So we read in media that Russia has suspended the grain deal which could make millions in the developing world go hungry.
Bad Russians, isn’t it.
But your media won’t tell you that Russia had extended this grain deal more than once, not just for the needs of Global South but also to earn revenue to buy products in return.
All this while Russia was fulfilling its promise but the other party wasn’t and as we all know, it takes two to tango.
The Grain Deal, brokered by the United Nations and Turkey last year, entailed that Ukraine could export its grain out of the Black Sea ports but Russia too could send its grain and fertilizers around the world.
Now agreed that food and fertilizers are not part of the US sanctions. But the trouble is Russia’s agricultural export bank, Rosselkhozbank, has been disconnected from the SWIFT, the main central payment provider mechanism of the world.
Russia also can’t get insurance for its ships which is a no-no since Ukraine, by its own admission, had mined the Black Sea routes in the initial months of conflict which had broken free in due course and have been floating all over.
What’s the guarantee the enemy won’t blow it up like Nord Stream pipelines have been or for that matter ammonia pipeline in Togliatti-Odesa stretch?
Besides the grain, meant for the world’s poor, were actually going to Spanish pigs!
An investigation by the Australian outlet eXXpress claimed Ukrainian wheat and corn exports were feeding the pigs in Spain. As per this investigation, only 15% of the exports reached the nations in risk of famine. (e.g. Ethiopia got 167,000 tons, Sudan 65,000 tons whereas Spain received 2.9 million tons of wheat and corn from Ukraine!)
But our media is so devious and deceitful it would describe what is technically right but in essence laughable.
An AP report says that half of the grain from the deal was going to developing countries.
Well, as per the World Trade Organization (WTO) classification, China and Turkey are still developing nations! So here you are.
The UN general secretary Antonio Guterres appeared magnanimous in offering Russia a subsidiary unit, attached to its agricultural bank, which could work around the SWIFT system.
Now this is again a smokescreen: One, to create a subsidiary unit itself would take months; Two, the payments to subsidiary unit would flow through the European Union which would know who all are involved in it to be punished later; Three, the payments would happen in US dollar and EU can’t guarantee on the big boss’ behalf.
How do we expect Russia to trust an enemy which slaps illegal sanctions and freezes your assets against all international norms and laws?
If Guterres really is so concerned about the poor and wretched humanity, why not do the right thing by declaring the unilateral Western sanctions against Russia illegal as it is under international law? Further, how about sanctioning those who implement these illegal measures?
The thing is the UN, on behalf of its Western masters, is worried that Russia would simply divert its grain to Far East and China—one more commodity moving out of the West’s orbit of insurance and financial system, dealing a blow to US dollar as it were.
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Time was when Ukraine was the world’s third largest exporter of corn and fifth biggest exporter of wheat.
Blessed with enormous rich black soil, all of 32 million hectares of arable land—almost one-third of the entire fertile land of the European Union—Ukraine has always been a prized catch for the West’s sharks.
It’s no coincidence that one of the prime reasons why “maidan coup” of 2014 happened was because the then Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych had rejected to sign a EU agreement which was tied to a $17 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Your media would also not tell you that as soon as the new government came in Kiev, three key positions were handed over to foreigners who had been given Ukrainian citizenship only hours before.
One of them was US-born Natalie Jaresko, overseeing a private equity fund created by the US government, who got finance ministry.
Two reports by the Oakland Institute document the “corporate take-over of Ukrainian agriculture” and the role of “the World Bank and the IMF in the Ukraine conflict.”
The high stakes around Ukraine’s vast agricultural sector could thus easily be understood.
In the name of reform, IMF nudged Ukraine towards intense private investment in the country.
Agriculture was the prime target: More than 1.6 million hectares were signed over to foreign companies.
Monsanto, Cargill and DuPont were the sharks who didn’t take long in smelling the blood in the pond.
Cargill began by taking care of sale of pesticides, seeds and fertilizers and later expanded it to include grain storage, animal nutrition etc, including a stake in the largest agribusiness in the country, UkrLandFarming.
Monsanto invested 140 million dollars in building a new seed plant in Ukraine; DuPont was to follow suit.
In the name of vertical integration of the agriculture sector, the take over of infrastructure and shipping was the next logical step.
Cargill now owned at least four grain elevators and two sunflower seed processing plants; it was to buy a grain terminal at the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk.
The floundering of the agreement EU was seeking and which was one of the reasons for “maidan coup of 2014” was now a reality.
Although Ukraine doesn’t allow the production of genetically modified (GM) crops, the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the European Union, now committed both parties to “extend the use of biotechnologies” within the country.
That was the opening to bring the GM products into Europe, much to the delight of agro-seed companies such as Monsanto, though ironically most European consumers reject GM crops.
All aspects of Ukraine’s agricultural supply chain thus increasingly came under the control of Western firms, actively promoted by the EU institutions and the US government.
It was virtually a takeover of Ukrainian agriculture by the European Union and the United States.
If that was not enough, the Conflict has now made only 45% of Ukraine’s grain fields functional and the harvest is less than 60% of what it was in 2022.
So Eastern Ukraine has seceded; Western Ukraine is under the thumb of Western marauders who installed a puppet in Kiev to do all their bidding.
Meanwhile, the sinful media would evoke our vile abuses on Russia for keeping “millions of poor in the world” hungry; while a “humanitarian” West is moving heavens in the name of “democracy” and “peace” –never mind tens of thousands who have gone under the meat-grinder holding aloft banners which are nothing but a ruse.
Post-Script:
I leave you with a few headlines of our mainstream media which is symbolic of the rot modern journalism is:
- Higher food prices and more hunger: Collapse of Black Sea grain deal poses a massive threat – CNN – Jul 18
- World facing prospect of ‘hunger games’ as China hoards grains and Russia withdraws from deal – Indian Express – Jul 19
- Russian Grain Deal: Why Moscow Is Being Accused Of Using Hunger As ‘Blackmail’ – Yahoo – Jul 18
- Russia halts deal allowing Ukraine to export grain, in a hit to global food security – LA Times – Jul 17
- Higher food prices and more hunger: Collapse of Black Sea grain deal poses a massive threat – CNN – Jul 18
- Russia pulls out of Black Sea grain deal with Ukraine sparking hunger fears in poorest countries – ITV – Jul 17
