Of more than 200 submissions to the Australian Senate Inquiry into Australian support for Ukraine, (27March-4 Aug 24), so-far published, most seem to think that more war, with even more money and weapons, is a solution for Ukraine's problems. Almost none argue for peace-negotiations. Few dwell on the ongoing cost in human lives, perhaps because almost none concede the probability that Russia will win, and those lives will be lost for nothing. The great majority seem to conceive of Ukraine as a shining part of a brilliant western democratic system, and without giving any sense of irony, call for the preservation of Australia's democracy through more censorship, to protect us from hearing the other party's point of view. Many submissions seem to be variations on some kind of form letter, although some have the purpose of advertising defense technologies and tools. Many also do not distinguish between Soviet Russia, Post-Perestroika Russia, and Russia under Putin. They instead hark back to Russia of their grandparents' time, or their WW2 refugee neighbour's time (when Ukraine was Germany's ally), again without any apparent irony. Nor do they seem aware of Ukraine's descent into oligarchy and criminal economy post Soviet breakup, and at accelerated pace during this war, let alone Zelensky's cancellation of elections, his outlawing of anyone negotiating peace with Russia, and the sensible flight of millions to avoid fighting in the Meat Grinder. Most submissions are published anonymously. I have published my own submission below, because it stands out among the vast majority published so far, in that it dissents from current Australian government policy, warns of global war risks, and points out in detail how Ukraine is being grotesquely exploited by the west and trans-nationalists, how soviet land-seizure has been eclipsed in land-theft by oligarchs and corporate sharks and has speeded up under cover of war, despite large Ukrainian protests, and how censorship has rapidly overtaken Australia's press since this war began, how racism towards Russians has replaced our multicultural view, despite notable Australian voices warning of the dangers since 2014. I don't mean to disrespect those calling for more fuel on the Ukrainian pyre in the sincere belief they are preserving a precious Ukrainian democracy for an intact population, but it seems to me they are severely misled by western newsmedia, and logistically naive to the demographic hollowing of Ukraine, Russia's strength, and the nuclear risks to the world, which makes an even stronger case against the current media censorship.
Submission to the Senate Inquiry into Australian support for Ukraine by Sheila Newman
I have responded to the following terms of reference: Australian support for Ukraine, with particular reference to: (a) whether the support is timely, coordinated and comprehensive; (c) efforts to hold Russia to account, including by addressing mis- and dis- information in Australian public debate and the region; and (d) any related matters.
Thank you for the opportunity to say what I think about Australia's Ukraine war adventure. The war was entered very quickly after a secret decision in Cabinet, which involved absolutely no parliamentary or public debate.
We awoke to a strangely 19th century chauvinist experience, where Parliament was wreathed in the blue and yellow flags colours of Ukraine, a country with Stefan Bandera as its national hero, and a young migrant of Russian origin was publicly and racistly pilloried on ABC TV Q&A for daring to speak of deaths in Donbass.
It seemed that Australia's public voice and national policy had gone from multicultural to anti-slav-Azov overnight.
(a) whether the support is timely, coordinated and comprehensive;
OUR SUPPORT IS NOT ‘TIMELY,’ I.E. NOT APPROPRIATE OR ADAPTED TO THE TIMES OR THE OCCASION, FOR SEVERAL REASONS:
We should not be sending weapons. Foreign support for this war endangers the world and is based on fundamentally mistaken beliefs and statements.
- We are treating Russia as if there were still a Soviet Union, and as if Perestroika never happened. That is anachronous and incorrect
- We have failed to integrate the fact that Russia has made an outstanding economic and political recovery from a period of disorganised, exploited oligarchy post Perestroika
- We are participating in a war that is becoming hotter by the moment due to Ukraine’s dalliance with US and UK-supplied long-range missiles
- We should withdraw support on grounds that Ukraine has behaved recklessly on a grand scale in repeatedly bombing the largest nuclear powerplant in Europe[2]
- We should stop supplying Ukraine with nuclear material due to its failure to honour the terms of our nuclear material supply agreement, by flouting IAEA nuclear safety rules.[3]
- We have based our policy on incorrect and unevidenced assertions that Russia is intent on expanding, whilst denying US-NATO expansion in the region as evidenced by the creep of its many military bases to countries around Russia, including Ukraine, and US role in the colour revolution of Euromaidan, and racist Ukraine policy vis-à-vis ethnic-Russian Ukrainians resulting in states where those demographics dominate, moving to secede (Crimea, Donbass)
- We are inappropriately rationalising and personalising the war via the primitive demonisation of the Russian leader, Mr Putin, as justification for our bellicosity, in lieu of any factual and concrete reasons
- We have shown poor judgement by aligning ourselves with a US-NATO that has weaponised the anti-slav aspects of 19th and 20th C Ukrainian nationalism using Nazi symbols and heroes[4]
- We have portrayed Ukraine as a democracy, without regard to how, like Russia post Perestroika, it became a disorganised, exploited oligarchy, from which war has prevented recovery and has deepened financial exploitation and land-theft
- This war involves a scandalous money laundering operation for US-NATO and there is no proper accounting for many billions of dollars
- There are persistent associations with biological weapon engineering labs[5] and illegal human organ trafficking[6]
- As well as money laundering, this war is being used to steal land from Ukrainians and to redistribute it to corporate entities with strong ties to US, EU and other international political and financial entities
- The war is part of ongoing trade wars and petroleum wars, involving sanctions
- The effect of, and possibly the US intention in initiating those sanctions, has been to economically weaken US ‘allies,’ notably Europe, which the US sees as a trade competitor, and Australia, by causing drastic elevation of petroleum product prices. The United States has profited from this effect because it has become a replacement petroleum gas supplier at gauging prices. The destruction of Nordstream2 was heinous and benefited the US.
- Australia’s defence decisions are too influenced by the US. The fact that the US military is embedded in Australia’s defence policy formation[7] organs has made Australia vulnerable to serving US interests over Australia’s own. We need more independent trade and defence policies.
We are in the wrong.
We need to admit that to ourselves and to the world. We are partly responsible for this appalling situation.
Even if we were in the right, Ukraine is losing this war. All the weapons sent there are only helping Ukrainian soldiers die, they are not helping to win the war. As the Vice President of the European Commission, Josep Borrell Fontelle, admits (4 May 2024), the war in Ukraine would end if weapons supply were stopped.
"I can finish the War in Ukraine in a couple of Weeks, I cut the supply of Weapons and it ends, but not how I want"
Josep Borrell himself is, of course, in no danger of been forced to fight. He’s an elderly economist and elite bureaucrat, enmeshed with European lending apparatus and a history in Big Oil, dating from the time of the 1970s oil crises. [8]
We should be noting the failure by US-NATO to abide by the MINSK Agreements, apologise for any part we played in supporting their betrayal,[9] and work towards negotiating peace.
All support should be withdrawn from Zilensky, and efforts should be made to support new independent elections with secret ballots, free of US-NATO interference, with international observers from all over the world.
To continue sending weapons or other support for continued warfare is entirely inappropriate, since it is contributing to deaths in prolonging an unjust and losing war that is destroying Ukraine, socially, morally, demographically, systemically, and probably as a geo-entity. Ukrainians are voting against the war with their feet.[10] Millions fled at the start of the war,[11] inundating Europe with about 6 million refugees, and many others to destinations all over the world.[12] There are multiple videos and articles on-line documenting how Ukraine is kidnapping people off the street to press-gang them into fighting.[13] The Ukraine military has become so desperate that it is conscripting women, mental patients, and sending felons to the front lines, with little training. A thousand Ukrainians may be dying a day.[14] It seems likely that something like 500,000 Ukrainians have already died or been severely wounded.[15] But we won’t get agreement on the actual figures for political and logistical reasons, any time soon.
Russia has been exhibiting, for the month of May 2024, in Victory Square, western military hardware captured from Ukraine, including Australian Bushmaster tanks, Abrams tanks, and multiple drones and other weaponry.[16] Russia says that the US sent Kiev 31 M1 Abrams tanks, and Moscow has disabled at least five. The remaining ones, at $10,000,000 a piece, have been pulled to the rear by the Ukrainian command in order to protect them from $500 Russian drone strikes.[17]
So, this doesn’t sound to me like ‘timely, coordinated and comprehensive’ ‘support.’ It sounds like a terrible mistake. For those hundreds of thousands who lie in hospitals or battlefields, permanently, horrendously disfigured, brain injured, and with their limbs blown off, it is a catastrophe. For Ukraine, it is a catastrophe. For Europe it is an economic catastrophe. For the United States, it passes for an economic good, and maybe for Australia, with its weapons-industry ambitions.
And, like all wars, it seems to be constructed entirely out of lies, to make money and to launder money, entered without democratic consultation.
Meat-grinder
Darkly referred to as a ‘meat-grinder,’ this war destroys humans on an industrial scale, but Ukrainians suffer many more losses, because they are the lesser force compared to Russia. Even with imported military hardware, it is Ukrainian bodies that are sacrificed for US congressional favours, and those of its satellites, to the military industrial complex. On 28 June, 2023, Irish journalist, Chay Bowes, introduced this horrendous birds-eye and zoom drone-footage https://twitter.com/i/status/1673825546218663939 of hellish attempts to get Ukrainian personnel out of a minefield on foot, commenting:
“There’s a reason @BBCWorld and @CNN won’t show you the brutal reality of the #Ukrainian failed counteroffensive. They are complicit in the delusion that this war can be won by an increasingly depleted and demoralised #Ukraine, they are complicit in the perpetual war mongering that allows this gory reality to happen on a vast scale yet remain hidden from the western taxpayers ignorantly funding it.
Warning very Graphic footage
Here a group of foreign mercenaries become trapped in a #Russian minefield and pre zeroed artillery kill zone. Their American #Bradley vehicles destroyed except for one. This tragic reality should be shown to all those who wish to travel to Ukraine to partake in this terrible conflict fomented and perpetrated by #US and #British war addicts, they will not see this footage of young men being maimed, killed and crippled for their vile ambitions. They like the BBC and CNN will look away denying the reality and fulfilling their prescribed narrative. Disgusting.”
LAND-TENURE HIJACK AND DISASTER CAPITALISM IN UKRAINE
Land-tenure systems tell us a great deal about the degree of self-determination[18] in a state. Where populations are viscous,[19] trust and cooperation (social capital) tend to be higher[20] than in systems with a high degree of movement, which favour crime and exploitation.
Ironically, Ukrainian nationalists and ordinary Ukrainians recollect with horror how their grandparents lost their land with land-nationalisation under the Soviets,[21] but now they are losing it under global capitalism, to marketisation, without even an ideology to serve the country and its people. (Note that the term ‘land-reform’ is a technical one and really signifies land-tenure reorganisation, not ‘reform’ in any moral sense.)
“Before the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991, all land was the property of the state, with farmers working on state and collective farms. In the 1990s, guided and supported by the IMF and other international institutions, the government privatized much of Ukraine’s farmland, which resulted in the growing concentration of land in the hands of a new oligarchic class. To stop this process, the government instituted a moratorium in 2001, which halted further privatization and prevented almost all transfers of private land.[22] 96 percent of agricultural land in Ukraine, or about 40 million hectares, was subjected to the moratorium. While the moratorium prevented further purchases of land, farmland could still be leased. Many small landowners leased their land to both domestic and foreign corporations. Although the moratorium was meant to be temporary, it was extended multiple times until it was lifted in July 2021 under the pressure of international financial institutions. Lifting the moratorium on the sale of agricultural land and the creation of a land market had been a key demand of Western financial institutions since 2014. As detailed below, the EBRD, the IMF, and the World Bank all pushed for this reform to expand access to Ukraine’s farmland for agribusinesses and private investors.”[23]
Ukrainians have been trying, en masse, to resist global marketisation, especially of farmland.
“With an estimated 64 percent of the population against the creation of a land market,[24] the IMF launched a public information campaign in 2017 in an attempt to gain support for the reform.[25] In 2019 and 2020, large protests and rallies erupted against changes to laws governing the sale of farmland.[26] Much of this opposition stems from the fact that many Ukrainians believe the land reform law will exacerbate corruption in the agricultural sphere, as well as reinforce its control by powerful interests. For many citizens, the most serious concern with the law is the potential for oligarchs and foreign interests to obtain ownership of land, by exploiting the country’s impotent judicial and regulatory systems. (p.15)” [27]
Ukrainians have called, unsuccessfully, for this top-down land-redistribution and marketisation to be suspended during the [fog of] war.
"In December 2022, a coalition of farmers, academics, and NGOs called on the Ukrainian government to suspend the land reform law and all market transactions of land during the war and post-war period, “in order to guarantee the national security and preservation of territorial integrity of the country in wartime and post-war reconstruction period.”[28] Ukrainians are putting their lives down to defend their land but are well aware of the corrupt forces that are threatening that very same land and the whole economy of the country, as demonstrated by the very widespread consensus against the land reform law passed in 2020."[29]
It is sickening to watch film of Ukrainian soldiers marooned in bogged tanks lose their limbs in land-mines, and bleed to death in real-time, and know that Australia is fueling this, but it is utterly enraging to know that, while soldiers are forced to fight and die, over and over, day after day, in similar obscene circumstances, US-NATO embedded oligarchs and corporates steal their land through rotten laws they crafted for this very purpose, under pretext of land and economic ‘reform,’ using international lending institutions.
Prof. Olena Borodina of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (NASU) explains: “Today, thousands of rural boys and girls, farmers, are fighting and dying in the war. They have lost everything. The processes of free land sale and purchase are increasingly liberalized and advertised. This really threatens the rights of Ukrainians to their land, for which they give their lives.”[30]
Ukraine is like 1990s Russia on steroids. These private and corporate investors often pay no tax, using off-shore addresses, and even receive state subsidies.[31] They are frequently heavily indebted or leveraged, acting like spearheads for the big international lending institutions, including World Bank members like the International Finance Corporation (IFC), or the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the European Investment Bank (EIB). When the borrowers default on their debts, the financial institutions, which are so big and so embedded in governments, that they lead national policies, simply take over the land-tenure, and sell off to whomever, whatever, wherever.[32] Mousseau and Devillers, whose 2023 report continues on from an earlier report in 2014, give some revealing details of the global distribution of known foreign investors behind the big anonymous corporations.[33] For instance, they say that NCH Capital played a key role pushing for ‘land-reform’ in Ukraine, and its CEO and the US Secretary of Commerce and the then Ukraine President Poroshenko were involved in getting the Ukraine government to agree to an IMF ‘Reform’ plan, as a condition for two loan guarantees from the US government for USD$1b.[34]
Ukraine is now the world’s third-largest debtor to the IMF, after Argentina and Egypt. This debt was contracted at the expense of a drastic decline in the living conditions of a large part of the country’s population. Measures like the introduction of market tariffs for utilities and pension reform, imposed as part of the structural adjustment program, have led to the erosion of public services, rise in the price of gas and utility tariffs, and the impoverishment of Ukrainians. Between 2013 and 2019, the average monthly wage dropped the equivalent of US$80.115 This drop was coupled with a high rate of inflation – which peaked at 43 percent in 2015.116 During that time, the price of gas – which is the main source of heat, hot water, and cooking fuel for most Ukrainians – increased twelvefold. Pension reforms introduced in 2017 have similarly played a part in the impoverishment of the population – around 80 percent of single pensioners in Ukraine live below the official poverty line, while 65 percent receive a pension below 3,000 hryvnia [US$82] per month. In 2021, Ukraine was the poorest country in Europe, with a GDP per capita of US$4,835.119 In 2014, the country’s poverty rate stood at 28.6 percent; by 2016, it had doubled, reaching a staggering 58.6 percent. While it has declined slightly in recent years, it remained high at 41.3 percent in 2019.
It is enabling the takeover of Europe’s most valuable agricultural land by massive corporations, to whom it has been sold or signed over by Ukraine Government. Even State land has been alienated under the Zelenski regime, which has actually cancelled presidential elections. It is within this utterly undemocratic regime that Ukrainians have lost their greatest landed assets. This was a long-time in coming and was anticipated by alert observers. One of the strategic motives was to undermine European resistance to GMOs via Ukraine.[36] Whatever the Committee may think about GMOs, we should all be concerned when Big Ag and Big Finance can overturn hard-won European policy and laws reflecting public concerns.
WAR IS A STILL A RACKET
It helps if there is a war to obscure foul deeds, and war, of course, is the biggest foreign financial investment in Ukraine, particularly as a mechanism for money-laundering, along with the black market in weapons and other prohibited things – and, of course, land-theft.
Money-laundering
So far, I gather that the US has spent a total of $175 billion on war in Ukraine, with $107 billion directly for Budget support and $68.9 billion for weapons, equipment and other military support. This money is not properly audited. It is an international money-laundering boondoggle of gargantuan proportions. The US Pentagon self-audits and most of its departments fail their own audits, but nothing is ever done about it, because unfortunately, that is what is supposed to happen. Reforms are blocked by powerful beneficiaries.
"[...] Major arms contractors have routinely greased the wheels of access and influence in Congress with campaign contributions to the tune of $83 million over the past two election cycles. Such donations go mainly to the members with the most power to help the major weapons producers." William Hartung, "The US Congress Is Now in the Pocket of the Arms Industry," Fair Observer, March 30, 2023.https://www.fairobserver.com/politics/the-us-congress-is-now-in-the-pocket-of-the-arms-industry/
In 2023, 1.9 trillion dollars were unaccounted for. Weapons are overpriced, subcontracted to private corporations and sold to the US government.[37]
"Year after year, half of the Pentagon budget goes to corporate weapons contractors and other corporations who profiteer from this lack of accountability."[38] "A large share of the money in the aid bills is spent in the United States, paying for American factories and workers to produce the various weapons that are either shipped to Ukraine or that replenish the U.S. weapons stocks the Pentagon has drawn on during the war. On
This 'aide' to Ukraine does not only take its toll in broken bodies and corpses, but in crippling debt. Ukraine must pay back its US 'benefactor' with interest. All in the name of not kow-towing to Russia's legitimate concerns about having US-NATO bases on its border, Ukraine's US-backed politicians have ceded its autonomy to the US, to corporations, and to gangster-oligarchs. The country has not actually gained anything in exchange, but it is obvious that powerful individuals have.
(c) efforts to hold Russia to account, including by addressing mis- and dis-information in Australian public debate and the region; and (d) any related matters.
HOLDING RUSSIA TO ACCOUNT
According to my reading and knowledge of history, this idea of ‘holding Russia to account’ is itself highly misinformed, both in Ukraine and US-NATO’s responsibility for Ukraine’s situation, and in the idea that Ukraine can actually ‘win’ this war. We would be better to hold ourselves to account and take a really good look at our policies. Australia has plumbed the depths of disinformation over this war,as it toes the line in disinformation set by the US media machine.
AUSTRALIAN DISINFORMATION, MISINFORMATION, CENSORSHIP OF DEMOCRATIC DISCUSSION AND COMMENT ….
Beginning dramatically on ABC Q & A with the racist ejection of a young Australian migrant from Russia, who spoke the truth on Donbass,[40] This war seems to have been the penultimate straw in the dismantling of any pretence at free-speech and reader comment, with the final nail in the coffin delivered over the Gaza war.
To designate all material coming out of Russia as disinformation is disturbingly ignorant, hick, chauvinistic, parochial, anglo-euro-central, racist and hysterical.
An example of how this has cost Australia our much-vaunted quality of ‘robust debate.’ At the beginning of this ill-advised war, reader comment was still possible on The Conversation. Commenting was a way for readers to see what other Australians thought and for them to interact. When articles about the war in Ukraine appeared on the Conversation, it was obvious that many Australians found Australia’s stated reasons for supporting US-NATO war in Ukraine highly questionable. Within weeks discussion was heavily censored to remove any criticism.[41]; Now, a couple of years later, the comment function has been removed from almost all articles, on war or anything else. This leaves very few national outlets where Australians can exchange their opinions. We are a dispersed population of isolated individuals.
It has become difficult for Australians to watch any news source outside the western mainstream outlets, if they are using ‘smart tvs,’ because these are branded and licenced to certain news outlets, which have been restricted since the Ukraine war. If you have a VPN and a computer, you can watch almost anything you want, but most people don’t have much control over the modern branded ‘smart’ devices.; YouTube has removed many videos, including those from national leaders, that once gave the other side. X.com (formerly Twitter) is much less censored, but we have recently seen the Australian Government aggressively try to impose censorship on X.com, in reaction to a local crime. This demonstrates to me how much this war has eroded Australians’ rights and self-determination.
The narrative we have been officially subscribed to is that Russia attacked Ukraine out of the blue in 2022 because its president is a madman who wants to restore the Soviet Union and march on to Europe and America. As I mentioned, this was kicked off with an event where Sasha Gillies Lekakis[42] appeared to be used to establish a fiction that there had been no civil war in Donbass, from 2014, and that any figures for casualties there were grossly exaggerated.
I thought that another example of posturing for propaganda purposes was demonstrated in an interview of the Russian ambassador to Australia by Sarah Ferguson, where the interviewer seemed to take on the role of a headmistress dealing with a very naughty schoolboy.[43]
SOME FAMOUS DISSENTING AUSTRALIAN OPINIONS ON UKRAINE SUPPORT
It is not as if Australia has no local sources for better information and more mature foreign policy. Below I cite three.
Malcolm Fraser, Former Australian Prime Minister:
Malcolm Fraser died on March 28, 2014, but the dangers of US-NATO interference in Ukraine was already obvious. In interviews Fraser deplored the gung-ho and dishonest attitude of the west in pursuing wars and warned of the dangers to the world if the West continued to dismiss the legitimate concerns of Russia, the East and the Middle East.
In the video and transcript referenced here, “Video: Malcolm Fraser warned US and NATO wrong on Russia - interview by Oksana Boyko on Russia Today,”[44] first published on 7 August 2014, Malcolm Fraser describes US/NATO moves on Ukraine as provocative and the Russian stance as justified.
Fraser comments that America feels it can break international law and that the west should not, under any circumstances, involve itself militarily in the affairs of Crimea, Ukraine.
Ukraine should be free to make whatever economic relationships it likes with other countries, whether with Russia or the West or both, but it should not become part of a defence bloc, a military block, and therefore [...] should not be eligible to join NATO, which Russia would reasonably interpret as provocative.
Fraser felt that most Australian politicians showed poor judgement on Ukraine and regarding Putin. He thought this was partly influenced by mass media through deliberate slant. Note that Fraser had a lot of experience finally, in public and private international affairs.
Paul Keating, Former Australian Prime Minister:
I agree with Paul Keating, when he compares US-NATO’s decisions vis a vis Ukraine rank alongside the worst mistakes of WW1.
The decision to expand NATO by inviting Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic to participate and to hold out the prospect to others – in other words to move Europe’s military demarcation point to the very borders of the former Soviet Union – is, I believe, an error which may rank in the end with the strategic miscalculations which prevented Germany from taking its full place in the international system at the beginning of this century. […] The decision is dangerous for several reasons. It will fuel insecurity in Russia and strengthen those strains of Russian thought, including the nationalists and former communists in the parliament, which are opposed to full engagement with the West. It will make more likely the restoration of military links between Russia and some of its former dependencies. It will make arms control, and especially nuclear arms control, more difficult to achieve.
Also, with regard to Australia’s allowing the US to dictate its foreign policy:
“Stoltenberg, in his jaundiced view, overlooks the fact that China represents twenty per cent of humanity and now possesses the largest economy in the world … and has no record of attacking other states, unlike the United States, whose bidding Stoltenberg is happy to do,” Keating said.”[46]
Tony Kevin: Past Australian Diplomatic Corps to Russia during the Cold War
Tony Kevin wrote Russia and the West, in 2019.[47] This book was about his experience stationed in the Australian consul or embassy during the Cold War, and his observations on a return trip to Russia many years later. This is a very important work in the context of this submission because Tony Kevin’s observations are educational in that they indicate that Russia is not anything like the place it was during the Cold War, nor is it anymore what it was reduced to by the fall of the Soviet Union, which allowed it to be pillaged, in much the same way as Ukraine is today.
CONCLUSION
My own conclusion, regarding Russia, is that the west would benefit by being more objective about Vladimir Putin and his government. Putin is obviously not only very intelligent and soundly educated, but he is a brilliant organiser, a gifted political and economic leader, and incredibly popular with his electorate, and many leaders round the world – notably China. He is certainly not insane, as has been pretended by his detractors.
Looking at Russia in the 1990s, no-one expected it to rise back up to any account in time for any influence on international events current today. That is obviously what US-NATO thought when its members declared war via proxy in Ukraine and began the biggest series of trade sanctions and Russian state and private asset heists ever. Apart from the opportunities for unfair trading and money-laundering that such state-contrived wealth transfers provide to internationally well-positioned elites, these policies have caused many states to lose confidence in the US dollar, and USD hegemony is now under threat. The designated target of these sanctions and heists – Russia – now heads, with China, an expanding economic association called BRICS. In terms of populations, over 45% of the world is now more impressed with BRICS than with the west. The current BRICS membership is Brazil, China, Russia, India, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, with the last five countries having joined in 2024. Countries that have recently applied for membership include a number of important petroleum exporters, some wealthy, some poor, and Australian trading partners and neighbours: Algeria, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Palestine, Senegal, Thailand, Venezuela, and Vietnam. Whilst many of these states are poor, they see hope for fairer dealings and more independence in trade in BRICS.
Australia is partly bound by tradition to the Anglosphere, where the US dominates, but it was moving closer to an Asia-Pacific identity, and it could be argued that we have more in common with the smaller BRICS nations than with the UK, the US, and Europe.
I agree with the Independent Peaceful Australia Network (IPAN) that advocates an independent and peaceful foreign policy for Australia. See more at https://ipan.org.au/
ENDNOTES
[1] Land-tenure and inheritance systems sociologist. Some relevant published works: Sheila Newman (Ed) The Final Energy Crisis, First and Second Editions, Pluto Press UK. 2005 and 2008. (Chapters by different scientists looking at oil geopolitics and predicting conflict and scarcity.) Sheila Newman, Demography Territory Law 2: Land-tenure and the rise of Capitalism in Britain, Countershock Press, 2014. Sheila Newman, Land-tenure and the Revolution in Democracy and Birth-control in France: Demography, Territory & Law 3, Countershock Press, 2023. See also articles cited in these endnotes.
[2] The World Nuclear Association unambiguously attributed strikes on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant on 22 July, to Ukraine, reporting, "22 July: Ukrainian military launched drone strikes on Russian forces stationed at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant." Country profiles: Ukraine: Russia-Ukraine War and Nuclear Energy. Updated Monday, 15 April 2024. https://world-nuclear.org/information-library/country-profiles/countries-t-z/ukraine-russia-war-and-nuclear-energy
The Ukraine Government during this war has put itself and the rest of the world in danger by repeatedly drone-bombing the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe, whilst it is held by the Russians. Although Ukraine has accused Russia of carrying out the bombing, this is a ridiculous assertion, since Russia would be bombing its own military and endangering the territories it has taken over, as well as the surrounding regions, and it has vastly superior conventional military capabilities to Ukraine. "IAEA head Rafael Grossi said Sunday's drone strike was "reckless" and "a major escalation of the nuclear safety and security dangers" facing the plant." Ian Aikman, "Ukraine war: UN body urges restraint after Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant hit, BBC News, 8 April 2024. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-68757082
[3] Ukraine's recklessness in [repeatedly] attempting to weaponise a nuclear powerplant should cause Australia to cancel its agreement cooperating with Urkraine to supply nuclear materials for Ukraine's nuclear power plants (which to my count it retains 13 of 15), on the understanding that this material will not be used for non-peaceful purposes. See “Nuclear Cooperation – Ukraine Agreement between the Government of Australia and the Government of Ukraine on Cooperation in the Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy.” (2016) https://www.aph.gov.au/ ParliamentaryBusiness/Committees/Joint/Treaties/NuclearCoop-Ukraine/Report_167/section?id=committees%2Freportjnt%2F024024%2F24121
[4]Marples, David R., “Stepan Bandera: The Resurrection Ukrainian National Hero,” Europe-Asia Studies, Vol. 58, No. 4, June 2006, 555-566.
An indication of the extent of recent Nazi activity in Ukraine can be found in a Jewish on-line publication, Forward, which has a series entitled, “The Nazi collaborator monument project,” which details, with dates, GPS locations, and photographs, recent Nazi monuments in Ukraine:
"[...] Beginning in 2014, when the Maidan uprising brought a new government to Ukraine, the country has been erecting monuments to Nazi collaborators and Holocaust perpetrators at an astounding pace — there’s been a new plaque or street renaming nearly every week. Because of this, the Ukraine section represents an extremely partial listing of the several hundred monuments, statues, and streets named after Nazi collaborators in Ukraine." (Lev Golinkin, "Nazi collaborator monuments in Ukraine, "The Nazi collaborator monument project, (27 January 2022). https://forward.com/news/462916/nazi-collaborator-monuments-in-ukraine/ If there is a paywall, quite a lot of the series has been copied at “Nazi monuments in Ukraine mushroomed from 2014 (time of US interference),” https://candobetter.net/anonymous/blog/6321/nazi-monuments-ukraine-mushroomed-2014-time-us-interference.
[5] On 8 March 2022, Undersecretary of State, Victoria Nuland, who was a major player in Ukraine’s Euromaidan, admitted in Congress that Ukraine had dangerous biological weapons labs. The implication was that the United States had used a foreign country to carry out experiments that would not be permitted on its own territory, similarly to its creating Guantanamo Bay Prison for detaining and torturing people without trial, which would be illegal in the US. https://greenwald.substack.com/p/victoria-nuland-ukraine-has-biological and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZTjDeUvI38
[6] Compassion, Not Commerce: An Inquiry into Human Organ Trafficking and Organ Transplant Tourism. Human Rights Sub-Committee, House of Representatives Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade. Canberra, November 2018, p.18
“Human trafficking in times of conflict: the case of Ukraine,” IOM Migration, UN Global News, 13 November 2023 https://rovienna.iom.int/news/human-trafficking-times-conflict-case-ukraine.
“In Kyiv region, more than 50 people have been trafficked (VIDEO),” 01/11/2023. https://mykyivregion.com.ua/news/na-kiyivshhini-ponad-50-osib-stali-zertvami-torgivli-lyudmi-video
[7] Greene, Andrew: “Retired US admirals charging Australian taxpayers thousands of dollars per day as defence consultants,” ABC Australia News. 27 Apr 2023, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-04-27/retired-senior-american-military-officers-contracts-defence/102269580
[8] From Borrell Fontelle’s CV, he has a Master's degree in Oil Industry Economics and Technology from the Institut Français du Pétrole in Paris (1971-1972), and, from 1972-1980, he was an engineer at the Spanish oil company CEPSA. Source: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/resources/library/media/20190919RES61458/ 20190919RES61458.pdf
[9] As admitted by signatories, who all said they used the agreements to buy time [to build up weaponry and train for war], not to bring about peace: Past German Chancellor, Angela Merkel; Past Ukrainian President Poroshenko; and past French President, François Hollande. Sources: “Angela Merkel duped by Russian pranksters pretending to be Ukraine’s Poroshenko,” https://www.politico.eu/article/angela-merkel-russian-pranksters-faking-petro-poroshenko/; “Ukraine’s ex-president Petro Poroshenko: ‘The army is like my child, and I am very proud,” https://www.ft.com/content/39356ee4-a505-4391-a7a9-998252cb67ee; “Hollande confirms Merkel’s remark Minsk agreements let Kiev build up military muscle,” 31 Dec 2022. https://tass.com/world/1558075; “Merkel, Hollande confessions signify "betrayal": Russian official,” Al Mayadeen, 2 Jan 2023 https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/merkel-hollande-confessions-signify-betrayal:-russian-offici. Even Zelensky said he had no intention of honouring the agreements: Venu Gopal Narayanan, "Zelensky Makes A Monumental Blunder With Myriad Ramifications," Feb 16, 2023, https://swarajyamag.com/world/zelensky-makes-a-monumental-blunder-with-myriad-ramifications.”
[10] "The BBC reported, based on illegal border crossing data from the country’s neighbors, that nearly 20,000 men left the country to avoid being drafted from February 2022 to November 2023, with Kyiv confirming to the BBC that another 21,000 were caught escaping." Mallory Moench, "Ukraine’s Controversial New Plan to Enlist More Soldiers." April 11, 2024. Time. https://time.com/6965892/ukraine-military-mobilization-conscription-law/
[11] "Ukraine cancels its consular services for all military-aged men living abroad," May 3, 2024. [Transcript of an interview by host A. Martinez with Igor Kovalenko, Ukrainian expatriate who entered the US as a Ukrainian refugee at the start of the war.] NPR. https://www.npr.org/2024/05/03/1248863422/ukraine-cancels-its-consular-services-for-all-military-aged-men-living-abroad
[12] UNHCR estimates. 6 million to Europe. Maybe 7 million to Russia. More than 400,000 to Canada and the US since February 2022. 3.7 million internally displaced. "Ukrainian refugee crisis: the current situation [EN/CS]." Reliefweb. https://reliefweb.int/report/ukraine/ukrainian-refugee-crisis-current-situation-encs
[13] Charlie Bradley, "Ukrainians too scared to go out amid aggressive conscription: 'People were kidnapped!'" Express. https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1859837/ukraine-conscription-kidnapped-russia-war-zelensky.
"Ukrainian officers kidnap 14 y/o amid forced conscription drive," Al Mayadeen, https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/ukrainian-officers-kidnap-14-y-o-amid-forced-conscription-dr.
"On Camera: Zelensky's Soldiers 'Kidnap Man To Fight Russia ...," https://youtu.be/Mo-rLlD1QqA, Hindustan Times, 11 Nov 2023.
[14] According to the Kiev Independent. “Official: Up to 1,000 Ukrainian soldiers killed or injured daily amid heavy fighting.” https://kyivindependent.com/official-up-to-1000-ukrainian-soldiers-killed-or-injured-daily-amid-heavy-fighting/
[15] "Troop deaths and injuries in Ukraine war near 500,000, U.S. Officials say." New York Times. 8 August 2023. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/18/us/politics/ukraine-russia-war-casualties.htm
[16] Rob Harris, "Kremlin displays Australian-made Bushmasters as ‘trophies’ in Moscow," Sydney Morning Herald, April 30, 2024. https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/kremlin-displays-australian-made-bushmasters-as-trophies-in-moscow-20240430-p5fnjb.html
[17] “Russia releases Abrams ‘trophy tank’ strike footage,” RT, 29 April 2024. https://www.rt.com/russia/596755-missile-strike-abrams-trophy-show/
[18] The term, ‘self-determination’ is used here in two ways, firstly with regard to the individual, and secondly, with regard to a people. I have taken my definition of self-determination from Collins English Dictionary, 12th Edition, 2014:
1. the power or ability to make a decision for oneself without influence from outside
2. (Government, Politics & Diplomacy) the right of a nation or people to determine its own form of government without influence from outside.
[19] Viscous populations were once the norm of human settlement, and remain the norm in countries with little internal or external permanent migration – like Japan and France, for instance. Viscosity entails sedentism and endogamy, or limited dispersal. That is, populations tending to remain on their natal territory and to marry within their clan, tribe, or village. Usually there is some out- and in- migration (exogamy) but this is minor compared to the rate of endogamy. Most land is inherited or leased and sold within the community. The genetic relatedness of such a population is thus high. They know or know of each other, they share a history and territory, hence common interests. There is an absence of the anonymity that characterises big cities or populations with a lot of movement, such as populations in war. Communism, urbanisation, and industrialisation, changed settlement patterns and lowered viscosity. A return to privatisation and transmission through inheritance implies a default back towards viscosity, except where the land is sold to the highest bidder and privatised to transnational individuals, companies and corporations.
[20] For instance, in game theory, where there are only two choices: defect or cooperate, ‘Tit-for-tat,’ is a way of making decisions. In tit-for-tat, the player imitates the most recent decision. So, if the person s/he is dealing with defects, the other will also defect. In a close community that is usually the end of the interaction. If the first person cooperates and then the second person imitates this and cooperates, there is a good chance, in a small local population whose members know each other and remember interactions, that cooperation will become the rule. However, in a large population with a lot of movement and anonymity, people can get away with breaking social trust, again and again. Ref: Sheila Newman, “Chapter Four: Population viscosity theory and game theory,” pp. 48-52 in Land-tenure & the Revolution in Democracy and Birth Control in France, Demography, Territory & Law 3, Countershock Press, 2023.
[21] An excellent account of what happened to his father’s land and business as the Soviets took over Ukraine, is to be found in the autobiography of Ukrainian musician and composer, Anatolij Mirosznyk, “How do you like Australia?” BA Publishing, Australia, 2009. (Sponsored by the Federation of Ukrainian Studies in Australia.) Mirosznyk migrated to Australia after WW2.
[22] The report quoted here cites: Amosov, M. The Land Question, land concentration and the agricultural land moratorium in Ukraine. TNI. https://longreads.tni.org/the-land-question-ukraine
[23] Frédéric Mousseau and Eve Devillers, War and Theft: The Takeover of Ukraine's Agricultural Land, The Oakland Institute, 2023, p.15. https://www.oaklandinstitute.org/sites/oaklandinstitute.org/files/takeover-ukraine-agricultural-land.pdf. Note that Mousseau and Deviller, whom I quote substantially, have tracked what has happened to Ukraine in depth and over a long period of time. They published their first report in 2014. https://www.oaklandinstitute.org/walking-west-side-world-bank-and-imf-ukraine-conflict
[24] The report quoted here cites: “Vast majority of Ukrainians oppose sale of land, support referendum – sociologist.” Interfax-Ukraine, May 13, 2021. https://en.in-terfax.com.ua/news/press-conference/743689.html
[25] The report quoted here cites: International Monetary Fund. Ukraine: 2016 Article IV Consultation and third review under the Extended Arrangement, Requests for a Waiver of Non-Observance of a Performance Criterion, Waiver of Applicability, Rephasing of Access and Financing Assurances Review-Press Release; Staff Report; and Statement by the Executive Director for Ukraine. April 4, 2017. https://www.imf.org/en/Publi-cations/CR/Issues/2017/04/04/Ukraine-2016-Article-IV-Consultation-and-third-review-under-the-Extended-Arrangement-44798
[26] The report quoted here cites “Brawl breaks out as Ukraine’s lawmakers debate land reform.” AP News, February 6, 2020. https://apnews.com/article/be-larus-yulia-tymoshenko-international-news-ukraine-europe-aa-7f171e3e05bce4a2c8a28db32e07d3; “Farmers across Ukraine protesting against introduction of land reform.” Ukrinform, November 11, 2019. https://www.ukrinform.net/rubric-polyt-ics/2815666-farmers-across-ukraine-protesting-against-introduc-tion-of-land-reform.html; Gaubert, J. “Protests in Kyiv over allow-ing the sale of Ukraine’s prized farmland.” Euronews, December 17, 2019. https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2019/ 12/17/ protests-in-kyiv-over-allowing-the-sale-of-ukraine-s-farmland
[27] Frédéric Mousseau and Eve Devillers, War and Theft: The Takeover of Ukraine's Agricultural Land, The Oakland Institute, 2023, p.15. https://www.oaklandinstitute.org/sites/oaklandinstitute.org/files/takeover-ukraine-agricultural-land.pdf
[28] The report quoted here cites: Resolution of the Public Forum of peasant farms, farming households, civil society organizations, and academic community. Kyiv, December 15, 2022.
[29] Frédéric Mousseau and Eve Devillers, War and Theft: The Takeover of Ukraine's Agricultural Land, The Oakland Institute, 2023, p.22. https://www.oaklandinstitute.org/sites/oaklandinstitute.org/files/takeover-ukraine-agricultural-land.pdf
[30] Frédéric Mousseau and Eve Devillers, War and Theft: The Takeover of Ukraine's Agricultural Land, The Oakland Institute, 2023, p.5. https://www.oaklandinstitute.org/sites/oaklandinstitute.org/files/takeover-ukraine-agricultural-land.pdf.
[31] One such example cited by Mousseau and Devillers was MHP, founded by oligarch, Yuriy Kosyuk, one of the largest chicken-product exporters to the EU. In 2018, it was revealed that MHP was exploiting a loophole in EU import quotas for chicken meat, allowing it to bypass the quotas altogether. In 2019, there was an attempt to investigate how the same company, which had declared a net profit of the equivalent of US$230m, had received Ukraine state subsidies to the value of US$97m. See, Kiezebrink, V. A fox in the henhouse, How Ukrainian chicken farmer MHP receives massive subsidies while avoiding taxes. Somo, October 2020. https://www.somo.nl/wp-content/uploads/ 2020/10/A-fox-in-the-henhouse.pdf
[32] “In recent years, European banking institutions and the World Bank have been key lenders to Ukrainian agribusinesses. As detailed in Table 6, the EBRD, EIB, and IFC have lent US$1.7 billion to just six of Ukraine’s largest landholding firms over the past 15 years.” [IFC International Finace Corporation -member of World Bank Group; European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD): “Article 1 of the Agreement Establishing the Bank (AEB) spelled out that “the purpose of the EBRD shall be to foster the transition towards open market-oriented economies and to promote private and entrepreneurial initiative”. European Investment Bank (EIB) is the lending arm of the EU]
[33] Frédéric Mousseau and Eve Devillers, War and Theft: The Takeover of Ukraine's Agricultural Land, The Oakland Institute, 2023, pp. 9-10.
[34] US Office of Public Affairs. “US Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker announces completion of $1 billion loan guarantee to Ukraine.” Press Release. September 28, 2016. https://2014-2017. commerce.gov/news/secretary-speeches/2016/09/us-secre-tary-commerce-penny-pritzkerannounces-completion-1-billion. https://2014-017.commerce.gov/news/secretary-speeches/2016/09/us-secre-tary-commerce-penny-pritzkerannounces-completion-1-billion.html. Cited by Frédéric Mousseau and Eve Devillers, War and Theft: The Takeover of Ukraine's Agricultural Land, The Oakland Institute, 2023, p.11
[35] Frédéric Mousseau and Eve Devillers, War and Theft: The Takeover of Ukraine's Agricultural Land, The Oakland Institute, 2023, p.15. https://www.oaklandinstitute.org/sites/oaklandinstitute.org/files/takeover-ukraine-agricultural-land.pdf
[36] “The current legislation on GMO is highly confusing and has obstructed the access of GMO products to the Ukrainian market. As a result, no GMO products have been registered in recent years even though they were available on the market. Thus, according to the USDA's UP2022-00 report "Biotechnology and Other New Production Technologies Annual" (14 November 2020), in Ukraine the unofficial cultivation of GMOs currently involves approximately 50% to 65% GMO soybeans, 10% to 12% GMO rapeseed, and less than 1% GMO corn. This situation arises from loopholes within the regulatory framework. The sectors most profoundly affected by these issues include food, agriculture, animal feed, and R&D.” GMO policy in Ukraine, 12-01-2024 https://www.agroberichtenbuitenland.nl/documenten/publicaties/2023/08/03/ukraine-strengthening-control-over-gmo-products
[37] Noah Robertson “Pentagon fails sixth audit, with number of passing grades stagnant.” Defense News, Nov 16, 2023. https://www.defensenews.com/pentagon/2023/11/16/pentagon-fails-sixth-audit-with-number-of-passing-grades-stagnant/
[38] Lindsay Koshgarian, "The Pentagon just can't pass an audit," Colorado Newsline, Dec 6, 2023. https://coloradonewsline.com/2023/12/06/pentagon-cant-pass-audit/
[39] Jonathan Masters and Will Merrow, "How Much U.S. Aid Is Going to Ukraine?" May 9, 2024. Council on Foreign Relations. https://www.cfr.org/article/how-much-us-aid-going-ukraine
[40] https://candobetter.net/admin/blog/6273/sasha-gillies-lekakis-statement-abc-following-qa-ejection-room-stan-grant
[41] See, for instance, the history of an article published on The Conversation on 10 March 2022 discussion and The Conversation’s censorship, including of a comment by Tugi Levy, which I ended up publishing as an article. https://candobetter.net/admin/blog/6281/ukraine-not-video-game-tugi-levy
[42] “Sasha Gillies-Lekakis' statement to ABC following Q&A ejection from room by Stan Grant,” 8 March 2022. https://candobetter.net/admin/blog/6273/sasha-gillies-lekakis-statement-abc-following-qa-ejection-room-stan-grant
[43] Sheila Newman, “ABC's Sarah Ferguson grills Russian ambassador to Australia on Ukraine and alleged war-crimes - partial transcript.” 22 March 2023 https://candobetter.net/sheila-newman/blog/6585/abcs-sarah-ferguson-grills-russian-ambassador-australia-ukraine-and-alleged
[44] Sheila Newman, “Video: Malcolm Fraser warned US and NATO wrong on Russia - interview by Oksana Boyko on Russia Today,” https://candobetter.net/sheila-newman/blog/3986/video-malcolm-fraser-warned-us-and-nato-wrong-russia-interview-oksana-boyko, first published on 7 August 2014.
[45] Paul Keating, “25 Years ago, I warned expanding NATO ranked with the errors that led to WWI and II,” Pearls and Irritations, Oct 6, 2022, https://johnmenadue.com/paul-keating-russia-speech-25-years-ago/
[46] Paul Karp, “Paul Keating labels Nato chief a 'supreme fool' and 'an accident on its way to happen.'” The Guardian, 9 July 2023. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/jul/09/paul-keating-labels-nato-chief-a-supreme-fool-and-an-accident-on-its-way-to-happen
[47] Sheila Newman: Tony Kevin, "Russia & the West" - Book Launch, Readings - Nov 25, 2019. 21 November 2019. https://candobetter.net/sheila-newman/blog/5908/tony-kevin-russia-west-book-launch-readings-nov-25-2019
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