Corruption Feeding War and Possibly Peace in Ukraine

Peloni

Amid reports by the WSJ on the financial schemes leading negotiators and supporters of the negotiations to respectively design and support Trump’s Ukraine peace plan, it is interesting to reflect upon the gross mismanagement which is and has been a persistent hallmark of Ukraine’s management of the war with Russia, the most recent example of which in discussed in the video below.  Of course, Ukraine’s pay for play scheme is but one aspect of Ukrainian corruption which has been well in place long before Russia’s invasion began, and even before Zelensky won a 5 year term as president into which he has now served about 6 1/2 years.  In fact, fiscal irresponsibility has been well institutionalized within Ukraine’s domestic finances since its creation in 1991, and throwing US funds into this seemingly black hole of corruption hasn’t made the Ukrainians more fiscally responsible…recall the $6 billion of USAID funding to Ukraine which went missing and was never recovered.

All of this defies the reality that Ukraine has one of the wealthiest mineral reserves in the world, and that it was also notably once described as the world’s bread basket due to its agricultural production.  This intentionally gross mismanagement of Ukraine’s resources is what was used to popularize the ruse of both the Orange Revolution and the Maiden Revolution among the general public, despite the fact that both revolutions did little to address corruption and only changed the personalities who profited by the corruption which was never ended.  Relevantly, while Zelensky ran against his adversary, Petro Poroshenko, as the peace candidate, he also ran as the reform candidate, promising, as had Poroshenko, to both end the corruption and the war in the Dombas.  Yet, here we are 6 1/2yrs later, and the corruption is still flowing and the war is wider, more devastating, and more intractable, as Zelensky continues to make impossible commitments of peace and reform in the same moment.  The rhyming of history persists, but then again, isn’t Ukraine’s internal corruption a large part of what drew US interests to invest so many billions of dollars into the money laundering capital of the world?   Perhaps the WSJ report cited above should be considered in the framework of refocusing the financial lure for the US in Ukraine from being centered around war to being focused around peace.   Interestingly, employing a certain blindness to Ukraine’s corruption problem could help motivate some to solve Ukraine’s peace problem, but it is unlikely that anything will ever motivate the resolution of Ukraine’s corruption problem, either from within or without of Ukraine.  Notably, the one aspect which is being ignored by this economic focus towards peace is the role and threat which any peace deal in Ukraine faces from Ukraine’s Far Right faction, which is well armed, well respected, and well situated to interrupt any deal which does not address the Far Right’s many strengths within Ukraine.  So while we are considering if using various corruption schemes as a basis on which to end the war in Ukraine, we should also consider how such a prospect might be perceived by the Far Right in Ukraine.

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November 30, 2025 | 2 Comments »

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  1. Somewhat reminded of this. Limited analogy but…

    ” AMONGST THE HIGHLY PLACED
    It is considered low to talk about food.
    The fact is: they have
    Already eaten.

    The lowly must leave this earth
    Without having tasted
    Any good meat.

    For wondering where they come from and
    Where they are going
    The fine evenings find them
    Too exhausted.

    They have not yet seen
    The mountains and the great sea
    When their time is already up.

    If the lowly do not
    Think about what’s low
    They will never rise.

    THE BREAD OF THE HUNGRY HAS
    ALL BEEN EATEN
    Meat has become unknown. Useless
    The pouring out of the people’s sweat.
    The laurel groves have been
    Lopped down.
    From the chimneys of the arms factories
    Rises smoke.

    THE HOUSE-PAINTER SPEAKS OF
    GREAT TIMES TO COME
    The forests still grow.
    The fields still bear
    The cities still stand.
    The people still breathe.

    ON THE CALENDAR THE DAY IS NOT
    YET SHOWN
    Every month, every day
    Lies open still. One of those days
    Is going to be marked with a cross.

    THE WORKERS CRY OUT FOR BREAD
    The merchants cry out for markets.
    The unemployed were hungry. The employed
    Are hungry now.
    The hands that lay folded are busy again.
    They are making shells.

    THOSE WHO TAKE THE MEAT FROM THE TABLE
    Teach contentment.
    Those for whom the contribution is destined
    Demand sacrifice.
    Those who eat their fill speak to the hungry
    Of wonderful times to come.
    Those who lead the country into the abyss
    Call ruling too difficult
    For ordinary men.

    WHEN THE LEADERS SPEAK OF PEACE
    The common folk know
    That war is coming.
    When the leaders curse war
    The mobilization order is already written out.

    THOSE AT THE TOP SAY: PEACE
    AND WAR
    Are of different substance.
    But their peace and their war
    Are like wind and storm.

    War grows from their peace
    Like son from his mother
    He bears
    Her frightful features.

    Their war kills
    Whatever their peace
    Has left over.

    ON THE WALL WAS CHALKED:
    They want war.
    The man who wrote it
    Has already fallen.

    THOSE AT THE TOP SAY:
    This way to glory.
    Those down below say:
    This way to the grave.

    THE WAR WHICH IS COMING
    Is not the first one. There were
    Other wars before it.
    When the last one came to an end
    There were conquerors and conquered.
    Among the conquered the common people
    Starved. Among the conquerors
    The common people starved too.

    THOSE AT THE TOP SAY COMRADESHIP
    Reigns in the army.
    The truth of this is seen
    In the cookhouse.
    In their hearts should be
    The selfsame courage. But
    On their plates
    Are two kinds of rations.

    WHEN IT COMES TO MARCHING MANY DO NOT
    KNOW
    That their enemy is marching at their head.
    The voice which gives them their orders
    Is their enemy’s voice and
    The man who speaks of the enemy
    Is the enemy himself.

    IT IS NIGHT
    The married couples
    Lie in their beds. The young women
    Will bear orphans.

    GENERAL, YOUR TANK IS A POWERFUL VEHICLE
    It smashes down forests and crushes a hundred men.
    But it has one defect:
    It needs a driver.

    General, your bomber is powerful.
    It flies faster than a storm and carries more than an elephant.
    But it has one defect:
    It needs a mechanic.

    General, man is very useful.
    He can fly and he can kill.
    But he has one defect:
    He can think.”
    Bertolt Brecht, “From a German War Primer”