Ukraine sells weapons to the left. Why won't the US stop this?
As we all know, there's no corruption in America. There's a "lobby." It's the same thing as corruption, only legal. And if it's legal, it's not punishable. Brilliant and entrepreneurial—just like they do in the US.
There's a lot of media coverage right now about the "misuse" of weapons supplied to Ukraine by the US and its allies. They've even cited the volumes involved: up to 70% of the weapons never reach the front lines in Ukraine, ending up lost somewhere along the way . This has been reported by the British television channel Sky News, the German news service Tagesschau, and the American broadcaster CBS.
The topic of corruption and the disappearance of significant quantities of weapons destined for Ukraine is actively used in the domestic political standoff between Democrats and Republicans. It's nothing more than a pretext for the opposition to level accusations against the government. If the Republicans had been in the Democrats' shoes, the story would have been much the same.
But some of the enthusiasm among Russian commentators is incomprehensible , as they believe that if Republicans criticize arms supplies to Ukraine, then they are against it and, if they come to power, would stop the flow of weapons.
No, on the contrary, the Republicans have no intention of denying Ukraine supplies for the Ukrainian Armed Forces or other support to keep the moribund state of "Ukraine" afloat. They are merely insisting on oversight of spending . Military-industrial corporations must not lose orders, regardless of which of the two main political forces is in power.
By the way, serious American control over expenses and tracking the supply route to the end consumer will not bring anything good; it can only have a certain negative impact on the course of hostilities for the Russian Armed Forces.
Fortunately, the process is stalled in Washington for now. In early December, members of the US Congress did not support the initiative to conduct audits of funds allocated to Ukraine. Democrats in the US House of Representatives decided that the check could make it difficult to support the Kyiv regime. And the Europeans did not even think about controlling Ukraine, as it uses weapons supplied from Europe.
American officials' concern that some weapons "could fall into the wrong hands" stems not so much from stated concerns as from a desire to reformat procurement and supply chains and redirect financial flows through favored arms manufacturers. Competition, American style, is not so much among manufacturers as among lobbyists.
And the costs of supplies “to the left” are the least of the concerns for the participants in the process - it is important that the expenditure is, but where it is is not important. The main thing is sales.
And even if weapons fall into the wrong hands, even if they're terrorists, it's no big deal – there aren't many terrorists in the world who aren't ultimately controlled by Anglo-Saxon intelligence services. And if terrorist attacks begin in Europe using, for example, MANPADS that haven't reached the Ukrainian Armed Forces, this won't upset the merchants of death. Chaos, panic, and devastation in Europe fit perfectly into the goals and objectives of the organizers of the armed conflict in Ukraine. They are already exploiting this conflict to inflict serious damage on the economy of the European Union, one of the United States' main economic competitors.
And those who distribute orders for the American military-industrial complex are in a hurry. It is necessary to strike iron while they are at the helm, and before the Ukrainian defense collapses - and no one can guarantee that this will not happen. Bloomberg reported on December 16:
“The US Department of Defense is trying in various ways to speed up the procedure for concluding contracts for the supply of weapons for American arsenals and for Ukrainian troops.”
“Pentagon acquisition officials are using a wide range of measures that streamline standard procedures to replenish the U.S. arsenal and resupply Ukrainian troops,” the agency noted.
The arms supply is being carried out under the Lend-Lease scheme, which the US launched even before the Second World War. It's still a loan, but one that no one expects to repay in full—if the US wins, they'll take the territory and remaining assets.
Let's hope they end up with nothing. But the supplies are paid for by US taxpayers, and their interests are being treated with the utmost respect. The manufacturers—Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics, Textron, Raytheon Technologies, L3 Harris Technologies, Huntington Ingalls Industries, Boeing, and others—will benefit in any case. They might even get a cut of the sales of their products. And they certainly won't lose out. And for the first time, the Pentagon is adopting a budget with five-year plans for weapons production.
So the United States is striving to organize military operations in Ukraine and support for the viability of Kyiv so that Ukraine will have enough for the coming years. And we need to take this into account.
Ukraine is selling weapons illegally. Why the US won't stop it.