The Sergei Glaziev Interview: Understanding Ukraine in 15 Minutes

[reorg]

MIKE WHITNEY, Counterpunch

If you want to understand what is going on in Ukraine, then you need to watch this 15 minute video with Putin advisor and friend, Sergei Glaziev. Glaziev explains how structural changes in the global economy and a shift to Asia have precipitated a desperate attempt by US policymakers to maintain their grip on power by instigating a war in Europe. Whether readers agree with this analysis or not, they will find Glaziev is brilliant, erudite and passionate in his beliefs. For that alone, the video is well worth the time.

(with subtitles)

Transcript (excerpt) ...

For the past 20 years Americans have been grooming Ukraine Nazism aimed at Russia. As you know they hosted the remnants of Bandera after the Second World War. Tens of thousands of Ukrainian Nazis were brought to America and have been carefully cultivated and nurtured during the whole post war period. This wave of immigrants descended on Ukraine after the collapse of the Soviet Union. So by constantly targeting Ukraine they want to separate her from Russia. This is their main goal. The idea of an Eastern partnership was used as a bait. It was first expressed by the Poles, and then picked up by the Americans. The essence of the Eastern partnership, of which Georgia became a victim, now Ukraine has become one, and soon Moldova will be one, is to sever their ties with Russia. As you know we are building the Customs Union, and a common economic space with Belarus and Kazakhstan which will soon be joined by Kyrgyzstan and Armenia. Ukraine has been our long term partner. Ukraine is still in the ratification stage of the agreement with Russia which no one in Ukraine has cancelled yet. Ukraine is important to us as part of our economic space and for our centuries long ties and cooperation. Our scientific and industrial complex was created as a whole, therefore, Ukraine’s participation in Eurasian integration is quite natural and vital. The Eastern partnership was created to prevent Ukraine’s participation in the Eurasian integration project. The meaning of the Eastern partnership is to create an association with the European union. What is the association that was signed by Poroshenko with the European leaders? It is the transformation of Ukraine into a colony. By signing the agreement with the association, Ukraine loses its sovereignty. It transfers control of its trade, customs, technical and financial regulation, and public procurement to Brussels.

4 The Ukrainian Nazi junta is an instrument of U.S. policy

Ukraine ceases to be a sovereign state in its economy and politics. It is clearly stated in the agreement that Ukraine is a junior partner in the European union. Ukraine must follow a common defense and foreign policy of the EU. Ukraine is obliged to participate in the resolution of regional conflicts under the leadership of the EU. Thus Poroshenko is making Ukraine a colony of the EU and pulling Ukraine into war with Russia as cannon fodder with the intention of igniting a war in Europe. The purpose of the association agreement is to allow the European countries to govern Ukraine in the settlement of regional conflicts. What is happening in Donbass is a regional armed conflict. The goal of American politics is to create as many victims as possible. The Ukrainian Nazi junta is an instrument of this policy. They are carrying out mindless atrocities and crimes bombing cities killing civilians, women and children, and forcing them to leave their homes, only to provoke Russia and then draw the whole of Europe into a war. This is Poroshenko’s mission. This is why Poroshenko is rejecting any peace negotiations and blocking all peace treaties. He interprets any statement by Washington about de-escalation of the conflict as an order to escalate it. All peace talks which have taken place on the international level have brought a new round of violence.

We must understand that we are dealing with a Nazi state, which is dead set on a war with Russia and has declared general conscription. The entire male population between 18 and 55 has been put under arms. Those who refuse will get 15 years in jail. This Nazi criminal power makes criminals of the entire Ukrainian population.

5 Washington is plunging Europe into War for its own Interests

We have calculated that the European economy will lose about 1 trillion euros for sanctions which are imposed on them by the Americans. This is a huge sum. Europeans are already bearing the losses. There’s already a drop in sales to Russia. Germany is losing about 200 billion euros. Our most rabid friends from the Baltic states will suffer the worst losses. The loss to Estonia will be more than its GDP. The loss to Latvia will be about half its GDP. But that isn’t stopping them. European politicians are going along with the Americans without questioning what they are doing. They are harming themselves by provoking Nazism and war. I have already said that Russia and Ukraine are the victims of this war which is being fomented by the Americans. But Europe is also a victim because the war aims to target European welfare and to destabilize Europe. Americans expect the European capital and brain drain to America will continue. That’s why they are setting all of Europe on fire. It’s very strange that European leaders are going along with them. ...

http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/08/22/understanding-ukraine-in-15-minutes/

[newthinking]

1. This one hits the crux: Structural Changes in the Global Economy are often preceded by Great Crisis

1. Structural Changes in the Global Economy are often preceded by Great Crisis and War

The world today is going through an overlap of a whole series of cyclical crises. The most serious of them is a technological crisis which is associated with changes in the wavelengths of economic development. We’re living in a period when the economy is changing its structure. The economic structure that has been driving economic growth for the last 30 years has exhausted itself. We need to make a transition to a new system of technologies. This kind of transition, unfortunately, has always come about through war. That’s how it was in the ’30s when the Great Depression gave way to an arms race and then the Second War World War. That’s how it was during the Cold War when an arms race in space gave rise to complex information and communication technologies which became the basis of a technological structure that has been driving the world’s economy for the last 30 years. Today we are faced with a similar crisis. The world is shifting to a new technological system.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

2. This guy uses the word "Nazi" no less than 12 times in his screed.

I think he wants you to think Ukrainians are Nazis.



Funny how he thanks the "Vineyard of the Saker" blog for the video. That's not necessarily the best place to align yourself with if you want to paint other people as Nazis. (Take a look at The Magistrate's post here for some excerpts: http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014877515#post5)

But the author doesn't strike me as being particularly smart, so.....

[newthinking]

3. That fact is very inconvenient isn't it? That indeed there are too many (Nazi) in the admin

and doing their dirty work. It is amazing to see people on a progressive board defending a hard right administration that is essentially an alliance of Tea Party types, Fundamentalist Christians, and Neo-Nazis. But that is the power of propaganda that it can confuse issues.

After it became evident that having Neo-Nazi leaders in several key (too visible) positions they replaced a couple, but there is still a very disturbing alliance in the Kyiv government that cannot be "wished" away.

The Neo-Nazi question in Ukraine
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-hughes/the-neo-nazi-question-in_b_4938747.html

Is the US backing Neo-Nazi's in Ukraine?
http://www.salon.com/2014/02/25/is_the_us_backing_neo_nazis_in_ukraine_partner/

Ukraine crisis: the neo-Nazi brigade fighting pro-Russian separatists
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/ukraine/11025137/Ukraine-crisis-the-neo-Nazi-brigade-fighting-pro-Russian-separatists.html

[Tommy_Carcetti]

8. Svoboda has 3 out of a total of 20 seats in Cabinet, and 8% representation in the Rada.

Right Sector has no representation at either the cabinet or parliamentary level.

While it is undisputed both Svoboda and Right Sector are ultranationalist organizations and not particularly good guys in general, whether they actually qualify as "neo-Nazi" is still a matter of debate. Specifically though as it relates to Svoboda, they are something of a tempest in a teapot, but one that the pro-Russian side is constantly trying to exploit.

[newthinking]

9. The research (reality) on this has been posted many times. They are significant

and the makeup of Neo-Nazi groups and the de-facto alliance are historical.

Here is what I have posted before. A few of these characters have been removed or stepped down, but only after it became evident that the bad press was overwhelming. But make no mistake, for every one in high office there are many other staff behind the scenes. There is no way to cover up the fact that the Kyiv regime represents both a minority democratically and is far right.

The fact that Ukraine has a private battalion made up of outward Neo-Nazi's is quite the evidence in itself. How did that happen?

Project Censored has included stories that have been validated and are candidates for inclusion in the top under-reported stories of the year:
http://www.projectcensored.org/category/validated-independent-news/


Neo-Nazi's in executive positions in Ukraine's government:

Andriy Parubiy - National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine - Co-founder of Social-National Party of Ukraine together with Oleh Tyahnybok
Dmytro Yarosh, second-in-command of the National Defense and Security Council - Right Sector neo-Nazi commander
Oleksandr Sych is one of three Vice Prime Ministers member of neo-Nazi Svoboda
Oleg Makhnitsky Prosecutor-General (Attorney General) member of neo-Nazi Svoboda
Education Ministry Serhiy Kvit member of neo-Nazi Svoboda
Andriy Makhnyk Ecology Ministry, member of neo-Nazi Svoboda
Ihor Shvaiko Agriculture Ministry, member of neo-Nazi Svoboda
Tetyana Chernovol, chair of the government’s anti-corruption committee, UNA-UNSO (half of the organization founded Right Sector)
Dmytro Bulatov, Minster for Youth and Sports, UNA-UNSO

This does not include lower level but still powerful positions which are reported to have many right sector and svoboda members as well.

Ihor Tenyukh was Minister of Defense until he resigned for unknown reasons the day after Oleksandr Muzychko was killed - Svoboda


Foreign Policy: Yes there are "bad guys" in the Ukraine government
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2014/03/18/yes_there_are_bad_guys_in_the_ukrainian_government
Today, Svoboda holds a larger chunk of its nation's ministries (nearly a quarter, including the prized defense portfolio) than any other far-right party on the continent. Ukraine's deputy prime minister represents Svoboda (the smaller, even more extreme "Right Sector" coalition fills the deputy National Security Council chair), as does the prosecutor general and the deputy chair of parliament -- where the party is the fourth-largest. And Svoboda's fresh faces are scarcely different from the old: one of its freshmen members of parliament is the founder of the "Joseph Goebbels Political Research Centre" and has hailed the Holocaust as a "bright period" in human history.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1014&pid=835803


Here is a video of the extremists in action. They terrify the more moderate rightests in office who understand what they are capable of. This is a scene from a protest which included a battalion, because they were inpatient to get out and kill more people. Regardless of who they wanted to kill (militants or Russians as a whole), this is BLOODLUST. Not a nice thing to have running rampant in a country.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=5176192

[Tommy_Carcetti]

10. You're seriously spinning here.

Parubiy hadn't been a member of Svoboda for over a decade. Even more importantly, he resigned a couple of weeks ago, so he's not currently even in any position of power.

Yarosh had never been the second in command in the National Defense and Security Council.

Serhiy Kvit is not a member of Svoboda or Right Sector. Neither are Tetyana Chernovol or Dmytro Bulatov.

Oleg Makhnitsky and Ihor Tenyukh have long since resigned their positions.

The only individuals affiliated with Svoboda who are currently in charge of a cabinet ministry or position are Oleksandr Sych, Andriy Makhnyk, and Ihor Shvaiko. Right Sector has no members in the cabinet, nor any elected members of parliament.

So that's a grand total of three Svoboda in the 20 person cabinet. You don't have to be an expert in math to know that's well short of the "nearly a quarter" claim in your Foreign Policy piece you cited.

And yes, the Azov Battallion does seem like a disturbing group. However, they're not government sanctioned--they're neither Army nor National Guard. They're a private militia, so it's rather disingenuous to claim that they are the neo-Nazi face of the Ukrainian government. They're also rather small--estimated to be only about 300-600.

Yes, unfortunately there are some actual neo-Nazis living in Ukraine. The fact of the matter is that there are neo-Nazis living just about everywhere. Including--as we all know--our own country.

But if you do want to talk about neo-Nazis in a position of high power in Ukraine, we're more than welcome to talk about Pavel Gubarev, who was a prominent member of Russian National Unity (identified as being a neo-Nazi organization) and who has looked back with great fondness and without any regret with his affiliation with that group. The problem is, he's not fighting for the Ukrainian government--he's fighting against it. In fact, he's the self-proclaimed "People's Governor of Donetsk", a position he gained not through any sort of elections, but instead by brute force.

Now, think about it: If the pro-Russian separatists claim all they are doing is fighting "fascists" in the Ukrainian government who they claim gained power "illegitimately", and yet one of their most prominent members is an actual fascist who gained his power illegitimately, do you honestly think that's the real reason they are fighting?

[newthinking]

11. If I did not know better I would think you are trying to obfuscate.

It almost seems like it because this is all well available and verifiable

First off, the info did not stay Tetyana Chernovol or Dmytro Bulatov were right sector. They are UNA-UNSO, half the group of which founded Right Sector

Their party's fucking banner is a modified swatztika!



If you search Serhey Kvit in Ukrainian the information about his extreme views is all over the net. He was a controversial subject even several years ago (for academic censorship and his fascist views). Even worse than his stint of association with Svoboda his more recent association was with "Trident", even more extreme and the org that Right Sector grew out of. That is the head of the ministry of education????!!!!

Here is the Ukrainian wikipedia, his name is still on that page as a prominent member!
https://uk.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A2%D1%80%D0%B8%D0%B7%D1%83%D0%B1_(%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%B3%D0%B0%D0%BD%D1%96%D0%B7%D0%B0%D1%86%D1%96%D1%8F)


Сергій Квіт — президент НУ «Києво-Могилянська академія», міністр освіти і науки України в уряді Арсенія Яценюка з 27 лютого 2014 року;




Right there is more than a quarter, and we are not even counting the "right of the Tea Party" types. It is clearly a far right admin in a casual relationship with Neo-Nazi's.


There has been an attempt to remove some evidence from the web since January... Videos of Nationalist activity in the days around the coup, english sources of information about the backgrounds of key people... Changes of party affiliation to try and hide the past. But if you know the Ukrainian language and are sincerely interested in the truth it is easy to confirm.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

12. Again, your research appears to be wrong.

Tetiana Chornovol last ran as a member of the Batkivshchyna party. Her affiliation with UNA-UNSO ended years ago when she apparently became disillusioned with that organization.

Serhiy Kvit is not listed as being affiliated with any political party--not Svoboda, Right Sector or UNA-UNSO.

You're really struggling to paste together a narrative that isn't reflective of the actual situation.

Also, there was no actual "coup" of which you speak. But you already know that.

[reorg]

7. Yes, that's definitely what he wants us to think about the "revolution"

As to that ominous blog you mentioned, it has next to nothing to do with this interview outside of the fact that they apparently translated the transcript. As far as I can tell, the video was first posted on a YouTube channel associated with a member of the State Duma and Putin's party United Russia, Yevgeny Fyodorov. This guy seems to be something of a "patriotic" loudmouth, but that's not a rare thing, unfortunately. I've come across his kind even on seemingly liberal internet forums.

But then I did take a look at that blog and, after a few minutes, found the following note:

Personal announcement: dealing with Nazis and other racist trolls
With the recent sharp rise of readers of this blog (well over 1'000'000 visits in total and 10'000+ visitors per day) a equally sharp rise of Nazi and other racist troll clearly happened. My policy in the past has been to either crush their sophomoric and ignorant views by posting rebuttals, but now I simply do not have the time to play Kindergarten cop with these obsessive-compulsive Jew haters. And yet, I cannot simply censor their posts because that would contradict the core value of my blog - complete freedom of thought. This, of course, puts me in front of a dilemma: do I let these cretins pollute my blog, or do I give up on my ideal of freedom of though and speech? I wish I had a "virtual sandbox" were I could send these folks and let them play together, talking about Jew-this, Jew-that, Hitler-this, Hitler-that, but I don't have that. So what I propose to do here is to post a short appeal to them and to the rest of you, mentally sane and educated commentators, in the hope that this will help. Let's begin with the tedious part: ...

http://vineyardsaker.blogspot.de/2014/03/personal-announcement-dealing-with.html

Still, I also found, next to quotes from George Orwell, Arundhati Roy, Ghandi and the Bible one from Ron Paul: "Truth is treason in the empire of lies", apparently cited as a motto. Which may be a hint that the author of this blog is a paleoconservative. Or maybe he just likes the quote, I can't tell. Anyway, I have no reason to "align" myself with this blog and don't intend to, so, no worries.

[Blue_Tires]

4. "Putin advisor and friend?" Yeah, no bias in THAT source...

At least he has the decency to admit it up front as opposed to the so-called 'impartial' opinionists...

But in all seriousness -- Can we stop with this "America is trying to bait Russia into WWIII conspiracy silliness?" It's not going to magically become truer the more you post these pieces...Or at least have the common sense to post it in the conspiracy dungeon where it belongs...

[newthinking]

5. Listening to and analyzing oppositional and dissenting voices

is one of the hallmarks of progressive thinking.

I know there is a lot of pressure to regress back into a more primitive way of looking at the world. That way is certainly more advantageous for control purposes, but it narrows the opportunity to avoid conflict and also to grow and reduce hatreds of all kinds.

When the state of media is such that narratives are heavily controlled, be it directly or via the interests of powers both economic and geopolitical, then we are left with less clear voices which we must listen to with as much or more caution than our own biased media; but it is necessary to listen to other voices nonetheless, because just like in our own media, there are well meaning people and less well intentioned, whether it be in the US, Russia, Iran, or any other country.

If you actually listened to the full interview, as long as you have an open mind you will at least be able to assess that he is genuinely offering what he feels is occurring. Agree or disagree, learn, and then listen to other voices.

We cannot create a more functional world by blotting out everyone and everything we don't understand or agree with.

[reorg]

6. Common sense would dictate to take notice of the opinions

on all sides of a conflict, I think.

Mr Glaziev doesn't strike me as an idiot, although I have to admit I don't know much about him. He is currently responsible for putting together the Eastern partnership / Custom union mentioned in the interview. He also ran for President in 2004 and came third, here are some remarks from that time about him by Michael Hudson I found interesting:

One rising light has been Sergei Glaziev, an early market reformer already before 1990 but opposed to Yeltsin’s coup d’êtat in 1993 and the "shock therapy" of "grabitization" that followed. He subsequently saw that a least distorted way for Russia to recover was by a tax on economic rent, that is, the value of land and natural resources that exists independently of labor and capital investment. The aim is to untax industry and labor, and make Russia’s natural resources monopolies finance the government. But these are precisely the assets that Yeltsin’s kleptocrats were the first to grab. So this intellectual policy fight has now been raging for a decade.

Glaziev has become the most prominent politician for a group that wants to encourage industrial investment as distinct from buy-outs of assets and property already in place. Industrial recovery and employment require that taxes be shifted from industry and labor onto raw-materials exports–the companies that the oligarchs have been so eager to grab, precisely because their revenue is passive an unearned, or what is called rentier income in the West.

SS: How many major figures support this policy?

MH: Their ranks include former Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov, and now even Gorbachev, as well as Dmitri Lvov, a prominent economist from Russia’s Academy of Sciences, and Vladimir Litvinenko, rector of the St. Petersburg Mining Institute.

Glaziev is a student of Lvov, who has focused his theorizing on the role of rent in the economy. Lvov was a schoolmate of Primakov. Their closeness turned out to be a major reason why Yeltsin disposed of Primakov so hurriedly for a series of successors he felt would prove more reliable to his Family’s rent-grabbing interests. ...

http://www.counterpunch.org/2004/02/27/an-interview-with-michael-hudson/