Ukraine is in for a shock treatment and it is not coming from the Russian Federation, nor is it the shock treatment many might be thinking of. Apart from Ukrainian forces continuously shelling the largest nuclear plant in Europe, risking a possibility of a far-reaching disaster, the shock treatment examined further will affect many, not just stretching to Berlin, but all the way to Washington, in various ways. And, alas, the West is organizing and implementing the treatment!

The shock treatment, or shock therapy, planned for Ukraine contains revision and reduction of labor laws, opening up markets more, reducing tariffs, decreasing regulation of various industries and privatizing state-owned enterprises. Disaster Capitalism Complex, as Naomi Klein explains in her book The Shock Doctrine, mirrors the well-known Military Industrial Complex, which has profited significantly by creating wars, supplying weapons to warring factions and expanding the so-called defense organizations such as NATO. The Disaster Capitalism Complex preys on destroyed states, purchasing national resources and privatizing industries for mere pennies, a process which in turn often has negative impact on social services of a particular country, labor laws and employment standards. Hence, Disaster Capitalism is a cycle of crisis, exploitation and privatization.

Apart from the current ongoing conflict in Ukraine, many other states were previously subjected to the shock therapy, such as the Balkan countries in the 1990s and Iraq in 2000s. Every conflict ends at a certain point and so will the one in Ukraine, but it is the process of reconstruction which follows that feeds the Disaster Capitalism Complex, serving almost as an extended hand of the Military Industrial Complex. This Complex did not miss a chance to organize a Ukraine Recovery Conference in July, which took place in Lugano, Switzerland, and was attended by 1000 participants. While the conference was renamed this year to focus on recovery and reconstruction, previous four conferences held in Canada, Denmark, UK and Lithuania, were also focused on similar aspects of reforms and reconstruction of existing governing structures in Ukraine which would open up the country more to foreign markets. They have been drafting a plan for five long years, quietly, during these conferences where they discussed opportunities to profit in a conflict they have been fueling since 2014 in Ukraine. Like hungry vultures, now they play the waiting game until Lockheed Martin and alikes have satisfied their greedy appetites, absolutely disregarding the loss of human life throughout the process!

Just recently, on July 27th, Ukrainian Ministry of Economy announced that government handed over 66 state-owned enterprises for privatization and 354 in total are going to be transferred to private ownership as part of the restructuring efforts agreed upon in Lugano. Also, at the beginning of August, Ukrainian Prime Minister Shmyhal announced a large-scale privatization campaign which is scheduled to start on September 1st. Legal frameworks surrounding the privatization process have already been passed by the Verkhovna Rada. Bill Gates and alikes hopefully have their wallets ready! This is the opportunity these elites were looking for after all, isn’t it?

Catering to desires of his capitalist masters, Zelensky’s regime recently introduced anti-labor laws, which impose longer hours upon workers and give employers greater power to fire employees. The process of introducing anti-labor laws began long before the start of the special operation in Ukraine. The European Public Service Union published leaked documents which show that the “UK government via its development aid arm (UK Aid) and the UK embassy in Kiev is funding consultants to assist the Ukrainian Ministry of Economy in selling its neo-liberal market reforms to the Ukrainian people.” (EPSU, Nov., 2021) The aim of the reforms is to weaken the influence of employees and their unions and to silence their voices.

Up for discussion at the Ukraine Recovery Conference was also a report titled Ukraine Reform Tracker, prepared by Impact Economist, which presented the current conflict as an opportunity to complete the necessary reforms rapidly, particularly those related to sale of agricultural land by legal entities, including foreign ones. Ukraine has already sold close to a third of its agricultural land through private schemes at local levels to Monsanto and alikes, and whatever is left over once the conflict comes to an end will be subjugated to harsh capitalist policies of the West, particularly the United States, due to the Lend-Lease passed by the US Congress in May allowing Washington to provide military aid to Ukraine more quickly. Under the Lend-Lease framework, military equipment is provided as a loan and if it cannot be returned upon end of the conflict, recipient government is obliged to pay back the full cost. Britain, for example, just finished paying its WWII lend-lease debt to the United States in 2006, 60 years following the end of the war. Ukraine, on the other hand, was already the poorest country in Europe prior to the start of the special operation, therefore with lend-lease act and strong push toward reforms will leave Ukraine facing harsh reality of being obligated to pay back the debt, while at the same time losing ownership over its land and infrastructure. People who have left will likely not return, especially if they can offer Western countries the skillsets which are in high demand, and many will continue to leave once peace is achieved, as it is a normal aftermath process of a conflict.

Ukraine’s democratically elected President Yanukovych’s refusal to accept the International Monetary Fund (IMF) demands to reduce wages, reduce social spending and eliminate gas subsidies in favor of integrating with the European Union, which led him to turn to Russia for an alternative economic option, was the reason which led to Euromaidan protest and the 2014 coup backed by the West, particularly the United States. If it was not for the greed of a handful of Western elites, the West would not have cared what type of economic agreement Ukraine reaches and with whom. However, allowing Russia to play such a major role in land rich with resources that can be exploited at very low cost would not have yielded any profit for the West, which was unacceptable.

Eight years later, not only has there been a loss of life and a loss of infrastructure, but as a Canadian analytical company SecDev recently reported, the value of the resources under Russian control in Eastern Ukraine amount to $12.4 trillion. The report notes that Ukraine has lost control of 63% of coal and 11% of oil fields, and 20% of natural gas deposits. The reserves of various metal deposits lost by Ukraine are estimated at 42%, while rare earth metals, including lithium, at 33%. Donbass was already a region which significantly filled Kiev’s budget over the years. With loss of Donbass, Ukraine will lose one of the biggest contributors to its budget. The outcome could have been very different had its government not fallen under the influence of warmongers ready to quickly fill their pockets and satisfy their geopolitical interests, completely disregarding the interests of Ukrainian citizens of all backgrounds.