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By Pål Steigan – 21 February 2023
In the article Who really started the wars in Ukraine? as we recently published on steigan.no, Ted Snider analyzed the war in Ukraine as «four closely related, but different, wars being fought in Ukraine» . The four wars are in his opinion:
- The first is the war in Ukraine.
- The second is the war between Russia and Ukraine.
- The third is the proxy war between NATO and Russia.
- And the fourth is the direct war between the United States and Russia.
He also argues that the various parties have different responsibilities for having started these wars.
This can be a useful way of getting an overview of the various forces, but then we have to add that there are at least two more wars going on:
- The class war of international monopoly capital with the help of the Zelensky regime against the working class and people of Ukraine to plunder the country of natural resources and deprive the workers of their rights as much as possible and destroy their living conditions.
- The war that the USA is waging against its European «allies», and not least Germany, to keep them down and steal their markets and industry.
Zelensky opens up Ukraine to BlackRock
In December 2022, CEO Larry Fink of BlackRock was given de facto free rein to «coordinate investments in the reconstruction of Ukraine,» as the announcement from the government in Kiev said after a video meeting between the two men.
A statement from the Ukrainian president’s official website said Zelensky and Fink had «agreed to focus in the short term on coordinating the efforts of all potential investors and participants in the reconstruction of our country, channeling investments to the most relevant and impactful sectors of the economy of the Ukrainian country.”
BlackRock Financial Markets Advisory and the Ukrainian Economy Ministry signed a memorandum of understanding in November, after Fink and Zelensky met in September to discuss how public and private investment in Ukraine could be used during the country’s post-war reconstruction.
The war is a shock therapy that leaves the country open to a historic and large-scale looting spree from western capital to quickly take what they can get away with.
The West is preparing to plunder post-war Ukraine with neoliberal shock therapy
Representatives of Western governments and companies met in Switzerland in July 2022 to plan a series of harsh neoliberal policies to be imposed on Ukraine after the war, calling for cutting labor laws, «opening markets,» dropping tariffs, deregulating industries and «selling state-owned enterprises to private investors.»
On 4 and 5 July 2022, top officials from the US, EU, UK, Japan and South Korea met in Switzerland for a so-called » Ukraine Recovery Conference «. There they planned Ukraine’s post-war reconstruction and announced performance obligations – while drooling over a bonanza of potential contracts.
In March 2022, the Ukrainian parliament passed emergency legislation allowing employers to suspend collective agreements. Then in May, parliament passed a permanent reform package that effectively exempted the vast majority of Ukrainian workers (those in businesses with fewer than 200 employees) from Ukrainian labor laws.
Documents leaked in 2021 showed that the British government coached Ukrainian officials on how to convince a hostile public to give up workers’ rights and implement anti-union policies. Training materials lamented that public opinion of the proposed reforms was overwhelmingly negative, but provided messaging strategies to mislead Ukrainians into supporting them.
Ukraine is bankrupt, so the creditors will use the resources
A great deal of the «aid» that has been given to Ukraine has been given in the form of loans, various forms of financing and loan/lease arrangements. This means that the country has gone into debt to a far greater extent. There is no way Ukraine can repay this debt, so the creditors will demand their pound of flesh , as it is said in The Merchant of Venice, in the form of real values, that is land, mines and other resources.
The war has meant that Ukraine’s GDP will fall by around 45% in 2022 , writes the World Bank.
BlackRock is the foremost representative of Western multinational capital, and will act as trustee for the financial aftermath, or the auction, as one might call it. Back there will be a country that has been plundered to the skin and colonized by the biggest capital vultures in the world.
Zelenskiy’s economic policy is Pinochet-style neoliberalism
The Ukrainian academic Olga Baysha explains in an interview with The Grayzone that the economic policy Vladimir Zelenskij stands for in Ukraine is an extreme form of neoliberal policy. This policy is so unpopular among ordinary people in Ukraine that Zelensky, who was carried on a populist wave and 73 percent of the vote in 2019 just before the Russian invasion, had a support of only 31 percent .
Ukrainian academic Olga Baysha, author of Democracy, Populism, and Neoliberalism in Ukraine: On the Fringes of the Virtual and the Real, has studied Zelenskiy’s rise to power and how he has exercised that power since becoming president. In the interview with The Grayzone, Baysha discusses Zelenskiy’s embrace of neoliberalism and increasing authoritarianism, how his actions contributed to the current war; his counterproductive and self-absorbed leadership throughout the war, the complex cultural and political views and identities of Ukrainians, and the partnership between neoliberals and the radical right during and after the Maidan.
America’s war against Germany
It has been said that NATO was created to «keep the US in, Russia out and Germany down».
Germany is completely in the pocket of the USA. The country is militarily occupied and German leaders are controlled by Washington like puppets. It was clear in Angela Merkel’s time when she submitted to a policy on the part of the United States that was clearly at odds with Germany’s own interests.
But even worse is the reaction of Chancellor Olaf Scholz to the sabotage against Nord Stream. He naturally knows that this terrorist attack was carried out with the United States as the main culprit. But he dares not say anything and he accepts the disastrous situation that this puts his country in.
One has to ask: What does the US have on Scholz? It can’t be trifles. Or is it as simple as Scholz knowing how brutal and ruthless the US can be?
But there can be no doubt that the USA is currently crushing Germany, Italy and the rest of Europe in this war.
And the Norwegian left is so ignorant or blinded or whatever, that they cheer for the Nazi-infected and thoroughly corrupt Zelensky regime as if it were their home football team. Perhaps we should add another war: Washington’s war to destroy all left-wing opposition in Europe?
Translation by Astra
