Category: Foreign policy

Decline Of Diplomacy

This post is for all those naysayers that have nothing but crap to say about diplomacy.

In the 70’s I worked for the US State Department and I left there in 1980 when I saw the writing on the wall…diplomacy meant nothing it was all about the proxy wars we could finance and eventually fight.

Since 1970 I had been an antiwar person and thought that the state department would be at the forefront of all diplomatic endeavors….boy was I wrong!

Since 1980 diplomacy has been in decline….not accurate….it has been in free fall……

It takes enormous courage to protest a war, but when is it ever relevant to do so? There is a crisis in American democracy, yet there is no appetite to protest the decline of diplomacy. Many people believe Russia can’t be reasoned with and any chance for a negotiation is only a dream. Nobody should make a deal with the devil, they say. Americans have been led to believe that the heartbreaking war in Ukraine is beyond diplomacy.

And if there is no more time for talking, where then are we headed? Perhaps our distaste for dissent will weaken America, which was founded on the strength and value of American opinions. Differences of opinion are essential for a functioning democracy, this is the backbone of the first amendment. America’s diversity depends on its multitude of voices, which have never been more important. Dialogue is the practice of democracy.

World history continuously tells the story of peace and power, as progress is gained and lost throughout time. Bertrand Russell was once asked what message he would give to future generations. He suggested the necessity of tolerance, humans must learn to live together.

Intolerance has existed not just in recent history, but as a driving force behind all wars. In the face of global insecurity, only the strengthening of democracy through reason and discussion, has the potential to prevent tyranny. For freedom and equality to exist, disparate voices must be heard. Why then has criticism of the war been so readily dismissed as anti-American?

The Decline of Diplomacy

I still believe in diplomacy but as I read blogs and comments I think I am in a minority….Americans seem hell bent on world domination and interventionism…..it is veiled greed on the part of corporations that actually run this country…..

Be real!

If you do not have suitcases full of cash then your voice is little more than a fart in the wind.

At what point do Americans tire of war and the infliction of pain on the world?

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It’s About National Security

Ever since the dastardly attacks of 9/11 the warmongers have used national security to justify the pissing away of much needed funds to arm the world and in turn help foment small wars around the globe.

Ukraine is no different….there are those that claim wasted cash on Ukraine is in our national security…..

As the costs of supporting Ukraine’s war effort soar well beyond $50 billion, high-level officials are seeking to sell Americans on even more military spending, with senators, generals and the Ukrainian president himself each insisting aid to Kiev is vital to American interests, amid rampant inflation, mounting shortages and monumental public debt in the US. 

In a statement justifying a recent vote to send another $40 billion in assistance to Ukraine, Republican Senator Ted Cruz argued the move was essential not only for the security of the US, but to ward off a Chinese attack on Taiwan as well. 

“If Putin wins in Ukraine, it will confirm for Xi that he can confidently invade Taiwan,” he said, referring to the Russian and Chinese heads of state. 

“The reason we should support our Ukrainian allies is because it protects American national security, it keeps America safer, and it prevents our enemies from getting stronger, from threatening the safety and security of Americans, and from driving up the cost, the economic damage, to Americans,” Cruz added.

https://libertarianinstitute.org/news-roundup/sen-cruz-gen-milley-zelensky-say-ukraine-is-vital-to-national-security/

What total bullshit!

Do you really think either China or Russia has desires to invade and conquer the US?

This is just those in the pockets of the defense industry to keep the money flowing and the profits build-up….NOTHING more.

Does anyone with half of a functioning brain really think that Russia or China wants total war with the US?

Total war?

Total war is mainly characterized by the lack of distinction between fighting lawful combatants and civilians. The purpose is to destroy the other contender’s resources so that they are unable to continue to wage war. This might include targeting major infrastructure and blocking access to water, internet, or imports (often through blockades). Additionally, in total war, there is no limit on the type of weapons used and biological, chemical, nuclear, and other weapons of mass destruction may be unleashed.

Does anyone think that either adversaries are prepared for total war?

I do not!

Cruz and the ‘hawks’ are just ilk trying to do the bidding of those people that own them lock stock and barrel.

Feel free to jump into this debate at anytime.

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Is It A ‘Gaffe’ Or Dementia?

I know that many conservs want the answer to Biden’s recent comments to be dementia because of his advanced age…..and others are saying that ‘Uncle Joe’ is doing what he does best….gaffs……

I am talking about his most recent statement about his desire to protect Taiwan from any incursion by China….

In case you live under a ignorance rock…….

So has US policy toward Taiwan changed or not? “No,” President Biden declared Tuesday when asked that specific question, reports the AP. But Biden’s comments the previous day still seem to have muddied the water on what the US would do if China were to invade the self-governing island.

  • The comments: In his prepared remarks on Monday, Biden was sufficiently vague on how the US would react to a Chinese takeover of Taiwan, in sync with the decades-long policy that has come to be known as “strategic ambiguity.” But when asked by a reporter if the US was “willing to get involved militarily to defend Taiwan if it comes to that,” Biden replied, “Yes.”
  • A pattern: His comments had White House officials scrambling to clarify that US policy has not changed, and Peter Baker at the New York Times notes this appears to be a regular feature of the current White House—as when Biden ad-libbed that Vladimir Putin should not remain in power. “Each time he says what he really thinks, there is the ritual cleanup brigade dispatched by the White House to pretend that he did not really say what he clearly articulated—or that even if he did, it did not really amount to a change in policy,” writes Baker. “But then Mr. Biden, unperturbed and unapologetic, goes out and does it all over again.” This is, in fact, the third time Biden has made such remarks on Taiwan.
  • Dead or no? Views are split on what Biden’s comments mean. “Strategic ambiguity is over,” writes Georgetown professor Matthew Kroenig. “Strategic clarity is here. This is the third time Biden has said this. Good. China should welcome this. Washington is helping Beijing to not miscalculate.” On the other hand, Harvard’s Lev Nachman doesn’t see a reversal. “Strategic ambiguity is about under what conditions the US would intervene in a war over Taiwan, not a flat out refusal to answer if it would intervene,” he writes. Biden’s language, however, was “sloppy,” he adds.
  • In the middle? An analysis at the Washington Post by Adam Taylor looks at whether this might simply be a gaffe by a president long known for making them or a deliberate shift in policy, but also floats the idea of a something in between those two things: “Perhaps the most persuasive idea about Biden’s comments is that this is still ‘strategic ambiguity,’ just with a new, harder spin.”
  • One fear: An assessment by Phelim Kine at Politico notes that some fear Biden’s seemingly more aggressive stance might provoke China into making a preemptive move on Taiwan. On Monday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin warned that Beijing “will take firm actions to safeguard its sovereignty and security interests.” The analysis also notes that nothing currently on the books, including the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act and the 1982 Six Assurances, “specifically obligate” the US to intervene militarily.
  • A gripe: “Does anyone at the #WhiteHouse actually respect the words of @POTUS?” tweeted GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger after staffers clarified Biden’s Monday comments. “Biden said we would defend #Taiwan, and the staff AGAIN walks back the Presidents own words! He needs to fire everyone who does this.”

It is neither….dementia or a gaff….it is Biden signaling the defense industry that the cash will continue to be thrown in their direction.

Ukraine well is running dry so a new excuse to piss away money is needed quickly….and Biden provided that excuse.

9/11 provided the perfect excuse for the wasting of taxpayer cash…national security…..

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Is Taiwan Next?

Ukraine seems to be winding down to a stalemate…..and the lobbyists are needing something else to keep the cash flowing in with the help of their lackeys in the White House and Congress.

Not to worry we have a built in ‘enemy’ the Pentagon and State have been priming the public for years and now the president has made his declaration…..

The United States is on board with the “one China” policy—meaning that, in regard to Taiwan, it acknowledges formal ties to China instead. But the American government doesn’t endorse China’s views that it effectively owns Taiwan, and the US enjoys a “robust” unofficial relationship with the breakaway island, and so it would use force to defend Taiwan if it had to, according to comments made by President Biden on Monday. CNN reports Biden’s remarks came during a joint press conference in Tokyo with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, after the US president was asked if the US would come to Taiwan’s defense if it were ever attacked.

“Yes. That’s the commitment we made,” Biden said. “We agree with the ‘one China’ policy. We signed on to it,” but in terms of China possibly trying to take Taiwan against its will, it’s “[just not] appropriate.” Biden added, however, he didn’t see such an attempt at “reunification,” as China puts it, happening anytime soon. CNBC notes Biden’s comments seemed at odds with DC’s longtime “strategic ambiguity” on Taiwan, meaning it has been purposely fuzzy on what exactly, if anything, the US would do if China ever invaded the territory. After the news conference, a White House official tried to clarify the president’s comments, reaffirming the US’ adherence to the “one China” policy and “our commitment to peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.”

The official noted that Biden’s comments on defending Taiwan referred to the US’ commitment to 1979’s Taiwan Relations Act, which simply means the US would help shore up Taiwan’s ability to defend itself—not necessarily stage a military intervention. The Wall Street Journal notes Biden has appeared to shift on the US’ stance twice before, in August and October, only to have aides similarly walk his remarks back. At any rate, Taiwan is now expressing its gratitude, while China is slamming Biden’s words. A spokeswoman from Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry thanked the US for its “rock-solid” commitment, while a spokesman for China’s counterpart agency expressed “strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition,” per CNN, noting that “on issues concerning China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and other core interests, there is no room for compromise.”

See NO need to worry the paid representative of the M-IC and the ‘leader’ of the free world has made it official…..the profits will continue for the M-IC.

When will this stop?

Short answer….no time soon….when money is taking out of elections then it will cease.

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When Will The Damn Well Run Dry?

I am talking about the seemingly endless funds being funneled into Ukraine….

To answer my own question….it will apparently never run dry….no matter how many Americans will suffer from the waste of dollars.

I recently read that Biden has a plan to speed up the aid to Ukraine..

Really?

I think it is  moving damn fast without some legislation that will make it even faster to piss away taxpayer dollars….but I am a minority and the plan is moving forward….

On the day Russian President Vladimir Putin delivered a restrained Victory Day speech in Moscow, President Biden signed into law an updated version of the Lend-Lease program that helped the Allies—including the Soviet Union—defeat Nazi Germany in World War II. This time, Lend-Lease will be used against Russia. “Every day Ukrainians fight for their lives,” Biden said at the signing ceremony Monday in the Oval Office, the New York Times reports. “The cost of the fight is not cheap, but caving to aggression is even more costly.”

The program will allow the US to send equipment and supplies to Ukraine more quickly to help it turn back the invasion. It gives Biden the ability to reach agreements with Ukraine and other Eastern European countries more quickly, per the Washington Post. “It’s important to note that it’s about time,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said about the plan last month. “Time is very important when lives are at stake.” Passage was a bipartisan effort; the vote in the Senate was unanimous. Biden’s request for another extra $33 billion in aid for Ukraine is pending in Congress.

It is official!

The dollars will fly out of treasury and our gutless Congress gave it wings….

President Biden on Monday signed a bill into law reviving the World War II-era lend-lease program for Ukraine, paving the way for an escalation in US military aid to Kyiv.

The Ukraine Democracy Defense Lend-Lease Act of 2022 allows Biden to send weapons to Ukraine free of charge while technically requiring payment at a later date. Under the lend-lease act during World War II, the US sent billions of dollars in weapons to the Soviet Union, China, Britain, and other allies.

The legislation received massive bipartisan support in Congress, passing by voice vote in the Senate and by a vote of 417-10 in the House, with only Republicans voting against the bill.

According to a summary of the bill, it waives “certain requirements related to the President’s authority to lend or lease defense articles if the defense articles are intended for Ukraine’s government or the governments of other Eastern European countries affected by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.”

The bill’s signing comes after President Biden asked Congress for $33 billion in new aid for Ukraine, including $20.4 billion in military assistance. He has nearly exhausted the funds for arms shipments to Kyiv from a $13.6 billion Ukraine aid package that was included in a spending bill he signed in March.

President Biden waited until Monday to sign the bill since May 9 is the day Russia marks its victory day for the Soviet defeat of the Nazis in 1945. Ironically, the Soviet Union was one of the largest beneficiaries of US military aid under the lend-lease act during World War II.

At what point is enough enough?

But those Dems have gone one further….

Congressional Democrats drafted a plan to raise President Biden’s $33 billion aid request for Ukraine to $39.8 billion, which the House could pass as soon as Tuesday.

Biden’s $33 billion request included $20.4 billion for military aid. According to Bloomberg, Congress is adding $3.4 billion in military aid and $3.4 billion in humanitarian assistance.

Democrats initially wanted to include the Ukraine aid with additional COVID-19 funding, but Biden told lawmakers to separate the two packages. “We cannot afford delay in this vital war effort. Hence, I am prepared to accept that these two measures move separately so that the Ukrainian aid bill can get to my desk right away,” he said in a statement Monday.

Giving aid to Ukraine has strong bipartisan support in Congress, but Republicans have yet to sign on to the Democrats’ plan since they are seeking a larger increase. Republicans want to add $8 billion, while the draft plan drawn up by Democrats increased the aid by about $6.8 billion.

If the $39.8 billion plan is passed, it will bring total US aid for Ukraine in 2022 alone to over $53 billion. To put the enormous figure into perspective, Russia’s entire military budget for 2021 was estimated to be about $65.9 billion.

Why can’t these spineless tools in Congress find that much compassion and bi-partisanship for the people of this country?

This BS makes me want to vomit!

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Ukraine–Historical Background

I am one of those beleagued bloggers that try to help my readers make sense of what went wrong in Ukraine that would lead up to Vlad the Invader attempting to invade Ukraine…..I will admit that most do not want to think about it they will settle for the propaganda spread by their favorite news source.

But I try and will probably fail…..but I can sleep nights knowing I did what I thought was right.

This conflict has been raging for over 2 months….and there has been very little info in the media to try and explain just what went wrong that a war had to be used to solve the situation.

This is my small attempt to help in some form of clarification…..

There are points in Ukraine history that could be part of the problem….like the Clinton NATO thing…..the election of Zelensky……but did you know that Bush I made a promise to the USSR?

The US government today likes to pretend that it is the perennial champion of political independence for countries that were once behind the Iron Curtain. What is often forgotten, however, is that in the days following the fall of the Berlin Wall, Washington opposed independence for Soviet republics like Ukraine and the Baltic states.

In fact, the Bush administration openly supported Mikhail Gorbachev’s efforts to hold the Soviet Union together rather than allow the USSR to decentralize into smaller states. The US regime and its supporters in the press took the position that nationalism—not Soviet despotism—was the real problem for the people of Eastern Europe and the Caucasus.

Indeed, in the case of Ukraine, President George H.W. Bush even traveled to Kyiv in 1990 to lecture the Ukrainians about the dangers of seeking independence from Moscow, while decrying the supposed nationalist threat.

Today, nationalism is still a favorite bogeyman among Washington establishment mouthpieces. These outlets routinely opine on the dangers of French nationalism, Hungarian nationalism, and Russian nationalism. One often sees the term nationalism applied in ways designed to make the term distasteful, as in “white nationalism.”

When nationalism is convenient for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and its European freeloaders, on the other hand, we are told that nationalism is a force for good. Thus, the US regime and mainstream media generally pretend that Ukrainian nationalism—and even Ukrainian white nationalism—either don’t exist or are to be praised.

In 1991, however, the US had not yet decided that it paid to actively promote nationalism—so long as it is anti-Russian nationalism. Thus, in those days, we find the US regime siding with Moscow in efforts to stifle or discourage local nationalist efforts to break with the old Soviet state. The way it played out is an interesting case study in both Bush administration bumbling and in the US’s foreign policy before the advent of unipolar American liberal hegemony. 

https://mises.org/wire/1991-when-america-tried-keep-ukraine-ussr

As I always state…there is more to a story than the one-sided crap the media would have you believe.

The more you learn…the more you know….

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Then There Is The NATO Thing

First of all my thought on NATO……I think that once the USSR collapsed and the ‘republics’ started breaking away then NATO should have been abandoned….after all NATO was suppose to be a deterrent to any expansion by the USSR and once it was gone then NATO was not needed. Replace it with some sort of trade bloc.

Then under Clinton the organization started its Eastward expansion….basically at the behest of the M-IC…..my opinion this started what could be seen as provocation of Russia and they bit at the worm dangled in front of them. (Please notice I said ‘could be seen’…before the idiotic diatribes begin)

Ukraine is dominating the news these but let’s look back at the early days of the 21st century……

A widespread misconception of NATO’s relation to Ukraine has been sustained by silence in news sources and falsehoods by pundits. According to this myth, the NATO-Ukraine connection, prior to Russia’s current horrific invasion, was a matter of Ukraine’s asking to join and NATO’s not saying “No.” In fact, over the last fourteen years, NATO’s conduct has gone far beyond openness to eventual admission, in engagements that have included extensive and expanding joint military operations in Ukraine. This involvement, which was accompanied by US efforts to shape Ukrainian politics, does not in the least affect Putin’s moral responsibility for the carnage he is inflicting. But awareness of this history should affect vitally important assessments of the proper response.

In 2008, William Burns, then U.S. ambassador to Russia and now CIA director, cabled from Moscow, “Ukrainian entry into NATO is the brightest of all redlines for the Russian elite (not just Putin) …I have yet to find anyone who views Ukraine in NATO as anything other than a direct challenge to Russian interests.” As Burns’ cable suggests, Ukraine has distinctive geopolitical significance for Russia. It is the next-largest country in Europe, after Russia, dominates the northern border of the Black Sea, and has a 1,227-mile land border with Russia. Nonetheless, at the end of the 2008 Bucharest NATO Summit, when expansion to Russia’s borders was virtually complete, NATO, led by the US, declared agreement on its completion: “We agreed today that these two countries [Ukraine along with Georgia] will become members of NATO.” In 2011, a NATO report noted, “The Alliance assists Ukraine … in preparing defence policy reviews and other documents, in training personnel, … modernising armed forces and making them more interoperable and more capable of participating in international missions” — international cooperation that had already included a joint Black Sea naval exercise with the US.

The Backstory of NATO, Ukraine and Putin’s Fears

Now NATO wants to expand even more…this time it is Finland and Sweden.

NATO being a war-hawk institution is pushing for a quick inclusion of these states…..

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Thursday that Finland and Sweden would be embraced with open arms should they decide to join the 30-nation military organization and could become members quite quickly.

Stoltenberg’s remarks came as public support in Finland and Sweden for NATO membership mounts in response to Russia’s war in Ukraine. Media speculation in the two countries suggest the two might apply in mid-May.

“It’s their decision,” Stoltenberg said. “But if they decide to apply, Finland and Sweden will be warmly welcomed, and I expect that process to go quickly.”

https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-europe-sweden-finland-jens-stoltenberg-82ae8eb0585656995c9b7041d84828bf

I have a problem once again….this expansion will further act as a provocation and could lead to even more conflicts down the road.

There are reasons that this process should be stopped here and now…..

Almost eight decades have passed since the end of World War II and Europe remains helplessly dependent on America. Yet U.S. officials are celebrating the expected application by Finland and Sweden to join NATO.

The Washington Blob doesn’t seem likely to be satisfied until every country on earth relies on the U.S. for its defense.

The accession of these two nations — which would be rapidly granted as war rages between Ukraine and Russia — is being presented as strengthening the alliance. However, the U.S., alone or in conjunction with its 29 NATO allies, many of which appear to field militaries mostly for show, would handily defeat Moscow in any continental contest.

That was evident even before Russia’s botched invasion of Ukraine. Now, two months into a conflict that was supposed to have overrun the latter in a few days or weeks at most, no one imagines that Moscow retains more than a shadow of the Soviet Union’s conventional military capabilities.

In truth, NATO expansion has never been about American security. Rather, it was meant to expand Washington’s defense dole in the name of promoting regional stability.

So why should Americans increase their defense load now? The U.S. should stop adding new members to the transatlantic alliance and instead prepare to turn Europe’s defense over to Europe. Here are nine reasons to keep the door closed to Finland and Sweden.

Nine reasons why NATO should close the door to Sweden and Finland

Let’s be honest….since the mid-1990s NATO has NOT been about American security but rather to make the world dependent on our defense industry….American weapons are big business.

Time for this expansionist mindset to be put to bed….war is never the answer and preparation for it should be secondary.

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“lego ergo scribo”

Citizen Genet Affair

It is the weekend and as a small diversion from the horrific news of the I would like to offer up a little American since there are moves to re-write it….I think it is important to learn it all…the good, the bad and the ugly…..so let’s step into the ‘way back machine’ to the early days of our republic.

I once taught a class on American Foreign Policy from the beginning to recent history……some say the John Adams and his Sedition Act was our first crisis on the international stage….I disagree.

The new nation of United States of America faced its first foreign policy crisis in 1793 when the US and France were at diplomatic odds….

Edmond Charles Genêt served as French minister to the United States from 1793 to 1794. His activities in that capacity embroiled the United States and France in a diplomatic crisis, as the United States Government attempted to remain neutral in the conflict between Great Britain and Revolutionary France. The controversy was ultimately resolved by Genêt’s recall from his position. As a result of the Citizen Genêt affair, the United States established a set of procedures governing neutrality.

American foreign policy in the 1790s was dominated by the events surrounding the French Revolution. Following the overthrow of the monarchy in 1792, the revolutionary French Government clashed with the monarchies of Spain and Great Britain. French policymakers needed the United States to help defend France’s colonies in the Caribbean – either as a neutral supplier or as a military ally, and so they dispatched Edmond Charles Genêt, an experienced diplomat, as minister to the United States. The French assigned Genêt several additional duties: to obtain advance payments on debts that the U.S. owed to France, to negotiate a commercial treaty between the United States and France, and to implement portions of the 1778 Franco-American treaty which allowed attacks on British merchant shipping using ships based in American ports. Genêt’s attempt to carry out his instructions would bring him into direct conflict with the U.S. Government.

The French Revolution had already reinforced political differences within President George Washington’s Cabinet. The Democratic-Republicans, led by Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, sympathized with the French revolutionaries. The Federalists, led by Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton, believed that ties with Great Britain were more important. President Washington attempted to steer a neutral course between these two opposing views. He believed that joining Great Britain or France in war could subject the comparatively weak United States to invasion by foreign armies and have disastrous economic consequences. President Washington issued a proclamation of neutrality on April 22, 1793.

https://history.state.gov/milestones/1784-1800/citizen-genet

Further reading on this historic issue…..

https://www.thoughtco.com/citizen-genet-affair-4147691

The early years of our republic are fascinating….so much back and forth…..start and stop for American foreign policy.

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Where Did The Money Go?

I have been bitching about the amount of mo bey that the US is throwing at Ukraine……and like most of our endless wars we have no idea where the cash goes once it leaves the bank……well guess what Ukraine conflict is NO different……

US officials just admitted they don’t know where their arms shipments to Ukraine will actually end up, and that they could fall into dangerous hands.

Ever since the crisis over Ukraine began last year, a minority of commentators, including the present author, have cautioned about the dangers of inundating the country with weapons, and the risk of fueling extremist groups that could destabilize the country and create blowback for the West, as the United States’ anti-Soviet policy in Afghanistan did in the 1980s. A new CNN report suggests US officials are well aware of these risks.

A suite of anonymous sources told the network that Washington has no way of tracking the weapons they send or knowing where they end up when they enter Ukraine, one of Europe’s largest arms trafficking markets even before the war. “It drops into a big black hole, and you have almost no sense of it at all after a short period of time,” one source told CNN.

According to the report, both military analysts and US officials acknowledge that the massive quantity of arms being supplied by more than twenty governments could in the long term “wind up in the hands of other militaries and militias that the US did not intend to arm.” Ukrainian troops pick up trucks loaded with weapons mostly in Poland, states the report, before driving them across the border, at which point it’s entirely up to Ukrainians how and where they’re given out.

https://www.jacobinmag.com/2022/04/united-states-military-aid-ukraine-war-weapons

This should be unacceptable to anyone serving in our government…..especially those morons in Congress that are always going on about smaller government…..but no the gutless wonders we elected just rubber stamp the pissing away of taxpayer money.

Not worry Biden and the rest of the pilferers will just throw more money and aid at Ukraine….

President Biden will ask Congress for an additional $33 billion to help Ukraine fend off the Russian invasion, two administration officials said Thursday, per the AP. Biden’s latest proposal—which the officials said was expected to last for five months—has more than $20 billion in military assistance for Ukraine and for bolstering defenses in nearby countries. There is also $8.5 billion in economic aid to help keep Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s government functioning and $3 billion for food and humanitarian programs to help civilians and other spending, said the officials.

The new proposal would be more than twice as large as the initial $13.6 billion package of defense and economic aid for Ukraine and Western allies that Congress enacted last month and is almost exhausted. It seemed to signal a long-term US commitment to staving off Russian President Vladimir Putin’s attempt to expand his nation’s control of its neighbor, and perhaps beyond. The request comes with the fighting, now in its ninth week, sharpening in eastern and southern parts of the country and international tensions growing as Russia cuts off gas supplies to two NATO allies, Poland and Bulgaria.

 

There is wide, bipartisan support in Congress for giving Ukraine all the assistance it needs to fight the Russians, and its eventual approval seems certain. But Biden and congressional Democrats also want lawmakers to approve an additional $22.5 billion for vaccines, treatments, testing, and aid to other countries in continuing efforts to contain COVID-19, and that along with a Republican push to entangle the measure with an extension of some Trump-era immigration restrictions leaves the proposal’s pathway to enactment unclear. In a compromise with Republicans, Senate Democrats have already agreed to pare the $22.5 billion figure to $10 billion.

THis plan should sail through Congress with few problems….yet when funds are needed to help our fellow Americans there is debate and antics and nothing gets done…..

Why is that?

What makes Ukraine more important than feeding kids in this country?

Please do NOT give me the democracy thing as the excuse….that does not wash.

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As Weapons Pour Into Ukraine

The hostilities foisted on Ukraine by Vlad the Invader and his ‘forces of evil’ the West has shoved numerous weapons up the butt of Ukraine….new missiles, anti-tank, anti-personnel, air support systems all donated with the hope that it will be a long war (at least that is the hope of the M-IC)…..

Since Russia invaded on February 24, the US pledged about $2.6 billion in military aid. According to media reports, President Biden is preparing to announce yet another weapons package for Ukraine that will be similar in size to the $800 million one that was announced last week.

More money more money…..

President Biden announced another $1.3 billion in aid for Ukraine. Of that amount, $800 million will go towards a new weapons package, and $500 million will go directly to the Ukrainian government for economic assistance.

The new package brings the total military aid pledged by the Biden administration for Ukraine since Russia invaded on February 24 to a whopping $3.4 billion. Including direct economic assistance given to Ukraine, the total aid climbs to $4.4 billion.

(antiwar.com)

Why would anyone want this war to be a protracted war?

Why do you think? CASH!

The war in Ukraine will indeed be a bonanza for the likes of Raytheon and Lockheed Martin. First of all, there will be the contracts to resupply weapons like Raytheon’s Stinger anti-aircraft missile and the Raytheon/Lockheed Martin-produced Javelin anti-tank missile that Washington has already provided to Ukraine by the thousands. The bigger stream of profits, however, will come from assured post-conflict increases in national-security spending here and in Europe justified, at least in part, by the Russian invasion and the disaster that’s followed.

Indeed, direct arms transfers to Ukraine already reflect only part of the extra money going to U.S. military contractors. This fiscal year alone, they are guaranteed to also reap significant benefits from the Pentagon’s Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI) and the State Department’s Foreign Military Financing (FMF) program, both of which finance the acquisition of American weaponry and other equipment, as well as military training. These have, in fact, been the two primary channels for military aid to Ukraine from the moment the Russians invaded and seized Crimea in 2014. Since then, the United States has committed around $5 billion in security assistance to that country.

According to the State Department, the United States has provided such military aid to help Ukraine “preserve its territorial integrity, secure its borders, and improve interoperability with NATO.” So, when Russian troops began to mass on the Ukrainian border last year, Washington quickly upped the ante. On March 31, 2021, the U.S. European Command declared a “potential imminent crisis,” given the estimated 100,000 Russian troops already along that border and within Crimea. As last year ended, the Biden administration had committed $650 million in weaponry to Ukraine, including anti-aircraft and anti-armor equipment like the Raytheon/Lockheed Martin Javelin anti-tank missile.

How Pentagon Contractors Are Cashing in on the Ukraine Crisis

There is one drawback that should be considered…..all those weapons and zero chance of tracking who gets them or just where they go…..

A US official said the White House has “almost zero” ability to track the weapons it is sending to Ukraine. So far, President Joe Biden has approved over $3 billion in arms shipments to Kiev. 

Speaking with CNN about the weapons, one source said, “we have fidelity for a short time, but when it enters the fog of war, we have almost zero. It drops into a big black hole, and you have almost no sense of it at all after a short period of time.”

The source said the US lacked personnel “on the ground,” making it nearly impossible to track the movement of weapons. Another source told CNN Ukraine was incentivized to lie to get access to more weapons, saying “It’s a war – every statement is an information operation, every interview. Every Zelensky appearance broadcast is an information operation.”

https://libertarianinstitute.org/news-roundup/white-house-has-almost-zero-ability-to-track-weapons-it-sends-to-ukraine/

The truth be known…,the US has NO idea where these weapons will wind up…..no accountability or responsibility….just shove the weapons up their butts and hope for the best….as long as the check does not bounce who gives a f*ck?

The same with every war.

Mark my words these ‘lost’ weapons will be used again.

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