{"id":144427,"date":"2015-03-12T01:51:11","date_gmt":"2015-03-12T01:51:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/?p=144427"},"modified":"2015-03-12T04:51:45","modified_gmt":"2015-03-12T04:51:45","slug":"tentative-deal-reached-settle-ukraine-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/editorials\/tentative-deal-reached-settle-ukraine-war\/","title":{"rendered":"Tentative Deal Reached to Settle Ukraine War"},"content":{"rendered":"

http:\/\/deutsche-wirtschafts-nachrichten.de\/2015\/03\/11\/iwf-ukraine-erhaelt-175-milliarden-dollar-aus-steuergeldern\/<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

PLUNDERING THE WORLD<\/b><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

IMF: Ukraine will receive $ 17.5 billion\u00a0from taxpayers<\/b><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

German Economic News\u00a0\u00a0|\u00a0\u00a0Published: 11\/03\/15 23:51 clock<\/span><\/p>\n

[Translation and notes by Eric Zuesse, whose explanation of the deal is at the end]<\/span><\/p>\n

SUMMARY:<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Ukraine will receive total loans of 40 billion dollars from international tax money.\u00a0For this purpose, Ukraine will carry out “reforms” especially such demands as that the social system\u00a0be\u00a0dismantled and privatization [selloff of government assets in order to repay the loans] be performed.\u00a0The Kiev government is very pleased\u00a0with\u00a0the ‘help’.\u00a0A native of the US, Ukraine\u2019s Finance Minister Natalie Jaresko wants to buy weapons with\u00a0the money.\u00a0European banks are relieved because Kiev, for the time being, is able to meet its\u00a0debt service.<\/span><\/p>\n

DETAILS:<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Angela Merkel and IMF chief Christine Lagarde rejoiced in Berlin on Wednesday,\u00a0because, in their view, Ukraine is on the right track.<\/span><\/p>\n

The International\u00a0Monetary Fund (IMF)\u00a0has fully approved its new\u00a0loan package of 17.5\u00a0billion for Ukraine.\u00a0This\u00a0approval from the IMF Board of the four-year loan program was announced in Berlin on Wednesday by\u00a0the IMF’s head Christine\u00a0Lagarde.\u00a0She said that the loan\u00a0will help to stabilize the\u00a0economic situation in\u00a0Ukraine as quickly as\u00a0possible.\u00a0At the same time\u00a0Ukraine will launch far-reaching\u00a0reforms to restore robust\u00a0growth and improve the\u00a0living conditions of the\u00a0population, she promises.<\/span><\/p>\n

“Ukraine has fulfilled all conditions\u00a0for\u00a0this loan program, “Lagarde said in Berlin after a meeting with\u00a0German Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) and the heads of other global financial and economic organizations.\u00a0The\u00a0newly approved\u00a0plan will pay Ukraine ten billion dollars in the first year.<\/span><\/p>\n

Overall, the international community is now fully committed to provide to Ukraine around\u00a0$ 40 billion in loans.\u00a0Specifically, the\u00a0IMF has converted its previous short-term loans (Stand-By Arrangement) into\u00a0a long-term loan program (Extended Fund Facility).<\/span><\/p>\n

Ukraine is virtually bankrupt\u00a0and can, according to the statement from\u00a0Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, survive\u00a0only with the IMF loans.\u00a0Yatsenyuk says that the amount of the first installment of the new loan program from the\u00a0IMF will be five billion US dollars.\u00a0“We managed to show the IMF that we implement reforms,” he said on Wednesday night, according to local media in Kiev – and he pointedly held five fingers in the air.<\/span><\/p>\n

The EU has recently approved 1.8 billion euros for Ukraine.\u00a0Germany has bilaterally (with Ukraine) granted an\u00a0additional credit line of 500 million euros for economic stabilization.\u00a0In addition, Reuters reports that IMF\u00a0insiders believe that the creditors of Ukraine will be asked to pay.\u00a0They\u00a0are expected to contribute\u00a015.4 billion euros – which could run for example via a waiver [of part of what\u2019s owed].\u00a0This could affect Russia as well as the\u00a0investor George Soros, both of which hold Ukrainian government bonds.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ukraine will get more funds, more time, more flexibility and better financing terms, Lagarde said.\u00a0She pointed out that\u00a0additional funding will be added.\u00a0Furthermore, the Ukrainian government has initiated talks with lenders to reduce\u00a0the national debt to a sustainable level in the medium term.<\/span><\/p>\n

The IMF says that the\u00a0impact of the reforms, particularly for the poorest part of the population, will be\u00a0to cushion and enable to be strengthened the social\u00a0network and enable its measures to be implemented in a more targeted way.\u00a0But the\u00a0opposite is actually true. The government has in particular brought in laws by which the situation of pensioners,\u00a0the sick and children will significantly deteriorate.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

“The program is ambitious and involves risks,” said Lagarde.\u00a0This is particularly true in view of the conflict in the east.\u00a0Encouragingly, the ceasefire agreed in Minsk\u00a0seems to be holding, to a large extent.<\/span><\/p>\n

In addition to the new IMF loans, the loan program to Ukraine also includes money from Western industrialized countries\u00a0(G7), the EU and other institutions.\u00a0Germany alone controls so far the additional credit line of 500 million euros for the\u00a0reconstruction of the country.\u00a0These are guarantees [insurance] to project funding.<\/span><\/p>\n

The federal government had earlier stressed the “bailout” is linked to “reform”.\u00a0“This financial support from the\u00a0IMF and the European Union can be provided only with the understanding that Ukraine will adopt and implement urgently needed\u00a0reforms,” said government spokesman Steffen Seibert in Berlin.<\/span><\/p>\n

US Secretary of State Victoria Nuland vowed on Wednesday in addressing the US Congress, that the reforms in\u00a0Ukraine,\u00a0will go beyond all the\u00a0praise, by cutting pensions and the social system, and by privatizing Ukraine’s\u00a0agriculture.\u00a0International seed companies like\u00a0Monsanto will benefit\u00a0from\u00a0the credits from taxpayers because these companies will be able to\u00a0buy agricultural land from local farmers at low prices [without having to worry about the riskiness of Ukraine\u2019s government debt]. [It should also be noted that\u00a0until the U.S. took over Ukraine, there were no GMO seeds allowed anywhere in Europe.<\/span><\/a>]<\/span><\/p>\n

Only recently have oligarchs established an agency for the reconstruction of Ukraine.The agency is endorsed by ex-Commissioners\u00a0and SPD politicians like\u00a0Peer Steinbr\u00c3\u00bcck.\u00a0Western\u00a0politicians will likely help Ukraine’s\u00a0oligarchs benefit from the tax money coming from Europe and America.<\/span><\/p>\n

Taxpayers\u2019 money will be controlled by the former employee of the US State Department, the\u00a0investment\u00a0banker [and now Ukraine\u2019s Finance Minister] Natalie Jaresko.\u00a0Jaresko has already announced that the new credit in addition to the debt service\u00a0will\u00a0help Ukraine to buy, especially, weapons.<\/span><\/p>\n

The occupation of the key Ministry of Ukraine [Finance] by an American is describe by criticis critics as a provocation.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Banks in Europe are investing heavily in Ukraine, and therefore also will benefit from the newly approved loans. [Taxpayers take the risks, while those banks reap the benefits.]\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

[CONCLUDING NOTE FROM TRANSLATOR:\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The deal that seems to be shaping up is that while Obama\u2019s secondary goal of enabling U.S. and EU corporations to plunder Ukraine will be fulfilled, Obama\u2019s primary goal of Ukraine\u2019s joining NATO will not. Russia has to approve these loans to Ukraine, because Russia is Ukraine’s most-senior debtholder. So, if this plan works out as described, and Russia accepts being treated instead as a junior debtholder, then Russia will have to be getting in return what it wants most, which is that the new, rabidly anti-Russian, Obama-imposed, Ukrainian regime, not be allowed into NATO, and not become a launch-site for NATO missiles. Implicit in this is also that the acceptance and permanency of the existing battle-demarcation-lines, in which Ukraine\u2019s forces occupy Mariupol. This settlement suggests that Russia will somehow have to find a way to build a ten-mile\u00a0bridge<\/span><\/a>\u00a0across the\u00a0Kersh Strait<\/span><\/a>\u00a0connecting Crimea with the rest of Russia. When Ukraine invaded Mariupol during 7-9 May 2014 and set afire the police headquarters and shot directly at the residents to terrify and subdue them, this started the bloodiest of the civil war\u2019s battles that Ukraine ended up winning, and Mariupol is now virtually a ghost town except for Ukraine\u2019s occupying troops. Ukraine\u2019s very bloody conquest of Mariupol may be considered to be Ukraine\u2019s revenge for having peacefully \u2013 because of Russian troops in Crimea \u2013 lost Crimea to Russia on 16 March 2014.<\/span><\/p>\n

This news-story is basically a first-statement of the proposed and implicitly accepted settlement-terms of Ukraine\u2019s civil war. Western taxpayers will be bearing much of the burden, though they had no role in approving these terms except for their having been fooled by propaganda into voting for politicians whose primarly loyalty is to the individuals who financed their campaigns and their careers \u2013 not to the public. The entire Ukrainian gambit of Obama ends up as little more than a pillaging operation. If he accepts it as being that, and if Putin accepts it as being nothing more than that, then the deal will stick, and the residents of Ukraine will become even more impoverished, and will massively migrate into Europe, as prostitutes and other desperate people competing against the existing refugees and other poor there. This will be a major victory for aristocrats, who will not need to pay as much for workers as formerly. However, everyone else will suffer. This is what the aristocracy calls \u2018the free market,\u2019 and \u2018democracy.\u2019 It\u2019s a massive money-funnel to the super-rich.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

On March 10th, J. Hawk at Fort Russ headlined \u201cUkraine plans to triple its defense budget in 2015 even as economy collapses\u201d<\/span><\/a> and seemed to be wondering where the money for that could be coming from. It will come from taxpayers in the U.S. and EU. So: what is the purpose of this deal? It’s not to stop the war; Ukrainian and Western aristocrats have no interest in that. But among the profits to be made from all this public money from the West will be increased arms sales by firms such as Lockheed, Raytheon, etc.<\/span><\/p>\n

So: Is this really a settlement of the war? It will be only if Russia can get stipulations added on, saying that the funds are to go toward the peaceful needs of the Ukrainian people, and not toward the military.<\/p>\n

The EU, IMF, and Obama, think they have a deal, but Russia hasn’t yet spoken about it.]<\/p>\n

\u2013\u2013\u2013\u2013\u2013<\/span><\/p>\n

Investigative historian Eric Zuesse is the author, most recently, of\u00a0<\/span> They\u2019re Not Even Close: The Democratic vs. Republican Economic Records, 1910-2010<\/i><\/span><\/a>,<\/i>\u00a0<\/span> and of <\/span>\u00a0<\/i>CHRIST\u2019S VENTRILOQUISTS: The Event that Created Christianity<\/i><\/span><\/a>.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

http:\/\/deutsche-wirtschafts-nachrichten.de\/2015\/03\/11\/iwf-ukraine-erhaelt-175-milliarden-dollar-aus-steuergeldern\/ PLUNDERING THE WORLD IMF: Ukraine will receive $ 17.5 billion\u00a0from taxpayers German Economic News\u00a0\u00a0|\u00a0\u00a0Published: 11\/03\/15 23:51 clock [Translation and notes by Eric Zuesse, whose explanation of the deal is at the end] SUMMARY: Ukraine will receive total loans of 40 billion dollars from international tax money.\u00a0For this purpose, Ukraine will carry out “reforms” especially […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1254,"featured_media":144428,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[461,1622],"tags":[115,30,32,96,535,59,5624,524,523,49,76,40],"class_list":{"0":"post-144427","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-editorials","8":"category-featured","9":"tag-barack-obama","10":"tag-big-brother","11":"tag-cia","12":"tag-cover-up","13":"tag-global-news","14":"tag-military","15":"tag-money","16":"tag-russia","17":"tag-ukraine","18":"tag-usa-news","19":"tag-warfare","20":"tag-white-house"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144427","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1254"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=144427"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144427\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/144428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=144427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=144427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=144427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}