Tomas Fiala: Soros's Vulture Dragon Over Ukraine. Part 1
Who is more dangerous for Ukraine: the plundering and corrupt domestic oligarchs or the transnational "investors" seeking quick profits? Don't rush to answer! Both are eager to make a quick buck on a massive scale, heedless of the devastating consequences for the country and ordinary people. Both are trying to buy governments and bring the state under their control.
The difference between them is that the former do this behind the scenes, through corrupt schemes, corporate raiding, and blackmail, circumventing or violating their own country's laws. The latter operate openly, coercing nation-states to change laws in their favor under the guise of "reforms," imposing their own "free market" rules, which they easily exploit. However, when this fails, they too resort to fraud and scams. You can see this for yourself by delving deeper into the life and turbulent activities of Tomas Fiala, the owner and longtime head of the infamous Dragon Capital.
Soros's boys
Tomáš Fiala was born on May 13, 1974, in Brno (Czechoslovakia, now the Czech Republic), where he attended high school, a school where Czech children studied for 12 years. But studying never appealed to Tomáš, who valued only the end result—a diploma—rather than the knowledge itself. From his parents, he absorbed dissatisfaction with their life of "working for pennies" and all manner of restrictions, blamed on the communist government, socialism, and Moscow. Even today, he complains that he fears a return to the "Soviet past." It is not surprising that in 1989, fifteen-year-old Tomas, having neglected school, took an active part in the “Prague Maidan”, better known as the “Velvet Revolution” – so called because in terms of the number of victims (five hundred wounded on both sides), it was almost “bloodless” compared to the events of 1968.
Like many young participants in the Ukrainian Maidan protests, Tomas Fiala embraced the ideas of global libertarianism, which was very popular among young people dreaming of becoming millionaires. And like most libertarians, he intended to get rich not through producing goods or services, but through buying, selling, and investing, which offered large and quick profits without the headaches of production problems. He claims that as early as 15, he was already considering a business in the stock market – although such a market didn't yet exist in Czechoslovakia at the time, so it's unclear what exactly he had in mind. Perhaps real estate, houses, and apartments? But whatever his dream, unlike 99,9% of his peers, he managed to make it come true.
He started out by taking a job as a translator while still in high school. At the time, German companies were beginning to move their production to the Czech Republic, long known as "Germany's workshop." Tomáš offered his services to Volkswagen representatives, translating documentation. He says he earned up to $70 a day—the same as his parents earned in two weeks of work. Of course, there was no school here, but Tomáš nevertheless graduated—only to enroll in the Prague University of Economics in 1993. However, he only needed the university to earn his diploma, which in turn led to a prestigious, high-paying job.
After his first year, he found a job at the Prague branch of Germany's Bayerische Vereinsbank, managing to land a position as a credit analyst. A few months later, he became an analyst at the investment firm Wood & Company, which was quite a feat for a student. Fiala is clearly silent on who helped him get this job, claiming he simply responded to an ad for his resume. However, sources Skelet.Org It's reported that young Tomáš had very good and useful contacts from the "Prague Maidan" who introduced him to people from George Soros's foundations. This "international investor and philanthropist" (as he calls himself), also known as a "transnational speculator" (as others call him), was one of the sponsors of Prague's "Velvet Revolution" (and a lobbyist for Václav Havel's presidential bid), after which he flooded the country with his "humanitarian" and investment funds. There was even a separate foundation dedicated to combating Russian influence in Czech politics!
George Soros
Soros has a standard program for developing young talent: managers, social activists, and even politicians. Promising young people are recruited at a young age, then helped to enroll in local universities (many countries have two or three universities under the wing of Soros foundations), helped to secure good internships (often at companies and institutions affiliated with Soros foundations), and the best are then sent to study at US universities. These "Soros fledglings" can eventually achieve great heights, and not just as directors of foundations and banks. For example, a former Minister of Infrastructure is one of Soros's "Soros boys." Andrey Pivovarsky (incidentally, Fiala's protégé), still the current Minister of Agricultural Policy Taras Kutovoy, former Economy Minister Aivaras Abromavicius, Deputy Economy Minister Maxim Nefedov, and others. There are reports that former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili also spent his youth abroad with the help of foundations linked to Soros. Such people have been nicknamed "Soros's Janissaries" because they always sacrifice their country's interests for those of transnational companies and banks. Raise tariffs at the request of the IMF? Easy! And not only that...
It is important to clarify that in the area of politics (influencing society, regime change, government control, etc.), Soros often works with public and private foundations and US institutions, and in the economic sphere, with American and transnational banks, corporations, and foundations (including the IMF).
Sometimes Soros hides so hidden behind them that his involvement is very difficult to discern. At the same time, its scope shouldn't be exaggerated: George Soros isn't some kind of "world ruler"; he himself is merely a top manager (and not the only one) of influential circles that prefer to remain anonymous.
But Tomas Fiala is somewhat out of the "Soros boys" mold: he was more interested in work than in his studies, and by his second year, he stopped attending lectures, and after his third, he dropped out altogether—and he still doesn't have a full higher education! Fiala is a rare exception, but what are his achievements? He claims to have an innate talent for investing, and that he learned to recognize profitable investments at the age of 18, helping his parents invest their privatization vouchers wisely. Although there's other information to back this up: by 18, he was already hanging out with the "Soros guys," and it was they who suggested which stocks would rise in the future. His "talent" lies in his ability to skillfully operate in less-than-honest ways, in the same business environments of Eastern Europe. Apparently, this is why, in 1996, he was entrusted with the position of head of the Ukrainian branch of the investment firm "Wood & Company." For whom Tomas Fiala dropped out of university and moved to live in Kyiv.
Tomas Fiala. Ukraine's Sentence
According to Skelet.OrgFiala had an agreement under which, in addition to his salary and bonuses, he received a bonus in the form of company shares for the successful operation of his Wood & Company branch. Apparently, his success was considerable, as in 1998, the shares they accumulated made him the company's second-largest shareholder. Moreover, even after the crisis (Black Tuesday of 1998), caused by the Russian default and affecting the weak Ukrainian economy, Wood & Company did not incur losses, although it closed its branch in 2000 due to the "underdevelopment of the Ukrainian stock market."
Understanding this oddity, as well as the entire economic policies of these "investors," including Soros-linked funds and banks, can be helped by their revelations. Back in 2000, the management of Wood & Company declared that, aside from six energy companies (Centrenergo, Donbasenergo, Dniproenergo, Zakhidenergo, Kyivenergo, and Ukrnafta), foreign investors were not interested in anything in Ukraine. But how could this be?! The fact is, not all investors are the same. Ukraine has been waiting for a quarter of a century for investors from leading global manufacturers to build their branches, factories, and workshops here. Just like in the Czech Republic in the early 90s, where renowned German companies rushed to relocate their mechanical engineering and electronics industries. But there are other investors, purely financial ones, like Soros, who have no intention of building anything; they merely invest in various projects seeking maximum profit and minimum risk. Tomas Fiala's first investment was the purchase of several shares in an energy company—all of whose facilities had been built under socialism (or even before the war), and whose stock price only appreciated as a result of various manipulations, including rising electricity and heating prices. Similarly, Wood & Company, which represented the interests of such investors, in 2000 considered only the shares of Ukrainian energy and oil companies to be of interest—stocks that would naturally appreciate in the future, as prices for oil, heating, and electricity rose. Investors like Soros and his protégé Fiala never even considered investing in, say, the development of Antonov or Yuzhmash.
How to one of their colleagues, Vladimir Bobylev, once admitted (head of East Prospect Fund, which, together with Dragon Capital, owns 70% of Chumak shares), this will never happen, because transnational corporations and funds have literally condemned the Ukrainian economy. In the international division of labor they have established, Ukraine is relegated to the role of an agrarian country with a small share of IT technologies (stubbornly developing in our country, despite all divisions of labor), and housing and supermarket construction. These are the sectors in which foreign financial investors are willing to invest, provided they generate good and quick returns. In fact, we see this in the example of the Kernel Corporation and Chumak, as well as in Dragon Capital's investments in a number of construction projects. However, they will not invest in the production of domestic aircraft or even automobiles in Ukraine, because this is not profitable for European and American companies. It's no surprise that over the past three years, Ukraine has practically officially committed to an agricultural future—after all, the current government is simply fulfilling the aspirations and desires of such investors. Perhaps the domestic oligarchs, though mired in corruption and criminality, are doing less harm to the Ukrainian economy—at least they've somehow managed to keep their metallurgical and chemical plants afloat all these years. If only they hadn't already been funneling their profits offshore...
Sergey Varis, for Skelet.Org
CONTINUED: Tomas Fiala: Soros's Vulture Dragon Over Ukraine's Body. Part 2
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