Globe & Mail once again bullshitting us about Ukraine disaster

One of the top knobs at the Globe brain trust offers a masterpiece of revisionist history in his Saturday op-ed; Toxic myths about Ukraine are poisoning its future. Here are the toxic myths, or “three malicious fictions about 2014,” as Doug Saunders puts it. There was a coup in 2014 The coup involved NATO The United States and its officials interfered You need to read the whole thing yourself to fully appreciate Doug’s nuanced grasp of geopolitics, but here’s his concluding paragraph, just to give you a taste; Talk of Ukraine joining NATO, and of significant Western support, didn’t really begin until after Mr. Putin’s second invasion in 2022. A decade ago, the Americans and NATO both wanted to stay away from Ukraine. Far from the “Western expansion” fictions, the fate of Ukraine was left to Ukrainians. Oddly enough, NATO itself contradicts Doug’s nonsense. Check out Relations with Ukraine on their website. Here’s a quote; In response to Ukraine’s aspirations for NATO membership, Allies agreed at the 2008 Bucharest Summit that Ukraine will become a member of NATO. According to Doug, 2008 was the year NATO made it “clear they did not want Kyiv in the alliance!” I don’t want to rush to judgement, but it looks like the Globe is publishing bullshit again. Here’s the text of my letter to the editor. To: Letters The historical record reveals Mr. Saunders' "three malicious fictions" are themselves toxic myths.  Saunders claims that the infamous Nuland-Pyatt recordings, widely interpreted as America choosing the next government, was made after Yanukovych "stepped down," and was merely "expressing her wish that more democratic candidates would prevail -as one would hope any diplomat would." In fact, the tape was released on February 4th, Yanukovych "stepped down" on February 21st, and the candidate favored by Nuland and Pyatt was president by the end of the month. Nuland also claimed in 2014 that the US had invested over $5 billion in "promoting democracy" in Ukraine since 1991. The claim that "talk of joining NATO didn't really begin until 2022" is equally spurious. The Globe and Mail archives reveal an abundance of stories and op-eds that focused on exactly that, going back at least as far as the early days of the Harper government. It is relentless American interference(with the enthusiastic support of Canada) in the internal politics of Ukraine that has poisoned its future. Dieter Neumann

Ukraine Pres Poroshenko pays high personal price for nation's freedom and democracy

Petro Poroshenko used to be one of the top oligarchs in Ukraine; those few dozens of visionaries who, due to their integrity, intelligence, and hard work managed to divide up the nation's wealth amongst themselves in the glorious (for them) window of opportunity that opened up just as the sun was setting on the Soviet empire.

While the fortunes of the vast majority of Ukrainians were going down the toilet, Poroshenko and his fellow oligarchs were shamelessly enriching themselves. Like his fellow oligarchs, Petro studiously scaffolded his political connections into an ever-growing personal fortune. In 2012 Forbes magazine welcomed him into the ranks of the world's billionaires. A year later his net worth stood at US$1.6 billions.

Alas, there then blew in the "Nuland-Pyatt Spring," the gentle breezes of which wafted through the Maidan in early 2014, grew and grew and grew in intensity until it was a virtual hurricane for freedom and human rights, its virtuous force 5 winds blowing an elected government clear out of the country!

Under a recent law, Ukraine's parliamentarians are now required to self-disclose their net worth. All to do with the never-ending war on corruption, don't you know, and according this story at Deutsche Welle,  Poroshenko has declared a meagre 26 millions!

Wow! From 1,600 millions to 26 millions in a mere two years? That loss is almost Trumpian in scale!

But perhaps we should not feel pity for the man prematurely. Didn't his name come up in those Panama Papers revelations? You don't suppose those shell companies were part of a plan to disappear his assets, do you?

Hmm...

Poroshenko's last stand?

Those of a conspiratorial bent will find it beyond curious that on the very day that Ukrainian oligarch-cum-President Petro Poroshenko is facing his gravest challenge yet, his Prime Minister, Nuland-Pyatt fave "Yats" Yatsenyuk just happens to be visiting Washington!


Coincidence?


After Saturday's shootout between police and a gang of Right Sector neofascists, Poroshenko has ordered the disarming of all non-state militias. This is going to be a tall order, mainly because his "War on Terrorists" in the east of the country depends on those same armed militias to do the heavy lifting. Leadership of the Right Sector responded immediately with a firm negatory, and instead called on Poroshenko to fire the local governor and arrest the policemen who had the gall to shoot at them!


So Poroshenko has painted himself into a corner. He has issued an ultimatum, which is rejected out of hand. As the leader of Ukraine, he now needs to enforce that order or lose what little credibility he still has.


Yatsenyuk, meanwhile, was in Washington ostensibly to drum up enthusiasm among would-be investors. They too deserve to know if Ukraine is governed by the rule of law or by armed gangs.

Canadian complicity in Ukraine coup revealed

This should not come as a surprise to anyone. Big Steve and Bullshittin' Baird were all over that glorious Ukrainian revolution that the Nuland-Pyatt putsch had sprung on the unsuspecting Ukrainian people... they thought they were on their way to joining NATO and the EU!

Guess the joke is on them!

Instead, a year and a half later, the nation teeters on the brink of bankruptcy, and the fascist militias are in open revolt against the not-so-legitimate government of our bumboy Petro Poroshenko.

Sucks to be a Uke, but at least billionaire Poroshenko's companies are worth more than ever.

He's scheduled to visit Ottawa this week. No doubt we'll be seeing lots of headlines about "Putin's aggression."


(Correction: It's PM "Yats" Yatsenyuk visiting Ottawa tomorrow, not President Poroshenko.)

Ukraine's other war about to start

That would be the war with creditors. Creditor number one, the Franklin Templeton fund, has retained Blackstone to represent its interests in debt renegotiations with the bankrupt state.

That in itself tells you something. Blackstone aren't altruistic work-out artists; they're cut-throat hedgies. If they've been "retained" it means FT has already made a deal to sell them their Uke debt at a deep discount.

If Argentina's experience with Elliot Management is any indication, this cloud over Ukraine's future could linger for fifteen years or more.

Interesting to see White and Case mentioned as representing Ukraine. That's a law firm famous for their pro bono work. This could be their biggest pro bona assignment yet! After all, what's Ukraine supposed to pay them with?

Ironically, Ukraine was once known as the bread-basket of Europe, and it's eastern regions were the industrial heartland of the Soviet Union. How did that rich legacy go up in smoke in the quarter century since independence? Simple; Ukraine was well and truly plucked to the last feather by her very own home-grown oligarchs.

The negotiations are doubly tragic for Ukraine in that the value of the hryvnia has been cut in half since the Nuland-Pyatt coup, but those debts must still be repaid in US dollars. That's something the Ukrainian people will have plenty of time to think about as they endure twenty years of Greek style austerity so that the banks who funded the kleptocracy of the oligarchs can be paid in full.

Anti-Putinists have field day with imaginary news out of Ukraine

There's a story on view at the Wall Street Journal telling us Putin makes his move.

Yes, Putin is grabbing more of Ukraine.

The Russian troops sneaking into Ukraine aboard those aid trucks never happened, but thankfully there is a new imaginary news story afloat about Russian artillery firing on Ukraine.

That's Putin "making his move".

We understand why Putin had to go along with the Crimean people's wish to be Russian rather than Ukrainian. Those reasons certainly include that Black Sea naval base.

What nobody has explained is why Putin or Russia would have the slightest interest in "making a move" on the rest of basket case bankrupt Ukraine?

The reason for that is that those reasons don't exist.

Yes, the US and her allies fomented a coup that deposed the elected government, on behalf of Monsanto et al, but the idea that Russia lusts after Ukraine is a fiction of the highest order.

Ukraine has been economically raped into the dirt by her own Ukrainian oligarchs since '91. The fact that the Nuland-Pyatt government embraces the EU rather than Russia is a huge load off Russia. There is absolutely no reason why Putin should want to take that back.

But Ukraine is a bankrupt failed state that has spun out more billionaires per capita than virtually any other nation on earth. The reason that happened is the reason everybody is so eager to blame Putin for everything wrong in Ukraine today.

We musn't blame the patriotic Ukrainian oligarchs for destroying their country; therefore everything is Putin's fault.

Ukraine Army's midnight military exercises a prelude to coup?

It's become more than obvious over the past few weeks that the high command of the Ukrainian military don't consider themselves accountable to the Nuland-Pyatt government.

So why they would need to hold "military exercises" in Kiev overnight is an interesting question indeed.

The announcement was contradicted within hours by the mayor of Kiev, who claimed that only local police and militia would participate in the exercise.

Meanwhile, the IMF announced a $17 billion loan late today, which is about half of what Ukraine needs over the next two years.

The balance is expected to come out of the hides of the broke and beleaguered people of Ukraine.

That's the reality of Ukraine today; nobody in charge, everything in chaos, and the the only certainty grinding Greek-style poverty for many many years.