re: Discussions on withdrawal of U.S. Troops from Europe that joined NATO after 1990

If this shakes out, we had better at least have a little backdoor DL agreement with Romania, Hungary and Poland.

Whole region is a volatile mess with underlying issues, but I'd think it wise to keep close ties with nationalist nations that most closely mirror our own ideals and reject the globalist secular progressive cultism.

Imagine LSURussian denying Zbigniew Brzezinski was a American Official with his career in American Politics



March 28, 1928 – May 26, 2017), known as Zbig, was a Polish-American diplomat and political scientist. He served as a counselor to Lyndon B. Johnson from 1966 to 1968 and was Jimmy Carter's National Security Advisor from 1977 to 1981. As a scholar, Brzezinski belonged to the realist school of international relations, standing in the geopolitical tradition of Halford Mackinder and Nicholas J. Spykman,[2][3] while elements of liberal idealism have also been identified in his outlook.[4] Brzezinski was the primary organizer of The Trilateral Commission.[5]


American Official

Complete capitulation to Russia on every point, and absolutely nothing in return. Art of the deal indeed. No country will ever trust the United States again, period. The Pacific allies are watching in disbelief right now because they know Trump will throw them under the bus next. The age of western style democracy is over, and the age of autocracy is returning.

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As much as I love this, that region of the world has been in chaos for thousands of years. We have been the only calming presence. We should have done a better job as forcing them to pay vs investing is socialist programs

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The most important part of your statement is
"that region of the world". It's not our region.
Not our monkeys and not our circus. Let them handle their own business without out tax dollars.

That spinning sound you hear is Ronald Reagan. Tell me, when did Trump getting down on his knees in front of Vlad become alpha male behavior?

I haven't been paying much to that aspect other than I know orange man said something about it a week or two ago. He is trashing Z now, so I don't know what is up.

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He is trashing Z now, so I don't know what is up.

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He is mad that Zelensky lied about how much rare earth Minerals they had

The little narcofuhrer already sold off the farmland.

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The privatization of Soviet-era state assets created an oligarchy in Ukraine (as discussed in this entry of the Colour Revolution and Regime Change series), and the conflict between rival regional oligarchies proved to be the main focus of Ukrainian politics up until Maidan in 2014. There is A LOT of wealth up for grabs in that country, which is why President Zelensky has had to entertain western financial interests descending on his country like vultures, looking to scoop up assets for pennies on the dollar.

For the West (read: Americans, as nothing happens without them) to support Ukraine to the extent that it has up until this point, there needs to be a “buy-in” from its centres of power. Finance and Industry are two centres of power, and to get buy-in from them, they will insist on a pound of flesh from Ukraine.

The Oakland Institute (a progressive think tank from the USA), has recently published a report on how financial interests are gobbling up Ukraine’s agricultural sector, specifically its land set aside for farming. Almost all countries require foreign direct investment, so I think it would not be fair to condemn Ukraine for selling some of its prized assets during a time of war (it’s an existential conflict for them). The importance of this report is what it says about western financial and corporate interests, capitalism, and war. Naomi Klein coined the concept of destroying countries only to profit from its rebuilding “Disaster Capitalism”.

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.

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.

In short: western financial interests are either gobbling up agricultural land themselves, or are entering into partnerships with local oligarchs who are consolidating the sector at the expense of the small farmer who receives no support in comparison to them. This is an annexation, in a way.

The history (taken from the .pdf file here):

With 33 million hectares of arable land, Ukraine has large swaths of the most fertile farmland in the world. Misguided privatization and corrupt governance since the early 1990s have concentrated land in the hands of a new oligarchic class. Around 4.3 million hectares are under large-scale agriculture, with the bulk, three million hectares, in the hands of just a dozen large agribusiness firms. In addition, according to the government, about five million hectares – the size of two Crimea – have been “stolen” by private interests from the state of Ukraine. The total amount of land controlled by oligarchs, corrupt individuals, and large agribusinesses is thus over nine million hectares, exceeding 28 percent of the country’s arable land. The rest is used by over eight million Ukrainian farmers.

Preparing the pie for slicing:

The report details how Western aid has been conditioned to a drastic structural adjustment program, which includes austerity measures, cuts in social safety nets, and the privatization of key sectors of the economy. A central condition has been the creation of a land market, put into law in 2020 under President Zelenskyy, despite opposition from a majority of Ukrainians fearing that it will exacerbate corruption in the agricultural sector and reinforce its control by powerful interests.

The findings of the report validate this concern, showing that the creation of a land market will likely further increase the amount of agricultural land in the hands of oligarchs and large agribusiness firms. The latter have already started expanding their access to land.

Austerity, via cuts to the social safety net, combined with loans to key players, and with a law on the books to facilitate the gobbling up of agricultural land, make for a perfect storm.

Oligarchs and their foreign partners:

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Off-shore corporations represent 9 out of 10 of the largest agricultural landowners in Ukraine:

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Ukraine is fighting an existential conflict with Russia while simultaneously conducting a fire sale of its best assets to western financial interests. The bet placed here by Kiev was that this approach would lead to a better outcome for Ukrainian elites (at least those who have sided with the West and against Moscow) than a continuation of being at the centre of a tug of war between East and West.

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LINK