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Date: November 24, 2024 at 05:11:16
From: akira, [DNS_Address]
Subject: The gov is using UK aid to further privatisation in war-torn Ukraine |
URL: https://www.thecanary.co/global/world-analysis/2024/11/24/ukraine-uk-aid/ |
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The government is using UK aid to further privatisation in war-torn Ukraine
by Ed Sykes 24 November 2024
BeyondWords
UK elites are cynically trying to profit from the devastation of the proxy war in
Ukraine. Using an infamous strategy popular with US imperialism in recent
decades, the UK has been taking advantage of a poor country in dire straits by
using aid to push for mass privatisation in Ukraine.
Aid as a key tool of modern imperialism and privatisation
As Declassified UK co-founder Matt Kennard previously told the Canary:
Aid actually developed as a way to repackage economic imperialism after
decolonisation after World War 2. Many of the institutions which compose the
ecosystem, from USAID to World Bank, are about greasing the entry of
corporations into new markets, and subsiding the corporations at the same time.
Kennard and fellow journalist Claire Provost looked at this and other issues in
their book Silent Coup: How Corporations Overthrew Democracy. Kennard also
detailed the techniques that the US empire (and its British “junior partner”) use to
ensure global subservience to elite interests in his book The Racket.
UK pushing privatisation in Ukraine via aid
On 20 November, fellow Declassified UK co-founder Mark Curtis wrote about
how:
British aid is being used to open up Ukraine’s wrecked economy to foreign
investors and enhance trade with the UK
He described how UK “economic aid” to Ukraine currently focuses on:
promoting pro-private sector reforms and on pressing the government to open up
its economy to foreign investors.
And he added that:
Recently-published Foreign Office documents on its flagship aid project in
Ukraine, which supports privatisation, note that the war provides “opportunities”
for Ukraine delivering on “some hugely important reforms”.
Ukraine’s government hasn’t exactly put up much resistance, either. President
Volodymyr Zelensky, for example, seems particularly receptive. Because he
recently signed into law the further privatisation of public banks. And this, Curtis
said:
follows the Ukrainian government’s announcement in July of its ‘Large-Scale
Privatisation 2024’ programme that is intended to drive foreign investment into
the country and raise money for Ukraine’s struggling national budget, not least to
fight Russia.
The privatisation of “hundreds of smaller-scale enterprises”, meanwhile, has
raised around £181m since 2022.
‘Turning a crisis into an opportunity’
Curtis also explained that:
Britain’s main economic aid project in Ukraine runs from 2022-25 and is called
the Good Governance Fund. One of its aims is to ensure that “Ukraine adopts and
implements economic reforms that create a more inclusive economy, enhancing
trade opportunities with the UK”.
The recent Foreign Office update, meanwhile, talks of the devastation in Ukraine
since 2022:
not only as a crisis, but also as an opportunity
In particular, the project seeks “better integration with Euro-Atlantic markets” and
a closer alignment with “Western markets”. In a statement for Declassified, a
Foreign Office spokesperson said the department would keep working to foster a
“modernised economy” by the end of the war with Russia.
The UK isn’t working alone, either. Because it has its senior imperialist partner
right by its side. In particular, the controversial USAID has funded the SOERA
(State-owned enterprises reform activity in Ukraine) sub-programme. This is part
of the Good Governance Fund project, and Britain’s Foreign Office works “as a
junior partner”. USAID has actually been pushing for “mass privatization” in
Ukraine since the 1990s. But SOERA’s aim now is to “advance privatization” of
state-owned enterprises (SOEs). And it has already laid “the groundwork” by
fostering legislative changes. SOERA also seeks to help the government with
“strategic communications” to convince the public that privatisation is a good
idea.
The Ukraine Recovery Conference, meanwhile, has sought to “to cement
Ukrainian commitment to advancing the reform agenda”. And the UK’s
Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI) has said quite explicitly that:
The UK is hoping to reap benefits for UK firms from Ukraine’s reconstruction
The latest implementation of the Shock Doctrine: UK aid in Ukraine
Curtis places the UK’s push for privatisation within “a wider push by the World
Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF)” to condition aid for lower-
income nations on their commitment to privatising state assets. Indeed, one
condition for a $15.6bn IMF loan to Ukraine last year was that it produced a
“strategy on privatisation”. This has long been at the centre of the failed ideology
of neoliberalism. It’s bad economics, but imperialists love it due to the benefits it
provides for the rich and powerful minority. As Curtis reminds us, privatisation is
not a magic fix because it “can create private monopolies, reduce accountability
to government and overcharge the public”.
Pushing this catastrophic agenda during a crisis even has its own term, thanks to
author Naomi Klein. She outlined the concept of the ‘shock doctrine‘ in her 2007
book, in which she detailed how right-wing elites (usually in cahoots with US
imperialism) have long exploited people and countries’ “disorientation following a
collective shock—wars, coups, terrorist attacks, market crashes, natural disasters
—to push through radical pro-corporate measures”. As social movement activist
Graham Jones told the Canary in 2018:
The shock relies on people not being able to understand what’s going on, and not
having a narrative to fit it within.
Jones outlined how the left could resist these tactics so that it’s the majority of
people, rather than a wealthy minority, that come out of devastating situations
stronger. And it’s precisely that kind of strategy we need right now to oppose the
disgusting imperialist attempts to benefit from conflict in Ukraine, Gaza, or further
afield.
Featured image via the Canary
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Date: November 24, 2024 at 05:18:09
From: akira, [DNS_Address]
Subject: the US too, naturally(NT) |
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Responses:
[56518] |
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56518 |
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Date: November 24, 2024 at 05:24:05
From: akira, [DNS_Address]
Subject: BlackRock,JPMorgan backing $15billion investor fund to rebuild Ukraine |
URL: https://qz.com/blackrock-jpmorgan-private-investors-ukraine-fund-1851334929 |
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March 14, 2024
The war, however, has destroyed the country (the goal) and taken the lives
of 31,000 Ukrainian soldiers.
BlackRock and JPMorgan are backing a $15 billion investor fund to rebuild
Ukraine
It would cost almost half-a-trillion dollars to reconstruct Ukraine
By Vinamrata Chaturvedi
A coalition of investors, with support from BlackRock and JPMorgan, are aiming
to put together $15 billion in aid to rebuild Ukraine. In a new group known as the
Ukraine Development Fund, they are supporting investments from state bodies
and capital markets; the fund will bring together a consortium of investors to
finance at least $15 billion of reconstruction work in the country after two years
of Russian invasion.
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The Financial Markets Advisory Group of BlackRock has five members working
on the fund, along with JPMorgan Chase staff members. Both institutions are
providing their services for free.
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Last month, the World Bank and other organizations estimated the total cost of
rebuilding Ukraine after Russia’s invasion at almost $500 billion. In an interview
with Bloomberg, Philipp Hildebrand, vice chairman of BlackRock Inc., said the
Ukraine Development Fund is poised to secure at least $500 million from
countries, development banks, and other grant providers.
Two years of war with Russia
Two years have passed since Russia invaded Ukraine. But in its pursuit, Russia
has so far failed to capture Ukrainian capital Kyiv or take control of its
government. The war, however, has destroyed the country and taken the lives of
31,000 Ukrainian soldiers.
Read more: Russia is spending so much invading Ukraine that the war is actually
good for its economy now
The Ukraine Development Fund, according to Hildebrand, is likely to be
incorporated in Luxembourg with a committee for investment, analysts and
researchers.
German echos
The Ukraine Development Fund will be one of the biggest public-private
collaborations, comparable to Germany’s KfW (a leading development bank in
Germany) after World War II, or BlackRock’s Climate Finance Partnership with
several governments, said Hildebrand. The funding will focus on manufacturing,
infrastructure, agriculture, and energy. For that, about 20 viable projects have
been identified.
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