This page has been archived and commenting is disabled.
Ukraine's Richest Man Mobilizes Private 'Army' After Assets Threatened
Rinat Akhmetov - Ukraine's richest man with an estimated worth of $11.4 billion - has, as Reuters reports, acquired almost feudal status in the industrial hub of Donetsk in the past 20 years - but the separatist rebellions there have altered the dynamics of power. This is not acceptable to the billionaire and so he has demanded his miners and metalworkers join police on patrol on Mariupol. As pro-Russian rebels declaring independence seized public buildings across the steel and coal belt which is the basis of his colossal fortune, he issued repeated written statements in support of a united Ukraine... but the media-shy 47-year-old, who has a workforce of 300,000 people on his payroll in the Donbass, has to tread carefully around local sensitivities and has avoided specifically condemning the action of the separatists.
Bloomberg summarizes his wealth...
The majority of Akhmetov's wealth is derived from his stake in System Capital Management (SCM), a holding company that owns several Ukraine-based businesses. The most valuable are Metinvest, Ukraine's largest steel manufacturer, and DTEK, a coal and energy business. SCM reported $32 billion in group assets and $23.5 billion in revenue in 2012.
The value of Metinvest fell 44 percent in fiscal year 2012, based on SCM financial results that were released in August 2013, a reflection of the declines seen across the steel industry. DTEK revenue increased 108 percent to $10.3 billion in 2012, following the company's purchase of former state energy assets in 2011 and 2012 for $600 million. DTEK added almost $1.4 billion in net debt in 2012, which it intends to use to fund plant upgrades.
Akhmetov holds agricultural land through HarvEast and Ukrainian commercial real estate through ESTA Group. SCM has about $400 million invested in Ukrainian telecommunications (Vega Telecom and Astelit), banking (First Ukrainian International Bank) and heavy machinery (Mining Machines Company). It acquired a 92.79 percent stake in publicly traded Ukrtelecom, the largest fixed-line operator in Ukraine, in June 2013.
He also controls a number of closely held Ukrainian industrial assets, including Lemtrans, its largest private railway company, Portinvest, one of the country's largest private stevedoring companies, Ukrainian Retail, which operates 99 stores under the brand name "Brusnichka", Parallel-M, a network of 117 gas stations, Bank Renaissance Capital, ASKA and ASKA-Life insurance companies, Media Group Ukraine and Segodnya Multimedia, and United Mineral group, a clay extracting company.
As Reuters reports, in their overalls and hard hats, the latest additions to the heady mix of security forces in Ukraine are the first tangible sign the rebel east's richest son is entering the fray.
Multi-billionaire Rinat Akhmetov's miners and metalworkers joined police on patrol on Mariupol on Wednesday, cleared barricades of tires and pallets with diggers and heavy loaders and swept the debris from the gutted City Hall, ending the turmoil unleashed by the armed takeover of much of the region.
...
Though largely symbolic, the scene showed the extent to which the crisis has come to threaten the interests of Ukraine's richest man and the lengths he will go to protect them.
Akhmetov, whose fortune is estimated by Forbes magazine at $11.4 billion, has acquired almost feudal status in the industrial hub of Donetsk in the past 20 years - but the separatist rebellions there have altered the dynamics of power.
...
But the media-shy 47-year-old Akhmetov, who has a workforce of 300,000 people on his payroll in the Donbass, has to tread carefully around local sensitivities and has avoided specifically condemning the action of the separatists.
...
"That's more 300,000 employees and their families - that's a huge army."
It is an army both the pro-Russian rebels and the government in Kiev would be rash to ignore.
...
"He has understood that his tactic of passive neutrality no longer works. He will have to become an active intermediary between separatists and the government," Fesenko said.
...
"At the beginning he tried to influence events to try to get it under control to strengthen his position, but then he lost all control."
...
"We favor a united, whole Ukraine, a strong Ukraine with Donetsk in it. Everyone agrees power needs to be decentralized. But I repeat, that must be within a united state."
...
Yet Fesenko wondered if Akhmetov has missed his moment.
"He has become more active. For the first time he has spoken out more concretely in the past few days. But the question is: Is it too late?" the analyst said.
"It will be difficult for him to influence the situation given what has happened in the past two weeks."
»
- 23693 reads
- Printer-friendly version
- Send to friend
- advertisements -
Takin' it off here, boss!
Tell that poop pipe to buy silver...quit shooting spitwads...shoot a silver bullet.
RIPS
fellow zh comrads, what are your thoughts of the american spring? havent herd much about it today.
More importantly, is your picture Marion Cobretti?
Supermarket Killer: Get back! I got a bomb here! I'll blow this whole place up!
Marion Cobretti: Go ahead. I don't shop here.
Marion Cobretti: All right, just relax, Amigo. You wanna talk - we'll talk. I'm a sucker for great conversation.
Supermarket Killer: [shouting] I don't wanna talk to you! Now you bring in the television cameras in here now! C'mon, bring 'em in!
Marion Cobretti: Can't do that.
Supermarket Killer: Why?
Marion Cobretti: I don't deal with psychos. I put them away.
Supermarket Killer: I ain't no psycho, man! I'm a HERO! You're looking at a fuckin' hunter! I'm a hero of the New World!
Marion Cobretti: [shakes his head] You're a disease - and I'm the cure.
Supermarket Killer: Die!
[points his sawed-off shotgun at Cobretti]
Supermarket Killer: [Cobretti throws a knife that he had concealed. It hits the thug in the abdomen]
Marion Cobretti: Drop it!
[the thug continues pointing his sawed-off shotgun at Cobretti. Cobretti fires 5 rounds from his .45 into the man, who dies. Cobretti walks over to the man & takes the bomb out of his hand]
like all the other color revolutions, a zionist creation:
http://www.tomatobubble.com/american_spring.html
The same website also says Hitler was a really cool guy.
I wonder what Akhmetov's army will do if the new government of Donetsk/Lugansk decides to nationalize his assets and give them to the workers, LOL!
Well, he has moar cash than the USSA.
America needs to stay out of this fight. On a brighter note, Ukranian women are some of the hottest in the world. Perhaps it's time to get in the mail-order bride business. Bitches.
I'm sure Putin will show this Uke oligarch the same respect he showed his Russian counterparts.
Steelworks are huge consumers of energy.
Lets assume the price increase for gas sticks, it probably makes his plants completely uneconomic.
Now if they were part of russia there might be more chance to get nat gas at a lower price and remain "competitive".
Maybe he's making an error of judgement?
Hey! Reds?
Look for yourselfs.
fellow zh comrads, what are your thoughts of the american spring? havent herd much about it today.
M
This came out of Mike Rivero's earlier post this morning... Looks like the Vets got "cold feet" with the threat of Fed provocateus in there midst.
"So far I don't see any large crowds following Harry Riley's lead." - Mike Rivero
Disappointing to say the least.
As I said to a friend earlier today "you show" you lose but you show strength for having the courage to take on the beast when you have a score to settle for the "gun" you've used abroad to kill innocent lives based on lies your leaders told! You back down completely and you're a coward!
Looks like Washington D.C. wins again!
No, you have to watch out for agitators.
I was suspicious of the guy whenever I first heard about him.
Very Pro-Zionist=suspicious until proven otherwise.
LC
Respect your opinions as always, but on this "go around" we are far beyond anything we've ever dealt with even in the infamous 70's and 80's Cold War setting. 30 years ago we wouldn't have dared to consider sending a continued naval presence into the Baltic and Black Sea(s) let alone provoking and subverting Russia's closest Russian territory -forget the subtlety of saying that the Russian speaking in Ukraine haven't always been part of Russia!
This is now a "hot war" -like that fact or not, and by whistling past the graveyard as this Country of lemmings continues to do ignoring all the warnings we either "fix" it now among the homies with the possibility of reaping the storm from the Praetorian Guard in D.C. or someone 4,888 miles away will end up doing it for us with 500 kiloton plutonium suppository!
100% agree. The current "leaders" are poltroons.
We have no business intruding in Russia's front yard. But, you and I have no representation in DC!
But as for opposition, we need a National, Respected Leader to oppose the buffoonery going on now.
The best first step would be to disarm the USGMSM.
"Tea Party Patriots is not affiliated with the May 16, 2014, Operation American Spring, nor are we participating in this event."
http://www.teapartypatriots.org/misc/bedrock-principles/
We talking coil spring or leaf spring here?
Im all for a 1960 corvette leaf spring.
The weather wasn't conducive.
Obviously, this guy missed the referendum results. He is waaaaay behind the curve.
I don't know who he inherited his wealth from, but to become an industrial oligarch by 47, all on your own with no family wealth fueling your rise, is very difficult - and probably impossible. What this means is that he may be the front man - think Joseph Sulzberger fronting for the Sulzberger family on the NY Times.
Note to Pretty Boy: It's too late to try to keep Ukraine united. If outright armed conflict doesn't go down in the streets, a guerrilla war will instead. The fuse is lit, and there is nothing you can do to stop the inevitable breakup of Ukraine.
My advice to you: Either back the separatists before they start blowing up your industries, or cash out and flee to the West.
As in the French Revolution, there is no middle ground - your are either a Kiev supporter, or you are a separatist.
-30-
"I don't know who he inherited his wealth from, but to become an industrial oligarch by 47, all on your own with no family wealth fueling your rise, is very difficult"
After the fall of communism the "West" sent lots of people from the IMF and World Bank supposedly to help the Russians convert to a free market economy. What actually happened was the IMF and World Bank people took massive bribes from gangsters to hand over Russia's natural wealth to the gangsters.
That's who the oligarchs are.
It was a massive crime and the western media cover it up.
That being the case, you have to give oligarchs at least some credit. After the fall of the Soviet Union it was almost an all out civil war in Russia and all former USSR republics for the heritage of the former Empire, meaning industrial and other assets. Mostly the most ruthless came on top in the end. They of course used resources of IMF, WB, EBRD and a host of other Western financial institutions, but they were wolves among sheep eating other wolves and hordes of sheep. Not nice people by any stretch.
So, to be precise, neither Akhmetov, not any other oligarch in Russia, Ukraine or elsewhere in FSU inherited their wealth from rich daddy. The timeframe of primary accumulation of capital was too short for that. Rather, they had to fight their way through scores of dead bodies and legions of wounded and traumatized. Don't discount him just yet, and not because he is a good guy, but because his survival instincts might kick in in slightly unexpected fashion.
They are prime sociopath for sure.
Oligarchical topography of Ukraine. Andrey Fursov
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXLUJpqaQpY
very interting video
Read the Wiki bio on him. Apparently he has big organized crime ties--It sounds like he murdered his way to the top.
Offered, was hired for a transport job, was paid in full, and there was no need to add travel or other imaginable expense if you get the hint.
Recomend the organisation.
Up vote for reference to Cool Hand Luke...
So he mobilized Blackwater ???
If there are western or jihadist mercenaries in Ukraine they will likely have been brought in by the oligarchs. As Akhmetov is a Tatar muslim I'd guess he'd be more likely to import jihadists from Syria of Chechnya than Blackwater but that's just a guess.
As an aside the Tatars were slave-raiders from the Crimea region for many centuries and Crimea was 80% slave for most of its history until Russia conquered it. As most of the slaves were blond Poles, Ukrainians and Russians that's why a lot of Tatars have blond hair
Allow me to explain to you what others (Tyler, ZH writers) should've told you by now, or you could've guessed by now, "How Easter European Billionaires got rich": SCAMMING!
1. STRATEGY: They leveraged their Iron Curtain positions and connections to make "Highly Leveraged Asset GRABS". Pure and simple.
2. TACTICS: Create alliance with few key players in politics and banking to make it happen.
a. The politicians are bribed etc to drive legislation to "privatize" national assets (that belong the 'The People').
b. The Banksters will set up the Structured Purchase -- typically labeled & promoted as a "Management Buyout" -- which use only a tiny, tiny fraction of their own capital. Instead, they leverage (hijack & gamble) the capital+equity of the company, with finance terms beyond belief.
Call it "Structured Scamming".
These guys are no whiz-bang geniuses, like a Bill Gates or Steve Jobs, or... They are just devious, sociopath scumbags. Wealth now makes them "respectable", cause most People are Sheeple and Sheeple are (fucking) stupid.
p.s. How do I know this? Because I know people "on the inside" from the former Iron Curtain. BTW, lest someone here get too self-righteous and starts pointing the finger at "them", remember: Those guys used Our guys for inspiration and role models. And if their scumbags are part of the same Tribe as our scumbags, then it’s alight, it’s all kosher, come to find out: Our scumbags will run interference for them in our Legislature and MSM.
- Beam me up Scotty. Kirk out
I can't imagine that this is news to anybody here, as it's the same method most Western billionaires ascended to the throne as well.
Also, I doubt many here would call Bill G a "genius," but rather, acknowledge that he was good at picking his parents.
Well Bill ain't stupid either. But yeah, winning the genetic lottery doesn't hurt.
careful, don't be badmouthing putin and friends or any of the oligarchs. apparently to most on here it is impossbile to both be amused at how stupid putin is making our politcal leadership look, and think putin and friends are a bunch of authoritarian dickheads at the same time.
Sounds like American gilded age robber barons in their prime.
take it off, there, luke
had to log in just for that
Another good one "we aint got no fences here. what we have is the dead line"
"tell em about the dead line boss"
If you threatened me and my livelyhood and the folks that depended upon me - and I upon them - I/they would respond in a similar fashion.
They don't depend on him. He exploits them. Obviously you are not familiar with Donbass, and the mining and steel industry overthere.
Steel and mining enterprises that he owns were built during Soviet times, and will operate with or without him. But now, he keeps all the profits, nice huh? He just stole it during the USSR break up with dirty bankster money.
Just like Berezovsky, Khodorkovsky, Kolomeiksy, etc. stole "privatized" government enterprises with Rothschild money during 90s in Former Soviet Union. Thankfully Putin remedied this. Ukrainians not so much.
actually Ukrainians not at all...
So this is clearly in a differnt context. Me and mine depend upon each other, and we dont exploit each other (except when that Joe Ben Lee sipping too much Boom-Boom and gets those sticky poker fingers). That's alls I'm saying.
Just another oilgerk, I guess. We don't know nobody like that. Just read about them. Theys in the good book, too, you know.
"Thankfully Putin remedied this. Ukrainians not so much."
That's the real reason they're out to get Putin and the real reason Ukraine is so poor - Ukraine was sold to gangsters by the IMF.
will you guys please stop with the putin worship. He has showed up the US/EU politicians for what they are, which is spineless and full of shit. But he is still an authoritarian and a bunch of crony capitalists and so are all his friends. I always thought the people on this sight were libertarian(or anarchist, whichever)and smart enough not to be lead around by the nose like this. It is possible to dislike both the putin and obama regimes at the same time.
Something tells me that this guy is not going to be able to walk that tightrope. With 300k employees he could have a civil war within his workforce.
pods
Like Hatvolvs and McKoysks, perhaps?
This is going to make infiltrating the Ukrainian police force childs-play.
Dumbest billionaire, EVAR!
(he must be the one taking advice from the Bidens)
Maybe he's trying to infiltrate the police force. Remember, watch what they do, not what they say.
Perfect example of my thesis that in the absence of .gov billionaires could not exist. Let's see protect the guys assets or simply take them? Unless he can pay a private army and placate his workers with wages he's fucked.
Billionaires who cry over government interference in their affairs are complete hypocrites. Try and maintain your wealth without .gov protecting you. Not so easy...
You are wise young obi won... kill the host, the parasite will shrivel and die...
Unfortunately I get flamed whenever I point out that since .gov isn't going anywhere anytime soon the proles HAVE to use the ballot box to at least try and balance the system. They failed to do so at the beginiing of the Reagan era, and we've been down hill ever since. Because the ruling class sure as fuck isn't going to stop voting themselves the cheese.
See, that's where your logic abandons reality. Even though I agree that gov ain't going anywhere, that ISN'T THE POINT!
What matters is the legitimacy of the the gang d.b.a. "government." All efforts at using the ballot box serve to legitimize the criminal abstraction that the individuals hide behind.
Once the only voters left are the "ruling class," the "ruled class" won't give two shits about their "laws," and they will act accordingly. As long as you insist upon fighting over control of the gun, the ruled class feels compelled to abide by it, otherwise they fear that chaos will consume them.
Like Einstein said, you'll never solve any problem from within the same system that created it. You have to get out of the box. In this case, the ballot box.
these guys exist because of what happens when an authoritarian regime collapses. Who is able to aquire financing once one such authoritarian regime collapses into a slightly less authoritarian regime? the same people who were in charge before. Who gets screwed? the same people who were getting screwed before.
Nature abhors a vacuum, and in a power vacuum someone always steps up to try to fill it...with themselves, some would-be "ruler" or "leader". Societal structures greater than Dunbar's number require such, unfortunately, to function. So we're endlessly trading one authoritarian regime for another.
another possibility is dressing blackwater mercs / chechen jihadists in his company uniform would make neat camouflage
Throwback French Revolution Pike implements... the NBT...
Translation:
Cia target Ahkmetov
Change is very painful. Especially for those who's fortunes depend on preventing change. There can be nothing new until those who own it all are swept away and provide space for something new to grow.
I sprout my Rattlesnake beans in small little planters. If I direct-sow the bean seeds into the garden the critters eatem as fast as they can sprout. So I just now added my sprouted bean plants to the Russian Red kale bed. You just plant the bean plants here and there and such while the kale starts to bolt (bloom). The beans really don't do much cause the kale is 2-4 foot tall and blocks out all the sunlight. But the bean plants are big enough (and not so tender) that them critters cannot eatem up. So here in a few days the kale will give me seed pods and I can yank them whole plants out and harvest kale seeds for next year. Then watch those beans go. It's like that.
Don't be bashful. Shoot the critters - cost-effective organic protein.
Private militias need lots of ordnance.
Must be a USDA connection here somewhere.
It's a better option than 'Blackwater'... at least for now...
http://www.metinvestholding.com/en/press/news
Outsource DHS?
They've been buying ammo.. right?
dood looks similar to putin. similar genes i suppose
Brother from a different mother.
The Donaldski.
Perfect!
"Don't touch the hair!"
Nyet you assume badly...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rinat_Akhmetov
...
Akhmetov has been noted as a financier and unofficial leader of the Party of Regions political party.[28][33]
In a 13 September 2007 diplomatic cable released between prominent Ukrainian business partners Serhiy Taruta, Vitaliy Haiduk, and U.S. ambassador William Taylor, Taruta alleged that Akhmetov had in 1997 persuaded Ukrainian president Leonid Kuchma to appoint Viktor Yanukovych governor of Donetsk oblast, who then in turn made Haiduk his deputy.[28] In follow up of the released cables, Akhmetov's spokesperson refused comment and Haiduk denied the conversation taking place
...
EuromaidanDuring the 2013-14 Euromaidan anti-government protests, Akhmetov became a symbol of the nation's oppression and consequently a target of protest. In December 2013 protesters picketed his residence in London on several occasions, urging him to cut ties with incumbent president Viktor Yanukovych.[102] In response, Akhmetov issued a statement condemning police brutality. On December 31, Akhmetov reprimanded a group of protesters in public near his home in Donetsk.[103] The protests against Akhmetov are ongoing and planned to increase
...
Akhmetov ownes London's most expensive penthouse at One Hyde Park, which was originally purchased for a reported $213 million as a portfolio investment and spent another reported $120 million to fix them up.[78] The information about the deal was disclosed only four years later, in April 2011, after the asset has shown a steady annual rise.[79][80][81] In May 2013, the property was transferred from his company, SCM, to himself
...
Knowing all that, one name supsiciously absent from the sanctions list is one Rinat Akhmetov
http://www.euractiv.com/sections/global-europe/eu-punishes-russia-adds-m...
full sanction list
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=uriserv:OJ.L_.2014.13...
pdf full list of officials and busineses
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=OJ:L:2014:137:FUL...
Absolute!
2012
Rinat Akhmetov, Ukraine’s richest man, added $3 billion to his net worth in the past six months by buying state-owned energy assets sold by his hometown political ally, President Viktor Yanukovych.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-05-02/richest-ukrainian-makes-3-billi...
And what about the corrupt sun in law of Mr Kuchma: Mr Pinchuk. Now the family became close to the Clintons! The guy is even on the Board of the Peterson institute!!!!!
http://pinchukfund.org/upload/iblock/7ab/39.jpg
Absolute!
2012
Rinat Akhmetov, Ukraine’s richest man, added $3 billion to his net worth in the past six months by buying state-owned energy assets sold by his hometown political ally, President Viktor Yanukovych.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-05-02/richest-ukrainian-makes-3-billi...
And what about the corrupt sun in law of Mr Kuchma: Mr Pinchuk. Now the family became close to the Clintons! The guy is even on the Board of the Peterson institute!!!!!
http://pinchukfund.org/upload/iblock/7ab/39.jpg
Various sources also claim he is a tribe member but wiki claims otherwise....hmmm
http://www.tabletmag.com/scroll/61619/the-richest-jews-in-the-world
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/businessicons.html
history has oft shown that you don't need to be a jew to have a lust for money, power and control.
the "he's a jew" meme was once humorous, but it's antiquated and for the simple-minded.
Typical condescending "tribe" comment. I'm surprised that your personal disgust allows you to continue to mingle with us simple-minded folk. Fuck off already!
Know your enemy
AD
/culled
His miners joining police patrol?
Is that time-and-a-half?
Steel giant calls for end to ‘bloody cleansing’ in Mariupol and Donbass
http://rt.com/business/158400-ukraine-metinvest-akhmetov-steel/
Miners dig playing local leos
No, but they get 200% of the regular donut ration.
Basically, be is paying folks to patrol stuff and make sure his shit isn't trashed.
Rinat Akhmetov...not boy scout...his former mentor (Bragin) and owner of Ukrainian football club was killed mysteriously in 1995 and Rinat took over the empire. He has been linked to organized crime in Ukraine and has been a member of the parliment in Ukraine. His wealth came quickly...who knows what he is capable of doing now?
This one could backfire on Akhmetov also. Those miners just might get the funny notion that fuck him they don't need him to run the mines themselves as long as the Russians respect their rights to own and work the mines, they need gas also and a deal could most certainly be struck without a centralized 'alleged' Ukrainian mob boss having their hands in it for once which would be beneficial to the people of Donetsk.
Vices. Peons mired in their vices stronger than chains on a slave... Destroy god, destroy the respect of self, destroy the will of man
Indeed he has to tread carefully. Bullets don't give a shit what your political slant is. They don't give a shit if you are a homeless bum living on the streets. They don't give a shit if you are an oligarch. They don't give a shit if you are ugly, and they don't give a shit if you are attractive.
In the end, even the richest of oligarchs still has to eat, drink, shit, piss, breath and keep his brain intact.
"If I were a rich man, ya da da da da da da"
"Jews occupy top 3 places on Ukrainian list of philanthropistsIn ranking the country’s top 10 charitable donors for 2012, the Lviv-based Galytski Kontrakty weekly put 46-year-old businessman Rinat Akhmetov in the top slot for giving the equivalent of $19 million to build an oncology research center. Akhmetov, the son of a coal miner, was estimated by Forbes magazine last year to be worth $16 billion, placing him 39th on its list of richest people and No. 1 in Ukraine."
Jews have plenty left over from fleecing Ukranians.
So he gave 125 bucks worth if he made 50k a year.....
Thank you ZH for this information. Listening to NPR this morning, I heard a strange report coming over their news program. They played this as "Loyal Miners and Industrial workers have joined Ukrainian security forces in retaking administration buildings in East Ukraine. This show of loyalty to Kiev has given new hope to East Ukrainians that peace and stabilty is being restored and the pro Moscow gang's intimidation of locals is ending." There was no mention of this Billionare or his private funds being used to pay for loyal workers to aid Kiev's forces in taking back the East Ukraine.
I found the story odd, because most workers are Russian Ukrainian and many have already swelled the ranks of self defense forces in their fight against Kiev. So NPR left out the fact that the loyal workers are in the pay of a Billionare looking to hitch a ride on NATO's band wagon. He must feel that Kiev and NATO would enforce loyalty on East Ukraine and allow for his billions to continue to grow, while austerity is crammed down everyone else's throats.
So how much loyalty can his money buy? We already saw a number of banks burned to the ground, banks owned by a pro Kiev/NATO billionare. If NPR is touting this as a good step forward, then we know this report is straight from the US State Department, because NPR only reports approved stories in a pre written form straight from Washington DC and State Department press releases.
This billionare's pro Kiev coup stance reveals much about the situation in Ukraine. If the East did become independent or a part of Russia, it is clear that this billionare would stand to be cut down to size by Putin, as he did with a number of Russians billionares previously. By taking his stance with Kiev and the NATO annexation of all of Ukraine, he is saying that he feels Kiev will allow him to continue to do business as before, that Kiev will use military and secret police forces to ensure his workers do as ordered, that the IMF will protect his billions while a huge program of austerity slashes living standards for ordinary Ukrainians. By picking NATO as his protector, and the IMF as his financial partner, we learn all we need to know about Kiev's coup leaders, NATO plans for military bases and the IMF and EU's plans for total economic smack down of ordinary people and the protection of the billionares.
If anything, this is good news for the seperatists, in a stand up fight, how many East Ukrainians will line up to die for this billionare? Only those paid a lot of money to do so.
If you hear any story on NRP about Ukraine, you know it is written at the State Department and is reported word for word. NPR news is a Washington whore. How do I know? Well, I have kept careful track of NPR's decade of reporting on the Afghanistan war. It was all reports of heroic US soldiers winning hard won victories against terror, about happy Afghans enjoying the peace and prosperity NATO has brought them, all new schools, roads, hospitals, new jobs and hope. 10 years of stories of success, victory and progress towards a free, prosperous and liberal Afghanistan. Now, I ask you, if you research the subject of that war, is that what history will judge is the real story?
Beware the storeis coming out of Ukraine, the US is going to go balls to the walls with a campaign of lies. The last week they were silent, that was because they wre working out the new approach to reporting Ukraine to the AMerican public. Expect some real fabricated BS flowing from Ms. Nuland's state department.
http://www.examiner.com/article/ted-cruz-to-visit-the-ukraine-eastern-europe-israel
Stumbled upon a few of these stories yesterday. Basically suggesting these steelworkers had enough of the fighting and were peacekeeping in eastern cities. The articles suggested that a few cities had been taken back under Kiev influence, that peace was restored, the barricades abandoned, and the common man happy that normalcy had returned to watch sports in peace.
Seems highly unlikely... or absurd.
"Steelworkers rout separatists in city of Mariupol, Ukraine"
"Miners, steelworkers retake Ukraine city"
"Ukraine's Steelworkers Force Pro-Russia Insurgents To Retreat In Eastern City"
"Steelworkers take back the streets in key Ukraine cities"
And so on. It seems a very convenient argument which clearly suggests/nudges/manipulates that the Eastern Ukrainians are completely autonomous and just want peace, that this is all democratic people's will, and that it is Putin the bogeyman who has organised a minority to invade Europe by proxy. A week after any revelations about what is going on you can be sure the CIA tries to flip the story against Russia. Their technique has been a billion dollar 'I know you are but what am I?'
This perhaps fools those in the West who were already fooled, but more become tired of the freedom fries blight.
Naturally there is no oligarch money going into Pro_Russian Ukrainian pockets.
Any chance you would speculate on the names of the oligarchs backing the Pro-Russian Ukrainians? Who was behind Odessa?
Is there such a thing as an Anti-Russian Ukrainian?
.
Ihor Kolomoiskiy was backing the pretend pro-Russian Ukrainians, the agents provocateurs involved in the Odessa massacre.
The Kievan Yatzis were. Kolomoisky authorized a cash payment of $5,000 for each pro-Russian separatist killed during the Odessa operation.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/bloodbath-in-odessa-guided-by-interim-ruler...
The Yatzis running Kiev could qualify as both anti-Russian Ukrainians and anti-Ukrainian Ukrainians.
Interesting little tidbit in that article possibly linking Rinat Akhmetov to the proceedings.
...
During that meeting Arsen Avakov has reportedly came up with the idea of using football hooligans, known as “ultras,” in the operation. Ever since his time as the head of the Kharkov regional administration he has worked closely with the fans leaders, whom he continued to sponsor even from his new home in Italy.
...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rinat_Akhmetov
...
Following the mysterious October 1995 bombing assassination of former team president Akhat Bragin at the team's stadium, Akhmetov (who had served as Bragin's right-hand man and himself narrowly missed the attempt on his life),[75] subsequently inherited operation of the Shakhtar Donetsk football club. On 11 October 1996, Akhmetov was appointed president of the team[76] and began investing heavily in both players and their training facilities. Under his command, FC Shakhtar became Premier League Champions in 2002, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013; Domestic Cup champions in 1997, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2008, 2011, 2012, 2013; Super-Cup in 2005, 2008, 2012 and 2013; and UEFA Cup in 2009.[76]
In 2009, Donbass Arena stadium was built in Donetsk at Rinat Akhmetov's initiative. It is the first stadium in Eastern Europe that was designed and built to the elite UEFA standards; its seating capacity holds over 50,000 persons.[77] Rinat Akhmetov had dreamt about such a stadium long before Ukraine had acquired the right to host EURO 2012.
...
.
Ah, good catch. That one slipped right by me.
NPR= National Pentagon Radio
Is it just me, or does he look like a Biden?
You stole Trump's hair, give it back!
The Rinat
i wish him quick death
A new kind of revolution developing in Ukraine and globally brought on by income disparity, greed, tax avoidance at upper income levls and corporate control of election and regulatory process. No amount of QE will solve this problem and in fact will make it worse. Lower 99% will unite---only question is will it be before or after western debt ridden currency collapse. The longer corrupt democracy is allowed to exist without true reform makes for greater chance of neofascism to develop as a replacement. Ukraine is just the tip of an economic collision between eastern nationalism and western globalism
The proles will never unite. It is just you, in the Outer Party, that sees the possibility of change. You are just smart enough, and have just enough information to hope. Though, when you boil that hope down, all you really hope for is to be in the Inner Party, closer to Big Brother.
They are destroying the banks as we speak...fires and busted ATMs...the industry is next if its owned by a Ukranian...that is what he is protecting..he knows Putin will just take it....and add it to his little bag of goodies...I would defend it too
...another hat tip to Cool Hand Luke
http://youtu.be/veCZvM6-okQ
Wait a sec ...a Billionaire ...
I have his eyes...his brows...his nose....I must be related to this guy....
DADDY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Found you at last!
As you know, I am against Russian Separatists and in favor of a Unified and Democratic Ukraine.
That said, I suspect this fucker needs to DIE.
Anyone, pro-Ukrainian or otherwise, who holds impossible multiple billions of dollars while his country struggles and internal development is scarce should be stripped of his wealth and face investigation of his business dealings.
There are no BILLIONAIRES in Russia or Ukraine who are free from criminal dealings. The act of being a Billionaire in the USA, RUSSIA, Ukraine, EU is defacto evidence of criminality.
I would be transferring my assets out of country before they go into Putin's toy bag.
SAKER: http://vineyardsaker.blogspot.com/2014/05/i-love-bbc.html
good night Rinat Akhmetov
you had a good innings a fine run while it lasted what goes around and all that.
time runs darkness falls and you shall be damned perpetually.
He, amongst other US handlers will be found hung on a CCTV camera. We live in the 21st century.
Let everyone see a lamp post hanging by a taxpayer funded subsidizes big brother see & snitch tool.
The Obsolete Man | 1961
/lol
Rinal failure. Arrest him and redistribute his stolen wealth.
"Kid! I own the police!"
BttF2 - terrible movie, but that part describes our current situation well.