The vultures are circling over Ukraine. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and BlackRock CEO Larry Fink held another videoconference Dec. 28 on BlackRock’s designs for how to make sure Ukraine is set up for looting should there be any reconstruction. Reports of the Zoom event said that Zelenskyy “thanked Larry Fink for the work of the professional team that BlackRock has allocated to advise on structuring the reconstruction projects.” During the conversation, “it was emphasized that certain BlackRock leaders plan to visit Ukraine in the new year.”
On a Sept. 19, the two men held a meeting, during which BlackRock offered pro bono services including advice “on the structure, investment process, governance and use of proceeds for a fund. The goal of the fund would be to create opportunities for both public and private investors to participate in reconstructing and rejuvenating the market economy in Ukraine by delivering fair and just returns to investors.” On Nov. 10, BlackRock Financial Markets Advisory signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ukraine Ministry of Economy to that effect. The discussions were initially arranged by Andrew Forrest, founder of the Fortescue Metals Group, who Mr. Fink said was instrumental in facilitating the contact.
Notably, in the past, Ukraine was a supplier of key metals and metal-working to Russia’s space and military complex. It was reported that “Ukraine has 20 of the raw materials that are considered critical, including lithium, cobalt, graphite and zirconium,” according to UkraineInvest, last August. This is on top of its very significant agriculture capacity, given the famous chernozem soils, which has already been “restructured” into plantation-like “agro-holdings” since 1991 by the London-based networks, especially Goldman Sachs in league with BlackRock.
Follow the money. The World Bank estimated in September that the current cost of reconstruction and recovery in Ukraine amounts to $349 billion, with the figure growing by the day. BlackRock is lining up one last hurrah of looting, before nuclear holocaust, and at Western citizens’ expense, of course.
The Fink-Zelenskyy talks give special meaning to Zelenskyy’s words when he told a joint session of the U.S. Congress on Dec. 21 that aid to Ukraine is an “investment in democracy.”
The American Conservative addressed this point yesterday. “It is all rather infuriating: one can almost guarantee that BlackRock is getting paid handsomely by the Ukrainian government for advising on this reconstruction roadmap. And where is the Ukrainian government currently getting its funding, given its economy is in shambles and war is an expensive undertaking? The United States government, of course. By the end of the calendar year, the U.S. will have provided $13 billion in direct budgetary support for Ukraine’s government to avoid shortfalls and outright bankruptcy, and President Joe Biden has promised to support Ukraine for ‘as long as it takes.’ So, BlackRock gets paid by U.S. taxpayers via the Ukrainian government to devise a plan that ensures the success of their future investments in Ukraine, made from money gained by making American housing unaffordable. With a deal like that for our financial and political elite, why would they ever want peace?”
Zelenskyy will be a special guest at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting (Jan. 16-20), whose board includes Larry Fink. BlackRock has a reported $8 trillion under management, the world’s largest asset mogul. Recall, when Fink was identified as a possible candidate for U.S. Treasury, it was too outrageous to fly, so another BlackRock top gun, Wally Adayema, was put in instead, as Deputy Secretary of the Treasury.
