It has been amazing watching the Ukrainian team. Everyone seems to think they are just out matched. And it is amazing that they have lasted this long.

It's very unlikely that Ukraine will go on to win the competition, but the country shouldn't be completely written off. Its captain is Andriy Shevchenko, one of the world's best footballers and the team coach is Oleg Blokhin, who was one of the Soviet Union's most successful players.

From: Ukraine... more

I blogged about Ukraine losing their World Cup match to Spain. The first excuse offered was that they didn't listen to their coach. Then it was suggested that Ukraine lost because of the boiling hot weather of 86 Fahrenheit.

Then Ukraine's defender Vladislav Vashchuk said it was the frog's fault that Ukraine lost.

UKRAINE have found someone to blame for their dismal performance in the 4-0 thrashing at the hands of Spain - the frogs in a lake near their team hotel.

"We... more

I like soccer, but I have really been following Ukraine's process just to see what Coach Oleh Blokhin would do or say next. He strikes me as an interesting character.

So the news.... Spain beat Ukraine; 4 to 0. This is not the worst score in World Cup history for the opening round. But it is pretty bad. And this was the first time that Ukraine qualified for World Cup. Spain and Ukraine were the

dark horses of the tournament

From: World Cup Betting: 60/1 Chelsea... more

I found a wonderful web site by Mark Rosenfelder. He has many interesting pages. My favorites are:

How to tell if you're Ukrainian How to tell if you're American

Here are some my favorite items from the page titled How to tell if you're Ukrainian.

You are still culturally very connected to Russia. Most of the trashy pop and witless comedians you know originate... more

I started reading about Transdniester in April. Moldova, EU and Ukraine were certain that this rebellious area was smuggling. Now everyone knows what is being smuggled; Bush Legs.

Chicken legs imported from the United States are called Bush legs in Russia [Ukraine and most of Eastern Europe too], after George H.W. Bush, on whose watch Russia started importing chicken legs from the United States [in the 1990s].

From: Chicken... more

I love the CIA WorldFact book. It is constantly updated on countries around the world. And it has little pearls like:

[Ukraine is ] slightly smaller than Texas

From: Ukraine - CIA WorldFact Book

Afghanistan, Botswana, Burma, Central African Republic and Somalia are also listed as slightly smaller than Texas.

Ukraine is the second largest country in Europe. Russia is the largest country in Europe and the world in terms of land area. There are some... more

So to pull this back to adoption...... Why is everyone's adoption experience unique?

Ukrainians learned to trust their social networks for support and information because they couldn't depend on their institutions.

The adoption process had just changed when I arrived in Kharkiv in 2000. Used to be, one judge handled all the adoption cases. Now the adoption cases are divided among all the district (think county) judges.

My judge didn't know anything about adoption law. He had a busy docket and didn't have time to read, so he gave me a court date... more

In the 15 years since independence, Ukraine has been inching toward democracy. But much of the institutionalized behaviors from the Soviet era remained.

I traveled to Ukraine in November 2000. Many people strongly believed Ukrainian President Kuchma was connected to the murder of a journalist, Georgy Gongadze. Georgy had been reporting on governmental corruption. Georgy's headless body was found November 3, 2000 in a field.

Then there was the 2004 election of Yushchenko. It was reported that... more

Part 1 introduced my theory that Ukrainian "institutional uncertainty" is why everyone's adoption experience is different. Part 2 was a specific example of the institutions themselves causing the uncertainty. Eventually people stop believing their government and institutions when they are lied to over and over.

So back to the Verkhovna... more

The photo was created by the Soviet Union. It shows the Sarcophogus being build around what remained of Chernobyl's reactor 4. The primary goal of the Sarcophogus is to keep all the radioactive materials (fuel, equipment, dust, etc..) contained.

In Part 1 I asked:

Why are Ukrainian adoption experiences are all unique? And why does a translator's job seem to be more then translation?

Then I discussed "institutional... more