Travel to Belarus And Ukraine

Journey to a Closed City With the International Executive Service Corps

Format: Paperback
Author: Russell R. Miller
ReleaseDate: January, 2004
Publisher: Science & Humanities Press
Rating:

Interesting!
After a second and unrigged election, Viktor Yuschenko became president in December, and, in April 2005, he and his Chicago-born wife were warmly received by the White House and Congress. In November 2004 the world watched as a politician in Ukraine, the second most powerful country in the former Soviet Union, wrested the presidency through popular and peaceful downtown protests in Kiev.

Such a fairy tale was unimaginable during the Cold War years and during the 1990s following glasnost, the breakup of the Soviet Union and the crumbling of the Berlin Wall. In satellite nations like Yugoslavia and Bulgaria, and in several Soviet member nations, the new "democratic" leaders were seen to be the same who had once worn the livery of Moscow.

Because of the great difficulty and uncertainty caused by real change, people yearn nostalgically for the numbing reliability of dictatorship. The Yuschenkoes' April visit forms an interesting counterpoint to Russell R. Miller's Journey to a Closed City. In his 30-year career with major U. S. multinationals, he traveled to over 100 countries. After retiring, in 1993 he accepted a two-month volunteer consultancy assignment to advise an evolving Ukranian manufacturing company that was trying to cope with capitalistic opportunity while embedded, more than figuratively - in Soviet concrete. His thoughts during those two months show the frustration and satisfaction of landing in an alien garden patch and trying to plant a few significant seeds.

He weaves the threads of the disrupted Ukrainian business environment with his own uncertainty in his first significant retirement activity.

Twelve years ago, when Miller visited the country, there was no chance that a Viktor Yuschenko could have risen to their presidency. Then the political and economic upheaval fed the citizen's gloom and despair and assured that an American visitor would be viewed with suspicion, no matter how sincere and competent.

The story captures the mood of that not-too-distant past, so familiar to visitors to former Soviet countries.

This autobiography is also an armchair traveler's window into a backward environment that still exists in corners of Russia and its former empire. Further, the story is very typical of the experiences of consultants from developed countries engaging with the Third World, whether on two-week or two-year assignments.

Thankfully, Ukraine seems to have emerged from the economic and political gloom pictured so well by Miller. Unfortunately, other nations still have far to travel.
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Miller tells it like it is in Eastern Europe
All the elements of an exotic Paul Theroux travel adventure, combined with the High Noon suspense of a race against the clock, with plenty of chuckles along the way. Terrific! What a great book. Miller's experience and characters are convincing proof to me that what I'm living here in the Czech Republic is not just some weird, time-warped dream. Anyone coming to Central Europe had better read it, and anyone who's been here will enjoy it. Also, as someone approaching retirement, I was completely unaware of the activities of the International Executive Service Corps and will certainly keep it in mind as a productive alternative to golf. An entertaining and informative read. A masterful job.

The dawn of a new internationally co-dependent economy
Miller who is a retired executive who has volunteered his time in the International Executive Service Corps, as well as serving as an advisor with the World Bank, the United Nations Development Program, and the Vienna-based United Nations Industrial Development Organization. Journey To A Closed City With The International Executive Service Corps details the travel experiences of Russell R. Detailing the dawn of a new internationally co-dependent economy and the spread of globalization through experienced eyes, Journey To A Closed City is an engaging and informative tale of growth and new experiences, as well as a broad-scale, on-going economic evolution.

Related products:
click image or link for details on these Belarus And Ukraine travel books.

	Ukraine (Lonely Planet Travel Guides)
	Ukraine: The Bradt Travel Guide
	Kiev: The Bradt City Guide (Bradt Mini Guide)
	Borderland: A Journey Through the History of Ukraine