Ukraine is supposedly at war with Russia but has built only one tank in the past ten years for Ukraine’s use though the state weapons plant employs 80,000. This is the great US “partner” on the front lines, taking the “battle” to Russia “over there” so we don’t have to fight them “over here?” Vindman: “Ukraine is critical to US national security interests because Ukraine is a frontline state and a bulwark against Russian aggression.”…"The combined visions of Russia as an aggressive, expansionistic power coupled with the brave Ukrainians serving as a bastion of freedom is so absurd that it is hardly worth countering. Russia’s economy is about the size of Italy’s or Spain’s limiting its imperial ambitions, if they actually exist. Its alleged transgressions against Georgia and Ukraine were both provoked by the United States meddling in Eastern Europe, something that it had pledged not to do after the Soviet Union collapsed. Ukraine is less an important American ally than a welfare case."…Ukraine sold itself out: “Yats is the guy.”...As usual, US regime change made things even worse: Ukraine protesters “are gripped with a profound sense of shock” that their “revolution” calling for overhaul of elite corruption has yielded the reverse, a worse oligarch [Poroshenko and Yatsenyuk] and worse elite corruption in which oligarchs still control 80-85% of Ukraine GDP....4/302015…"Ukraine: Insider Oligarchs Derail Maidan Revolution”
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Image: Dec. 13-14, 2017, Military Experts Assess Kharkiv Defence Facilities, attaches from 17 countries, in particular, the USA, Canada, Denmark, Norway, Lithuania and others visited Kharkiv.……………………………….
11/6/19, “‘One tank in 10 years?’: Zelensky outraged during visit to UkrOboronProm factory,” Kiev Post, Alexander Query
“President Volodymyr Zelensky was fuming after visiting the Malyshev military plant in Kharkiv on Nov. 6 [2019].
The plant has been part of UkrOboronProm, the state defense sector monopoly, since January 2011. UkrOboronProm oversees about 130 companies with 80,000 employees, who make everything from tanks and planes to missiles–both for Ukraine and foreign clients.
Covered in a thick shroud of official state secrecy, the monopoly has long been plagued by corruption scandals. But the Nov. 6 visit was Zelensky’s first trip to a factory of UkrOboronProm, which he promised to clean up during his campaign. Zelensky said he was shocked when he learned that the Malyshev plant had made only one tank for the Armed Forces of Ukraine in 10 years. “The statistics show that, in Soviet times, there were 900 tanks a year,” he said at a meeting about the state of the Malyshev factory.
Zelensky pointed out that some workers had not received wage arrears for up to four years. He also noted the low level of wages in general.
“For example, at the aviation plant, only Hr 3,500 ($142) [3500 Hryvnia is $142 US. This may mean $142 per month, ($35.50 a week) which a source says is Ukraine “minimum monthly wage,…3723 hryvnia (USD $142)"] How can a person respect himself and work for the state? How can he even call himself a person in these conditions?” Zelensky said, referring to reports that workers are forced to work in freezing facilities during the winter. “We treat people like cattle, and then we want them to respect the authorities, respect Ukraine, not to go anywhere, and for our businesses to work,” he added.
Zelensky demanded that the Cabinet of Ministers convene a meeting to improve the efficiency and working conditions at UkrOboronProm.
Last
June [2019], Zelensky named reformist former Economy Minister Aivaras
Abromavicius to the board of the enterprise, tasking him with carrying
out a long-awaited audit. Asked by Zelensky on Nov. 6 when it would be possible to fix all the plants in Kharkiv, where there are 18 UkroOboroProm enterprises, Abromavicius said it would require [more] money and state support. Zelensky asked to meet again within a week for further discussions.
Created in 2010 by then-President Viktor Yanukovych, UkrOboronProm has a monopoly over exports of all military products, making it both a regulator and the only game in town. Over the last decade UkrOboronProm has rigged deals, pushed entrepreneurs away and kept Western investors out of the loop.
In 2017, an investigation revealed that as much as Hr 100 million ($3.7 million) allocated to buy spare parts for armored military vehicles was pilfered from Kyiv’s Armory plant in 2014 -2015, and the parts were never delivered.
.........
In late July [2019], John Herbst, a former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, called UkrOboronProm a “serious, serious problem” for the country and said that the whole military industry is suffering from a “lack of transparency and corruption.” [This is the US “partner”on the front lines, taking the “battle” to Russia “over there” so we don’t have to fight them “over here?"] For Ukraine, developing a transparent defense industry could open the door for foreign investment, economic development and closer [US taxpayer] NATO integration.”
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Added: Not to worry, Mr. Vindman, NATO recently gave Ukraine $44 million:
[Image: NATO gave $44 million (US) to Ukraine’s new Pres. Zelensky. 11/1/19, image, NATO’s Stoltenberg and Ukraine’s Pres. Zelensky, via 112.international/ukraine]………………………………………..
Added: “Continuous warfare is the Deep State’s only business product.”
“The combined visions of Russia as an aggressive, expansionistic power coupled with the brave Ukrainians serving as a bastion of freedom is so absurd that it is hardly worth countering. Russia’s economy is about the size of Italy’s or Spain’s limiting its imperial ambitions, if they actually exist. Its alleged transgressions against Georgia and Ukraine were both provoked by the United States meddling in Eastern Europe, something that it had pledged not to do after the Soviet Union collapsed. Ukraine is less an important American ally than a welfare case, and no one knows that better than Vindman, but he is really speaking to his masters in the US Establishment when he repeats the conventional arguments.
It hardly seems possible, but Vindman then goes on to dig himself into a still deeper hole through his statement’s praise of the train wreck that is Ukraine. He writes, “In spite of being under assault from Russia for more than five years, Ukraine has taken major steps towards integrating with the West. The US government policy community’s view is that the election of President Volodymyr Zelensky and the promise of reforms to eliminate corruption will lock in Ukraine’s Western-leaning trajectory, and allow Ukraine to realize its dream of a vibrant democracy and economic prosperity. The United States and Ukraine are and must remain strategic partners, working together to realize the shared vision of a stable, prosperous, and democratic Ukraine that is integrated into the Euro-Atlantic community.””…
[Mr. Vindman: “The constitution does not empower the “U.S. government policy community”, nor “the administration”, nor the “consensus view of the interagency” and certainly not one Lt. Col. Vindman to define the strategic interests of the United States and its foreign policy. It is the duly elected president who does that.]
(continuing, Giraldi): “Vindman should be regarded as a manifestation of the Deep State thinking that has brought so much grief to the United States over the past twenty years. Seen in that light, his testimony, wrapped in an air of sanctimoniousness and a uniform, should be regarded as little more than the conventional thinking that has produced foreign policy failure after failure….
Vindman apparently sees Ukraine-Russia through the established optic provided by the Deep State, which considers global conflict as the price to pay for maintaining its largesse from the US taxpayer. Continuous warfare is its only business product, which explains in part its dislike of Donald Trump as he has several times threatened to upset the apple cart, even though he has done precious little in reality.”…
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Added: To Mr. Vindman: Ukraine will never be “stable, prosperous, or democratic” in your lifetime, if ever. To begin with, you have no banking system and no judiciary. The power of oligarchs has only increased since Ukraine's US taxpayer funded 2014 "democracy revolution:"
"On average, Ukrainian MPs [Parliament has 450 members] keep $700,000 at home. Those who have a lot of wealth transfer it to offshore havens, where the money is safe.…The banks’ primary problem is that their biggest clients do not pay…consider themselves too superior to pay, and unfortunately the Ukrainian judiciary agrees.”…"Since 2014 [through 10/3/2017] there has not been much change [in Ukraine]. Business people continue to hold leading political roles….After the Euromaidan protests [and US regime change], the political influence of some oligarchs increased even further."…10/3/2017…Ukraine oligarchs controlled 80-85% of the country’s GDP as of 4/30/2015….After 2014 Ukraine “democracy revolution,” the new government led by US-selected Yatsenyuk (“Yats is the guy"), immediately called the oligarchs and brought them into the “new” government: 3/2/2014, “Ukraine Turns to Its Oligarchs for Political Help," NY Times, Andrew E. Kramer, Kiev, Ukraine: “The interim government…is recruiting the country’s wealthy businessmen, known as the oligarchs, to serve as governors of the eastern provinces.”…Two years later in April 2016, “Yats” resigned as Ukraine Premier, having been unable to wean himself from oligarchs: “He couldn’t abandon the former practice of consulting the oligarchs before making decisions,” Yuri V. Lutsenko, the head of the president’s faction in Parliament, said in a telephone interview.”
…………………………………………
Added: Jan. 2017, US elites “Fueling More Bloodshed in Ukraine:”.
.....
Jan. 2017, “Fueling More Bloodshed in Ukraine:” In January 2017 Marie Yovanovitch, US Ambassador to Ukraine, was near the front lines in eastern Ukraine with a contingent of Ukraine troops and billionaire Ukraine President Poroshenko. Also present were Senators John McCain, Lindsey Graham, and Amy Klobuchar. “In the presence of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, Graham told the soldiers: “Your fight is our fight…2017 will be the year of offense. All of us will go back to Washington and we will push the case against Russia.” McCain promised the assembled troops, “we will do everything we can to provide you with what you need to win.”
1/1/2017, UK Guardian image:…."US Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovich, US Senators Amy Klobuchar and John McCain, Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko, and US Senator Lindsey Graham (left to right at center) pose for a photograph with Ukrainian servicemen. Photograph: Mikhail Palinchak/TassUS,” via UK Guardian, “Speaking during tour of Baltic states, Ukraine, and Georgia, McCain and fellow senators say US will support the countries despite Trump’s comments”
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Added:
.......
.....
Image, “State Department’s Mission: Coup d’etat,“ from TheTechnocraticTyranny.com, published 2/27/2016
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Added: Even Communism was better for Ukraine than being a US State Dept. colony. Ukraine population dropped 7 million 1991-2018 per World Bank, chart below. In 2018 Ukraine became poorest country in Europe, per IMF. Since 1991 Ukraine has been a “U.S.-controlled aboriginal regime:”
World Bank chart, 1960-2018: From 1991-2018 Ukraine population dropped by over 7 million, per World Bank.
1960: 42,664,652
1991: 52,000,470
1993, 52.179,210 (peak)
2014, 45,271,947 ...(year of US regime change)
2018, 44,622,516…
2014-2018: 629,428 fled after being “saved” by the US
Ukraine has become the Mexico of Europe. Such a large percentage of Ukraine’s population has to leave the country to find work while leaving loved ones behind that Ukraine in 2018 is now #1 in Europe and Central Asia for remittances sent home to loved ones at $14 billion, per World Bank....Additionally, Ukraine became the poorest country in Europe in 2018, per IMF–4 years after being “saved” by US regime change.……………………………………….
Added: A Ukraine swap meet
4/25/2018, “Ukraine is being deindustrialized according to Baltic scenario: opinion,” Eurasia Daily, Denis Gayevsky
Image, “A swap meet in Kiev. Photo: inosmi.ru“
……………………………………….
Added:
Ukraine is a “U.S.-controlled aboriginal regime.”
1/17/2017, “Farewell tour of “old Joe”: Biden’s last visit to Ukraine,” EurAsia Daily, Denis Gayevsky, Kiev
……………………………
Added:
4/8/19, “Record High Remittances Sent Globally in 2018,” worldbank.org
“After posting 22 percent growth in 2017, remittances to Europe and Central Asia grew an estimated 11 percent to $59 billion in 2018.…Ukraine, the region’s largest remittance recipient, received a new record of more than $14 billion in 2018, up about 19 percent over 2017. This surge in Ukraine also reflects a revised methodology for estimating incoming remittances, as well as growth in neighboring countries’ demand for migrant workers.” [subhead, “Regional Remittance Trends”]
…………………….
Added: Per International Monetary Fund, “Ukraine overtook Moldova as the poorest country in Europe as measured in GDP per capita in 2018.”
4/26/2019, “What is wrong with the Ukrainian economy?“ Anders Aslund, Atlantic Council
“Ukraine is now the poorest country in Europe. According to the International Monetary Fund, Ukraine overtook Moldova as the poorest country in Europe as measured in GDP per capita in 2018 at $2,963, 8 percent less than in Moldova.”…
IMF chart: “5. Report for Selected Countries and Subjects,” imf.org
Added: Per International Monetary Fund, “Ukraine overtook Moldova as the poorest country in Europe as measured in GDP per capita in 2018.”
4/26/2019, “What is wrong with the Ukrainian economy?“ Anders Aslund, Atlantic Council
“Ukraine is now the poorest country in Europe. According to the International Monetary Fund, Ukraine overtook Moldova as the poorest country in Europe as measured in GDP per capita in 2018 at $2,963, 8 percent less than in Moldova.”…
IMF chart: “5. Report for Selected Countries and Subjects,” imf.org
Above IMF chart shows Ukraine overtook Moldova in both 2017 and 2018. Below, Moldova maps:
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....Comment: If Ukrainians believed for one minute that John McCain, any US government official (“Yats is the guy,") or any self-proclaimed US “democracy” advocates on the ground in Ukraine wanted a better life for ordinary Ukrainians, I trust they’ve learned their lesson. How many know that US massively sponsors Islamic terrorism (including child beheaders)? Congress even refuses to pass the “Stop Arming Terrorists Act
In Dec. 2013 US Senator McCain traveled to Ukraine to lead an anti-government “regime change” protest. As Senator McCain said, “And of course Ukraine is the crown jewel.…Russia, without Ukraine it’s an eastern power, with Ukraine it’s a western power.“
12/15/2013, “John McCain backs opposition leaders telling Ukraine protesters: ‘America stands with you – Ukraine will make Europe better’,” AP report via Daily Mail…..
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Added:
12/15/2013, “John McCain backs opposition leaders telling Ukraine protesters: ‘America stands with you – Ukraine will make Europe better’,” AP report via Daily Mail…..
………………………….
Added:
Crimea wisely decided it didn’t wish to be a US State Dept. colony. Fortunately it was able to rejoin Russia.
……………………………………….
Added: “Politically driven” IMF 2014 Ukraine bailout required it to continue violence against Russia near its eastern border:
“A change to eastern Ukraine’s borders could force it [IMF] to adjust its bailout.
...Should the [Ukraine] central government lose effective control over the east, the program [IMF bailout] will need to be re-designed."…IMF bailout of Ukraine “is politically driven by key IMF shareholders."…Ukraine oligarchs still control 80-85% of the country’s GDP as of 4/30/2015….“Yats is the guy.” US oligarch selects Yatseniuk as new Ukraine PM, 2/7/2014…“It’s become increasingly clear that Obama-era US politicians backed the wrong people in Ukraine.”…12/5/2017
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May 1, 2014, “IMF warns Ukraine on bailout if it loses east,” CNBC, Catherine Boyle
“Ukraine,
struggling with a stuttering economy as well as [what the war crowd
hopes is] an escalating crisis with neighboring Russia, has had its $17 billion International Monetary Fund bailout signed off.But international lenders are already warning of threats to its funding.
Christine Lagarde, IMF managing director, warned “further escalation of tensions with Russia and unrest in the east of the country pose a substantial risk to the economic outlook.”
In a staff report on the aid program, published Thursday, the IMF added that a change to eastern Ukraine’s borders could force it to adjust its bailout.
“The unfolding developments in the east and tense relations with Russia could severely disrupt bilateral trade and depress investment confidence for a considerable period of time, thus worsening the economic outlook,” it said.
“Should the central government lose effective control over the east, the program will need to be re-designed.”…
The IMF predicts Ukraine’s economy to shrink by 5 percent at least this year. The country has been hidebound by corruption in business and politics. New anti-corruption laws are expected, but their effectiveness remains to be seen.
“This is something of a leap of faith for the IMF and is politically driven by key IMF shareholders to support the ([US-selected] interim prime minister Arseniy) Yatseniuk “kamikaze” administration in its [supposed] reform efforts,” according to Tim Ash, head of emerging markets research at Standard Bank.”…
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Added: 2014 IMF bailout required Ukraine to impose +56% increase in gas tax and +40% increase in heating fuel tax to bring it in line with "Europe:"
5/1/2014, “Ukraine bailout of $17bn approved by IMF who warns reforms are at risk,” UK Guardian, Angela Monaghan
“The policies agreed by Kiev include a strategy of gradually increasing retail gas and heating tariffs, by 56% and 40% in 2014, respectively, and by 20-40% in 2015-17.
The IMF said it was a necessary shift after authorities disregarded rising import prices, keeping domestic retail gas and heating prices fixed at the lowest levels in Europe. The IMF said the proportion of household budgets spent on gas and heating spending in Ukraine would rise from 3-7% to 5-11% – “moderate by the standards in the neighbouring countries”.
To help bring the deficit down, the government has agreed to restrain the public sector wage bill growth by cancelling discretionary wage increases planned for July and October this year. It will also impose a hiring freeze to reduce employment through “attrition and staff optimisation”, while a VAT rate reduction has been reversed.” (end of article)
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Added: If you want Ukraine to fail and billions of US tax dollars to disappear, he’s exactly the right man:
12/5/2017, “The West Backed the Wrong Man in Ukraine,” Bloomberg View, by Leonid Bershidsky
[Image: Pres. Poroshenko was the “immediate protege” of US oligarch and convicted felon, George Soros, Luxembourg Herald] “It’s become increasingly clear that Obama-era US politicians backed the wrong people in Ukraine. President Petro Poroshenko’s moves to consolidate his power now include sidelining the anti-corruption institutions he was forced to set up by Ukraine’s Western [ie, US] allies….
At this point, even the most vocal Western supporters of the post-revolutionary Ukrainian government have realized that something is wrong with Poroshenko. “President Poroshenko appears to have abandoned the fight against corruption, any ambition for economic growth, EU or IMF funding, ” economist Anders Aslund, who has long been optimistic about Ukrainian reforms, tweeted recently.”…
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Added: Ukraine, August 2005, Obama and Lugar in Ukraine to remove its weapons.....Ukraine effectively committed suicide by surrendering to the US global genocide machine:
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Added: US elites viewed Russia as a joke, a servile weakling, “ours to lose:”
“In
July 1997, NATO formally invited three former Soviet satellites—Poland,
Hungary, and the Czech Republic—to join the [NATO] alliance; and in
March 1999, less than two weeks after their membership became effective,
NATO [ie, the US] began to bomb Serbia, Russia’s ally, in an effort to end its military operations in Kosovo.”…“Bill Clinton, Boris Yeltsin, and U.S.-Russian Relations,” history.state.gov 3/20/2008, “Why the West loved Yeltsin and hates Putin," thehindu.com, Vladimir Radyuhi
“One reason why Yeltsin was the West’s darling—while Mr. Putin is the target of virulent attacks–was that his policies perfectly suited the Western agenda for Russia, a superpower-turned economic and military weakling, a subservient client state and a source of cheap energy and minerals. By contrast, Russia’s resurgence under Mr. Putin is seen as upsetting the global balance of power and threatening the U.S. unipolar model….[Link, Yeltsin Time cover, “Yanks to the Rescue,” 7/15/1996]
In Russia, Yeltsin is associated with plunging the country into chaos, reducing a majority of Russians to abject poverty and awarding the country’s oil, gas and other mineral riches to a handful of rapacious oligarchs, who plundered Russia and played Kremlin powerbrokers. The West lauded him as the “father of Russian democracy” who buried communism. Yeltsin remained “Friend Boris” to the West even after he sent tanks to blast his political opponents from Parliament in 1993. In Russia, he faced impeachment charges for this and other “crimes against the nation.”… Mr. Putin’s “controlled democracy” involves centralisation of power, government control over most electronic and some printed media, and Kremlin-supervised grooming of political parties. This policy helped to curb the chaos of the 1990s and bring about political stability that has underpinned economic growth.”…
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Comment: US elites are in the genocide business wherever they go. Job #1 for them is starving US taxpayers into extinction. "Russia" and "Ukraine" are just money laundering operations elites use to enrich themselves and divert public attention from the establishment's own failings. “Cybersecurity” is another lucrative “scare.” Everyone knows no computer connected to the internet can be guaranteed secure. Why does government continue to use internet connected computers for voting? Because it’s another “global” scare that can never be “solved” but requires endless billions from US taxpayers for no reason. Instead of telling everyone to use paper ballots, millions of new federal tax dollars are automatically handed out to US states for “cybersecurity.” Like global warming, government led revenue streams for “cybersecurity” have created a new “industry” about something that doesn’t exist, “computer security.” At minimum, there will always be a human being who failed to update security settings. US government agency NSA freely admits it can’t prevent personnel from removing classified data or codes.
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