U.K.’s Notorious BAE Systems Signs Up Ukraine

Sept. 1, 2023, 2022 (EIRNS)—On May 30, 2023, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced on Telegram that Ukraine and the U.K.’s BAE Systems were linking up. Today Ukraine’s national news outlet Ukrinform reports the announcement of the Office of the President that the deal was signed.

Zelenskyy met with representatives of the multinational BAE, based in London and specializing in the arms, security and aerospace sectors. He thanked the company’s CEO Charles Woodburn and the BAE Systems team for the union with Ukraine. Then, in the presence of the President and CEO of BAE Systems, the Ministry of Strategic Industries of Ukraine and BAE Systems signed a cooperation agreement on basing the production of BAE Systems arms in Ukraine.

Of note, Zelenskyy said, (in Ukranian)

“I had a meeting with representatives of BAE Systems. The world knows this company very well. And our warriors are already very familiar with the weapons produced by this company. In particular, artillery—L119 and M777, armored vehicles—CV90, which are very powerful. The company is starting to work in Ukraine. Our goal is to have all the most useful weapons for defense produced in Ukraine. And it will happen. We already produce certain items, and we will produce all the necessary ones.”

According to Zelenskyy, “Ukraine aspires to be a co-creator of a new effective system of European and world security, which is impossible without a powerful defense-industrial complex.”

However, this model of “a new effective system of ... security” is as old as sin, or at least as old as Babylon. It is a “marcher-lord” (aka marquess) model, in which nations deploy private muscle as an extension of their existence.

Otherwise, given BAE Systems record in off-the-books financial operations, useful for wetworks, it is not yet clear whether BAE or Kiev will take the lead in the money-laundering.