FIGHT

The UkrainieRSOVIET RULES KILL BUSSINES

DEATHLY MOD-ERN PATTERN

GLASS AS A STYLE OF LIFE

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UKRAINE’S ON FINANCIAL AND INFORMATION HIV\AIDS FIGHT

SOME STILL IS MORE AMBITIOUSTHAN OTHERS.

The UkraineRDecember 20, 2009

TOP of THE WEEKTHE ISSUE

7 Christmas in Ukraine By Anna Poludenko9 Sip, sip, Government Hikes Cognac Tax By Anna Poludenko10 Deathly Modern Pattern By Anna Poludenko14 Ukraine’s on Finan- cial Fight against HIV By Anna Poludenko 18 Glass as a style of Life By Anna Poludenko20 Fair Products Might Soon Come to Ukraine By Anna Poludenko

By

Vir

a P

idga

ina

Greetings! This is my first editorial as an Editor-in-Chief of The UkrainieR maga-zine. Many of you may know me from previous years working as a freelancer for the Kyiv Post and SOP newspapers. I have now started this new task and challenge with great enthusiasm. I am also grateful for the supporting team of colleagues a photographer Vira Pidgaina and design adviser Olena Kutovenko. Many times the most ordinary things present us with the most extraor-dinary moments I hope that this magazine will be another such ordi-nary thing for you. With sleeves rolled up for a long and steady task I started my work. As the magazine is intended for its readers, I encourage you to submit any type of feedback and suggestions for improvement of The Ukraini-eR. The UkrainieR always with you – be confident – be informed.

Anna Poludenko, Editor.

3

Briefing

The Past and Present MomentsUkraine’s main Christ-mas tree was lit on Independence Square in Kyiv on Saint Nicholas Day, Dec. 19.President of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko partici-pated in the Christmas tree lighting ceremony, the main information policy service of the Presidential Secretariat has reported. In his con-gratulatory speech, the Head of State wished prosperity and success

to the Ukrainian state. Besides, the event was attended by Kyiv Mayor Leonid Chernovetsky who has also con-gratulated Kyiv guests and residents with the holiday. This year’s tree will be ‘alive.’ It will be 35 me-ters high. Around 450-500 small fir trees are to be fitted to a 20-tonne metallic tree skeleton. But the preparations for the event brought many

unexpected surprises. Wet, froze and angry decorators of the grand Ukrainian Christmas Tree worked no matter on high levels of snow all over the city – tradi-tions demand respect and a little bit of suffer. “Money I’ll get for this job is nothing comparing at least with how much tea I’ll need to during to warm up afterwards”, - says Myhailo Bandur, one of the decorators.

Massive snowfalls at the beginning of the week clogged up roads of the capital for days. The snowfall is one of worst in some Southern and East-ern regions of the country in history.Kyiv’s biggest Christmas tree shines like never be-fore this year as a spe-cially-designed software, with an advanced LED system of lights spanning more than 5km in length, has been produced just for this occasion! Everyone in the city will catch sight of itBy ANNA POLUDENKO

By Vira Pidgaina

4

Briefing

Ukrainian steel industry decline still slowing

The Ukrainian Steel Disease

tling at 2.17 million tons which would be 9% higher than Janu-ary 2009. The current output may decline by about 37.5% settling at 1.82 million tons which marks an increase of 10.9% as compared to January 2009. Steel mills of Ukraine were expected to ex-port 19,000,000 tons of steel during 2009. This export volume was 26.8 million tons in 2007. It is expected that approxi-mately 8,000,000 tons of steel shall be sold in Ukraine itself. The steel industry of the country is expected to have closed 2008 at 10% profit margin. In the first of the year, the margins were very high but due to global economy slowdown, they started to decline specially in the fourth quarter of the year. At that time, the loss of the industry is said to have grown as much as UAH 3.5 billion where as loss margin by 15.5 percent. INF\FT

Ukrainian steel makers in 2009 on average were loss making and broke even in June – for the first time since Sum-mer’08. According to Metallurgprom associa-tion. National steel indus-try reduced finished roll output 18% year-on-year in January-November to 24.417 million tonnes. The industry cut roll output 30% year-on-year in January-August, 27% in January-September and 23% in January-Oc-tober, so the latest figures indicate that the severe decline in the industry is still slowing.Crude steel production plummeted 23% in the 11 months to 27.008 mil-lion tonnes and pig iron fell 20% to 23.32 million tonnes.The country produced 1.458 million tonnes of steel pipes, down 35% year-on-year.Analysts have said that steel output may decline in the end of February 2000 9 x 37.8% set-

The number of private broad-band Internet users in Ukraine at the end of 2009 has reached 1.8 million persons, having in-creased from second qaurter, 2009 by 11%, according to a report on the results of the investigation of the iKS-Consulting analysts.

PERSPECTIVES

BY THE NUMBERS

2.05 million the total number of high-speed Internet users in Ukraine.

539 million Hr., reached revenues from the broadband Internet services in Ukraine.

8.04 million is a total number of Internet users in Ukraine.

5

BriefingA Refuse cost $2bnThe International Monetary Fund (IMF) has turned down Ukraine`s plea for a $2bn emergency loan before next year, a senior Ukrainian of-ficial said yesterday, citing his country`s failure to adopt a fiscally prudent 2010 budget and muster political consensus before the presidential elec-tion, according to FT.Earlier Ukraine has made an urgent appeal to IMF for money to ease ‘an extremely difficult situation’ in meeting its external financial obliga-tions and to avoid the danger of a ‘spill-over effect’ on other economically vulnerable states.

The Head of the IMF European Department Ceyla Pazarbasioglu

The IMF said it was “con-tinuing discussions” with Ukraine`s authorities, adding that -further support could “go forward” after “broad political support” was demonstrated. It provided $11bn in aid this year to keep Kiev financially afloat amid a 15 per cent drop in gross domestic product, but froze assistance in November because of lack of reform and political infighting.The IMF halted a $3.8 bil-lion portion of its bailout loan to Ukraine in October and demanded that the country’s leadership resolve its budget crisis before the funds would be released. (Unian\FT\Pol)

Holodomor Victims Commemoration at the Holodomor Memorial in Kyiv

Iosif Stalin is one of the main accused on the criminal case on geno-cide of the Ukrainian people in 1932-1933. The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) passed this criminal case to the General Prosecutor’s Office. SBU chairman Valen-tyn Nalyvaychenko said this on the air of 5 Kanal. Other high officials of the former USSR and Soviet Ukraine are also involved in the case on Holodomor (the Great

Famine). Investigation of the criminal case on the fact of Holodomor was started on beginning of May 2009. Since this time investigators have collected three thou-sand and a half docu-ments, found 857 burial places and interviewed two thousand witnesses of Holodomor. They also determined orga-nizers and executors of the crime. Now the case is to be passed to court.The Holodomor issue receives special atten-

tion since the Viktor Yushchenko presidency. He made an idea of letting the world know the truth about events in Ukraine in 1932-1933 one the leading one dur-ing his presidency. He often stresses that Ho-lodomor was not simply a policy but a crime against the Ukrainian nation. The Commu-nist regime was trying to apply best efforts to deprive the Ukrai-nian nation of its future, Yushchenko said. UN\DW

Named the accused of Holodomor

WORTH YOUR TIME

Low-cost airlines in Ukraine Any Volunteers?The first low-cost airline service in Ukraine doesn’t fly any more. The Ukrtatnafta company has stopped supplying aviation fuel to the Wizz Air group of companies and stopped fuelling its airplanes. The press service of Ukrtat-nafta announced this in a statement. According to the press service, this deci-sion was prompted by the unacceptable and inadequate behavior of employees of Wizz Air in relation to passengers at the Luton airport (London).There other competitors ready ready to

work on Ukrainian market. German-wings is among them. It offers Kyiv-Berlin and Kyiv-Koln flights starting at 19 Euro. The company does not launch domestic flights in Ukraine.“We are for now just trying to get used to the market,” said the press service.Next in line is Air Arabia which plans to launch a subsidiary offering services in Ukraine. Air Arabia hopes to launch domestic flights in Ukraine this year, but will first, by autumn, offer low-cost flights between Kyiv and Sharjah, an airport 20 minutes from Dubai. The cost of a one-way ticket is expected to be $200, three times less than current.

6

Briefi ng

A Brief Story Of:Christmas in Ukraine

Christmas is celebrated in many countries in different ways and at different days, depending on the religion that people belong to. For Catholics, this holiday is on the 25th of December, while for Orthodoxes it comes on the 7th of January. It is not true that everything old goes away with the year that has passed. Christmas traditions of Ukrainians are a great mixture of prefathers’ beliefs and customs with modern ways of celebrating.According to the history of the country, there are some cultural differences between the eastern and western parts of Ukraine. This is why mostly people talk about Christmas traditions of central Ukraine as a pattern.The 6th of January is a very hard day. Most people get up early in the morning and start cleaning and cooking. Why cleaning? Because Christmas means helping to destroy everything bad that is in the life. That means to start with forgetting old offenses and throwing away all the garbage from the garage and “secret” table shelves. Now cooking, but what? Christmas has some special cooking rules. The meal is traditionally meatless, milk-free and features fi sh. The menus may vary, but the necessary part is

“Kutia.” It is a dish of honey, poppy seeds and wheat kernels boiled in pure rainwater. Food is one of the aspects of culture that endures the longest. You don’t have to speak Ukrainian to eat holubtsi (cabbage rolls) and pyrohy (dumplings).As soon as the fi rst star appears, everything must be ready. That is a symbol of the holiday start - no-body should work than. Evening on January 6th is called Holly Eve (Svjtui vechir). It begins

with the lighting of candles. After a carol and the Lord’s prayer, the kutia is passed and everyone takes a spoonful, but nobody eats yet. The head of the family raises his spoon-ful and greets the family with the words “Christ is born”. The family answers “Glory, praise him!” This is a signal to start the meal. This evening, children go from house to house singing Christmas carols. While singing, they “sow” on the porch different seeds. This is how children greet people, wishing them wealth, happiness and a good har-vest for the next year. Later people start Christmas festi-vals. By ANNA POLUDENKO

You don’t have to speak Ukrai-

nian to eat holubtsi (cabbage

rolls) and pyrohy (dumplings).

Book as a Present

AShort History of Tractor in Ukrainian Two sisters who don’t get along join together to rescue their elderly and newly widowed father a Ukrainian immigrant announces his intention to remarry. His signifi cant other become a Ukrainian gold-digger who is 50 years his junior with a proclivity for green satin under-wear and an appetite for the good life of the West. Thus his daughters must set aside their longtime feud to thwart their father. In doing so, they learn about their parents’ past in Ukraine and come to understand why they’re so different from each other. A well-told, humorous story and a good read. A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian combines sex, bitchiness, wit, and genuine warmth in its celebration of the pleasure of growing old disgracefully.

Festive Ukrainian Cooking The receipts follow the usual Festive calendar--Easter, Christmas and various saints’ days. In this book old rural food secrets coexist with modern inventions. The foods, like the traditions, are hearty: cabbage rolls meat-fi lled; borschsic , meat stuffed in casings or covered with aspic; numerous sweet or savory breads, rolls, dumplings, fritters and many more easy to cook tasty to eat. BY ANNA POLUDENKO

7

Business\Society

Ukraine’s HIV/AIDS epi-demic is a threat to Europe,

experts said, and the government is failing to curb its growth rate, the highest in Europe. The disease’s growth rate, which is the highest in Europe.About 1.63 percent of Ukraini-ans, or about 756,300 citizens, were estimated to be living with HIV/AIDS in 2007, up from 1.46 percent of the population in 2005, or 685,600 citizens, ac-cording to UNAIDS. The statis-tics only refl ect offi cial cases, while those infected is likely higher, offi cials said.“The current efforts of national and local authorities, the public and donors to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS have failed to have a due impact on the epidemic,” said UN Resident Coordinator in Ukraine Francis O’Donnell.In particular, the government’s 2004-2008 program to combat HIV/AIDS had grave shortcom-ings and failing results, accord-ing to an audit sponsored by the National Coordination Council for HIV/AIDS (NCC), in coop-eration with the UN, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tubercu-losis and Malaria and the US government. “Although all the necessary ele-ments were present in the 2004-2008 program, its scale was not large enough,” said Anna Shakarishvili, the coordinator of UNAIDS Ukraine.“Statistics clearly show that even though really large sums of money were given by inter-national sources for HIV/AIDS prevention, they were being used spottily.”For example, the government program focused its efforts and resources on the Ukrainian regions known to have the high-est HIV rates, including Odesa,

Ukraine’s on Financial and Infromation Fight Against HIV

8

20042008 program about $150 million, the largest grant given to an Eastern European country.With these funds, the government led HIV prevention campaigns among high risk groups by of-fering them information, clean syringes, condoms, specialized therapy and prevention programs for children.Among its other initiatives, the Ukrainian government is estab-lishing Social Service Centers for Family, Children and Youth in HIV/AIDS Prevention, in-troducing prevention practices, distributing condoms and other supplies, and conducting lessons on HIV prevention in secondary school courses to increase aware-ness, Shakarishvili said.A network of call centers of-fer HIV/AIDS patients advice and counseling through a “trust phone” hotline established in June 2002.

The majority of call-

ers are younger than

25 years old, said a

call center operator

Rinat.

“They may start asking very simple questions such as, ‘How long have I already been work-ing,’ or ‘Until what time they can call,’ only later revealing that it has already been several years they have been living with HIV and are now experiencing serious psychological problems,” Rinat said, adding that a typical oblast call center gets 250 calls per month.Ukrainians usually don’t take their own initiative to get tested for HIV, and women often only fi nd out they are HIVpositive when they become pregnant.

Kherson, Mykolayiv, Donetsk, Kyiv and Crimea, while leaving other regions with few resources, said Olena Banash, the vice man-ager of the Chemical Dependence and AIDS Profi ciency Fund.In fact, as many as 36 proj-ects were concentrated in these regions alone, using 30 percent of the total HIV/AIDS funding, Shakarishvili said.“In the western regions, it often happens that there is just one ded-icated expert for several oblasts,” Banash said.Donations, from both government and nongovernment sources, totaled more than $255 million to fund HIV/AIDS programs between 2004 and 2008, Shakar-ishvili said.In order for the government’s 2008-2013 program to combat HIV/AIDS to work effectively, it has to have a bigger scale, bet-ter quality HIV/AIDS treatment services and a system of quality monitoring, the audit said.If the new program does not work out, those infected with HIV/AIDS will continue to increase and potentially cause anywhere between 43,400 to 95,000 deaths in 2010, Ukraine’s Ministry of Health Defense said.Poor management of HIV/AIDS funds, and possible corruption, is a factor in Ukraine’s inability to control its HIV/AIDS epidemic.In the past four years, several nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) suspended major grants because of their dissatisfaction with government management of programs.Despite the problems, interna-tional organizations remained patient with Ukrainian authorities and maintained fi nancing.In the same year after its grant withdrawal, the Global Fund gave the Ukrainian government’s

Business\Society

Ukraine’s on Financial and Infromation Fight Against HIV

9

The Curious Bussines

Soviet Rules Kill Bussines

Eager to capitalize on the Euro 2012 soccer tournament by opening up a small motel? Well, then you better plan on providing guests with a water pitcher and installing state radio in each room, just two of many bureau-

cratic requirements inherited from archaic Soviet days.

The entrepreneurial experience in Ukraine remains silly and painful.At a recient forum in Kyiv between government and business, President Viktor Yushchenko called for urgent action.But weary business owners, who in surveys cite excessive tax burdens as their top complaint, have heard this talk before from the nation’s leaders.And nothing seems to change.“Everything is just as it was,” said Ihor Malyi, head of an alloy plant in Severedonetsk. “Nothing has been done in recent years. I don’t know how they can talk about attracting foreign investors for the Euro 2012 championship projects if they can’t provide basic support for our own national businesses, or, beg my pardon, if not sup-port, at least they should get out of the way.”There are some 16,000 stan-dard rules and guidelines that were adopted from Soviet days, from rules for build-ings and food production to transportation and practically everything else.Today these regulations are officially referred to as the Ukrainian State Standard. Heavily outdated and backwards, they have yet to be replaced with new business-friendly rules. Lawmakers, experts say, are simply too busy lobbying personal interests or are locked up in political bickering to get rid of these Soviet rules, responsible for slowing overall business growth.These bureaucratic rules form the foundation for much of the red tape that hampers swift growth of small- and medium-sized enterprises that could shift Ukraine’s economy into higher gear and spread wealth through the creation of a larger middle class. Instead, many entrepreneurs are left paying bribes to

get out of meeting the Soviet standards that continue to regulate the business climate, experts say.Some 70 percent of businesses named Ukraine’s tax system as their main woe in a survey sponsored by the International Finance Corporation, a Washington, D.C.-based organization that finances business devel-opment through loans.More often than not, businesses find it simpler, faster and less expensive to pay a bribe to inspectors than to engage in the struggle needed to meet all require-ments.Most disheartening is the feeling that there is no

relief in sight, said Serhiy Davydov, head of a business advocacy group in the east-ern city of Luhansk. “Gov-ernment lives a life of its own. Business is by itself,” Davydov said.Some businessmen, such as Malyi, complained that taxes are no less burdensome than in the past. Current rules en-vision that businesses should be warned about inspections by tax authorities, sanitation offices and other agencies, and that checks should last

no more than two days.“In reality, such visits are often a surprise and last, on average, two weeks or more,” Malyi said, referring to de facto shakedowns by inspectors eager to stuff their pockets with bribes.While businesses have the legal right to refuse entry for inspectors, they often settle, fearing retaliation and a costly legal battle through Ukraine’s corrupt and unpredictable court system.“Who will dare? It is easier to give a bribe now and work successfully for the rest of the few months, until the next inspection visit,” said a Vynnytsya pro-duce entrepreneur.BY ANNA POLUDENKO\KP

Soviet style hotels are still common in Ukraine

10

The Trade Market

Most important is to protect pro-

ducers and make it impossible

for the industry’s black market

to grow

Sip, Sip, Government Hikes Cognac TaxAmong the industries already affected by Ukraine’s World Trade Organization entry are cognac producers, who were dealt a 43 percent tax hike.

To a 43 percent excise tax hike as the new government led by Yulia Tymoshenko strove to conform with WTO and EU tax rates. Now cognac producers pay Hr 10 per liter of spirit produced.“With the changes going into ef-fect, we demonstrated conformity to the norms of EU directives,” said Hryhoriy Synytsia, chair of the excise tax department at the State Tax Administration, pointing out that taxes are still lower than those in the EU.Ukraine’s cognac producers fear the new taxes will threaten their industry, stifle investment and in-novation, and rejuvenate a black market, said Volodymyr Dem-chak, director of the Association of Wholesalers and Producers of Alcohol and Tobacco (SOVAT).Prior to the increase, Ukraine’s

cognac industry doubled its production in the last two years, according to SOVAT, and exports increased 37 percent.The tax hike has already led to boosted retail prices, declining sales and accumulating bottles on store shelves, Demchak said.“A month’s production stock was left in warehouses, since the con-sumer is not ready to buy products at the new price,” he said. “This happened for the first time in many years.”

“With the aim of getting ready

for EU membership, it is neces-

sary to establish excise taxes on

alcoholic beverages while taking

national interests into account”

-Hryhoriy Synytsia, chair of the excise tax department at the State Tax Administration

The higher taxes coincide with across-the-board inflation, spe-cifically higher prices for raw materials, industry leaders said.“In recent years, enterprises invested into modernizing their equipment, technologies and expanding production sites,” said Andriy Okhlopkov, the chief manager of Soyuz-Viktan, adding that investment won’t be possible with the new challenges.Part of the problem is the tax hike happened abruptly and without warning, decided on Dec. 27 and instituted on Jan. 1, leaving com-panies unable to change already-signed trade deals.“A producer had to change his prices to include the tax’s ex-penses, but he could do that only after the tax law went into effect and all the contracts were already signed,” Demchak said.Another problem is a fierce black market for cognac that industry players must constantly fend off. Higher retail prices for cognac gives illegal producers an oppor-tunity to take advantage.“This will be a disaster, as every-thing that can be cognac-colored will be,” said Inna Gunchuk, chief accountant of the Symfer-opol Wine Enterprise. “This stuff will be bottled underground and get to the market, of course.”Cognac producers won’t be able to absorb the tax hikes through higher retail prices and some will simply stop producing, she said.The Administration doesn’t anticipate further tax hikes, but cognac producers claim that soon the tax will increase by an addi-tional 215 percent.BY ANNA POLUDENKO\KP

11

Life Affairs

Deathly Modern PatternThe Fashion Weeks cause many to speculate about what is fash-ionable and rarely ponder the question regarding body fashion.

Ukrainian models are scraw-ny but, for most European model agencies, they are too tall. Where is the border between a slim and a”gaunt, skinny frame? How long will emaciated models continue parading on runways in these small-sized fashions?”Modern demands on fash-ion models fly in the face of medical norms. The well-known formula 90-60-90 was discarded in the late 1990`s.” A new standard of beauty ap-peared. According to the new standard, the parameters of a model must be 80-58-86.” The largest modeling agen-cies look for models that fit this new formula. Such girls are called “size zero.”The transition to size zero has brought about many tragedies. Models have died of physical exhaustion and malnutrition. Two Latin-American models died of anorexia in 2006.”Brazilian model, Anna Caro-lina Reston, died in Novem-ber 2006. Her close friend said that for the last years of her life, the girl ate only apples and tomatoes. At the age of 21, her weight was 40 kilos.” Luisa Ramos from Uruguay starved to death six months ago. Her food allow-

ance contained salad leaves and dietetic drinks.”“Don`t fashion designers see the models who present their cloths on the stage?” wondered one Fashion TV audience member. Off the

using smaller patterns.”” Social groups around the world that stand for the women`s right to look healthy. Spanish special-ists were first to protest against the tendency of new body stan-dards-- standards that, several

While some with their small body sizes serve as cloth presenters the shop windows.

record, designers confess that it is just more comfortable for them to have such skinny models. “Clothes look better on skinny models,” one de-signer said candidly, “and it is easier to construct garments

years ago, would have been attributed to exhaustion.”The Spanish Minister of Health gathered together leaders from the large fashion houses.” The Minister explained to them that the size of clothes should

12

Life Affairs

reflect the real size of Span-ish women. “Normal Spanish women don`t have 36 or even 38 sizes, unless they are seri-ously ill”, said the minister. “According to the doctor`s re-port, 1-2% of world population suffers from anorexia.” Addi-tionally, fashion size discrepan-cies can increase indifference and cause depression.”Argentina selected other meth-ods to prevent the spread of an-orexia. They adopted a law that

tificate. “This new body fashion type continues to create many scan-dals. In Britain, for example, popular model Kate Moss sparked weight-loss frenzy among teens.” Young girls refused to eat. Many of them developed anorexia or bulimia. British authorities actively dis-cussed the tendency. As a re-sult, “unhealthy models” were not allowed to participate.”Later, the British Fashion

During a press conference in Milan, world famous designer Giorgio Armani declared, “The successful fashion world does not need models who suffer from anorexia. Models who are too skinny are unaccept-able; there is no luster in their eyes.””In 2006, Italian Fashion Chamber (Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana) and “Alta Roma” association signed a deal. According to their agree-

requires manufacturers of teen apparel to produce garments beginning with size 42.In Brazil, it is forbidden to display small-sized clothes in store windows. Models who take part in fashion shows are required to have a health cer-

Council rejected the restriction in favor of just suggesting that models should have a healthy look. As for Kate Moss, she tried to vindicate herself by claiming that she is naturally very skinny.”

Other with their even smaller sizes create both the body and cloth fashion.

ment, only models with a med-ical certificate will be engaged in fashion shows. As part of the agreement, fashion designers will limit their collections to sizes 40-42. By ANNA POLUDENKO

13

Opinion

XXI Century Fashion - Make YourselfEvery century creates its own style. The cleverest spend time inventing technical innovations – that was an honor-able hobby for the “peculiar people”. Those who did not follow the “fashion” were expelled from the tribes.

Anna Poludenko

The most ancient common-wealth – Egypt, had its own popular trends. All the people believed that if the bodies of the dead men were preserved, these men would live happily in the other world. It was very popular among Egyptians to build houses for mummies – pyramids.Those were known as eternal homes, while the houses they lived in dur-ing their lifetime were called temporary ones. Many people lived tjheir whole life in poverty, just to save money for their pyramids. That was the demand of the fashion the year 2700 B.C. Then The Middle Ages created a new mode.For example, the demand of the Teutons’ society was to do well with weaponry. They started to wear steel at early ages and gave it up only after death. All of their traditions were connected with this fashion. Even the bride prized

with this fashion. Even the bride prized her husband with spear before the wedding. The late middle Ages formed new people’s preferences. Now it was popular to study sci-ence, philosophy, and art. The main task for the artist of this time was to show humanity its vices without humiliating

the “God’s creation”. Most of the countries tried to reform their social order and abolish the serfdom– “because their neighbors do so!”The next period in the history of humanity demanded some-thing new. To know science was very important for every self-esteemed person. In general, people tried to read a lot and to be aware in many fields of inter-est, because to be well educated become popular. Among men appeared a new manner. To sing serenades under the balconies of their beloved women, but the

pick of craze was to be known as a “conqueror of the married ladies’ hearts”. The new times brought new trends. Now to be the knight of a woman’s heart was fashionable. To be cool those days meant to be bourgeois - to be busy with trades and producing goods. Money

became more popu-lar, and not only that, but gold and pos-

sessions also. To know banking was honorable. The richest women danced a lot and smartened themselves up.Later, we find ourselves in the XXI century. What we have to do now is recognize the fash-ion achievements of the previ-ous centuries, accept the best of what they had, mix it with the good things that are popular now and create a new “Fashion of the XXI century”. Without health problems connected with drugs, cigarettes, and being overweight. We have to form the mode of health, and respon-sibilityle for what we do.

We have to form

the mode of

health, and re-

sponsibilityle for

what we do.

By

Vir

a P

idga

ina

14

because

needing an

MRI is scary

enough.

The Infinion 1.5T by Philips is an high field MRI system that is designed to maximize both efficiency and the quality for your patient’s care. This system is one of the short-est and most open scanners available.

15

World Affair

Every generation and society dreams

about sky in its special way. Thirty years ago, every boy who lived in the USSR knew this: to make a space flight one must work very hard. This means to have ex-cellent marks at school, to go in for sports and be a good member of your society. Any loss would get the comment, “Now then, how can you even think about becoming an astro-naut?”Our present generation does not think about space as something too far or too unattainable. First reason is virtual world in which every-one can become the chief of a space ship and make a flight of their own-- any place, any time and for a low price.Secondly it is because children accept that they can make a real tour to space. All one needs for this is to be rich enough. Today everyone (who has enough money) can buy a ticket to the International Space Station. We have several examples of wealthy people without any spe-cial education or competitions who have taken flights to orbit.Dreams become a part of trade – International Space Station is turned into the most glamorous resort-place. The entire tour will cost approximately $20 million.Pioneers of space-tourism say that entertainment flights over the sky will be much cheaper in 2-3 years. A lift of 100 kilome-ters-- a three-minute flight and landing-- will cost $100 thou-sands.

Congress about regu-lating advertisements in space. Well-known brand names may soon cover the convoy of space ships. Five people have already had a tourist space-flight. Who knows? Maybe some of them were selecting a nice place out of Earth for their advertisements.The first space tour-ist was Denis Titio, a New Yorker. He made a flight in 2000 at the age of 60. The price of his trip was $20 mil-lion. He earned his first billion as a founder of Wilshere Associates, Inc. that specializes in consulting.The second tourist was Mark Shattlvort, born in South African

Republic. He now lives in London. He flew at the age of 29.George Olsen was the third tourist who bought a space tour. Born in the United States, he earned his first million in the scientific and IT-business

fields.Anyshe Ansary is an American but she has Iranian origin. The company of her parents invested in the program of spaceship creation. This is how she made up her mind to make a space flight. She is not only the first space-tourist woman. She was the one who led a blog of her own from the Space Station. Charles Simony, the 58-year-old US billionaire and co-founder of Microsoft, started the space trip on April 10, 2007.Would you like to be the next?

The only orbit tourist operator is Russian air-craft-space agency. A small network company: the main office of the Space Adventure Agency is in USA. They use Rus-sian technique bases and rockets. The agency initiates to build a spe-cial Cosmodome in Singapore. It will be equipped for tourist’s races launched from a pad of their own instead of the one they use today which belongs to Russia. That is business with its demand and sup-ply, consumers and infrastructure.What is a business without ad-vertisement? There is a bill in US

Fly to Space During the WeekendA ticket to the space with an discount for only $100 thousands.

16

Focus onInternational Education Ads.

17

Glass as a Style of Life

Society and The Arts

People around the world have be-come crazy about the same thing “ glass. All the things made of this material have become a new fashion stream.

All the things made of this material have become extremely popular, such as the new fashion stream, which can be easily explained: this is natural material, easy to work with and suitable for making a great variety of things. The other reason is that it is trouble-free to take care of things made of glass “ just don`t be too rough with them and sweep off the dust from time to time.Natasha sometimes says that she lives in a glass-world. This 32 year old woman is a popular designer. Everything she is busy with censers somehow this fragile material. She creates style and glass is a very thing that helps her. This type of decoration will always feature your individuality and will give some charm to you “. Multicolored earrings and necklaces fill our shops today. They look differently, as well as their prices. The quantity of money you`ll have to pay for the two same-looking rings depends on the type of glass they are made of.The most expensive is a well-known Ve-netian glass. It is also sometimes called “ Myranski glass, from the name of a small Italian island where it has being produced for already seven centuries. In 1291 the gov-ernor of the city decided to remove glass-melting workshops for producing decora-tions to the island. That was made in order to secure their invaluable invention from competitors.At the same time glass-blowers had a lot of privileges, however, they lost the right to move from the island. Those who dared to become busy with the creation of glass-dec-orations outside the Venetian lagoon were captured by the secret police. Punishments for them varied: from cutting off their hands to the death penalty. Moreover, after every

Glass-blowers always had a lot of privileges. Today a professionaly made glassy thing may cost more than gold per gr.

Glassy things have become a new fashion trend

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daily trainings of walking on glass “ you may get small grits into your feet. But you can easily pull them out with the help of a simple needle. After some time, it is said, that your body will get to know itself how to resist debris. The supporters of this way of relaxation say that walking on glass is the same type of extreme as skydiving. When you put your feet on the broken glass adrenaline appears and some kind of euphoria “ “ Natasha, a strong supporter of such hobby, told us. The other popular thing that is connected with glass is drawing on this frail material. It is hard to say what kind of art it belongs to. The technique can be put to the stained-glass windows. You`ll never study this in the ordinary art schools. If you decide to try by yourself, ev-erything you`ll need is: glass, paints of high quality and good brushes. Plus, of course, a great desire to create something great and at least a small idea for warming up. There are not too many museums of glass in the world. One of the biggest is in Czech Republic, the other one is in the USA. To put it more precisely “ it is the Corning Museum of Glass in New York City. The best in the world collection of historical and art glass is right there. More that 45 000 exhibits represent the history of making glass during the period of three and a half centuries. There is also the workshop for glass-blowers where you can watch a master doing what he does best. Two more places where you can enjoy and study cre-ations of glass are museums in Great Britain (Broadfield House) and in Israel (The Glass Museum in Arade). The other things that are made of glass and that we use very often are telescopes, cameras, lamps, furni-ture, glasses and many other things that we can not imagine our life without. By ANNA POLUDENKO

new technological discovery, secu-rity measures toughened. As every innovation made the famous Myran-ski glass of much higher quality and more expensive. When we choose a decoration. The first thing you have to pay attention to is the quality of the material. The place where it was produced, wheth-er it is hand made or not, what way it was colored. “ -says the designer Natasha. The structure and shapes of the glass-necklace everyone has to choose for himself. According to the shape of his face, body lines and general cloth fashion that he prefers. Of course, the best is smooth hand-made glass. When a craftsman takes a metal tube (3 half of it is made of wood “ not to burn the hands) than dive the heated part of it into melted glass mass, that easily sticks to it, forming a hot lump. The master pulls the tube out of a stove very fast and starts to blow into the tube from the opposite side of the lump. Cav-ity is formed inside the glass mass. It increases in size depending on how long the craftsman blows. This is a way glassware, decorations, as well as large mirrors are made. It is known that the metal tube did not change after 2 thousand years. But things we make with it helps become more and more popular every day. Things made of glass are everywhere. Personally in my life, this material plays a great role “, - Natasha goes on. When I cre-ate clothes, at the same time I create in my mind decorations that will fit them. “ Natasha, as well as many other people today, has got a new hobby “ walking on broken glass. Psy-chologists say that walking on sharp things is a very good way to get rid of stress, fear, depression and a way for someone to get the feeling of satisfaction, the kind of emotional relief. When you start dealing with glass this way, meaning “ to have

Society and The Arts

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The Last Word

How can a consumer know if he\she buys a product that is pro-duced according to FT stan-dards?Apparently, we can not. We can just assume, that this product was produced using a FT approach. There are several international bodies that witch are busy with FT labeling. The first one is an Inter-national FT Organization. There are two or three such bodies and they are internationally recog-nized. They check conditions of the production chain, social need of the producers and how the cost benefits the producer. If I see the specific label at some products and I am familiar with it, I can be sure that this coffee or this choco-late was produced and sold as FT. Otherwise I can never be sure. What is the price difference be-tween FT approached products and those that have not much to do with it?The FT products are more expen-sive. It depends on witch products we are talking about, if we talk about products that are mostly associated today with the FT which are coco, chocolate, coffee there is already a market of these goods being sold as FT. If we talk about something more rear like FT cloths or jeans then we have big-ger difference in terms of price. Mostly it is about amortization for producers of possible losses

in back years and it’s also about finding social projects in produc-ing countries but it’s not about big difference. But this basic products people can afford them. It is more a matter of choice than a matter of economic circumstances. Can FT label be used to promote low quality? Thus making people pay more for a low quality prod-ucts. I am not familiar with examples like that. Usually we are talking about higher quality among the conditions for applying the FT label, not only the conditions of labor, but also what is used for the

Fair Products Might Soon Come to Ukraine

Fair Trade is an organized social movement and market-based approach that aims to help producers in developing countries. The movement advocates the payment of a higher price to producers as well as social and environmental standards. Trade’s

strategic intent is to work with marginalized producers, workers in order to help them move towards economic self-sufficiency and stability. About Fair Trade and its perspectives in Ukraine we talk with MAKSYM BUTKEVYCH, an international journalist and MA in Anthropology Of Development and Social Transformation University of Sussex (UK).

FT is more a matter of choice than a mat-ter of economic cir-cumstances.

production. Thus there should be no strong chemicals etc. So in the receiving it we have cleaner and more healthy product. I have never heard of low quality prod-ucts sold as a FT labeled. On the other hand I think it can be pos-sible, it just depends on what we mean by quality. If we talk about clothes … may be. Is cheating with FT label pos-sible?Yes it is possible. I came across examples when the labels, dif-ferent one - just with the mark ‘FT product” that obviously were not correct were sold. It was just some people trying to sell their products for higher price pretending that to be the products that are more socially responsible. Is FT labeling possible in Ukraine?I think so, previously I was quite skeptical about it but, it is not that we have a bright and per-spective future for FT in Ukraine in the nearest future but I think we already have people that be-ing more familiar with the FT concept can pay more for things they buy - If they know that at the producing end people will receive more. I think FT prod-ucts might come to the Ukrai-nian market in some 5 years, but who knows.

BY ANNA POLUDENKO

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