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Poland A and Ukraine B. Compare how far Poland has advanced. [282]
The fastest way to appreciate just how far Poland has advanced in the last two decades is to make a quick trip to neighbouring Ukraine. The visual evidence is overwhelming.
After waiting for more than two hours to cross into Ukraine at the Hrebenne-Rava Ruska crossing, the first impression one gets of Ukraine is based on the truly enormous potholes on the main road from the border to Lviv, the capital of western Ukraine and one of four Ukrainian cities where matches will be held during next year's European football championship. Cars and trucks crawl along, circling axle-breaking holes.
In Lviv, many of the city's streets are a barely-drivable cobblestone that looks to have last been fixed before the war, while ambitious urban transit plans for the tournament look far from ready.
East of Lviv, the sight of a horse-drawn cart draws barely a glance, and fields are dotted with farmers walking behind horse-drawn ploughs- views that used to be ubiquitous in Poland but are now a rarity - even in the country's poorest areas.
blogs.ft.com/beyond-brics/2011/05/02/poland-and-ukraine-miles-to-go/
So why is it a sucha big difference between these two countries? Both have been "free" since the ealy 90's.
Why didnt Ukraine follow Poland and the rest of the ex-communist countries after the fall of the Iron Curtain?
