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Prytulak  InfoUkes Posting  17-Oct-1997  Re: Brain Drain (What's George Soros up to?)
Date:  Fri, 17 Oct 1997 10:16:53 -0700
To:  [email protected]
From:  Lubomyr Prytulak
Subject:  Re: Brain Drain (What's George Soros up to?)
I am not following George "Mother Theresa" Soros at all closely, and so I do not know all the many ways in which he might be assisting in the plundering of Ukraine, and all the many ways that he might be lining his own pockets.  I am particularly interested in the moment in the topic of Brain Theft From Ukraine, and it appears to me that it is a viable hypothesis that Soros is intimately involved in this particular theft and that the net effect of his personal dominance of Ukraine is harmful � specifically, that the volume and the quality of the brains that are lost to Ukraine as a result of Soros's efforts may not be compensated by other benefits received.  I do not know enough about the situation to assert that this is the case � I only assert that it might be, and that anybody who peremptorily rejects the hypothesis is emoting and not thinking.  I will present a few quotations in support of this hypothesis below � that is, quotations demonstrating that a substantial portion of Soros's efforts lie in activities whose chief effect may be to lure Ukrainian brains (and talent) out of Ukraine.

Before I do that, I would like to say, parenthetically, that before we credit people like Bohdan Hawrylyshyn or Bohdan Krawchenko with either patriotism or the possession of unusual skills useful to Ukraine's establishing democracy and a market economy, we should ask to what degree they are merely Soros employees.

So here is some information relevant to the question of Soros's participation in the Brain Theft From Ukraine.  The first thing that we see in the quotation immediately below is that Soros is helping set up a Central European University based in Prague, Budapest, and Vienna.  Too bad Kyiv couldn't have turned this triangle into a square.  As it is, the best of the Ukrainian students who go off to study in this triangle have a good chance of never returning.  If Kyiv had been included, then at least Ukraine would have had some chance (assuming its economy improved) of itself stealing some brains back from the rest of Europe.

In this case, and in all others, I am not against travel or foreign study � I merely recognize that it is possible to set these programs up in such a way as to encourage the traveler or student to return to his home country, or in such a way as to encourage him to never go back.  Also, it may be possible to accomplish the same end faster and cheaper on Ukrainian territory, such that the Ukrainians involved would find themselves thriving within Ukraine, rather than being lured away into the affluent West.  At the very least, if we had statistics on the brain loss resulting from such programs, we would be able to evaluate their net effects more accurately � instead, the possibility that the net effects of such programs is devastating to Ukraine is never broached.  Also, if we had statistics on exactly where Ukrainian brains were ending up, we would be closer to answering the big question � CUI BONO?  We have begun to see a rough outline of who is on George Soros's payroll in Ukraine � but whose payroll in George Soros on?

The two quotations below are taken from Oksana Zakydalsky, "Ukrainian Renaissance Foundation continues to promote an open Ukraine," The Ukrainian Weekly, April 12, 1992, pp. 3, 14:

The Soros Foundation has committed $25 million over five years to the Central European University, a graduate university based in Prague, Budapest and Vienna.  It has a Western-style graduate prograim in economics, history and social sciences and professors from the West and is open to all students from Eastern Europe.  It is also supported by the Hungarian and Czech governments.  The Renaissance Foundation looks for candidates and provides grants for scholarships.  Studying at the university is considered good first exposure to the West; the best students sometimes receive full scholarships to study in the U.S.

The Renaissance Foundation administers regional programs designed and funded by the New York office such as the programs offered by a number of universities in the United Kingdom (Oxford, Cambridge, Manchester, LSE). It cooperates with international foundations, businesses and organizations to offer opportunities for practical training abroad through jointly sponsored programs such as that of the American Bar Association which offers 30 to 40 positions for young lawyers to work in the U.S. for six months.  This year the Renaissance Foundation provided the first candidates from Ukraine.

Travel grants are another type of program and a very broad range of people are supported under it.  If someone is invited, as a lot now are, to a conference or for study in the West, they can apply for funding to go there; if a musician is invited to a music competition, he can apply for travel money.  Often an institution in Canada or U.S. will pay all costs but travel.  Priority is given to younger people and a person can receive such a grant, up to a maximum of $1,500, only once.

The goal of the program is to provide the person with a perspective on Western life and the opportunity to establish his own contacts with his colleagues.  A report outlining what was done and a financial report are required from the participants.  This has been a very successful program; last year $50,000 was spent and this year the foundation anticipates spending $200,000.

There is cooperation with other philanthropic enterprises; for example, an educational advisory center, the Osvita Center at Kiev University, has been set up with the assistance of the Petro Jacyk Educational Foundation.  This is a student center which collects information on Western universities, administers the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), teaches students how to apply to Western universities and for scholarships, and pays fees required for taking specialized entrance tests.  The center also provides money for travel to anyone who has received a scholarship to study at a university in the West.  (pp. 3, 14)

If we take the time required to process a grant as an indication of Soros's order of priority, then it would seem that his Brain Theft activities are most important, whereas the activities that leave something behind in Ukraine that will benefit Ukraine for some time to come (equipment purchases) are least important:

The turn-around time for grants is usually quick; it takes two to three weeks for travel grant approval....  Larger projects take about three months for approval, although equipment purchases can take longer because the foundation buys in bulk.  (p. 14)

Travel grants are something that I view with particular suspicion.  My own experience is that travel to conferences is 99% vacationing and partying, and 1% professional upgrading.  When I want information from Ivan Kravchenko in Florida (isn't that where he is?), I send him an e-mail.  If I actually got a grant to go to talk to Ivan Kravchenko face-to-face, you can bet that it would be mainly so that I could check out Disneyland and soak up some sun.  If there was a big difference between the affluence of British Columbia and Florida, my visit to Florida would also be plagued with pangs of envy and impulses to move.  CUI BONO these travel grants that Soros is handing out to the best people in Ukraine?

Lubomyr Prytulak
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