Russia has now effectively defeated Ukraine.
5 July 2025, by Eric Zuesse. (All of my recent articles can be seen here.)
On July 5th, Bloomberg News headlined “BlackRock Halted Ukraine Fund Talks After Trump’s Election Win”, and opened:
BlackRock halted its search for investors for a Ukraine recovery fund earlier this year due to a lack of interest amid increased uncertainty over Ukraine's future.
The fund was meant to be unveiled at the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Rome and had initial support from entities backed by the governments of Germany, Italy, and Poland.
The US government was a notable absence from the fund's backers, and the project's future is now uncertain, with France working on a replacement fund proposal.
BlackRock Inc. halted its search for investors to back a multibillion-dollar Ukraine recovery fund earlier this year after Donald Trump’s election victory saw the US sour on the eastern European country, people familiar with the discussions said.
The fund, meant to be unveiled at next week’s Ukraine Recovery Conference in Rome, was close to securing initial support from entities backed by the governments of Germany, Italy and Poland, the people said, declining to be identified discussing private information.
For further evidences on this matter, I recommend the July 4th commentary by Alexander Mercouris, whose analyses during the past decade have been confirmed by subsequent events at perhaps the highest percentage of all analyses that are available to the public; and, so, his news-reporting is probably the most reliable anywhere:
https://theduran.com/putin-tells-us-russia-wont-back-down
I place the highest significance on the abandonment by BlackRock of its Ukraine investment fund. That commentary by Mercouris explains why ANY such fund would now be doomed. There is no longer any credible way to prevent the defeat of Ukraine by Russia. I have many times said that I considered it virtually inevitable; and now it IS inevitable.
Anyone who still hopes for a defeat of Russia and for a victory by Ukraine (and NATO) in this war, should also see Mercouris’s July 5th commentary on this:
https://theduran.com/russias-biggest-strikes-shake-kiev-zelensky-merz-beg-trump
Behind this is the systematic and enormous corruptness of the U.S. empire’s militaries, starting with America’s own military. The U.S-and-allied militaries are run to produce profits, not to win wars. In countries such as Russia and China, they’re run solely to win wars — to serve their people — NOT to serve investors. The priorities are totally different.
The U.S. Department of Defense is the ONLY federal Department that has never been audited. It has always promised to, but never has actually passed an auditor’s inspection of its books; and on 19 November 2024, CFO (Chief Financial Officer) magazine headlined “Pentagon fails 7th audit in a row, but CFO says progress is being made”. And yet, Trump’s and the Congress’s new annual federal budget decreases spending on all federal Departments EXCEPT the Defense Department and the Homeland Security Department — though ALL of those OTHER Departments ARE successfully audited each year. This fact — increasing spending on the most corrupt (and by far the largest) federal Department while REDUCING spending on all but one of the others (which are far less corrupt) — suggests that the REAL reason why the U.S. has lost almost every war since WW2 is the immense corruptness of the Defense Department. Despite Russia’s having been spending on its military just a tiny fraction of what the U.S. does, Russia has the world’s top-ranked (#1) military, and Russia now is winning a war against virtually all of NATO, in the battlefields of Ukraine. UNLIKE the countries in the U.S. empire, Russia never privatized its armaments manufacturers. Whereas in the U.S. and its colonies, the armaments manufacturers are run for private profit and they control their markets (the U.S. Government and its colonies), in Russia and China the Government controls the armaments manufacturers, so those manufacturers DON’T control the Government; and, so, the armaments manufacturers are run for the purpose of protecting the citizenry against enemies. And that is precisely WHY Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February 2022 and is winning its war against Ukraine and NATO now. For the U.S. and its allies, this war is entirely optional, NOT for national defense. (They lie to allege otherwise.) For Russia this war is existential — it IS for national defense.
—————
Investigative historian Eric Zuesse’s latest book, AMERICA’S EMPIRE OF EVIL: Hitler’s Posthumous Victory, and Why the Social Sciences Need to Change, is about how America took over the world after World War II in order to enslave it to U.S.-and-allied billionaires. Their cartels extract the world’s wealth by control of not only their ‘news’ media but the social ‘sciences’ — duping the public.
Yes. Very true. And needs saying again and again so this welcome.
I would like to suggest we change the narrative, though, in regard to 'winning' and 'losing'.
Instead of 'Russia now effectively defeated Ukraine' I'd have 'Russia now effectively saved Ukraine'.
My point is that 'Ukraine' is the people.
We have a number of Orwellian mis-speaks and that's a major one: to always talk of a nation and kinda subconsciously or implicitly indicate we're talking of people when in fact we're merely talking of the govt or the manipulators behind that govt.
This is the most common. It is universal It is the norm. We speak of what 'America' has done, what 'Germany' is doing and so on, don't we? When the Americans and the Germans have actually done nothing at all: just their controllers, their out of control manipulative insane governments have done things.
It's common It is the norm. But it is not right.
A nation is its people. Simple as that.
One section of the ukrainian people have saved themselves, they declared independence and allied with Russia (after some eight years) and now they are going well.
The other section, some 30 million notionally at pre '14 figures, are in dire straights. Bankrupt, corrupted from within to horrific extent, probably as many as one million of them slaughtered on the battlefield, forbidden to leave the country, forbidden religions, forbidden languages, forbidden thoughts, attitudes, beliefs.... country being sold off and destroyed before their very eyes...
If Russia can take control of this then it has rescued them. It has saved them.
Not some fancy idle notion. Just look at the harsh realities. The truth. The facts. Are that 30 million in deep trouble or not? Who will/can help them?
Are they 'Ukraine' or is Ukraine a handful of plundering black marketeers, oligarchs, corrupt politicians, foreign schemers ?
To get a right view of things we need to drop this time honoured historians way of describing, viewing the world per 'nations' as though they exist independently of their people.
We need to turn to thinking of what matters, what it is really all about; people.
And if Russia can take control of kiev ukraine then it has, it will have, 'rescued', 'saved' 'ukraine (the people).
What the scheming corrupt amoral lunatic west wants to paint as a terrible possible outcome is actually the only hope that 30 million people have.
Hi Eric happy Fourth. Thanks for your great work. Easy Ukraine will be part of Russia, and West Ukraine will be neutral…never part of NATO. As a matter of fact peace cannot take place unless NATO IS DISSOLVED.