WAR & THEFT: The Corporate Takeover Of Ukraine’s Agricultural Land

Yet another self-licking corporate Blood Popsicle.

And, of course, with every additional dollar of western corporate ownership of Ukraine the lobbying of Congress and White House for continuing the collapsing Ukraine War is ramped up.

By Mark Taylor
DeMOCKracy.ink (10/5/24)

Remember back when the Ukraine War was all about stopping Russian troops to defend ‘freedom and democracy’? Remember when Russian Pres. Vladimir Putin was portrayed as a modern-day czar out to conquer all of Europe? Remember when blue-n-yellow Ukraine flags sprouted from every other door front?

Remember all the lies?

Remember when we learned that former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson had been quietly dispatched to Kiev to inform Ukrainian Pres. Vladimir Zylenskyy he was to walk away from the mutually agreed upon peace treaty eschewing Nato membership he had just initialed with Putin and that the US and Nato would back Ukraine in battling Russia?

Remember when we realized the war in Ukraine had been completely preventable? Remember when we began to realize — hold on — this is just a proxy war with Russia for corporate profit? Remember when it was obvious we had been conned into war … again!

Well, several years on all those lies are as blown apart as many Ukrainian villages and cities. Shredded like the body of a young man in some muddy trench. The lies are as dead as the approximately 1 million — and non-stop counting — Ukrainian and Russian troops killed in some of the most grinding battlefield conditions since WW I.

The lies are dead, the bitter truths are obvious. The war in Ukraine is only about pushing the boundaries of Nato to trigger a wider war to break up Russia and open the nation’s vast natural resources to greedy western corporate exploitation. It is about seizing Ukrainian farmland, some of the deepest and richest in the world, to control the world wheat market.

Now, several years on and after Ukrainian land laws were changed, western corporate interests have grabbed up half of Ukrainian farmland. In an early 2023 report the Oakland Institute reported corporate interests had bought up, 28% of Ukrainian agricultural land. This past July EurAsia Daily reported three companies now own 17 million hectares — 50% of the nation’s farmland. And to top off the profit margins, agricultural production has been devastated by the war resulting in land being sold off at bargain prices.

With a million dead and counting, billions spent and up in flames, hundreds of cities and villages bombed to pieces and over 6 million Ukrainians now refugees, the war may be a disastrous sinkhole but it’s a giddy profit boon for private investors and corporations.

Additionally, EurAsia recently reported Ukraine is going to sell off 20 state-owned companies to western corporations for an estimated $100 million to support the military.

And, of course, with every additional dollar of western corporate ownership of Ukraine, the lobbying of Congress and White House for more funding to continue the collapsing Ukraine War is ramped up.

Yet another self-licking corporate Blood Popsicle.

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HALF Of Ukraine Land Has Already Been Sold Off At Bargain Prices To Western Corporations!

“The Ukraine war is nothing but a money laundering operation.”

The Jimmy Dore Show (10/3/24)

10-minute video

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The Corporate Theft Of Ukraine’s Valuable Agricultural Land … And Future

View of the wheat field during the harvesting season near Krasne village, Ukraine July 5, 2019 © FAO / Oaklan Institute report. Anatolii Stepanov

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While large landholders are securing massive financing from Western financial institutions, Ukrainian farmers — essential for ensuring domestic food supply — receive virtually no support.

Oakland Institute (2/21/23)

War and Theft: The Takeover of Ukraine’s Agricultural Land exposes the financial interests and the dynamics at play leading to further concentration of land and finance.

The total amount of land controlled by oligarchs, corrupt individuals, and large agribusinesses is over nine million hectares — exceeding 28 percent of Ukraine’s arable land. The largest landholders are a mix of Ukrainian oligarchs and foreign interests — mostly European and North American as well as the sovereign fund of Saudi Arabia. Prominent US pension funds, foundations, and university endowments are invested through NCH Capital, a US-based private equity fund.

Several agribusinesses, still largely controlled by oligarchs, have opened up to Western banks and investment funds — including prominent ones such as Kopernik, BNP, or Vanguard — who now control part of their shares. Most of the large landholders are substantially indebted to Western funds and institutions, notably the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the World Bank.

Corruption and control

Western financing to Ukraine in recent years has been tied to a drastic structural adjustment program that has required austerity and privatization measures, including the creation of a land market for the sale of agricultural land. President Zelenskyy put the land reform into law in 2020 against the will of the vast majority of the population who feared it would exacerbate corruption and reinforce control by powerful interests in the agricultural sector. Findings of the report concur with these concerns. While large landholders are securing massive financing from Western financial institutions, Ukrainian farmers — essential for ensuring domestic food supply — receive virtually no support. With the land market in place, amidst high economic stress and war, this difference of treatment will lead to more land consolidation by large agribusinesses.

The report also sounds the alarm that Ukraine’s crippling debt is being used as a leverage by the financial institutions to drive post-war reconstruction towards further privatization and liberalization reforms in several sectors, including agriculture.

[NOTE: If you link to the article you will find a link to download the original report the article is based upon.]

Link to story

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