US congressmen had many doubts about approving the multimillion-dollar aid package for Ukraine proposed by President Joe Biden. They delayed it for half a year, with rejections and blockages derived from the struggle between republicans and democrats. Finally, the crisis unleashed with Iransworn enemy of Israelcleared the desired path for the White Housethat, in the end, the one who benefits the most is USA.
The question in the end has been very simple for American legislators. Your country is committed to being the hegemonic power of the planet and must be in all global conflict scenarios, from Ukraine to Taiwangoing by middle East. And money needs to be disbursed in order to accommodate wishes and raise the American flag. from the Pacific to eastern Europe.
And if most of that aid reverts to the US military complex, then all the better. And this is what is going to happen especially with the supportive European states that will contribute with their purchases for their own defense and what they send to Ukraine for the benefit of their ally the United States, more interested in arm Israel at a loss than to lose a single dollar in Eastern Europe.
Are 95 billion dollars those approved this Saturday by the House of Representatives or Lower House of the US Congress. The leader of the Democratic majority in the Senate, Charles Schumer, indicated that this chamber could vote on the aid package this Tuesday, to later be signed by Biden. Soon, then, American weapons will begin to move again towards the war theaters of Ukraine and Loop.
Ukraine, the great beneficiary or a medium-term trap?
Are 60.84 billion dollars will go to Ukraine, at a time when the country’s leadership in kyiv fears a Russian victoryby ammunition shortage and lack of effective weapons. Now at least there is hope of stopping the Russianswho lead the entire front line and who could be preparing a big offensive for this summer.
However, when this amount is analyzed, it soon becomes clear that those who benefit first are the US armed forces themselves and US weapons factories. Of that amount, 23 billion will allow us to replenish weapons, arsenals (especially ammunition) and facilities of the United States!, and 11.3 billion dollars will be for military operations American actions currently taking place “in the region.
Others 13.8 billion dollars will serve to acquire advanced weapons systems and defense teams. This is, really, the amount that Ukraine will reach. Of course, US companies indicated by the Pentagon. We will not see Ukrainian buyers purchasing weapons from many European manufacturers.
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began, the US has allocated $75 billion in direct assistance
Since the outbreak of Russian invasion of Ukrainehe February 24, 2022the United States has allocated 75 billion dollars in direct assistance to that country to help it resist the aggression of Moscowboth in terms of military aid and economic support and humanitarian aid.
Zelensky: the US is here to protect democracy and freedom
After the budget was approved, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, was very grateful and said that, luckily for the world, “democracy and freedom will always have global importance and will never fail as long as the US helps protect them.” Many of Ukraine’s European allies offered similar praise.
However, and despite the hope that is coming now, all these months without receiving weapons, especially ammunition, have left a gap that is difficult to restore. While calculations are being made about the defensive systems that can be delivered in the short term to Ukraine, the battle front changes and not exactly in favor of the Ukrainians.
This Monday, Russia claimed that it had captured Novomykhailivkaa town 40 kilometers southwest of the city of Donetsk, capital of the region with the same name, which is currently in Russian hands. It was the second major advance in two days, after the Russian command announced this Sunday that it had taken Bogdanivkaa town attached to Chasiv Yarthe bastion whose fall could sentence the takeover of all of Donetsk by the Russians.
Now it’s up to the Europeans to loosen their pockets
Therefore, the next thing Zelensky did after thanking the approval of the aid, was to address the European leaders so that they could send their corresponding contributions as soon as possible.
This does not seem so simple, since a good part of the items promised to Ukraine, especially for the purchase of ammunition, still have to go through different bureaucratic labyrinths of the EU, hence individual initiatives are taking place, such as the one led by the Czech Republic to gather rounds of ammunition that can be practically used now. A little more difficult is the proposal to hand over Ukraine half a dozen Patriot anti-missile systemsbut there it is.
That was why, last week, the secretary general of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg, made a strange demand to the European members of the Alliance: hand over the weapons systems they have on hand, especially anti-aircraft defense and ammunition, to get the Ukrainians out of the current predicament, and then we will see how to replenish these arsenals. Too many countries did not like this.
Billions of dollars in aid… to weapons manufacturers
The war in Ukraine has thrown the entire planet, but especially Europe, into a arms race from which American manufacturers have benefited, the only ones who, curiously, always know when a war will break out to have their goods ready.
In 2023 was given highest global military spending since 2009, with 2.29 billion eurosthat is, a 2.3% of world GDP. And what is coming is much bigger, according to members of the NATO bring their defense budgets closer to 2% demanded by Brussels or as those are covered 100,000 million euros which, apart from this spending, are demanded in the EU by the most pro-Ukrainian countries, such as Germany.
Calls for the creation of a strong European defense industry have been heard in recent months, accompanied by a almost childish propaganda about the “inevitable” Russian threat. Since such manufacturing of our own weapons is not going to be so immediate, there is only one way out: buy in the United States.
Aid to Israel that sentences the fate of Palestine
The speed with which the White House’s multimillion-dollar aid package has now been approved has responded to the peak of the crisis between Israel and Iran, which has been on the verge of unleashing a war in the Middle East of unsuspected proportions.
For this reason, the amount approved by the US House of Representatives for Israel is $26.4 billion. Curiously, also, this figure almost doubles the first proposal by Biden for that country in October 2023, when this item was going to be 14.3 billion dollars.
After all, he is the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who wins from these lurches by his North American ally. The Israeli attack on the Iranian consulate in Damascus, which killed 13 people, half of them senior Iranian officials, and which sparked the crisis with Tehranwith the exchange of very staged but harmless attacks between the two countries, has allowed Netanyahu to bring closer the United States that was very suspicious of the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza and, on top of that, obtain more economic support for their war.
From the new aid package to Israel, 5.2 billion dollars will be to provide more missiles for the progressive air defense systems that shield the Israeli skies: the Steel Domethe David’s Sling and the Iron Lightning.
Others 4.4 billion dollars They will serve to replace, in the United States, defense articles and services provided to Israel. We are with the same as in the Ukrainian case. Some 3.5 billion dollars will allow Israel to buy advanced weapons systems from the United States.
The mysterious aid for humanitarian assistance to Israel
and there is 9.2 billion dollars intended for humanitarian assistance, such as food, basic services and, key point, accommodation, for “populations in crisis.” This item, which would seem very generous, is the most worrying.
In the war launched by Israel in Gaza, practically all of the 2.3 million Palestinian inhabitants. Now, with American help, Netanyahu’s extremist government has the means to deport hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, if not the entire population of Gaza, to settlements outside the Palestinian territories, for example in the Sinai.
If this total eradication of the inhabitants of Gaza is not achieved, once it is taken Rafahthe last city standing in the Strip, Israel will be able to create and maintain immense camps for displaced persons and refugees to contain the survivors of this genocide (as even the UN has called it) that has already claimed the lives of more than 34,000 Palestinians , without counting the 8,000 missing.
It is necessary to emphasize that the granting of the “humanitarian” aid contemplated by the US package expressly prohibits its management by the UN Humanitarian Aid Agency. Palestinian Refugees in the Middle East (UNRWA)demonized by Israel.
Netanyahu had very warm words for the aid, which keeps him in power despite two-thirds of Israelis calling for his resignation. The prime minister thanked the “strong bipartisan support” of the US Congress that “defends Western civilization.” That is, “civilized” Israel, with its war crimes and daily violation of human rights in Gaza and West Bankis presented as the banner of that “Western civilization” in the Middle East.
