comment: >
  
  Lol… The people keeping him in power will never allow it.
context: That may be tougher to win than Russia >
  
  Why do you think corruption becomes so embedded in societies? >
  
  Human nature. I would also imagine in a country where the bottom end is a pretty miserable existence, preventing yourself from ending up there with little to no consequences. Given your access and power also motivates you. >
  
  Not human nature, but a societal teaching of selfishness and survival of the fittest. If you can teach your society to be compassionate and selfless, then you can break that 'nature'. >
  
  Do you have an example of where that has been true? >
  
  We tend to think of societies as being “individualistic” or “collectivists” but, like all things, it’s not the binary we imagine but more of a sliding scale. Elinor Ostrom won a Nobel Prize in economics for her work studying the economic “sweet spot” between the two extremes. She wrote a book called Governing the Commons you might find interesting. The title is a riff on the title of the infamous “Tragedy of the Commons” article extolling the virtues of private ownership over public resources.
  To answer your question, Asian cultures tend to be more “collectivist”. Many Native American tribes were also culturally more collectivist than the US is today (which isn’t terribly difficult). Kids are also mostly collectivist, by default. Greed is learned. >
  
  All of those groups also had problems with greed.  That is a load of crap. >
  
  Relax, it’s not a slight on you. Notice the words “sliding scale”, “more collectivist” and “mostly”. We can recognize some cultures have less or more or different corruption without being personally offended. >
  
  My buddy grew up in Bosnia. He said you need to pay off cops when they pull you over or they are going to cause a huge problem for you even if you did nothing. Unfortunately in some places, this shit is endemic to their society. I hope Zlalensky has good intentions and I hope he can do something about it. >
  
  Why do you think in countries like Russia, every car has a dashcam?
  Both countries are extremely corrupt. Many countries are, and its a real brake on their development. The path to being g a wealthy nation always starts with rooting out corruption. >
  
  Or just play your society for fools. (Ala US government) >
  
  The amount of corruption in the us is much lower compared to third world countries. Definitely higher than western europe. You are manipulated by right wing media to hate the government >
  
  And you are a naive fool who trusts the very people that hate you. >
  
  Why would the government hate me?
  Trust isn't a binary value. It depends on the situation. You lump the US government, which has hundreds or departments and agencies, as well as millions of employees, into a single "corrupt" category. >
  
  The Pentagon didn't lose that money they can't account for it because of their computer system. How is this corruption? Anywhere from 0% to 100% could have been stolen but without further details an accusation is not possible 
  Wall street isn't the government
  Lobbying is bad
  Do you have evidence showing presidents earned more than a million while in office? Many elected officials were already wealthy as it often takes money to campaign.
  I said corruption wasn't as bad as certain countries, showing evidence of corruption doesn't change that point. You would need to show the corruption is worse than X >
  
  How do you know it was a simple computer glitch? 
  If a computer database contains all the records of financial transactions or maybe where items went and that database was wiped it would cause all the records to be lost. It doesn't matter if it's  your bank account with $3000 of transactions or the Pentagon's $1t. Why do you think the amount matters?
  ‐------------
  According to the page you provided, for most recent presidents, money comes from one or more of the following- speaking engagements, books, and other promotional activities 
  For example Bush:
  "much of that income came from the lucrative post-presidency speaking circuit. Bush gave at least 200 speeches for six-figure fees between 2009-2015 alone, according to Politico."
  How is this corrupt? >
  
  I'm not going to blame Zelensky for the corruption. His own tv show was about how absurd the corruption was and he got elected as a protest candidate. >
  
  Thank you!
  However corruption is what stonewalls him, I'm glad this war is letting him weed out at least some of it >
  
  As much as I like zelensky, ill believe it when I see it >
  
  It's weird when the Russian trolls comment things like "Why do you support them? Ukraine is one the most currupt countries!". Like ok so? I'm not rooting against Russia because they're currupt, I'm rooting against Russia because they're launching a massive land assault against a sovereign country lol. I couldnt give two shits about Ukraine's political issues. >
  
  They even claim that Ukraine is a Nazi country because of the Azov battalion, when in reality, they only are a very small percentage in Ukraine’s political sphere, and that it is hypocrisy because the Kremlin itself supports Neo-nazi groups in Russia. Plus, Russia itself is massively corrupt. The country is literally a mafia, petro kleptocracy controlled by powerful oligarchs that steal from the Russian people. 
  Russia is so corrupt, that is literally exports corruption and disinformation by taking advantage of loopholes in western political systems. >
  
  Nazism is a literal crime in Russia whilst Ukraine consistently protects their Nazi history with legislation. To draw a parallel between these two attitudes is brain damage >
  
  Nazism does not have the same definition in Russia as it does in the rest of the world. >
  
  It'll be interesting to see what happens to Poroshenko after this war. >
  
  Of course Ukraine has corruption. I live in Canada, I love Canada, but Canada has corruption. I doubt there are many places in the world that don't have corruption; people fucking suck.
  It's just, I kinda feel like maybe the country of Ukraine has bigger fish to fry at the moment..... >
  
  Yeah, everywhere has corruption. But some places have more corruption than others. And Ukraine is a country that has suffered a staggering amount of corruption for decades. Much of the reason why Zelensky won his election is because he specifically ran on a campaign promising to end corruption, among other things.
  It might actually be easier to root out that corruption now than after the war. Drastic measures that remove corrupt individuals are probably much easier to do during drastic times rather than in peacetime. >
  
  The EU could probably give some assistance in removing corruption by giving advice on how to root it out, money to fund welfare programs that provide everyday Ukrainians with some resources (though keeping a close eye on how that money is spent and where it’s sent), and give any intelligence regarding certain institutions and individuals practicing corrupt methods. >
  
  It will be so fascinating if Ukraine succeeds bc the entire West benefits greatly from a stabilized and wealthy and secure Ukraine, pumping in fuel and grain. >
  
  And for security. Ukraine is now a competent, highly-adaptable, and battle-hardened military power that now is has access to and is interoperable with advanced Western equipment. As a result, it provides the west with a powerful buffer against Russia, and a warning to those trying to destabilize the European security architecture. >
  
  Eh...Zelensky ran his presidential campaign largely on an anti corruption platform.  His abysmally low approval ratings before the war started largely reflect his failure to make good on those promises.
  Later revelations like those from the Panama papers call into serious question whether he was even sincere with those promises in the first place.  For as effective as he is now as wartime cheerleader for his nation, he was just as ineffective before that as a peaceime administrator. >
  
  Not sure what youre saying, bht President Lincoln had low public opinion, but how he presided over the country during some of the worst times in the nation's history made him one of the best presidential. Zelensky will probably go down in ukraines history as one of the greatest modern leaders. >
  
  Mkay >
  
  Ha good one >
  
  You cant drive from Lviv to Kiev without finding yourself a little lighter in your wallet. Especially if you're moving weapons. Doesn't matter how many fancy papers the government gives you. It's a pretty major issue out there, but I've been told it's improved since mid 2022 >
  
  
  Especially if you're moving weapons.
  
  Where the hell does that come from? Personal experience? I haven't heard of people needing to pay bribes on highways since forever >
  
  Fighting the Russians comes as naturally as corruption sadly. It's a very old disease and it's not going away anytime soon. >
  
  I liked the other recommendation in here. Convince people through propaganda that participating in corrupt activities is a Russian behavior. It won't solve the problem, but I bet it'll help. >
  
  What’s great about this is, is this is also the main storyline of his TV show. >
  
  Wasn't that a primary promise for his first election? >
  
  Oh so now we're allowed to say this again? >
  
  I'd mention that the article making the rounds is from several years before Zelensky was elected to office.  Currently, it's sitting around where Mexico is in terms of corruption.
  And granted, even if he was entirely incorruptible, (Which he is almost certainly not) a top down effort can only do so much.
  Though, of course, Ukraine is still doing better on the CPI than Russia. >
  
  Though, hopefully, he won't just use this as a cudgel against his political opponents. >
  
  I wonder if there is  any Government without corruption. >
  
  There isn’t, the amount differs greatly though. >
  
  Huge difference between the most corrupt and least corrupt, corruption being endemic versus hardly in existence. >
  
  That’s like police departments investigating themselves and finding no wrong doing >
  
  Maybe Zelensky will be the man we all hope he is. >
  
  I think, realistically, it doesn't matter who Zelensky is. If he has a bunch of corrupt people in various positions, he could be Jesus himself but corruption is something that takes a hell of a long time to root out, and it's often cultural.
  When people accept that politicians are corrupt, always have been corrupted, then they also accept that they always will be corrupt and this apathy enables corrupt politicians to keep getting elected because people genuinely do not believe in a less corrupt society
  You see this in tons of countries, including the US, and even if we assume Zelensky is completely genuine in his desire to fight corruption I'd wager Ukraine is decades away from any sort of results on that. You'd have to battle the mechanisms by which corrupt people end up in the positions they are, foster a culture of holding corrupt people responsible for what they do, strong laws aimed at preventing corruptions and courts actually willing to prosecute. >
  
  I think Ukrainian supporters are going to be "disappointed" in Ukraine when the war ends and Ukraine still has a lot of corruption. >
  
  Are you telling me that the eastern backwater countries are corrupt while the 'plentiful' west is not? Because Ukraine will continue to struggle with corruption for the resr of its life just like every other country in the world. Nobody is out of the woods. Some have just gotten better at dressing it up as lobbying. >
  
  No I didn't say that.  I never actually said anything about the west.  Maybe you're replying to the wrong comment?
  Anyway, the west has plenty of corruption, but it's not as widespread as in Ukraine.  And before I get a shit ton of pushback, my aunt is Ukrainian and told me about the kind of corruption going on there.  Yes there is corruption in the US, but I never once have had to bribe an official to get something accomplished.  She had to bribe her university just to get her transcripts sent over.  It's systematic over there. >
  
  I am from the Balkans living in the west so I need no 3rd parties to tell me how corruption manifests in different systems. 
  In the west, we don't bribe officials to get something. We can't, because this is not the type of corruption that is operational here. In the west corruption only happens at the highest levels, with the big fish, and the exchange is policy or tenders for money. And we feel the effects of that corruption on our back every year more. >
  
  Actually by almost all metrics RUSSIA is easily ahead of Ukraine in terms of Corruption. It's just not entirely "european" >
  
  Yes, true. The article even says most corrupt after Russia >
  
  I'll bet if anything comes of it he'll be getting tanks. >
  
  Maybe ukraine can overhaul their government which is infested by corruption by riding the wave of nationalism caused by this war. Idk, it is possible >
  
  Swiftly confront himself? >
  
  Luckily Ukraine doesn't have a long and detailed history of corruption with now untold millions of dollars circulating. Should be an easy fix for old zelly. >
  
  If the will to fight corruption is there (and for Ukraine it is) then you'll usually see a country move pretty quickly at least into the middle level. Armenia is a good example of this despite being in a region with much more corrupt neighbors (with the exception of Georgia):
  
  Since 2018, Armenia has recorded significant progress in fighting corruption. In 2021, Armenia ranked 58th out of 180 countries in the Corruption Perception Index (CPI)...To see how corruption in Armenia has declined, the country ranked 60th in the previous CPI, which was released in 2020. It was ranked 77th in 2019 and 105th in 2018.
  
  I assume Ukraine won't take too long to move up from its current 122 (Russia is 136 and that was before the war) to somewhere in the 80s or 70s (North Macedonia to Bulgaria level). >
  
  That is crucial, since it's a main condition to join both - NATO and EU. >
  
  self reporting. >
  
  He is part of it. >
  
  We are funding that corruption. >
  
  Yeeeeaaaaahhh rriiiiigghhhhttt >
  
  Everyone has corruption, as long as something is being done to combat it that's all I want. >
  
  Unless it is confronted and eliminated Ukraine will never be able to join the EU or likely NATO. It's just incompatible with participation in western society. >
  
  A lot of people forget or don’t know that Ukraine was not allowed to join NATO with corruption being knew of the main reasons.
  Edit: the other main reason was the border dispute with Russia.  Countries can’t join NATO if they have a border dispute or are currently in a war. >
  
  A lot will change once Russia is purged from its borders., >
  
  Hopefully Putin dies soon so the war can end and EU will start pumping money into Ukraine with "anti corruption" strings attached. >
  
  He can't and won't fight corruption. Cus he is the head of it >
  
  Ukraine's endemic corruption is a direct result of their Russian and Soviet influence. You kick Russia out and then you have a chance to finally get it under control. There is plenty of corruption in Western countries too but a free press will be able to bring any instances to light. >
  
  Zelenskiy is a solid leader and really cares about his country. Sometimes, you have to reflect and have hard conversations. He knows Ukraine isn't perfect and is willing to address corruption issues. Most presidents would sweep it under the rug. >
  
  In this thread, a bunch of edgy teens thinking everything is always corrupt. Not everything is corrupt kids. Do politicians act in their own interest? Absolutely, and that's what they should do. It's in their interest to be and stay elected and they do that by getting votes and they get votes by doing what the people want. >
  
  good to know they never need money to do this! >
  
  Sure >
  
  Cut out the rot big man 💪 >
  
  He is the king of corrupt >
  
  Yeah right, Without corruption,  Ukraine is broke.