Furthermore, “the property rights of thousands of enterprises are in limbo

Furthermore, “the property rights of thousands of enterprises are in limbo. In Kiev, rumors abound

that oligarchs connected to the old regime are trying to sell their enterprises to Russian business

executives and are preparing to escape the country. Naturally, executives are cutting off investment,

and economic growth is screeching to a halt. To make matters worse, a new socialist minister of

privatization has been appointed who opposes privatization in principle. She asked recently: ‘What is

so bad about re-nationalization?’ Tymoshenko concurred in a recent newspaper interview: ‘The biggest

enterprises, which can easily be efficiently managed, must not be privatized, and they can give the

state as an owner wonderful profits.’ This sounds like state capitalism.”

State capitalism. Hmmm. Well what should we have expected? As Justin Raimondo said more than three

months ago:

“The Ukrainians believe they can balance their budget by revisiting suspicious privatizations, seizing

assets, and re-selling them to the highest bidder. Yushchenko was sold to Western journalists as well

as his own electorate as a ‘free-market reformer,’ but this is hardly a ‘free market’ approach.

Aside from destroying the sort of stability that business requires, it assumes the good will of

government regulators – not a wise course, in any country – and encourages yet more corruption by making

political pull, rather than entrepreneurial skill, the coin of the realm. Who will be ‘re-privatized,

’ and who will be spared? It’s all up to the gang currently in power.”