Enter the Carpetbaggers: Ukraine's New Finance Minister a US Citizen, New Economy Minister from Lithuania

Carpetbaggers Take Over Ukraine

Now that Ukraine's gold has been sold off, the only thing left to complete the plundering is to send in the carpetbaggers. That process is now underway. Ukraine's just-named "Finance Minister" is a US citizen, and Ukraine's new "Economy Minister" is from Lithuania.

To get around legal issues associated with having foreigners in top level government positions, Ukraine made the appointees Ukrainian citizens.

Reuters explains Foreign Technocrats Given Ukrainian Citizenship Before Cabinet Vote.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on Tuesday granted citizenship to three foreign technocrats nominated for cabinet positions in a new government hoping to tackle severe economic and defense threats.

Parliament is expected to vote on nominees for cabinet positions on Tuesday with Kiev under pressure to form a new government quickly.

Ukraine has been offered billions of dollars in aid by international lenders if it implements a program of economic reform and Poroshenko said the administration would benefit from international specialist input.

• Natalie Jaresko, a U.S. citizen and chief executive of private equity group Horizon Capital, will take over as "Finance Minister". She has worked in Ukraine for more than 20 years after holding various economic positions in the U.S. State Department.
 
• Aivaras Abromavicius, a Lithuanian citizen and a partner in investment firm East Capital, will take over as "Economy Minister".
 
• Aleksander Kvitashvili, a Georgian citizen who has served as health minister and labor minister in Tbilisi will take over as "Health Minister"

Ukraine has a new finance minister, Natalie Jaresko. She is a former U.S. State Department official. After leaving State Department, she ran a Ukraine-based private equity firm. Her company site (Horizon Capital) is down now. I guess everyone was trying to look at her bio. She was only granted Ukrainian citizenship today, so she could legally hold the position.

The post of "Economy Minister" was just given to an asset management firm partner from Lithuania, and the "Health Minister" is from Georgia. The choice of nationality is not surprising. It's an attempt to give the EU direct access to Ukrainian economic policy, specifically "reforms" or lack thereof, as well as to poke a stick in Putin's eye.

These moves show that Ukraine is willing to be turned into a Western colony in exchange for whatever financial scraps can be tossed its way. While it's true that Ukraine is in desperate need of a total overhaul, any country that turns its economy over to foreigners wholesale is going to be pillaged wholesale. Greece is a perfect example. 

Finally, I should also mention that a number of Ukrainian power plants are down to their last few days of coal. And the winter is just starting.

Jacob