The new nobility
Deep dive into the 133 western/western-funded NGOs whose employees have been legally exempted from mobilization. Biolabs and the Pact. 'Freedom of speech is for leftists'
The last post looked at how old nationalist luminaries successfully evade mobilization.
The new nobility
But Poroshenko and Orest Lyuty are old news.
There’s a new generation of sprightly young neo-liberal neo-nazis in town. And they aren’t content with secretly evading mobilization - they prefer to legalize their privileges.
But as one Ukrainian parliamentarian (Maksym Buzhansky of Zelensky’s party) remarked, if the feudal nobility was guaranteed material privileges because it was obliged to fight wars for the king, the new Ukrainian nobility has been guaranteed the right not to fight.
Buzhansky was responding to the following: On July 10, it emerged that 133 mainly western-funded NGOs had received legal exemption from mobilization.
A remarkable situation, given that, as I’ve written, Ukraine’s paramedics and even legally exempted employees at real critical infrastructure facilities are still snatched up by mobilizers.
According to cabinet decree No. 650, registered on June 5 and signed into action on June 21, employees of the following NGOs were granted 100% exemption from mobilization. First of all, the list in all its glory. Skip it to go straight to my investigation of the more obviously shady setups.
AHT Group AG, Federal Republic of Germany
ADT Project Consulting GmbH, Federal Republic of Germany
Alinea International Limited, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Alinea International Ltd., Canada
American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative (ABA ROLI), USA
The American Center for International Labor Solidarity (Solidarity Center), USA
Association of Users of the Ukrainian Academic and Research Network "Uran"
Association of Public Health Laboratories, USA
Business and Strategies in Europe S.A., Kingdom of Belgium
Charity organization "Right to Protection" Charitable Fund
Black & Veatch Special Projects Corp., USA
Westminster Foundation for Democracy, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
World Council of Credit Unions (WOCCU), USA
All-Ukrainian Civic Organization "OPORA Civic Network"
Global Communities, USA
Civic Organization "Association of Energy Auditors of Ukraine"
Civic Organization "DIXI GROUP"
Civic Organization "Initiative Center to Support Social Action 'Ednannia'"
Civic Organization "Kyiv School of Economics Institute"
Civic Organization "Internews-Ukraine"
Civic Organization "Development of Civic Competencies in Ukraine"
Civic Organization "Transparency International Ukraine"
Civic Organization "Ukrainian Leadership Academy"
Civic Organization "Ukrainian Independent Center for Political Research"
Civic Organization "Center for Democracy and Rule of Law" (NGO "CDR")
Civic Organization "Center for Economic Strategy"
Civic Organization "Center for Political and Legal Reforms"
Civic Organization "Center for Political Studies and Analytics 'Eidos'"
Civic Union "All-Ukrainian Agrarian Council"
Civic Union "Support for the Activities of the Business Ombudsman Council"
Civic Union "Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union"
Civic Union "Foundation for the Architecture of Reforms in Ukraine (ARU Fund)"
GFA Consulting Group GmbH, Federal Republic of Germany
WGI Global Inc., USA
DAI Global LLC, USA
Deloitte & Touche LLC, USA
Deloitte Consulting Overseas Projects LLC, USA
Deloitte Consulting LLP, USA
State Specialized Financial Institution "State Fund for Youth Housing"
Detecon International GmbH, Federal Republic of Germany
Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL), Swiss Confederation
Abt Associates Inc., USA
Ecorys Europe EEIG-GEIE, Kingdom of Belgium
Ecorys Netherlands B.V., Netherlands
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, Federal Republic of Germany
Consulting Company "SIVITTA Ukraine" (company code according to EDRPOU 38510763)
Expert France S.A.S., French Republic
Encompass LLC, USA
FHI 360, USA
Egis International, French Republic
Enconet Consulting Ges.m.b.H, Republic of Austria
JSI Research & Training Institute, Inc., USA
The Institute of International Education, USA
Internews Network, USA
Canadian Non-Governmental Organization "Societe de Cooperation Pour le Developpement International (SOCODEVI)," Canada
Chemonics International Inc., USA
Cowater International, Kingdom of Belgium
Holtec International, USA
Municipal Enterprise "Dnipro Municipal Energy Service Company" of the Dnipro City Council
Municipal Enterprise "Kryvbasstelenergoprom" of the Kryvyi Rih City Council
Consulting Company Kokusai Kogyo Co, LTD, Japan
Consortium consisting of GFA Consulting Group / Tractebel GKW Consult GmbH, Federal Republic of Germany
Consortium consisting of Egis International, French Republic, Egis Eau, French Republic, and Tetra Tech International Development B.V., Kingdom of the Netherlands, led by Egis International (Belgium) on behalf of the company Egis International
Consortium consisting of IMC Worldwide Ltd, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and Kocks Consult GmbH, Federal Republic of Germany, and a company representing IMC Worldwide Ltd (IMC Worldwide Ltd)
The Consortium of Corporate & Public Management Consulting International OU (CPM)
Estonian Republic, Particip GmbH, Federal Republic of Germany, and Business and Strategies in Europe S.A., Kingdom of Belgium
Corporation "Ukrainian Atomic Priborod and Systems" ("Ukratompribor Corporation")
Lloyd's Register RiskSpectrum AB, Kingdom of Sweden
International Development Law Organization (IDLO), Italian Republic
International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), USA
International Charitable Fund "Alliance for Public Health"
International Charitable Fund "Ukrainian Women's Fund"
International Charitable Organization "Charitable Organization 'Ukraine'"
International Republican Institute (IRI), USA
International and Ibero-American Foundation for Administration and Public Policy (Fundación Internacional y para Iberoamérica de Administración y Políticas Públicas, F.S.P.), Kingdom of Spain
International Centre for Migration Policy Development, Republic of Austria
National Democratic Institute for International Relations, USA
National Opinion Research Center (NORC), USA
National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy
Netherlands Business Academy BV, Kingdom of the Netherlands
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, Federal Republic of Germany
Niras Sweden AB, Kingdom of Sweden
Nordisk Sikkerhet AS, Kingdom of Norway
Overseas Strategic Consulting, LTD, USA
OCA Global Consulting and Technical Advisory Services S.L.U., Kingdom of Spain
Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in Ukraine, Japan
Pact, Inc., USA
Palladium International, LLC, USA
Open Contracting Partnership, USA
Nordic Environment Finance Corporation (NEFCO), Republic of Finland
Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau, Federal Republic of Germany
Abt Associates Inc. in Ukraine, USA
Representative of Children's Fund in Ukraine, USA
Representative of German International Cooperation (GIZ) GmbH, Federal Republic of Germany
Central Agency for Project Management, Republic of Lithuania
"Kyiv School of Economics" University, Private Establishment
Private Company "GARDE"
Program for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH), USA
Project HOPE - The People-to-People Health Foundation, Inc., USA
IREX (International Research & Exchanges Board), USA
Ramboll Denmark A/S, Kingdom of Denmark
Raytheon Company, USA
RTE International, Federal Republic of Germany
CH2M Hill, Inc., USA
Tetra Tech ES, Inc., USA
Tetra Tech, Inc., USA
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), USA
IC Consulenten LLC
"Akvamarin Engineering" LLC
"VIC Technology" LLC
"Deloitte & Touche" LLC
"Deloitte Technology Services" LLC
"Egis Ukraine" LLC
"CSM-Group" LLC
"Sam Systems Development" LLC
"Sojitz Auto Ukraine" LLC
"AVEGA" LLC
Limited Liability Company "Deloitte & Touche USC" (Deloitte & Touche USC LLC)
Limited Liability Company "Deloitte Technology Services" (Deloitte Technology Services LLC)
Limited Liability Company "COMENERGOSERVICE" LLC
Limited Liability Company "Miyamoto International Ukraine" LLC
Limited Liability Company "Rems-Stroy" LLC
Limited Liability Company "SDM Engineering Ukraine" LLC
Ukrainian Social Investment Fund
Management Sciences for Health, Inc., USA
Fichtner GmbH & Co. KG, Federal Republic of Germany
Eurasia Foundation, USA
U.S. Civilian Research & Development Foundation, USA
The HALO Trust, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Zurich University of Teacher Education, Swiss Confederation
Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Swiss Confederation
Ukraine-Moldova American Enterprise Fund (UMAEF), USA
Jacobs Clean Energy International Limited, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
What an interesting list! A little bit of investigation of just some of the more suspicious-sounding names reveals a great deal.
Business and biolabs
First of all, Business and Strategies in Europe S.A. It’s ‘a private Belgian consulting firm providing multi-sectorial expertise and services in developing, transition and partner countries all over the world’.
These business experts know which markets are most promising, so to speak:
Our current permanent offices are based in Belgium, Romania, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Lebanon and Libya, gathering up to 76 staff members in total.
Next, the American Center for International Labor Solidarity. It’s aligned with the AFL-CIO, or, as it’s often more accurately named, the AFL-CIA. That’s because the AFL-CIO is famed for its role in assisting US covert operations against leftwing governments and forces across the world.
Black & Veatch Special Projects Corp., USA. Sounds worryingly like Blackrock or Blackwater, right? The truth is even better. Here’s what its website advertises:
The Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) competitively awarded Black & Veatch Special Projects Corp. (Black & Veatch) one of its Biological Threat Reduction Integrating Contracts (BTRIC) in 2008. The 5-year IDIQ contract (with a 5-year option) has a collective ceiling of $4B among the five selected contractors. DTRA also competitively awarded Black & Veatch (Integrating Contractor) the first task order under BTRIC, BTRIC TO1 in Ukraine in 2008. BTRIC TO1 is a vital part of the Cooperative and Biological Threat Reduction (CTR and BTR) program of the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) / DTRA and Implementing (Executive) Agents of the Ukraine - Ministry of Health (MoH), Academy of Agrarian Sciences (AAS) and State Committee for Veterinary Medicine (SCVM).
But hey - at least these Biological Threat Reduction Integrating programs are ‘100% employee-owned’! Maybe their colleagues over at the American Center for International Labor Solidarity have been radicalizing them.
As far as their bio-threat programs go, Black and Veatch clearly have plenty of help from other organizations on the list like the US Association of Public Health Laboratories.
The US embassy website describes ‘four mobile laboratories from DTRA with the goal of reinforcing the system of epidemiological surveillance in the Armed Forces of Ukraine’. One of them is in the city of ‘Pokrovskoe’ (the US website uses the Russian name for whatever reason), which is currently under imminent threat from the Russian army.
The US embassy site boasts that Zelensky visited this site in 2020. It was supposedly meant to help with Covid, but given that Ukraine had one of the highest mortality rates in Europe - partly because of its politicized decision to refuse Russian vaccines, and partly because of the destructive neoliberalism of US-born post-maidan ‘doctor death’ minister of health, Ulyana Suprun. I wrote about her and her swastika-loving friends here.
Westminster’s freedom fighters
Other members of the new nobility are more mundane, so to speak, neo-colonial instruments following the immortal teachings of Gene Sharp Thought on Neoliberalism with Atlanticist Characteristics for a New Cold War Era.
The Westminster Foundation for Democracy (UK), Transparency International Ukraine, the Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Group, Foundation for the Architecture of Reforms in Ukraine (EU and USA), the International Republican Institute (USA), the National Democratic Institute for International Relations (USA).
The names say it all. Need I say any more? Clearly critically important infrastructure, without which the frontline would instantly collapse.
Another telling inclusion on the list is the US-based Open Contracting Partnership. ‘We connect governments, civil society and business to open up and monitor public procurement. Open contracting results in fairer deals and less corruption.’
On the topic of public procurements, one of my favorite older articles is this one. It looked into how Transparency International and other western-funded NGOs in Ukraine sabotaged a feeble attempt by the Zelensky government in 2020 to introduce minimal industrial protectionism. According to them - along with western governments - Ukraine’s proposition to reserve a portion of state procurements for local producers was outrageously corrupt. We can, you can’t.
The Overseas Strategic Pact
And plenty of organizations to make sure that the Ukrainian people make the right decisions in any elections - that is, if they ever take place. If they do, the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (USA) and the National Opinion Research Centre (USA) will be able to help out.
Back when elections were a thing, western-funded NGOs played an important role in declaring elections that elected the wrong people ‘fraudulent’, while Ukraine’s newly-reformed (on western money) supreme court unconstitutionally declared a voting rerun. See this post of mine on the topic of the 2004 ‘orange revolution’.
The US-based Overseas Strategic Consulting can also help out:
OSC designs and implements communications campaigns that increase the transparency of development and reform initiatives, resulting in greater host government accountability and public support of reform agendas
.
Indeed, Ukrainians are often all too ungrateful for the neoliberal ‘reform agendas’ that unelected NGOs so graciously force through. Luckily, they will be in experienced hands:
OSC drives strategic communications for measurable results, worldwide, in some of the most challenging environments – often in conflict and post-conflict countries.
Relatedly - Aidan Jonah over at the Canada Files has also done some great investigative journalism looking at how western NGOs and governments have sunk serious money into transforming the mindsets of young Ukrainian judges to embrace the neoliberal reform agenda of land privatization.
Another group on the list similar to OSC is the ominously named 'Pact’. Its website - pactworld.org - describes itself as a group which ‘fosters secure democratic societies’ that ‘builds peace with conflict-affected communities’. Among its success stories is the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Grifters and libertarian militarists
Then there’s the more straightforward grifters - like the DIXI group, whose website publishes its signature, for instance, on ‘the statement about a new Green Marshall Plan for Ukraine’. Or the Lithuanian Central Agency for Project Management. Fear not, devastated Ukrainian infrastructure.
The Kyiv School of Economics also has exemption from mobilization for its libertarian ideologues, such as former economics minister Mylovanov. This also includes Mykhailo Zhernakov, an anti-corruption activist, a euromaidan luminary, friend of sorosite icon (and fellow draft-dodger) Vitaly Shabunin, and a grizzled veteran of the NGO circuit.
In December 2023, Law and Business found out that this brave activist and vicious critic of (proletarian) draft-dodgers is himself avoiding conscription. His grave medical excuse, as evidenced by his military medical certificate:
‘Flat feet and other deformities of the foot and toes (with moderate functional impairment).’
Soon after, he was apprehended by a mobilization office in the capital, where he was fined 5300 hryvnia (less than $150 USD) for draft-dodging. Naturally, he continued to defend himself from the accusations in public, though the military medical commission officially declared him medically fit to serve.
Luckily, poor Zhernakov soon got a reprieve. Despite having no military experience in any field other than draft-dodging, he became employed as an ‘expert for the Change Office’ at the ministry of defence in January 2024.
Freedom of speech is for leftists
Given that this whole ecosystem is funded by networks controlled by the Democratic Party and George Soros (not doing an anti-semitism, just pointing out a fact - I can do that since my parents worked for him), does that mean that those patronized extoll the values of the ‘open society’ - tolerance, pluralism, and freedom of speech?
Not really. Yaroslav Yurchishin, a parliamentarian from the ‘Holos’ party (the Atlantic Council/Fukuyama-approved party), and former leader of Soros’s Transparency International Ukraine (also on the list of the 133), put forward a bill to regulate or ban telegram. Because it spreads ‘russian narratives’. He didn’t explain what he meant by that, but images of men being violently forced into mobilization minibuses come to mind…
The essence of the NGO nobility is perhaps best illustrated by the head of Internews-Ukraine (sponsored by USAID and Soros’ Renaissance Foundation), Konstantyn Kvurt. He was among the initiators of the anti-telegram bill. Here’s how he justified it:
To avoid being accused later of, so to speak, "obstructing freedom of speech"—you know, all that stuff the "leftists" love to talk about—we need to refer to European practices, where they know how to "encourage" technological platforms to cooperate.
Funnily enough, the list of telegram channels that must be banned (itself impossible - it’s only possible to ban telegram as a whole, but the government enjoys communicating through it too much to do so) because they are ‘kremlin channels’ includes a variety of Ukrainian channels. Plenty of them aren’t anonymous and clearly aren’t sponsored by Russia, nor do the anti-telegram group even try to claim that. Their crime? They criticize the wrong people:
This network of nearly 30 Telegram channels is discrediting the judicial reform, virtuous judges, and leaders of public organizations who are monitoring the reform of the judicial branch.
This network discredits honorable judges, members of the High Council of Justice, and leaders of prominent public organizations, particularly Vitaliy Shabunin, head of the Anti-Corruption Action Center, and Mykhailo Zhernakov, chairman of the DEJURE Foundation.
The wrong people: professional grant-feeders and draft-dodgers like Shabunin and Zhernakov. Don’t forget, freedom of speech is for leftists!
The nobles petition for more
But that’s not all. On August 5, another piece of legislation entered parliament. Bill №11460 has a somewhat misleading name:
‘On additional measures to enhance motivation and protect the rights of military personnel under martial law.’
In fact, the bill proposes that several groups of people be given the right to freely leave the country in wartime, namely ‘recipients of foreign grants, members of parliament, officials, judges, and prosecutors, as well as all other individuals exempt from mobilization or citizens entitled to deferment’, as strana.ua sums it up.
Can you guess who was among the initiators of the bill? No one other than the Cossack Hetman (Leader) himself, as his devoted fans call him…
Thanks for the article! Are the groups like the wonderfully-named "Pact" substantially different from their more straightforwardly u.s. and uk-funded cold warrior counterparts?
P.S. The link in the second paragraph under "The Overseas Strategic Pact" doesn't appear to work.