ukraine military is so shocking. But there is hope for the Ukraine armed forces .... case in point .... when the Soviet Union fell apart the Russian military became a victim of corruption and neglect (a friend of mine bought an army truck for about 20 cartons of Marlboro cigarettes). Today .... it is a different story.