Impoverishing Ukraine: What the US and the EU have been doing to the country for the past 30 years
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi opened the event by crying out, “Slava Ukraini”—“Glory to Ukraine”—no less than five times. This expression has become popular in Washington, London, and elsewhere as of late, with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson also bellowing out the cry in a session of the House of Commons and on Twitter.
The origins of the term “Slava Ukraini” reveal something about the real relationship of the US and NATO to Ukraine’s working masses of all ethnicities and linguistic groups—Russian, Ukrainian, Jewish, Polish, etc. As biographer Grzegorz Rossolinski-Liebe explains in his book about Ukrainian fascist leader Stepan Bandera, “Slava Ukraini” was part of the salute delivered by members of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and its military wing, the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, which were collectively responsible for the mass murder of tens of thousands of Soviets, Jews and Poles during World War II.
{Neither the United States nor the EU nor any of their related institutions care now or have ever cared about the people of Ukraine, much less their liberty. Even as they have been using the country as a cat’s paw in their battle with Russia—as a result of which massive amounts of firepower are making their way into the hands of today’s Ukrainian fascists, and parts of the country are being blown to bits—the US and the EU have been economically strangling the Ukrainian people for decades.}
They don't care about the sanctions on Russia or their oligarchs either. I mean that in another entire aspect than you might think though. An aspect most probably don't apply critical thought to while under the perception management campaign being waged. Yesterday I listen to a discussion on this subject from NPR that was ludicrously lacking any correlation to our own oligarch and political structures.
Yeltsin and Clinton? I've spoken on that relationship a few times here. Putin being the product of that relationship. Capitalism in Russia further coming with it also. Oligarchs in all countries tend to manage the same privileges. They also tend to mingle together collaboratively. They tend to also mingle with politicians domestically, yes, abroad also. Military officials also. Come on, 2016 wasn't that dam long ago. Along with 4 years of MSCM coverage which virtually dropped this issue off on todays doorstep. We had it all wrapped up in one neat package of business, military, and politicians doing some kind of business with Russian and Ukrainian people or corporations. Am I the only one who finds it odd that there doesn't seem to be any American's being sanctioned for involvement in any aspect of this nature. I assure you there are ties to be found.
During that discussion London ties were brought up though. London. London. Didn't get any substantial meaning from it though, just a brief mention. Why you might ask. Little City of London might play a role here. I'd go out on the limb here and suggest LCL is where a few of Russia's oligarchs are hiding away at to avoid personal media coverage. It's a nice cozy place to be with its own rule of law where the wealthy can escape where only their own control what happens. The best place to be other than that is the Vatican. It's all just another shit show. And when this war is over they'll all make out like fat rats rebuilding over the dead.
{One could go on. Apart from the super-rich and a narrow layer of middle and upper-middle class people concentrated in the major cities, Ukraine is a sea of deprivation.
This is a direct outcome of economic policies imposed on the country by the very states that today parade around declaring their love for Ukraine. In an immediate sense, the current situation has its roots in the 2014 US-backed coup (https://www.wsws.org/en/topics/event/2014-coup-ukraine) that brought to power a government in Kiev that immediately signed an association agreement with the EU requiring it to implement severe austerity measures. But it has even deeper roots.
The social and economic disaster in that country can be traced back to the Stalinist bureaucracy’s dissolution of the Soviet Union (https://www.wsws.org/en/topics/event/dissolution-soviet-union) at the end of 1991 and the restoration of capitalism in all of the newly independent nation states, which saw their full integration into global financial and trade networks. Through a series of policies collectively known as “shock therapy”—worked out in close collaboration with Western advisers—nationalized property was transferred to private hands. Former Communist Party officials and their children, economic managers and directors of major Soviet factories and sections of industry, as well as criminal elements active in the shadow economy, won out at the expense of the working masses, through a combination of outright theft and bargain basement fire sales of Soviet resources.
{Out of this wrecking operation, competing factions of big business emerged in Ukraine that were centered in Donetsk in the east and Dnipropetrovsk to its west, with coal mining and processing, energy production and transit, and metallurgy being their main sources of wealth. Banking and media empires emerged, and new sources of profits were soon realized in consumer products and agriculture.}
These regions were afforded to Ukraine after the fall of the USSR in which have a long history of being a primary economic benefit to the country. Donetsk is the primary target that has been under a genocide campaign for 8 years for their contributions 
Dnipropetrovsk straddles the east and west regions, within these industries grew to a vast population. In regards to the wheat produced there we'll most likely being seeing higher prices.
{Ukraine’s debt continued to balloon over the course of the coming years, increasing from $10 billion in the period from 1997-2002 to $100 billion in 2008-2009, the equivalent of more than 56 percent of the country’s GDP and more than double the total value of all its exports at that time. While it has fluctuated in recent years, it is basically at the same level today as it was a decade ago. As a result, Ukraine has ended up in a constant cycle of indebtedness, careening at times towards default due to broader crises in the world economy, such as the 2008-2009 crash.}
It goes into examples of various world banks forays before the above ending result. Once these western banks get a hold of a country there's virtually no turning back without receiving the full brunt of their hegemony. The only benefiting factors are the oligarchs and the politicians who support the pillaging. No amount of deaths among innocent civilians is a concern when social chaos then war comes. It's merely a predicable outcome that they prepare for and encourage when citizens finally had enough. War simply further adds more benefits.
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Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.I like how people still pretend the U.S. is the good guy in all these conflicts when someone who just kicked the bucket yesterday is on video saying that 500,000 Iraqi kids dying was "worth it." She didn't even have the human decency to deflect the question or spin it. Another one saying, "We came, we saw, he died!" with her psychopathic cheeks moving up and down in a hearty laugh. Don't forget the schmuck holding up a vile of powder selling the American people on war and numerous government officials parroting the lies of a "mushroom cloud" possibility. The numerous lies we've been told in every conflict we've been alive to see plus the lies that have come out about conflicts before we were even born. Connecting the dots together is so hard for Americans. Our government has committed most of the worst atrocities in the last couple of centuries, yet Americans think that's in the past and we have good people in government now. It was those other guys that did all that. The forces of good in our government have expelled the evil from the building and we're now serving the people of the world and have nothing but daisies and roses laid at our feet. "We will be greeted as liberators!"
...but they're telling the truth now folks! Don't you worry, Uncle Sam knows what's best for you! Go back to sleep!
Piece2YourPuzzle
Level 8
Mar 24, 2022
1
I stopped reading when I read this obvious lie;
"Neither the United States nor the EU nor any of their related institutions care now or have ever cared about the people of Ukraine, much less their liberty"
WHAT A BLANKET, BIASED, UN-FACT BASED COMMENT.
I agree with the basic facts...that Ukraine is "in the middle"....has some Russian influence. Has some European influence.
But I see a lot of $$ flowing to the Ukrainians and to the refugees running from war. To say they don't care is just biased, un-fact-based propaganda.
Talk about "out of the illusion".
Wow.
Robecology
Level 9
Mar 23, 2022
0
That money flowing to the Ukrainians is because those spending have their own agenda. It's always about natural resources and the economy. Every geopolitical move the U.S. makes, and a lot of if not most other major countries, is for selfish gain. Where is the outcry by the U.S. and other countries about people in other countries getting slaughtered by the day? Is it on the evening news? Does the U.S. supply the Palestinians with weapons or relief money? Are they putting sanctions on Israel or bad mouthing them on the news? There are many examples that show just how much the U.S. etc. doesn't care.
Did the U.S. care in 2014 when they installed a puppet government in Ukraine or was it because they wanted the Ukrainians to be their useful idiots in opposition of Russia? The U.S. knows that Ukraine will not win a war against Russia. If Putin wanted to he could completely destroy Ukraine with regular military operations. Despite that, the U.S. has sent weapons and money to prolong the inevitable to make Russia look like the bad player here. There is enough blame to go around, but the U.S. has been doing this for decades if you hadn't noticed. We only have to look back as far as Afghanistan and Iraq to see how much the U.S. cares or tells us the truth. The U.S. is using Ukraine and doesn't care how many of them die in the process.....plain and simple.
@Piece2YourPuzzle Again...you post no links, no data, no fact-supporting info. Very #religulous of you, not very #agnostic.
{I stopped reading when I read this obvious lie;}
Is self admittance of reducing your own ability to coherently conform a substantial developed opinion. You essentially left the entire article unread of a source that has a vast background of information on the subject matter from all spectrums.
{"Neither the United States nor the EU nor any of their related institutions care now or have ever cared about the people of Ukraine, much less their liberty"}
Obtained through a vast number of articles and documentaries of Ukraine from just 2014 on have given numerous indications this statement is indeed a fact. Not only the US, EU, related institutions, but also their own government after Maidan. It's well documented of how dozens of NGO's, think tanks, and public relation firms funded and incited fascist groups as violence developed during the Maidan Revolution. This orchestrated action causing hundreds of deaths in what started out as peaceful protest that eventually took the voices of the majority of citizens from them who opposed what the US was doing in 2014, and the austerity measures the EU were wanting to extend.
Obviously after all this time you still haven't been informed of Victoria Nuland's chat with Geoffrey Pyatt where they are discussing who's going to be the make up of the Ukraine government after the coup they developed was over? If 2 US government officials discussing these US government plans for another country are your idea of liberty, you and I see liberty quite differently. To give you a sense of benefit though, I guess it could be another example of your biased means of using information, and the lack of coherency to an issue that comes with it?
I don't know what your meaning of liberty is, but when peaceful protest and democratic rights are erased in the manor that they were, liberty doesn't exist. Especially when it comes to the 15,000 dead people in the Donbas regions who have been killed since 2014 who all of the above have supported these crimes by various means. They lost their liberty to live peacefully as much of what they had was blown apart by their government.
{I agree with the basic facts...that Ukraine is "in the middle"....has some Russian influence. Has some European influence.}
Basic facts are a construct of propaganda. Easily misused to create false narratives. Quite frankly, the term basic sounds heartless, mindless even. I don't even know how to address this within a genuine means being I've never seen or heard facts being described this way. Facts are often a betrayal to reality. That I do know. And you've already seemingly shown yourself to be factually biased. And you're seemingly relying on a biased sense of facts as you're attempting to debate on this article that you already admitted you didn't read the vast majority of. Yet you think you have the right to judge it.
As far as influence goes. You again leave out important elements of history. There's centuries of history to go by, but by your standards you left out even the most primary history of 2014 which leaves out influences from the US and fascist nationalist on many levels along with the various think tanks I mentioned above. Basic facts betray you in this regard. I'll also add the various world banks that have played a part in Ukraine for at least 2 decades keeping the country within large debts. Fascism since WWl and EU especially since the USSR collapse.
{But I see a lot of $$ flowing to the Ukrainians and to the refugees running from war. To say they don't care is just biased, un-fact-based propaganda.}
Where to go with this. Obviously citizens flee warring conditions of this degree. Were you this concerned over the past 8 years when the Donbas regions were under a genocide campaign by their own government? As they were forced from their homes and fleeing to Russia on multiple incidents over that 8 year period. In which they and their families lived for decades to centuries. In which this historic region has provided much of the economic benefits for Ukraine for over 100 years that they worked and bled for. For 8 years as Putin pleaded for peace for them no one cared about them. Is this another result of your basic facts or are you a supporter of the Ukraine government and their fascist who have been waging this genocide campaign on them for 8 years. If liberty for you means it's acceptable to kill and or force a people from their homeland, outlaw their language and religion, then just say so. Those of us in the group would simply like to know what type of person we're experiencing with.
Incase you missed recent developments. Zelensky, {that would be the president of Ukraine, I don't want basic facts to hinder this notice} just abolished 11 political parties in Ukraine. Any party that would hint opposition to him or the current Ukraine agenda has been abolished. So much for liberty and democracy.
Lets move onto your article. I'll give you the respect I didn't get from you. I'll actually address it as I read it just like I do with my post. I'll let my comments do the work for me rather than simply attack you like you did my group name, but with substance provided. Where I'll also address the aspect of money you mentioned above. Another historical fact.
Well, outside the fact that there's no mention of the 5 billion promised to Ukraine in 2014, although there are mentions of money in that period there, I'm having a hard time understanding your statement {WHAT A BLANKET, BIASED, UN-FACT BASED COMMENT} Within the article you posted, most, if not all, of the points I raised above are within. Between my comments on the WSWS article, the article itself, your article, and the multiple links within yours I visited, there's plenty of correlated evidence to draw a conclusion that the citizenship of Ukraine on both sides of the conflict have been left out of the funding and their desires for peace. This seemingly leads me back to collective biasness on either a reading perspective and or agenda perspective.
The most evident agenda is seemingly to produce more war rather than peace. Money coming from the various think tanks mentioned and recycled back to them by various means. In which a lot of this money will most likely end up in the hands of the oligarchs of Ukraine and their politician's.
From this article of the same source --- [theconversation.com]
{On November 21 2013, massive protests under the European Union flag erupted in the central square of Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv. The Euromaidan revolution demanded democratic values and decried the kleptocratic regime of the then president, Viktor Yanukovych. In the next three months, a hundred activists were killed, Russia annexed Crimea and supported breakaway forces in a war that tore apart eastern Ukraine.
Violence continues today. By late 2017, more than 10,000 people had been killed and an estimated 2 million forcibly displaced. Nevertheless, the Euromaidan revolution has resulted in democratic and social gains, but also significant setbacks, for Ukraine.}
Discrepancies here though are that the statement doesn't reflect a differential between which Ukrainian's had been killed, and why. It also leaves Viktor Yanukovych looking like a criminal who was illegally overthrown. The deaths being mentioned here are a result of the US and think tank interferences he had no control over. He and a number of those in his administration were at this time being targeted with death threats by the fascist elements. Also left alone in this disinformation narrative, Russia didn't just annex Crimea, Crimea voted to rejoin the Russian Federation overwhelmingly with a 96+ vote. Which the Donbas regions also want to do. Again this is a book text denial of liberty for people facing genocide conditions. It's also rather ludicrous to suggest a Russian invasion when they have a primary naval port right there and are a common presence in the adjacent region. The conflict in Crimea was relatively peaceful with those within the military who sided with the citizens driving out the fascist. [en.wikipedia.org]
Go down to where it list 4 gains and I'll argue you find contradiction.
1 Euromaidan was the catalyst for the birth of civil society in Ukraine. Opinion polls suggest that, since the protests, Ukrainians have higher levels of patriotism and trust in each other, and are more optimistic about the nation’s future. The level of civic activity and desire to contribute to the nation’s development have increased.
Unfortunately, these civic gains have failed to translate into real political activity. Low turnouts at elections (especially among 18 to 29-year-olds, the most active and educated citizens) and citizens voting according to populist television advertising or accepting “gifts” in exchange for “correct” voting are all reasons for the slow pace of progressive reform, and the even slower replacement of the political elite.
{Conflict broke out days later when Russia annexed Crimea, a region in southern Ukraine, and began supporting separatist militias in the eastern part of the country. Between the annexation of Crimea and Russia’s invasion, the U.S. had provided more than $2.7 billion in security assistance. Most of this money has funded weapons, training and intelligence cooperation to help Ukraine fight these militias. More than 14,000 Ukrainians were killed between 2014 and 2021.}
Again, the lack of differential acknowledgement in deaths in which region, the manor of deaths, civilian's and infrastructure, in which mass graves are now currently being exposed from fascist involvement in that region, dictate a biased disinformation campaign that can easily manage a false perception. All the money that has went into Ukraine since 2014 was to support this genocide campaign on these people in the Donbas regions by a fascist government the US initially hand picked. Became supported by the EU in hopes to get their various influential entities into. In which Putin has been attempting to expose for those 8 years. So, which citizens do you have a concern for? My concern began in 2014 for the collective of all of Ukraine knowing innocent civilians on both sides were going to be highly effected no matter which way they sided. I feel fairly safe stating that in western Ukraine that there is a majority of the citizenry who supported the overthrown president. Along with the current president in which the citizens in the Donbas region supported within the belief he would provide change and stop the warring. He not only betrayed that promise, he applied steroids to the warring.
{With the war in eastern Ukraine came an information war between Ukraine and Russia. As a result, freedom of speech and the media in Ukraine has significantly deteriorated in the past four years, with unavoidable radicalisation on both sides of politics.
There is little media diversity, as just a few oligarchs control the top outlets. President Poroshenko, for instance, owns his own television channel.
Anti-government views are often deemed “pro-Russian”, effectively chilling freedom of expression. The intolerance of opposition media is violently visible. There have been protests and scandal over “pro-Russian views”, with broadcast studios being burnt.
Dozens of journalists have been denied entry to Ukraine. Human Rights Watch has urged Ukraine to protect free media and drop its ban on Russian and Western journalists.
The entire western society is now being attacked with an information warfare agenda. Intensified unlike anything from the past which has been waging for years now. Your own source exposes this which you should highly be concerned about. RT America was a major target due to their more factual coverage on a political spectrum. RT as a whole as a means to deny the world citizenry a view from the other side. Which I'll argue provides much more detailed information and on ground coverage. Nothing to the likes our MSCM is spewing out based primarily on only accusations they can't back up with video coverage like RT does. On RT you can find a documentary, in parts, that was made over the course of the 8 year genocide which our government and their MSCM don't want you to see. Oliver Stone's documentary (Ukraine on Fire) will never see a moment on any MSCM. Anything going against the ruling class from their owned public relation firms false narratives will not be tolerated. We're getting managed talking points, that's all. Not for peace, but bellowing out about more war and how much money is being thrown at it.
And so many wonder why China and Russia occasionally cut world media from their citizens when these manufactured illusions go on steroids. They don't want their citizens trapped in supporting fascism like so many in the US currently are.
{There is also a risk that once the current crisis passes, light weapons could end up elsewhere in Europe or fall under the control of militias operating in Ukraine, including the far-right Azov battalion. To reduce that risk, a costly weapons buyback program may be necessary, although the success of such programs remains hotly debated.}
This doesn't concern you? Do you know about our own fascist going to Ukraine to train under this battalion? How many are coming into the country now and uniting with Trump supporters? How many will come when the war is over looking to escape war crimes and bring the tactics with them used at Maidan. You're a Trump supporter and welcome it? A completely different Jan 6th that looks like the Maidan can now be a potential. I imagine you have no idea of what I'm talking about in regards of the tactical mass protest used at Maidan due to biased basic fact practice.
Currently the wheels are slowing falling off the charade that has been managed by our politicians and their MSCM. How are you going to feel when you realized you've been Iraqed again because of basic facts and biased information to serve a heinous agenda such as we received on Iraq. Information that came out from 2014 about Biden and his son that has been suppressed is now getting more coverage that could have been used to stop this uptick in warring years ago. Victoria Nuland. All the fascist elements within. The genocidal campaign.
All that information has been out there for years, but because a vast majority have been indoctrinated to refuse credible information from independent sources are again supporting actions against their own benefit. Today, the entire Ukrainian society is paying the price! The entire world society is paying a price along with it.
@Robecology Have you not been around all this time? Were you in a cave since the 90s? You didn't hear anything about that conflict called the Iraq War with Bush I and Bush II? I'm sure you watch corporate news. Have you seen the U.S. condemn any nations for constantly attacking Palestine, Syria, Libya, etc? How very right wing Republican of you to ignore that stuff or go along with the propaganda.
@William_Mary I'm sure he will say it's all a conspiracy theory and you're a Russian flunky. MSNBC didn't tell him the stuff you're telling him. It must not have happened. 5 corporations owning all media, and the CIA and government agencies infiltrating mainstream media was just in a fictional novel. They would never do something like that.
...and don't you know, when someone throws money at something it means they care! Just ask all the corporations that spend money on PR campaigns to pull suckers in for more sales when they put out a pro-LGBTQ, pro-African American, pro-nurse, or pro-anything ad.
@Robecology outside of a couple points of conjecture, everything he outlined is basic factual knowledge today from a 8 year history. Someone who claims to work from basic facts should be able to recognize those after all these years. Unless they are simply uninformed. Which you're highly indicating. While his conjectures are also based on a long history of proven outcomes. Your own article and links from within it provide a sense of strong foundation to his reply. The article you admittedly refused to read provides most of the answers you're asking him for. So why would you expect someone to do further work to educate you when you've already exposed yourself as being someone who quickly turns away from information when it challenges your beliefs?
Hell, I have doubts you even read the article you posted being you seemingly can't correlate what we're talking about to the Ukrainian people as a whole. Which there are plenty of indications over the past 8 years that the citizenry can be viewed as having no value.
Frankly there's an indication here that make the notations on your profile quite contradictory. Teacher--Free thinker? Reading skills? Ability to conform information into a wider spectrum of possibilities. Which produce conditions towards critical thinkers to challenge their developed opinions. You don't seem to fulfill any of this in a genuine manor.
@Piece2YourPuzzle when we have the American people believing everything we tell them, our perception management campaign will be a success.
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