The New Colonialism: Greece and Ukraine. By Jack Rasmus in CounterPunch.
Can you hear that financial vacuum cleaner gearing up to empty the personal wallets and national wealth of Ukrainians?
In comparison to this experienced, efficient and well-connected international machine, Ukraine's former President Yanunovich was a mere amateur in corruption and wealth extraction.
"A new form of colonialism is emerging in Europe. Not colonialism imposed by military conquest and occupation, as in the 19th century. Not even the more efficient form of economic colonialism pioneered by the U.S. in the post-1945 period, where the costs of direct administration and military occupation were replaced with compliant local elites allowed to share in the wealth extracted in exchange for being allowed to rule on behalf of the colonizers.
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In the 21st century, it is “colonialism by means of financial asset transfer.” It is colony wealth extraction by colonizing country managers, assigned to directly administer the processes in the colony by which financial assets are to be transferred. This new form of colonialism by direct management plus financial wealth transfer is now emerging in Greece and Ukraine.
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The new colonialism as financial asset transfer takes several practical forms: as wealth transfer in the form of interest payments on ever rising debt, in firesales of government assets sold directly to the colonizer’s investors and bankers, and in the de facto takeover the colony’s banking system and bank assets in order to transfer wealth to shareholders of the colonizing country’s private bankers and investors.
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In Ukraine’s case, only once U.S. and Euro bankers were installed as Ministers of Finance and Economics last December 2014, were more loans promised to Ukraine. The U.S. and EU put in another $4 billion in January, and the IMF quickly announced the new $40 billion deal in February. After the $40 billion, Ukraine’s debt rose from $12 billion in 2007 to $100 billion in 2015. The new $100 billion debt will mean a massive increase in financial wealth extraction in the form of interest payments on that $100 billion.
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Another form of transfer will occur in the accelerating of privatizations. No fewer than 342 former government enterprise companies are slated for sale in 2015, including power plants, mines, 13 ports, and even farms. The sales will likely occur at firesale prices, benefiting U.S. and European “friends” of the new US and European ministers. So too will the sale of Ukraine private companies approved by the new Ministers. One of every five are technically bankrupt and unable to refinance $10 billion in corporate junk bond debt. Many will default, the best scooped up by U.S. and EU shadow bankers and multinational corporations."
http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/09/03/the-new-colonialism-greece-and-ukraine/
Showing posts with label Transnational Corporations. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Transnational Corporations. Show all posts
Saturday, September 5, 2015
Tuesday, May 12, 2015
Who Owns Agricultural Land in Ukraine?
Who Owns Agricultural Land in Ukraine?
Transnational agribusinesses, including Monsanto, Cargill and DuPont, are increasingly investing and are taking over all aspects Ukraine’s agricultural system.
Insightful quotes quote: "The quest for Ukraine’s legendary black earth is almost complete. To the dismay of French, Polish, German farmers, the multinational agricultural corporation Monsanto, as well as DuPont Pioneer and John Deere, have all lobbied for access to the largest agricultural market in Eastern Europe. This will soon reshape the market for agricultural products in the EU and spell ruin for Europe’s farmers."
“We must ask ourselves: what impact will these investments have on the 7 million local farmers, especially with the expected lifting of the moratorium on land sales in 2016? And how will these deals affect Ukraine’s ability to control its own food supply and manage its economy in a way that will benefit the Ukrainian people?”
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I've always been a supporter of a democratic and independent Ukraine -- a country where agricultural land and other important strategic natural resources (coal, shale oil & gas) belong to Ukranian citizens and Ukrainian-owned companies.
Today, I see a Ukrainian government that's more beholden to its foreign sponsors, including transnational carpetbaggers & vulture investors, than to Ukrainian citizens.
Once Ukraine's precious black earth -- a gift from G-d -- is tranferred into foreign hands or polluted with foreign-ownedGMOs, then the prospects for an independent and prosperous Ukraine will wither.
As they say, once you control a people's land, food supply, energy supplies and banking system, then there's no need for a military occupation, legal annexation or former colonization.
So while the current Ukrainian government is busy pumping up patriotism, shelling Eastern Ukrainian separatists & civilians and whipping up more anti-Russian war hysteria, the real war for Ukraine's economic independence is being lost -- on purpose -- in the battle for Ukraine's land and crops.
And that could do more long-term economic damage to Ukraine (its citizenry and not its transnational oligarchs) than the loss of pro-Russian regions like Crimea and the Donetsk Coal Basin.
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Some useful articles on what's been happening to Ukrainian agriculture:
US Agribusiness, GMOs and the Plundering of the Planet
April 7, 2015
April 7, 2015
The Corporate Takeover of Ukrainian Agriculture
December 2014
New Fact Sheet Details Western Agribusiness Interests in Ukraine
Wednesday, December 10, 2014
Land grab in Ukraine is Monsanto’s backdoor to the EU
Mon, Apr 6, 2015
Monsanto's Land Grab in Ukraine
February 06, 2015
More Evidence For Monsanto’s Role In The Ukrainian Coup?
January 13, 2015 by Sophie McAdam
What They're Not Telling You About Monsanto's Role In Ukraine!
Paul Craig Roberts on Russia, Ukraine, Monsanto, GMOs and more
Agenda-21, Globalist “Darling” Monsanto Finding a Backdoor into Ukraine and the E.U.
September 1, 2014
Monsanto in Ukraine - IMF loan for Ukraine may give GMO giant a backdoor into EU
Published time: August 30, 2014 15:33
Land Grabs in the Black Earth: Ukrainian Oligarchs and International Investors
30. Okt. 2013
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