Benjamin
Norton
– MULTIPOLARISTA
– 09/09/2022
Ukraine’s
Western-backed leader Volodymyr Zelensky opened the New York Stock
Exchange telling Wall Street his country is "open" for foreign
corporations to exploit it with $400 billion in state selloffs.
Ukraine’s
Western-backed leader Volodymyr Zelensky virtually opened the New
York Stock Exchange on the morning of September 6, symbolically
ringing the bell via video stream.
Zelensky announced that
his country is "open for business" – that is to say, that
foreign corporations are free to come and exploit its plentiful
resources and low-paid labor.
In a speech launching the
neoliberal selloff program Advantage Ukraine, Zelensky offered Wall
Street "a chance for you to invest now in projects worth of
hundreds of billions of dollars."
The financial news
service Business
Wire published a press release from the Ukrainian government in
which Zelensky boasted:
The $400+ [billion] in
investment options featured on AdvantageUkraine.com span public
private partnerships, privatization and private ventures. A
USAID-supported project team of investment bankers and researchers
appointed by Ukraine’s Ministry of Economy will work with
businesses interested in investing.
It also quoted the
president of NYSE Group, Lynn Martin, who said:
As the largest exchange
globally, we stand for freedom, investor protection and unfettered
access to capital. We are pleased to welcome President Zelenskyy
virtually to the NYSE bell podium, a symbol of the freedom and
opportunity our U.S. capital markets have enabled around the globe.
We are honored the President has chosen the NYSE to mark the kickoff
of Advantage Ukraine and engage with the world’s business
community.
The press release cited
executives of US corporate giants Google, Alphabet, and Microsoft,
who salivated over the economic possibilities offered by Ukraine.
Reuters noted that the
Ukrainian government hired British
public relations firm WPP to run the marketing operation for
Advantage Ukraine.
Zelensky coordinated his
New York Stock Exchange publicity stunt with an editorial in the Wall
Street Journal imploring US capitalists to "Invest
in the Future of Ukraine."
"I committed my
administration to creating a favorable environment for investment
that would make Ukraine the greatest growth opportunity in Europe
since the end of World War II," Zelensky wrote.
He continued:
To create a safe,
transparent environment for business engagement, Ukraine is pursuing
investment guarantees from both the Group of Seven and the European
Union, reforming the country’s tax system, and establishing a
strong new legal framework. Our country has already adopted rules and
laws to allow companies to build transparent corporate structures,
attract foreign investment more easily, and use additional mechanisms
to protect intangible assets. Favorable conditions will allow us to
establish Ukraine as a powerful IT hub and implement innovative
business ideas quickly and effectively.
Multipolarista previously
reported on a meeting by Western governments and corporations in
Switzerland in July in which they planned
harsh neoliberal economic policies to impose on Ukraine.
The Western participants
published documents calling to cut labor laws, "open markets," drop tariffs, deregulate industries, and “sell state-owned
enterprises to private investors.”
In an interview
with Multipolarista, economist Michael Hudson compared the new
emergency anti-labor laws imposed by the Ukrainian government to the
brutal neoliberal policies implemented by Chile’s far-right
Pinochet dictatorship after a CIA-backed coup in 1973.
"It’s jaw dropping,”
Hudson said of Zelensky’s Wall Street Journal op-ed. “It’s like
a parody of what a socialist would have written about how the class
war would be put in into action by a fascist government."
"So of course he was
welcomed on the stock exchange for abolishing labor’s rights," Hudson added. "You could not have a more black-and-white example" of class war.
This is exactly what
[French President] Macron said when he said the ‘end of abundance.’
The Ukrainian labor force has just experienced the end of affluence,
neoliberal style.
"And as Mr. Zelensky
said, it may be the end of affluence for the labor force, but it’s
going to be a bonanza for you investors in the New York Stock
Exchange. Come on in and join the party!"
"Somebody’s loss is
turned into somebody else’s game. And that’s what happens in a
class war. It’s a zero-sum game. There is no attempt at all to
raise living standards."
"Ukraine is the poorest
country in Europe – but Zelensky said it’s not poor enough. He
said, you think this is something, wait until our new law takes
effect. That’ll really show you what it means to be the poorest
country in Europe."
"But it’ll also be
the richest country in Europe for the 1%," Hudson concluded.
★
