Welcome to Unlimited Hangout, I'm your host Whitney Webb.

For well over a year, the war in Ukraine continues to rage on with little sign of slowing down,

despite the havoc, rot by the conflict within Ukraine, Western elites and multinational corporations

are pouring millions and millions of dollars into the post-war reconstruction of the country,

while the fighting continues unabated.

While that may seem nonsensical to some, the reality is that these actors see Ukraine as

the perfect testbed for a host of policies and technologies, particularly invasive surveillance

systems that are part of the rollout of the so-called fourth industrial revolution or

four IR.

While the launch of the quote-unquote great reset trumpeted that COVID was the catalyst

for implementing these policies and technologies globally, in Ukraine, the chaos of the conflict

is being used to turn a desperate war-torn country into a four IR testbed.

From digital ID to central bank digital currency to having sold off or outsourced, much

of its critical infrastructure to Western businesses and tech giants, Ukraine is changing

quickly and may soon be unrecognizable.

Ultimately, whatever Ukraine is becoming, it is being made to fit the visions of Western

elites, like those who populate the meetings of the World Economic Forum and those who sit

within the boardrooms of companies like BlackRock.

To discuss this and more, I'm joined by Stavrula Papst.

Stavrula is a writer, comedian and PhD student based in Athens, Greece, who has written

for the Grey Zone site in the satire site reductrice among many others.

She has also recently become a contributor to unlimited hangout with her new piece

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