Ukrainians Get IMF’s Bitter Medicine

[grahamhgreen]

Exclusive: Though lacking legitimacy from national elections, Ukraine’s coup regime has approved a harsh IMF austerity plan that hits Ukraine’s “99 percent” the hardest and asks little from the country’s “1 percent,” including the corrupt “oligarchs,” reports Robert Parry....

What is also striking about the IMF plan is that it puts virtually all the pain on average Ukrainians. There is nothing in the economic “reform” package that extracts some of the ill-gotten gains from Ukraine’s ten or so “oligarchs,” the multimillionaires and even billionaires who largely plundered Ukraine’s wealth after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.There is no plan for demanding that these “oligarchs” kick in some percentage of their net worth to help their own country. Instead, hard-pressed citizens of the United States and Europe are expected to carry the financial load....

As the New York Times reported, “Senior Western officials said on [March 26] that the loans from the United States and from the I.M.F. would be structured to get the government through its first few months without undue political upheaval, putting off some of the more difficult changes until after the May election. The West has also chosen not to press for early parliamentary elections, one senior official said, because ‘the priority now is stabilization in Kiev and de-escalation with Moscow.’”

Given such bleak economic prospects — and evidence of Western manipulation of the political process – is it any wonder that more than 90 percent of the voters in Crimea opted to leave Ukraine and rejoin Russia?

http://consortiumnews.com/2014/04/02/ukrainians-get-imfs-bitter-medicine/

[840high]

1. kick

[snappyturtle]

2. Yats learned the lesson well from the U.S. banksters....inserting fear. In his case, telling

the parliament that the contraction of the GDP could be 10% without the austerity measures.....fear, fear, fear.

I think these two paragraphs from the link are interesting to say the least:

But those actions will inflict more hardship on the Ukrainian people — their “99 percent” — while giving Ukraine’s “1 percent” pretty much a pass. Yet, beyond fairness, there’s also the question of the legitimacy of the coup regime taking on new debt obligations without the consent of the Ukrainian people.

After the violent ouster of elected President Yanukovych on Feb. 22 — after he rejected the IMF’s terms – the post-coup parliament cobbled together a new government which involved handing out four ministries to far-right parties whose armed neo-Nazi militias had spearheaded the coup.

underlining is mine.

K&R...and thanks for posting. I like Parry.

[grahamhgreen]

7. Nice catch. They get their $$$ no matter what.

[arikara]

3. The Ukraine will be regretting the coup too

what was their eagerness to join with the EU anyhow, given what they did to Greece, Portugal and all, but especially Cypress where they robbed the money right out of the people's bank accounts.

[Comrade Grumpy]

4. I hope they enjoy the tender embrace of the West and the IMF...

[1000words]

6. "Compassionate Conservatism"

So nice of them to help.

[djean111]

5. This -

"Given such bleak economic prospects — and evidence of Western manipulation of the political process – is it any wonder that more than 90 percent of the voters in Crimea opted to leave Ukraine and rejoin Russia?"

I think this is being overlooked by many. A real lesser of two evils, perhaps? The IMF seems the ultimate socialize the losses, privatize the profits machine.