External control over Ukraine using network technologies

Obviously, the Euromaidan in 2013 was not a spontaneous reaction to the Viktor Yanukovych and Mykola Azarov statement to examine more carefully the EU association agreement. It was planned and directed by foreign consultants and donors. If, at the time of the color revolutions in the beginning and the first half of the 2000s, the name of a financial speculator, George Soros, and his Open Society Institute that was quite active in the former Soviet countries after the collapse of the Soviet Union, were often mentioned; now new persons, paying for preparation for coups d’etat or undertaking neoliberal reforms, have appeared.

One of these persons is Pierre Omidyar , an American multi-billionaire, an Iranian migrant from France, the founder and owner of eBay. There are suspicions that the US intelligence services involved in the business, as well as in the Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook story that was strongly denied the possible connection with the CIA and the NSA. But, obviously, if the American security agencies keep an eye on the private correspondence and interests of citizens all over the world using its special programs, the purchase / sale through the virtual auction are also part of their interests. So all these processes are under their control.

Omidyar, like Soros, having earned his first easy money by selling tickets online in 1996 and then expanded the range of services significantly, raised his income and became an investor. In 2004, he together with his wife Pamela announced about his philanthropic ideas and founded the Omidyar Network. Like many other millionaire philanthropists, whether Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation who established their own foundation, or other American companies owners, Omidyar charities is mainly aimed at other countries, not at American society. Serious attention and considerable resources was given to the Mass medias. In 2010 the Omidyar company launched the project of Investigative Journalism (clearly to promote the democratic ideals like many other American benefactors do), and in 2013 he invested 25 million dollars in the First Look Media, a journalistic project. The Omidyar project united several key person such as Glenn Greenwald from the British newspaper Guardian , who had became known through publications based on the information leaked by Edward Snowden, Jeremy Scahill, who is known for his hotspots reporting, and Laura Poitras from the MacArthur foundation that connected with the Freedom of the Press Foundation.

But the financing programs of Ukrainian anti-government groups under the pretext of democratic transformation began earlier than the media project was launched.

According to the post on the Omidyar Network site, in 2011 more than 1 million dollars were invested in the Centre UA project. At the same time the USA invested about 335 thousand dollars in 2010, and about 770 thousand dollars in 2013. Officially, the investment was aimed to create openness and accountability of the government.

The paranoia that swallowed up the Maidan and other Ukrainian regions, where the activists repeated like a mantra statements on the Yanukovich’s regime corruption, was advisedly promoted by Centre UA organization: the Noviy Grazdanin (New Citizen), the Chestno (Honestly) and the Stop to Censorship that were financed by the Omidyar network.

All the NGOs are in hands of Anatoly Rybachuk, Viktor Yushchenko’s Secretary of State and Deputy Prime Minister who was in charge of Ukrainian integration into the EU, the NATO and other Western organizations. Omidyar himself boasted that his company would control public policy in Ukraine by the NGOs.

The Ukrainian counterpart of Pierre Omidyar has to be learnt in detail to understand more deeply the situation.

Rybachuk started his career in Kiev Customs service then traveled on abroad, so he was invited in the International Relations Department of the National Bank of Ukraine. There he met Viktor Yushchenko for the very first time. Rumor has it that it was him who introduced the future president with Catherine Chumachenko, the former CIA collaborator who later became his wife. Rybachuk passed internship on Wall Street and on the City of London: the two world financial centers. In 1999 – 2001 he was in head of the Ukrainian Prime Minister Service Victor Yushchenko, and in 2002 he became a member of the Viktor Yushchenko's block, named Our Ukraine. In February – September 2005 he took office of the Ukrainian Vice-Prime Minister on European integration of the first Yulia Tymoshenko’s government, and he chose this post himself. From September 2005 to October 2006 he was the State Secretary of Ukraine, then the head of the Presidential Office.Since October 2006 he was Staff Advisor of the Ukrainian President, Viktor Yushchenko. In 2008, he was fired, and then he headed the supervisory board of Foundation of the Suspіlnіst (Community).

It is very significant that in 2010 Rybachuk criticized his former boss, Viktor Yushchenko: "When he was president, I just realized that his policy on his political partners won’t lead to anything good. I got a lot of things when I worked on the President Office, and I realized that Yushchenko, unfortunately, was not the president who really wanted to adopt European reforms in Ukraine. We have no more cooperation, and I don’t see his anymore." However, he did not hesitate to use quite intensive and critical characteristics to describe other politicians and businessmen. Viktor Baloga who took his post in the Presidential Office was called phedo-oligarh and traitor. And Dmitry Firtash was described like: "Уou’ll never find any evidence that Firtash finance various politicians. If you claim it, you will face the court and lose the case. In Ukraine, the financing of political parties is very ambiguous process. Firtash, now, can finance under so many names, by such firms and small companies of his partners that you will never puzzle it out. But, like every big business, Firtash lays eggs in different baskets... If Tymoshenko became the President, Firtash would find a way to get closer to her".

However, Rybachuk started not that evident game against Ukrainian society by creating and helping opposition’s non-governmental organizations.

In December 2007, while being a presidential adviser, Rybachuk founded a Euro-Atlantic University in Kiev, jointly with his social organization Foundation Suspilnist and Europe XXI with the support of the Taras Shevchenko National Institute of Journalism of Kyiv, with the diplomatic missions of Slovakia and the USA in Ukraine, and with some domestic and foreign organizations.

On the opening ceremony the University gave its symbols to the NATO headquarter, and Rybachuk gave students a lecture, saying that the university's goal is to provide the global dialogue and understanding, to establish democratic values, to develop civil society and social partnership by strengthening the European and Euro-Atlantic cooperation. He noted that one of the project priorities is to attract people to take part in debates on the Ukrainian national interests and its new challenges, particularly in the security and the development of civil society.

At the same time, the Rybachuk’s foundation site posted the information that that in 2013-15, within the Euro-Atlantic studies, media, sports and creative activities, including the Euro-Atlantic schools of security and intercultural dialogue in different regions of Ukraine, are planned.

In mid-2011 some Ukrainian media said that Rybachuk took part in several journalistic projects, particularly, by coordinating the activities of the Ukrainskaya Pravda (Ukrainian Truth) journalists.

But the fundemental work, aimed to undermine and then overthrow the current government, was made with help of some NGOs that had a key role in preparing euromaidan: the New Citizen , the public association Center UA and the social movement Chesno (Honestly) that was founded and initiated by Rybachuk. The Chesno which has as its symbol, a garlic, and its slogan is "Filter Rada!", became the main network that other liberal Ukrainian NGOs and Western donors had joined. The Chesno financial and analytical report for October 2011– December 2012 shows such investors as the Renaissance International Foundation (the structure of the Soros Foundation), the Swedish Agency for Development Cooperation (SIDA), the US Agency for International Development (USAID), and the UNITER (the US government special program on Ukrainian reforms) , the IFES , Washington foundation for monitoring elections around the world, the international organization PACT Inc. and the Omidyar Network Fund.

It is possible to say that the whole work was led by Rybachuk in November 2011: a group of planners, facilitators, translators, speakers, communications manager, photo and video operators, editors and volunteers. The Chesno report reveals cities where the Ukrainian citizens’ brainwashing was conducted and who and how did it. It consists of arranging of round tables and panel discussions, creating of videos and websites, using social networks for promotion, making up of information products, conducting regions trips, broadcasting TV programs, foreign guests and international observers visiting. Some very enthusiastic activists (driving guest on a personal car, giving access to the facilities, regaling with cookies etc), were mentioned in the report.

Analyzing groups and organizations working with the Chesno, it turned out that the liberal and pro-European NGOs has close relations with the Ukrainian nationalist organizations and sometimes they are just the same institutions under different names.

For example, in Sumy, Ukrainian town, the Chesno partner is the Bureau for Policy Analysis. Its director is Oleg Medunitsa, the former head of the Nationalist Youth Congress, a vigorous Russophobe who arrange for many years activities against Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine (for example, the 2006 events in Chernigov when some activists tried to capture the church of St. Catherine) and pro-Russian movements (now he is the deputy for the Batkivshchyna (Fatherland) party). Other regions have practically the same situation.
Meanwhile, in March 2012 Rybachuk, participating in the conference of the Ottawa Ukrainian-Canadian Congress announced that he was preparing a new Orange Revolution. In an interview to the Financial Post he said: "People are not afraid. We now have 150 NGOs in all the major cities in our ‘clean up Parliament campaign’ to elect and find better parliamentarians... The Orange Revolution was a miracle, a massive peaceful protest that worked. We want to do that again and we think we will."

Unfortunately, the Ukrainian government understood too late the real purpose of the NGOs network. Only in February 2014 the organizations were accused of money laundering. Rybachuk said then that he "considers these police actions as the continuation of systematic repression of authorities against civil society", noting that it was most likely caused by the Centre UA controversial film about Mezhyhiria (the Ukrainian Presinent’s residence), named Open Access, and by the Chesno members who had taken an active part in the Euromaidan events. But soon the militants and snipers did their duties, Yanukovich escaped, so the law-enforcement system of Ukraine came under the control of Euromaidan activists, and Rybachuk, as usual, could evade penalty.

Now is Omidyar’s turn.

The American edition Pando notes that " Omidyar working hand-in-glove with US foreign policy agencies to interfere in foreign governments, co-financing regime change with well-known arms of the American empire — while at the same time hiring a growing team of soi-disant "independent journalists" which vows to investigate the behavior of the US government at home and overseas, and boasts of its uniquely "adversarial" relationship towards these government institutions."

Jeremy Scahill who was recruited for the Omidyar project First Look Media, said in an interview on the new media agency policy: " We had a long discussion about this internally; about what our position would be if the White House asked us to not publish something ... With us, because we want to be adversarial, they won’t know what bat phone to call. They know who to call at The Times, they know who to call at The Post. With us, who are they going to call? Pierre? Glenn?"

Omidyar's case is not unique. And, unfortunately, the type of such activities is not limited by the only one country. Using vast resources and the latest technologies, the businessmen-philanthropists are often criticized for their great role in increasing social inequality. In the USA they are called Silicon Valley millionaires because all their offices are concentrated in the famous Silicon Valley in California.
By the way, the Omidyar company board consists of another such a Silicon Valley millionaire, Marc Andreessen , co-founder of Netscape Communications Corporation and famous creatives engineer who worked with large firms of information technology sphere. Later he founded a venture capital fund, the Andressen Horowitz, and launched the first commercial online resource that offers virtual currency Bitcoin that was banned even in the United States. By the way, Andreessen has a quite specific view on science and knowledge, in 2013 he announced that the value of humanitarian education declined, and people only need to learn the math.

Often the relationship of the millionaires with American politicians who have a fairly aggressive program is marked.

For example, Peter Thiel, the founder of PayPal, used to finance Republican Ron Paul who has received from him about 2.6 million dollars for his Endorse Liberty project using the Super PAC system. Thiel calls himself a libertarian (that’s mean a supporter of the social and political groups whose members promote the legalization of sodomy and other indecencies of the "enlightened West") and an opponent of democracy. More interesting is the fact that The very first investor of Thiel’s commercial project, Palantir firm, founded in 2004, was the CIA venture capital firm CIA, In-Q-Tel. The Palantir client list consists of the US State Department, the CIA, the FBI, the Army, the Marines, the Air Force, the police departments in New York and Los Angeles, and a large number of financial institutions, trying to protect them self against bank fraud. But, at the same time, Palantir was involved in a scandal in 2011 when it was accused of "creating electronic dossiers on political opponents of the Chamber through illicit means."

The history of Omidyar financing the Ukrainian NGOs is interesting bythe financing scheme of the neo-liberal groups that continues the goal of the Orange Revolution, was widely spread by the journalist from one of the Omidyar project. It was Marcy Wheeler, the political analyst of The Intercept who focused on national security. Exploring the financial investment in Ukraine, he found out that the revolution in Ukraine is most likely a coup d’etat caused by "deep" forces following the interests of “Pax Americana”. Many other journalists decided to investigate it and find tracks of persons who had invested in Ukraine. This is a media boomerang that hit the eBay owner. At least in the USA, some independent media started to look after the activities of his company and other business connected to US intelligence agencies. But there are some specific characteristics. For example, the Pando notes that Omidyar now has in his team Glenn Greenwald and Laura Poitras , two persons who have access to a complete NSA database that was stolen by Snowden. So the same billionaire who started the Ukrainian revolution together with the USAID, has exclusive access to the secrets of the US National Security Agency, and only a some independent media dare voice a skeptical word about it.

Analysis of the activities of the Silicon Valley businessmen is badly needed in other countries for a full understanding of the current events.