What Really Happened in Ukraine

[JohnyCanuck]

by ISRAEL SHAMIR

Counterpunch

snip

A tug-of-war between the East and the West for the future of Ukraine lasted over a month, and has ended for all practical purposes in a resounding victory for Vladimir Putin, adding to his previous successes in Syria and Iran. The trouble began when the administration of President Yanukovich went looking for credits to reschedule its loans and avoid default. There were no offers. They turned to the EC for help; the EC, chiefly Poland and Germany, seeing that the Ukrainian administration was desperate, prepared an association agreement of unusual severity.

The EC is quite hard on its new East European members, Latvia, Romania, Bulgaria et al.: these countries had their industry and agriculture decimated, their young people working menial jobs in Western Europe, their population drop exceeded that of the WWII.

But the association agreement offered to the Ukraine was even worse. It would turn the Ukraine into an impoverished colony of the EC without giving it even the dubious advantages of membership (such as freedom of work and travel in the EC). In desperation, Yanukovich agreed to sign on the dotted line, in vain hopes of getting a large enough loan to avoid collapse. But the EC has no money to spare – it has to provide for Greece, Italy, Spain. Now Russia entered the picture. At the time, relations of the Ukraine and Russia were far from good. Russians had become snotty with their oil money, the Ukrainians blamed their troubles on Russians, but Russia was still the biggest market for Ukrainian products.

For Russia, the EC agreement meant trouble: currently the Ukraine sells its output in Russia with very little customs protection; the borders are porous; people move freely across the border, without even a passport. If the EC association agreement were signed, the EC products would flood Russia through the Ukrainian window of opportunity. So Putin spelled out the rules to Yanukovich: if you sign with the EC, Russian tariffs will rise. This would put some 400,000 Ukrainians out of work right away. Yanukovich balked and refused to sign the EC agreement at the last minute. (I predicted this in my report from Kiev full three weeks before it happened, when nobody believed it – a source of pride).

http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/12/20/what-really-happened-in-ukraine/

[Octafish]

1. EC must've been followin' orders.

Wall Street, uh, I mean, Washington wanted Goldman Sach austerity.

John Perkins the Economic Hit Man:

Washington's Dirty Game in Ukraine

by Stephen Lendman
Dec. 17, 2013

Weeks of Ukraine street protests continue. Washington's dirty hands are involved. They're manipulating things disruptively. Imperial ruthlessness operates this way.

International law is clear and unequivocal. Meddling in the internal affairs of other countries is illegal. Doing so is longstanding US policy.

It's to eliminate independent sovereign states. It's about replacing them with pro-Western vassal ones.

It's about weakening major rivals. It aims to eliminate them altogether if possible. It's for unchallenged global dominance.

It's to make the world safe for corporate American profiteers. John Perkins was an "economic hit man." He explained, saying:

&quot H)ighly paid professionals cheat countries around the globe out of trillions of dollars."

"They funnel money from the World Bank, (IMF, and other international lending agencies, as well as) other foreign aid organizations into the coffers of huge corporations and the pockets of a few wealthy families who control the planet's natural resources."

"Their tools include fraudulent financial reports, rigged elections, payoffs, extortion, sex, and murder."

"They play a game as old as empire, but one that has taken on new and terrifying dimensions during this time of globalization."

CONTINUED...

http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2013/12/washingtons-dirty-game-in-ukraine.html

Thanks for the heads-up, JohnyCanuck! Some things are more important than Duck Dynasty.