From naked capitalism, April 28:
While the tea leaves in the American press are signifying that the Biden administration is about to give up on Ukraine, the plans continue on how to profit off whatever scraps are left of Ukraine once the war does eventually come to an end.
The potential windfall for western companies could be enormous as estimates range from $500 billion to over $1 trillion in reconstruction costs.
Ukraine’s Naftogaz is holding talks with Exxon Mobil Corp, Halliburton and Chevron about projects in the country, according to the Financial Times. Italy’s private sector is gearing up to join the reconstruction game. Paris and Kiev are already signing deals.As China's economy reopens and its Zero-Covid policy is abandoned, investors are grappling with the possibility of a surge in demand and inflation. To position yourself for a sustained recovery in Chinese equities, consider Direxion's Daily FTSE China Bull 3X Shares. Learn More.
We’ve also known for months that BlackRock will be advising Ukraine “designing an investment framework with a goal of creating opportunities for both public and private investors to participate in the future reconstruction and recovery of the Ukrainian economy.”
Will Germany’s Blackrock connections help it get a slice of the pie? Friedrich Merz, currently the leader of the opposition Christian Democratic Union, previously headed the supervisory board of the German branch of BlackRock.
More importantly, the powerful chief economist in the Federal Ministry of Economics, Elga Bartsch, formerly headed economic and market research at the Blackrock Investment Institute.
Germany’s Economy Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) recently made a surprise visit to Kiev. And after the Greens Party’s central role in turning Germany into an enemy of Russia, Habeck returned to Berlin with gifts – chief among them is Ukraine as a source of “green” energy for Germany.
Habeck signed a joint statement of intent with Ukraine that will “expand the German-Ukrainian energy partnership with a focus on green recovery.” That includes expanding the use of wind, solar, biomass, hydropower, green hydrogen – and apparently nuclear power.
Germany’s Economics Minister #Habeck (Greens): “Ukraine will stick to nuclear power. That’s absolutely clear – and that’s fine, as long as the things run safely. They are built, after all.”
— Nuklearia e. V. (@Nuklearia) April 5, 2023
He didn’t explain why this applies to Ukraine but not to Germany.https://t.co/1dowr5T2dYWhile Germany just shuttered its last nuclear power plants – primarily due to opposition from the Greens – whatever is left of Ukraine is looking to get more up and running. On April 21, Ukraine’s nuclear energy generating company signed an agreement with Jupiter, Florida-based Holtec International concluded an agreement to build 20 SMR-160 reactors in Ukraine.
According to Holtec, the power output from SMR-160 is enough to light up about 100,000 homes in the US and more than 300,000 homes in the developing world and “can easily be expanded with additional units to meet current and future demand.”
Back to the German Greens and Habeck who is selling most of this as support for Ukraine, but really it’s more of a giveaway to German big business...
....MUCH MORE
