Ukraine has several things going for it:
1- Absolutely no illusion among the people that the state will provide for them.
2- [Relatively] strong families and social networks (cause by the previous condition).
3- A culture and a relatively homogeneous society. Also, a fierce devotion to preserving their culture.
4- Smart, hard-working people.
It has several thing going against it too:
1- A kleptocracy which, almost by definition, means poor property rights and arbitrary rule of law.
2- An entrenched, Soviet style bureaucracy.
3- A victim complex — justified, but dangerous nonetheless.
4- A cultural marxist invasion through the University system (which so far, few people take seriously). It is fuel by the false perception that Ukraine’s choice is between the EU and Russia.
5- Hopelessness and alcoholism — from a lack of opportunities/investment.
6- The complete absence of a high-trust society, and no memory of one.
Gun ownership will help with #1 and #3, which will lead to bigger and freer markets. They would solve #5, #3, and import the solution to #6.
The other solution is secession. Secession would throw different systems into stark contrast and help with #1, #2 and even #6.
I’m hoping that the culture and the church are strong enough by themselves to resist #4.
For the time being, the market is importing a high trust society little by little, but so much is still decided by brute force that to some extent the ethics of the effective highway man are the most respected. Corporate raiding remains a problems.
So, to re-state my thesis: Gun ownership would solve half of Ukraine’s problems. Secession and voluntary segregation would solve the other half by casing varying ethical systems into stark contrast.