Ukraine has a new patron of the West. It's not the government or a military contractor. It's the financial company BlackRock, The American Conservative reported.

Ukraine announced Wednesday that President Volodymyr Zelenskiy held a video conference with BlackRock CEO Larry Fink. The pair apparently struck a deal to coordinate investment efforts to rebuild the war-torn country.

A post about the meeting on the Ukrainian president's website calls BlackRock one of the world's leading investment managers, noting that it manages about $8 trillion in client assets.

Zelenskiy and Larry Fink have agreed to focus in the near future on coordinating the efforts of all potential investors and participants in our country's recovery, targeting investments in the most relevant and efficient sectors of the Ukrainian economy, the release said.

The release also said that some BlackRock executives will visit Ukraine in 2023 to fulfill their advisory roles. Pursuant to preliminary agreements reached earlier this year between the head of state and Larry Fink, the BlackRock team has been working for several months on a project to advise the Ukrainian government on structuring the country's recovery funds, the release said.

One such preliminary agreement between BlackRock and Ukraine was a memorandum of understanding signed by the Ukrainian Ministry of Economy and BlackRock Financial Markets Advisory in Washington on November 10, 2022. The memorandum stated that BlackRock FMA would advise the government of Ukraine, in particular the Ministry of Economy on the investment roadmap for the reconstruction of the Ukrainian economy.

BlackRock's press release about the Nov. 10 memorandum is full of empty corporate-speak. According to the announcement, BlackRock will work with Ukraine to create a roadmap for implementing the investment structure, including identifying design options for the proposed installation, structure, mandate and governance.

A previous September meeting between Zelenskiy and Fink, apparently arranged by Fortescue Metals Group's Andrew Forrest, laid the groundwork for the Ukrainian government's growing cooperation with BlackRock. The president of Ukraine and the CEO of BlackRock reportedly discussed how to attract public and private investment in Ukraine.

The New York-based investment firm made headlines. A Wall Street Journal article this afternoon claimed that BlackRock was one of several major investment firms causing distortions in the housing market. It said how BlackRock and similar firms were using their vast capital to buy up houses, inflating prices in the process.

The price hikes have two immediate economic effects. First, higher home values benefit properties already owned by BlackRock, especially in areas in which the firm has invested heavily. The second effect is that artificially inflated prices drive working families out, leaving only wealthy or investment firms with huge capital in the market. In Houston, for example, billionaire Fink accounts for a quarter of recent home purchases. He simply buys up entire neighborhoods and rents them out. BlackRock helps create a class of permanent renters, even though it has long been understood that homeownership is a key element in creating wealth and sustaining the American middle class.

It's all pretty infuriating: you can almost guarantee that the Ukrainian government is generously paying BlackRock to consult on this redevelopment roadmap. And where is the Ukrainian government currently getting its funding from, given that its economy is in decline and war is expensive? The United States government, of course. By the end of the calendar year, the U.S. will give the Ukrainian government $13 billion in direct budget support to help it avoid deficits and outright bankruptcy, and President Joe Biden has promised to support Ukraine for as long as it takes.

Thus, BlackRock is getting money from American taxpayers through the Ukrainian government for developing a plan that will ensure the success of their future investments in Ukraine, made with money generated by making American housing unaffordable. With such a deal for our financial and political elite, why would they want the world at all?