Two parts to my response.

Part 1

From my limited perspective, money was the root the Russian invasion. Since Ukraine's indepedence, Russian oligarchs have been skimming off the Ukrainian economy. Zelenskyy and team were showing some backbone in standing up to this practice. And that was the main reason for the invasion for the invasiton of Ukraine. All this stuff about NATO or western profiteers is smokescreen for Russia wanting to keep its cash cow.

If we look back at American history, the days of the robber barons circa 1880 were a very corrupt time .i It took a couple of decades, but corruption was reduced to manageable levels. But we westerners still need to go further.

When I say "manageable," I mean, as a percentage, less of the American economy goes into corruption as compared to other countries. As well, our corruption is more subtle. Here is my personal experience of getting a political bribe:

https://medium.com/politically-speaking/my-brush-with-political-corruption-5d8c4c255bc8

Part 2

In Ukraine, the corruption was both a larger percentage of the economy and very open. I lived in Slovakia in 1994, and the stories that were in the newspapers would make the American robber barons look almost honest.

Your article accurately described some the western techniques of corruption.

But how to end this? Or at least reduce it further?

For that, we need a new democracy. This western democracy has reached its limit. Vested interests still have too much sway. Even if the rules are changed, these vested interests will still find their way--and maintain a certain of "manageable" corruption.