Ukrainian Shogunate Manifesto: Section 2 “Survival Demands Strength, Not Bureaucracy”
(image courtesy: covidsteria.substack.com)
The next section of our Ukrainian Shogunate Manifesto states that “Survival demands strength, not bureaucracy”. It may sound questionable to many Ukrainians despite real practice they face during this war. Being brought up in the system built upon segregation of elite groups and common people (no matter whether it is Soviet-style dictatorship or electoral pseudo democracy) they can hardly imagine a State where a bureaucratic stratum appears redundant. Besides, the very essence of today’s Ukrainian power — corruption — can never runs without its carriers: those thieving officials whose main job is to redistribute public wealth among their cohorts. The larger bureaucratic apparatus the more opportunities to steal money from the national budget. Corrupted relations have so diverse interconnections within today’s Ukrainian society that a lot of Ukrainians are motivated by nothing else but creating multistage schemes for looting, laundering, and hiding budgets funds. Unlikely anything but bureaucratic positions may provide better opportunities for such an activity. War adds momentum to corruption since many expenditure items can be classified for national security reasons. In fact, Ukraine is divided into two camps: those who fight against Russian invasion on battlefield and those who make little sweetheart deals behind the frontlines. Is it any wonder that Ukraine is losing territories slowly but steadily? Please find simple but strong arguments to unpack the section “Survival demands strength, not bureaucracy” for those strata who are still unable to imagine decentralized governance of warlords free of bureaucratic inefficiency
ChatGPT:
To make the case that Survival demands strength, not bureaucracy, we need to dismantle the deeply ingrained belief that bureaucratic governance is a necessity, particularly in wartime. Here are some direct, strong arguments tailored to challenge the mindset of those who still rely on the existing system:
- Bureaucracy is a parasite, not a shield
- • The state apparatus is supposed to serve society, but in Ukraine, it has mutated into a system that serves itself first. Every additional layer of administration creates new opportunities for theft rather than efficiency.
- • In wartime, resources should flow directly to those who fight and support the war effort. Instead, funds get stuck in corrupt middlemen networks. Every stolen hryvnia is a bullet missing from a soldier’s weapon.
2. Strength is action; bureaucracy is delay
• Strength means the ability to act decisively in the face of threats. Bureaucracy, by design, slows everything down with unnecessary paperwork, political approvals, and insider deals.
• Quick procurement of weapons, reinforcements, and logistics should be handled by those on the ground, not by detached officials in Kyiv who see war as a business opportunity.
3. Warlord autonomy wins wars, red tape loses them
• Historically, wars are won by strong, adaptable, decentralized fighting units, not by overregulated hierarchies. Ukraine’s most effective fighting forces (e.g., battalions formed in 2014) emerged from self-organization, not state structures.
• Russia has been able to seize territories not because of superior strategy but because Ukrainian forces often have to navigate a bureaucratic labyrinth for supplies and reinforcements.
4. Corruption makes bureaucracy the enemy of survival
• The larger the state bureaucracy, the more layers of theft before resources reach the frontlines. A decentralized, warlord-driven system eliminates the middlemen.
• The war has exposed this: battalion commanders and volunteer networks often do more to supply the army than official government channels.
5. Survival favors fluid networks, not rigid hierarchies
• Strength in war comes from adaptability. Decentralized networks can adjust to battlefield conditions, while bureaucracies operate on outdated peacetime logic.
• The de facto war economy is already informal — why pretend an inefficient state structure should still manage it?
6. The old system guarantees slow defeat
• Every week, Ukrainian soldiers die due to lack of proper equipment while some official is making money off a rigged procurement contract.
• If Ukraine continues to prioritize bureaucracy over frontline efficiency, Russia will keep gaining ground — not because of strength, but because of Ukrainian systemic weaknesses.
The goal is to show that eliminating bureaucratic inefficiency is not an ideological fantasy but a battlefield necessity. Those who resist this idea are either benefitting from corruption or failing to grasp the urgency of reform.
