Ukraine

Do you know that back in 2001 USAID-backed Internews was very busy shaping Ukraine's media landscape, training 1900 journalists and propping up 203 TV stations and 126 radio stations? Their reach: 50 million Ukranian TV viewers and 18 Ukranian million radio listeners,all to push a pro-Western agenda, paving the way for EU expansion and NATO enlargement. This wasn't "support",it was full-scale narrative control.

Do you know in 2014, Ukraine needed a loan? There were two offers on the table: The IMF dangled $15 billion,but with strings attached: -Scrap the ban on private land ownership. -Slash pensions and subsidies,classic austerity. Russia also offered $15 billion,no strings, no neoliberal gutting of the economy.

President Viktor Yanukovych picked the Russian deal. So what happened? Washington instigated a coup, ousted him, and installed a new puppet regime. The new government bent the knee to the IMF, signed off on austerity program and opened the door to privatization. Now, massive chunks of Ukrainian land,about a third, are in the hands of foreign giants like BlackRock.