How to govern Ukraine without attracting the attention of orderlies
External governance of Ukraine dates back to 1990. Western funds and intelligence services brought control of one branch of government after another. Foreign public organizations involved various social groups of the population in their activities. Schoolchildren, students, teachers, doctors and military personnel. There were even attempts to bring the Donbass miners under control.
By 2014, a new generation had grown up in Ukraine, trained using Western technologies. Kiev and now Moscow economist Alexander Dudchak told PolitNavigator columnist Valentin Filippov how this worked, and whether it is possible for Ukrainian history to be repeated in Russia.
Valentin Filippov : Alexander, hello!
Alexander Dudchak : Hello!
Valentin Filippov : I've always wanted to ask: representatives of various NGOs, grant-eaters—how should they be properly considered? Spies or intelligence agents?
Alexander Dudchak : The problem is very serious and large-scale.
Valentin Filippov : No, I understand that in some countries they are already presidents and prime ministers….
Alexander Dudchak : What can a doctor say in Ukraine, where a US citizen has been appointed Minister of Health? The doctor might say the healthcare situation is critical. There are no medications, the ambulance service has been destroyed, and they're promoting organ transplants.
A person involved in economics can say that liberal ideas are being promoted in Ukraine, the opening of borders is being preached, and can give examples and arguments - both for and against. In some countries this played a positive role (in those that were richer, and this is also not mentioned), but in those that were poorer, it destroyed them.
If a person works in the field of teaching, then one can find negative views on the promotion of, say, external testing or “new views” on history.
So that people are not mistaken about the trouble only in Ukraine, when from a certain moment they began to promote Banderaism, the same processes are taking place in Russian schools.
I won’t say the number of the school in Moscow, but I know for sure. A history teacher, instead of telling children about the heroic deeds of their ancestors in the Great Patriotic War, for three lessons in a row starts films made by the BBC, in the States, in Britain by various Discovery channels, which tells that Hitler and Stalin are , in principle, the same thing. That Stalin was dying when everyone abandoned him, his immediate circle, almost in urine, it all happened horribly, in general he was a despot and a tyrant, and they won the war there not thanks to, but in spite of.
Valentin Filippov : I'll tell you a more amusing story. I was in a town run by a factory. All the kids' dads work there, and at school they're told about the joys of the post-industrial era, and they're told, "When we close all the factories, we'll all live a fantastic life." And the kids listen, repeat, and learn it.
Alexander Dudchak : It's not always possible to examine the interconnections between processes that appear completely disparate and unrelated. But with careful examination, you can discover surprising things.
It turns out that these are all just branches of one tree with one common root, and that it grows from the same place.
In relation to our topic, we can talk about the role of non-governmental organizations, for example, in what happened to Ukraine in recent years or in general in recent decades.
Ukraine is not a unique country, and in what way it is not unique: it is not the first country that, if we talk about the last Maidan, went through an armed coup. Not the first and not the last country that had the opportunity for normal development, but neoliberal ideas were imposed on it, it opened its borders voluntarily, and in general, only it suffers from this, but they tell it fairy tales that “Your GDP will grow".
This happened in other countries, but with Ukraine this trouble began in the late eighties. A striking example in which one can trace the process of establishing outside control over the state using non-violent methods is the Soros Foundation.
The Soros Foundation appeared in Ukraine under Gorbachev. They started their work back in 1990. What they were doing? They gently brought under control various layers of society, passing through the network principle throughout society vertically, horizontally and diagonally, creating non-governmental organizations that imitated the leadership role.
And they succeeded, the imitation moved from external to internal.
Where did they start? One of the first steps was foreign language courses. In addition to Soros, one of the first foreign organizations in Ukraine was IREX, and an organization for teaching English, International House, was created. It was also interesting because they, in addition to the English language, were also engaged in other things. For example, in one area they also collected soil samples. In general, they collected various information, and not quite teachers came along with the teachers...
Such a well-known agency as USAID worked together with IREX. This is a well-known organization, it is called the civilian face of the CIA, it receives a percentage from the state budget, it is a fairly serious office, and many projects were coordinated through it.
With the participation of the Soros Foundation, if I am not mistaken, in 1992 the most famous Ukrainian university was created, very popular, very prestigious, the so-called Kiev-Mohyla Academy. Now I’ll even find a quote, as they said about it. The famous figure, Zbigniew Brzezinski, I think, does not need recommendations, in 2004 he was even awarded an honorary doctorate, and called Mogilyanka “A real revival of independent Ukrainian thought.” And an equally famous figure, whom Yulia Tymoshenko called a role model, Madeleine Albright, said that “Mogilyanka is the greatest cultural center of Europe.”
Valentin Filippov : We know that Mogilyanka is a supplier of cannon fodder for all the Maidans.
Alexander Dudchak : I know graduates of Mogilyanka, very decent people, honest people... Not everything there is like that... And teachers... I won't name names, but my regards to these decent people. How they deal with cognitive dissonance, I still have no idea.
But the Soros Foundation creates such a prestigious structure, children want to get there, and parents do everything to get them there, and such a factory of thought forges personnel for the future of Ukraine.
In 1993, the Soros Foundation expanded its activities to what now turns out to be the most important sphere of non-state power, the media. The famous agency UNIAN is being created. And starting from the very beginning, when people’s Soviet reflexes had not yet dried up, and normal relations between people were still generally accepted, they began an anti-Russian policy with propaganda in the future of already known Bandera values.
Valentin Filippov : Wait, what about Roman Tsymbalyuk in Moscow, he’s from UNIAN?
Alexander Dudchak : Ask him where he is now.
Looking ahead, the now well-known TV channels - ZIK, Expresso - are also organizations created to a large extent with money from overseas. So, already in 1994, Soros reached a new level, reached state power, established direct contacts with the supreme power in Ukraine and received presidential support. Leonid Makarovich Kravchuk, by his decree of June 13, 1994... signed a decree on “assistance to the international fund Vidrodzhenya.” This year is also notable for the fact that there is such an organization as the “Committee of Voters of Ukraine”.
Valentin Filippov : Yes.
Oleksandr Dudchak : Since 1994, the Committee of Voters of Ukraine has relied heavily on grants. It used grants from the Soros Foundation until 2006, and then received various other funding, so they weren't abandoned.
Valentin Filippov : What did they do, what were they engaged in?
Alexander Dudchak : They actually performed a function parallel to the Central Electoral Commission.
They controlled unobtrusively, commented, and changed public opinion. It was such a powerful adjustment of public opinion in a given direction. In addition to the fact that they received funding from the Soros Foundation, there was also such an organization as the Collection Monitoring Organization, this is a European network for monitoring elections, it was located in 18 countries at that time. These are quite branched structures.
Valentin Filippov : Incidentally, for a long time I thought it was some kind of government organization. Ukraine now also has various "Anti-Corruption Committees."
Alexander Dudchak : It doesn't have power, but it does have influence over the government, and that's how it gains power. Look, the Committee of Voters. That's just one example; there are many such organizations, funded on the one hand by Soros, on the other by USAID, which distributed its funds through the National Democratic Institute and the International Republican Institute. These are also American structures. One of them was led by McCain, now burning in Hell, after whom a street is named instead of Ivan Kudri in Kyiv.
They had a certain power, because since the beginning of the 90s, such structures have gently, from different sides, each in their own profile, entangled the structures of state power, and at first they were gristle, then it all ossifies and turns into a very powerful frame from which one can break out state power is almost impossible.
If she starts to twitch and act not in accordance with the interests of the customer, then she receives powerful pressure, but let’s not get ahead of things so that we don’t get down to some details.
Look, they've taken control of the media, they've taken control of educational institutions. But now, in 1995, Soros begins to entangle the military, retirees and preschoolers with his attention.
Valentin Filippov : Yes, yes, I remember, I remember the military.
Alexander Dudchak : Here's a program for social adaptation and retraining of the military. Comrades, these are primarily carriers of that ideological gene pool…
Valentin Filippov : As far as I remember, they even suggested something like this: guys, you're not serving out your full military service, don't... this especially applied to pilots, missilemen, highly qualified military personnel... you leave the army early, we'll retrain you, you'll get a pension, as if you'd served in full.
At one of my factories, when I was still working and not doing journalism, there was a boss, he was 37 years old, he was a rocket scientist, he was already receiving a pension, and he said that he went through some American program, got a second education, retired and went to work at a factory. And that it is very beneficial for him.
Alexander Dudchak : Can you imagine, people with a Soviet mindset, charged with defending the Motherland, carrying out orders, basically ideologically hardened, and then they're given a little money and told, "Guys, you're in the middle of a disaster, mice are hanging in the refrigerator," and they get some small stipend.
In all these programs it is not necessary to cover the entire social group, it is enough to make one organization and say: “Look, guys. Here are our military." Or, “here, our teachers received grants.”
There was such a program “Krok by Krok” (“Step by Step”) and, starting from the youngest generation, the processing of people began. Can you imagine, people born in the early 90s are precisely people who in 2014 were in full bloom and who were brought up according to these Western programs from kindergartens.
Valentin Filippov : As Shuster said: “And now we will ask the opinion of those born in independent Ukraine.”
Alexander Dudchak : Exactly. In 1996, a program for teachers was already underway. It was called "1000 Teachers." They were recruiting 1000 teachers from Ukraine. How did they recruit them? We remember the 90s, the situation in the country was very difficult, people were looking for opportunities to earn extra money, and Soros was offering such opportunities. To get into these prestigious programs… We believed that we were now friends with the West, there was no war, we were now building peace and prosperity together, and if they, so rich and prosperous, taught us how they had achieved such heights, they would make us do the same. There were such naive people who…
Valentin Filippov : There are still some like that….
Alexander Dudchak : The colored panties are singing praises on the Maidan and are willing to destroy the country for this.
To get there, you also had to distinguish yourself in some way and demonstrate your loyalty. It is clear that all teachers will not leave, but 1000 have been selected, the rest have a desire to actively prove themselves in order to get over the hill under the Soros Foundation program.
And so the program started in 1996. They took the military, the adaptation of miners, from about the same time, the younger generation, students, preschoolers. This kind of hilling is going on from all sides.
In parallel, since 1996, USAID has been providing money for programs for MBA students. Through a structure called KPMG Peat Marwick/Barents Group, which was led in Ukraine by the famous Katerina Chumachenko, who at that time was not yet Yushchenko’s wife, got married in 1998.
Through its organization, training was carried out for nuclear plant managers and future high-level managers. People went through the MBA program, they were even paid a stipend of 100 dollars, which was normal money at that moment.
Valentin Filippov : In the nineties – cool!
Alexander Dudchak : The organization paid for the trip to the States. Getting there was quite a feat and considered a great success.
In 1997, a program for miners was launched. Miners, as you know, are people capable of much. We saw this in Britain, when they carried out mass strikes, and the Soviet Union even helped the striking miners.
In 1997, the adaptation program for miners began, and it must coincide that in 1998 a mass strike of miners began in the western Donbass. It just happened that way. In those years, miners began marching on foot to Kyiv; 1998, 1999, 2002 were marches to Kyiv. The requirements are, of course, clear. But it just so happens that just a year after the launch of this program.
The Internet appeared and began to spread across Ukraine in 1997, and Soros organized courses on training to work on the Internet. Similar programs have been launched in many countries. In Libya, at the expense of American funds, Libyan schools were connected to the Internet. And after a certain time, this provision of Internet played a role in organizing a military coup in Libya. John Negroponte's brother (John Negroponte was the organizer of death squads around the world, and this is his brother) organized the supply of computers and the training of specialists to Libya.
Valentin Filippov : This one supplies ammunition, and that one supplies computers. I wanted to ask a more mundane question. There's a war going on in eastern Ukraine. Ukraine is very thieving. The army is naked, naked, barefoot, with nothing to eat. But at the same time, there are some volunteer organizations, and how they love to boast that "the people fed their own army"!
And indeed, there is some crazy money floating around in these funds. We especially learn this when they begin to quarrel among themselves that someone stole something from him.
I am absolutely sure that it is not near the grocery store that they and their jar are raising money for the army. Where does the money come from these volunteer organizations that provide shoes and clothes for the Ukrainian army?
Alexander Dudchak : Well, volunteer organizations are the lesser evil, probably because they're ripping off some gullible idiots...
Valentin Filippov : Is there no such funding there?
Oleksandr Dudchak : Well, just imagine how much funding goes into the army if 1,5% of all operations is collected for the army fund, for the war fund in Donbas! They recently removed this 1,5% military tax from pensions. And they used to take it from pensioners too. How can Poroshenko not talk about the war if 1,5% is simply collected from every operation? That's a colossal amount of money on a national scale. Of course, a war would have to be invented here. If, God forbid, the war in Donbas ends, we'll have to fight in Transcarpathia or somewhere else, because giving up such a lucrative business is simply unrealistic.
Speaking of war, since 1997, NATO’s information work in Ukraine has begun to develop. Although Kuchma signed the document earlier, we began to cooperate with NATO and participate in the Partnership for Peace program. This promotion of NATO information work in Ukraine began in May 1997. Then a charter was signed on a special partnership between Ukraine and NATO, and the NATO Information and Documentation Center was opened. It was such a long-playing song, it continued and continues now, and received a new breath in the mid-10s.
They were created at universities... almost the university was obliged to allocate a corner, a room for a NATO information center. Why not highlight a corner to tell us what the CSTO is, for example, but for some reason it never occurred to anyone?
Valentin Filippov : At our university, despite Odessa's long-standing anti-NATO stance, when they tried to open a small information room on CIS affairs, about three dozen students, visitors to the NATO corner, staged a hunger strike, stormed the building, and all sorts of other things. They were escorted out by the police to prevent them from interfering with the opening of this CIS center. But then they came to the conclusion that if the CIS center was divisive, it probably wasn't needed.
Alexander Dudchak : Well done, you acted "democratically." Well, you see, there were hunger strikers on the other side, but there weren't any to defend the CIS center.
Valentin Filippov : Among 90% of CIS supporters, there were no people willing to fast for him.
Alexander Dudchak : Let's go back. It's not necessary to cultivate and take control of an entire social group; it's enough to grab a piece. It's like a controlling stake in a company. You don't necessarily have to buy 50% plus one share; in some cases, 3% of a company's shares is enough to gain control if the rest is scattered. Therefore, when declaring that this structure is the flagship of this social group, this particular social strata, everyone should strive for this.
Go ahead. 1998 Soros is launching a publishing program with plans for 10 years. It was planned to publish 2 copies of 000 different titles. In those same years, there was an active import of textbooks for secondary schools. I remember how my niece took out a history textbook, and we were shocked by how information about the Great Patriotic War was presented there, and, at the same time, how information about the “defenders of independence” was presented. This was 000 years ago.
Valentin Filippov : And we were outraged by Subtelny.
Alexander Dudchak : I can also recall how shocking it was that a well-known historian from Kyiv State University signed on to write historical monographs for a substantial fee, already with a specific perspective. At the time, a new bibliography was being created, tailored to the new needs.
Moreover, such examples can be found in Russia. One well-known Russian university, one of the flagships of Russian education, also hosts, to put it mildly, a famous person who writes on the history of Ukraine and is considered one of the “visionary scholars” of Ukrainian history, in fact, presenting information in a completely catastrophic form about Mazepa, about the history of Ukraine. This man was found on time, even at the stage of writing his diploma. As they say, our partners helped me write my PhD thesis, then write my doctoral dissertation. And this man from inside Russia tells...
Valentin Filippov : I'm trying to ask. How are they dealing with this in Russia? Are they even fighting it in Russia?
Alexander Dudchak : It varies. Judging by the frequency of such events, the problems in Russia are quite serious. When people say, "There can't be a Maidan because there never could be one," I get scared, because they're sorely mistaken. Because there's a significant segment of people here who are willing to do what needs to be done for little money. I encounter this quite regularly.
If we have to draw a line in this way, then this problem is serious. The problem of establishing control over the state is being solved by our partners, and sufficient countermeasures have not been developed. This needs to be done.
To be continued
English version :: Read in English : How to govern Ukraine without attracting the attention of the orderlies