The richest person in Ukraine is generally thought to be Rinat Akhmetov, whose fortune is estimated at around at $12 billion to $24 billion; and he, too, has not committed himself as of yet, except to say that the Ukrainian federation must not break up (which would decimate his export businesses). No one knows how he "earned" his fortune, but it was in the privatizations. He is currently on the fence, because most of his exports and imports have been to and from Russia. But he also relies heavily upon the Ukrainian Government; he is certain to lose from what's now happening.
Whomever is declared the winner on May 25th, will be taking over a government that's overwhelmingly being run, at present, by conservative extremists. Now that Obama has placed those individuals so firmly in charge, any path back away from the far right, for Ukraine, will be extremely difficult, at best.
WHY THIS IS HAPPENING
The reason why the Kiev government is ousting Russian-speaking Ukrainians from government buildings in the east is to retain control of the east. CNBC had headlined on May 1st, just the day before these massacres, "IMF warns Ukraine on bailout if it loses east" and reported: "'This is something of a leap of faith for the IMF and is politically driven by key IMF shareholders [the international aristocracy in the U.S and Europe] to support the (interim prime minister Arseniy) Yatseniuk 'kamikaze' administration in its reform efforts,' according to Tim Ash, head of emerging markets research at Standard Bank."
That "kamikaze" term there was referring to the following: Euronews on February 27th had bannered "Ukraine's New Premier Suggests Sacrifices Are Unavoidable." When Nuland's choice, the far-right economist "Yats," became the appointed interim leader, he immediately said: "We need to form a responsible government -- and it's not about personalities, this is about responsibility. You know, to be in this government is to commit political suicide. And we need to be very frank and open. This is the political suiciders." He was looking to impress the lenders by imposing "austerity" on his country, so that when he'd retire from government, he'd be able to cash in for his having served not Ukrainians, but the corrupt Western lenders to the corrupt former Ukrainian political leaders, who had bought the votes of Ukrainians by this borrowed money, in order to get themselves into positions to skim money from this government that they ran.
Inasmuch as Ukraine's oligarchs have their billions stashed away in places like Switzerland, it's clear who will probably end up paying for these billions that they had skimmed off from lenders in Europe and the United States. The masses of Ukrainians obviously will take the losses, if the plan of the IMF and U.S. succeeds. That's what the Ukrainian civil war is actually all about: getting the Ukrainian public to pay the losses that prior Ukrainian governments had engendered from Ukraine's monumental corruption, a money-funnelling operation, from the masses to the classes.
How gigantic is Ukraine's corruption? According to the World Economic Forum, in their "Global Competitiveness Report, 2013-2014," Ukraine ranks #122 out of the 148 rated nations for "Diversion of public funds," #143 for "Property rights," #139 for "Judicial independence," #130 for "Irregular payments and bribes," #133 for "Favoritism in decisions of government officials" (otherwise known as cronyism), #143 for "Wastefulness of government spending," #144 for "Efficiency of legal framework in settling disputes," #146 for "Efficiency of legal framework in challenging regs," #146 for "Protection of minority shareholders' interests," and #133 for "Reliability of police services." In other words: it's already like failed states.
And, going forward, the Ukrainian public won't even have the poor government services that they've had up till now.
Ukraine will then be a libertarian paradise, assuming that this operation succeeds. The government will serve only the "job creators," nobody else. No more "socialism," except of the "National Socialist" type.
On 12 May 2014, Burisma Holdings announced, "Hunter Biden Joins the Team of Burisma Holdings," and reported that, "Burisma Holdings, Ukraine's largest private gas producer, has expanded its Board of Directors by bringing on Mr. R Hunter Biden as a new director. R. Hunter Biden will be in charge of the Holdings' legal unit and will provide support for the Company among international organizations."
The company's holdings were in eastern Ukraine; so, the operation by Obama and the IMF would need to succeed in order for this appointment to make Hunter Biden a very rich man.
That could be very rich indeed. On 26 August 2012, the Anticorruption Action Center had headlined "Kings of Ukrainian Gas," and reported that the chief of the Zasyadko gas mine had requested President Viktor Yanukovych to privatize the mine, and Yanukovych responded, "Put the gas deposits in your name, and hand half of them over to Oleksandr [Yanukovych's son]. Then we'll give you the mine." So: "On November 19, 2010, the State Property Fund of Ukraine approves Order No.1710 on the privatization of the O.F. Zasyadko mine. A month later, on December 22, 2010, the government approves a decision to hand nine oil and gas fields in Eastern Ukraine to the Zasyadko mine without organizing tenders. ... And the mine then transferred four of them to Inter-Regional Gas Company LLC in Donetsk in 2011." Then, "In May this year, Inter-Regional Gas Company LLC received the Baranykivska field free-of-charge from the Luhansk Regional Council for exploration and extraction of gas. According to our sources, the company, closely associated with Oleksandr Yanukovych, will soon get five more licenses." So, Yanukovych's son was set to become an oligarch. But, "In fact, the tastiest and largest morsels (gas fields) were obtained not by the president's son, but by a more experienced businessman -- Ihor Kolomoisky." A certain Mr. "Zlochevsky, former Minister of Environment and Natural Resources," had set up "a Cypriot company -- Burisma Holdings Limited," and placed in it "the largest Ukrainian gas field -- Sakhalinska," owned by an entity, "Ukrnaftoburinnya," and, in turn, "Ukrnaftoburinnya is owned by a Cypriot company, Deripon Commercial Ltd." But, "In fact, the end owner of Deripon Commercial Ltd. is a company based in the British Virgin Islands -- Burrad Financial Corp. This company has often been involved in various financial schemes of the Privat Group and especially with Ihor Kolomoisky." In fact, "The Privat Group is the immediate owner" of the entire group of gas companies, including Burisma Holdings. So: Hunter Biden is now an employee of, and co-board-member with, the man who masterminded and oversaw the May 2nd massacre in Odessa.
On 15 May 2014, Voltairenet bannered "In Ukraine, Joe Biden's Son Mixes Business with Pleasure," and reported that, "Burisma Holdings, Ukraine's largest private gas producer, confirmed on 13 May 2014 the appointment of R. Hunter Biden (photo) to its Board of Directors. He will be rubbing elbows with Devon Archer, who has preceded him by a few weeks. ... Devon Archer chaired the support committee for the 2004 presidential campaign of current Secretary of State, John Kerry. Devon Archer was the roommate of Christopher Heinz (John Kerry's step-son) during their studies at Yale University." It sounds as if the U.S. is strikingly similar to Ukraine. Moreover, it was John Kerry who had advanced Victoria Nuland, from being Hillary Clinton's official Spokesperson at the U.S. State Department, to the powerful policymaking position of Assistant Secretary of State for Europe and Asia. Had anything really changed since Nuland -- raised at Yale, schooled at Choate, and sent to college at Brown -- had served as the Deputy Foreign Policy Adviser to Vice President Dick Cheney (who had flunked at Yale)?
And what will result if this Ukrainian operation fails? Two failed states: one half of the former Ukraine pro-"Western"; the other half of it dependent upon Russia, and perhaps a nuclear war being the ultimate outcome (which would be especially likely if this operation succeeds, because its success would surround Russia with nuclear-armed enemies, which would be intolerable for Russia).
A world with no accountability for aristocrats has served them well, but even they might end up suffering from what they are now doing.
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