Her
face is on the cover of Bloomberg Businessweek (3/9-3/15/2015)
next to a dramatic headline: Putin vs. the Accountant. Her
name is Natalie Jaresko. And, if Bloomberg's Brett Forrest is to be
believed, she and some of her colleagues may hold the fate of Western
Ukraine in their hands. As the Minister of Finance, she must find a
way to salvage an economy that is in free fall.
Forrest
paints a flattering, sympathetic picture of a feisty expatriate
determined to rescue Ukraine economically and from the clutches of
the evil Putin. Jaresko is encountered visiting hospitalized
Ukrainian troops wounded while attacking the resistance fighters in
Eastern Ukraine or, as Forrest prefers: consoling “convalescing
veterans of recent battles against Russian forces and their proxies
in the Ukrainian East. 'When did you serve?' she asks, moving slowly
from room to room.'How were you wounded?'”
Apart
from recounting Jaresko's mimicking of the obsequious and
opportunistic condescension of veterans displayed universally by
Western politicians, Forrest offers a calculated adulation of the
Minister that conjures many less laudatory questions and suspicions.
For
someone who holds the fate of Ukraine in her hands, Jaresko appears
to be somewhat of a carpetbagger. Her appointment to lead the Finance
Ministry came before she was granted Ukrainian citizenship, a fact
that would only be curious outside of a government where two other
cabinet members were also not citizens when appointed: her
counterpart in the Ministry of Economy and Trade, Lithuanian Aivaras
Abromavicius, and Minister of Health, Georgian Alexander Kvitashvili.
Jaresko, a US citizen, has two years to renounce her US citizenship.
She and her other imported colleagues were appointed by Prime
Minister Arseniy Yatsunyuk, the infamous “Yats” vetted by
foul-mouthed US Assistant Secretary of State for European and
Eurasian Affairs, Victoria Nuland.
Obviously
the US and the EU had to scramble after they encouraged and supported
the coup deposing the elected President in February of 2014. They had
to reach outside Ukraine to find reliable clients to support the
hastily elected candy baron, Petro Pershenko. The story of the clumsy
construction of the post-coup government from non-nationals,
careerists, and unstable rightists would make for an entertaining
episode of House of Cards if Western journalists had the spine
to tell it.
So
what has Jaresko done to deserve a phone call from Nuland? Er,
Pershenko?
Her
credentials begin with a master's degree from the Kennedy School at
Harvard, a training ground for those tasked with delivering the US
ruling class message to friends and foes alike. Doors opened
immediately at the State Department's Soviet Affairs division. She
coordinated her work at the State Department with all of the big
national and international trade and economic organizations. When
Ukraine left the Soviet Union, Jaresko was perfectly suited to
operate on the US State Department's behalf at the newly installed US
Embassy. Her position-- Chief of the Economic Section-- was a trusted
position of a type often calling for close collaboration with covert
agencies.
She
parlayed that experience into the creation of an “investment“
vehicle for Ukrainian businesses funded by USAID, again a position of
great trust and associated in many countries with US influence
peddling. Documentation of the
modest
seed capital from USAID-- $150 million-- can be found here.
One would expect that a 30-year-old entrusted with this task surely
had the confidence of highly placed officials in the US government.
Her
1995 venture was absorbed by a new investment management firm,
Horizon Capital, which she founded in 2006. Journalist John Helmer
documents the consistent losses of Horizon Capital in his detailed
report on Dances with Bears (12-03-2014). Despite his
discovering only two years of modest gains in a decade, both
Bloomberg and Forbes laud the success of Horizon
Capital.
Helmer
also discovers the fallout from Jaresko's divorce from her spouse and
business partner. Her former husband, Ihor Figlus, has accused her of
saddling him with debt from “improper” loans. Their contentious
relationship continues. Helmer comments: “It hasn’t been rare for
American spouses to go into the asset management business in the
former Soviet Union, and make profits underwritten by the US
Government with information supplied from their US Government
positions or contacts. It is exceptional for them to fall out over
the loot.”
Jaresko's
own account of her recruitment bears telling: “...representatives
from a headhunting firm hired by the new government, WE partners,
visited Jaresko at the Horizon Capital offices. They discussed
candidates for various government posts before asking her if she
would be willing to serve...” (Bloomberg Businessweek)
While
some may find it odd that an independent, sovereign state would
engage a US-based (parent company: Korn Ferry) headhunting firm to
fill top political posts, Jaresko explains: “I think the president
and prime minister wanted me to bring [my] experience.”
Within
a week, she was vetted and appointed.
Anticipating
skepticism, Bloomberg's reporter, Brett Forrest, notes that
“Jaresko's appointment... provides fuel to conspiracy theorists...”
Indeed.
His
apologetics continue: “No matter their origin, these ministers--
and the numerous Poles, Germans, Canadians, and other foreigners
who've joined the government in senior and mid-level positions-- are
pulling the same oar.” Forrest joins a host of Western journalists
and commentators who find no contradiction in a rabidly nationalistic
government staffed with foreigners.
Despite
generous aid from the US, the EU, and the IMF, Ukraine has
experienced a 21% loss of industrial production, a 69% drop in the
value of the currency against the dollar and a 6.9% decline in GDP in
the last year.
Estimates
of Ukraine debt go as high as $40 billion. Recently, Jaresko
announced that investors should expect a “haircut” which “...will
probably involve a combination of maturity extensions, coupon
reductions and principal reductions.”
Compare
the matter-of-fact reporting of this announcement in papers like The
Financial Times or The Wall Street Journal to the
hysterical media response to the faintest hint of a possible
reduction in Greek sovereign debt. Clearly assuming client status,
selling your sovereignty to imperialism, earns generous debt
forgiveness.
Despite
the media-spun fairy tales about Ukraine's struggle for democracy and
independence, the facts challenge that narrative. Behind the curtain
of deceit and fabrication is a motley crew of foreign agents,
corrupted officials, oligarchs, and neo-Nazis. But one would never
know it from the Western media.
Zoltan
Zigedy
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