Correcting the Record on Investment in and Assistance to Ukraine

Yesterday, Bradley Devlin appeared on Tucker Carlson Tonight to discuss his piece in the American Conservative. Devlin claimed that Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky is attempting to enrich himself and his cronies, with the help of BlackRock, at the expense of American families:

Zelensky just said the quiet part out loud. He’s a comedian and actor, and he doesn’t give up the bit very often, but every once in a while, it slips through the cracks, and what he said was, listen, we’re all gonna make money hand over fist here. They’re unashamed of working with corporations like BlackRock that make money crowding out American families in the U.S. housing market.

The problem with this account is that it’s completely unmoored from reality. Devlin was referencing Zelensky’s December teleconference with BlackRock CEO Larry Fink to discuss the financial firm’s plans to invest in Ukraine. Nothing nefarious transpired during this meeting. Zelensky is doing everything he can to induce foreign direct investment to rebuild his war-torn country. The notion that this is just a conspiracy to line his pockets is ludicrous. 

BlackRock often invests in developing countries and emerging markets. For instance, last week, the Egyptian chairman of the Sovereign Fund of Egypt (TSFE) met with the vice president of BlackRock at the World Economic Forum in Davos to discuss cooperation between entities. Is that evidence of a plot to rob the Land of the Pharaohs of its wealth? No, of course not. Foreign direct investment (FDI) is commonplace in capital markets. As Investopedia explains:

FDI can foster and maintain economic growth, in both the recipient country and the country making the investment. On one hand, developing countries have encouraged FDI as a means of financing the construction of new infrastructure and the creation of jobs for their local workers. On the other hand, multinational companies benefit from FDI as a means of expanding their footprints into international markets.

In other words, FDI is a win-win for everyone involved. If anything, Devlin should be happy that Zelensky is looking to other sources to rebuild Ukraine, as he and his cohort often worry that the U.S. is going to be stuck with that entire bill.

As for BlackRock’s involvement in the U.S. real-estate market, it is a complete non sequitur. BlackRock is not, as Senator J. D. Vance (R., Ohio) claims, “pursuing an investment strategy that will make it harder for young Americans to own homes.” It is not buying individual homes in the U.S. To the extent there is housing scarcity in this country, it is because of a toxic stew of big government and NIMBYism, not because of BlackRock. To be clear: No one is covering for BlackRock; its role in pushing ESG, for example, is worthy of serious criticism (see here, here, and here), as are the other ways it employs wokeness for possible market benefit. But it’s important that such criticisms remain accurate.

Carlson was also highly misleading in his interview with Devlin. He claimed that “Americans will die” because of this arrangement. “Those tanks need Americans to operate and maintain them, so Americans are going to die in this war.”

Tucker appears to be conflating the recent announcement from the Pentagon that the U.S. will be delivering M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine in an effort to encourage Germany to follow by sending its coveted Leopard 2 tanks, with Kyiv’s attempts to procure financial assistance from the private sector. Americans do not need to operate these vehicles. The Ukrainians will train and learn how to use them. And few Americans have died in this conflict. The only ones who have perished are those who voluntarily took up arms on behalf of Ukraine, inspired by its valiant struggle against the Russian aggressors.

There are legitimate questions and concerns one can raise about the extent and nature of U.S. support for Ukraine. But last night, for some reason, Carlson and Devlin offered something quite different.