Gen. Mark Milley, the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the result of not supporting Ukraine’s war effort against Russia now would mean Washington would be forced to double its defense budget. 

Milley appeared before Congress on Thursday and warned about the consequences if the “rules-based order” in the world “goes out the window.”

“We’ll be doubling our defense budgets at that point because that will introduce, not an era of great power competition, that’ll begin an era of great power conflict period and that’ll be extraordinarily dangerous for the whole world,” he said during a House Appropriations Committee defense subcommittee hearing.

The Biden administration has requested $842 billion from Congress for the fiscal year 2024, which would be an increase of $26 billion from 2023 levels and $100 billion from 2022. Last year, the U.S. spent three times more on the military than China, which comes in second place.

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, military spending across the globe hit an all-time high of $2.24 trillion last year. 

Milley said the war is important to U.S. national interests and fundamental to the U.S., Europe, and “to global security.”

Milley said the strategic end state is that the “global rules-based international order that was put in place in 1945 is upheld.”

“How do you do that, how do you know you’ve achieved that end state? You achieve that end state when Ukraine remains a free, sovereign, independent country with their territory intact,” he said.

Milley, who will retire later this year, faced some more Republicans who expressed concerns about the U.S. objectives for Ukraine. Some questioned why the U.S. was just providing Ukraine enough equipment to keep the war going and not to win, others, like Rep. Chris Stewart, R-Utah, asked Milley if the U.S.’s goal is for Kyiv to retake Crimea, according to Military.com. 

The top general said he believes it would be very challenging for Ukraine to retake Crimea, but said the task at hand is to help Ukraine defend itself.”

“The United States is not at war with Russia, even though Russia tries to portray that,” he said.

Milley identified China as the biggest threat and said the U.S. military’s operational readiness rates are “higher now than they have been in many, many years.”

He said more than 60 percent of the active force is at the highest states of readiness and could deploy to combat in less than 30 days, PBS reported. He said 10 percent could deploy within 96 hours.

TRENDPOST: Milley shows that the U.S. is not interested in achieving a peaceful settlement in Ukraine, but wants to continue to support Kyiv’s effort to expel Russian troops from the country and even retake Crimea. (See “RAMPING UP WAR, UKRAINIAN ATTACKS RUSSIAN BASE IN CRIMEA” 4 Apr 2023, “ARROGANT WARMONGERING MILITARY OFFICERS OFFER ADVICE ON HOW TO RETAKE CRIMEA, DESTROY RUSSIA” 7 Mar 2023, and “TARGET CRIMEA: ZELENSKY READY TO CROSS THE RED LINE” 28 Feb 2023.)

We have noted that Milley has become just as much a politician as a general and has promoted the Biden administration’s line and is going to say whatever the White House wants him to say.

Milley’s opinion on the Ukraine war has evolved considerably after once suggesting that Kyiv should negotiate for a peaceful settlement because it may have achieved all it can on the battlefield.

His remarks at the time were quickly rebuked by Washington’s War Machine in the State Department that said any decision to negotiate will rest with Kyiv and the Biden administration will do nothing to nudge the effort along.

U.S. Announces Another $325 Million in Weapons for Ukraine…Who’s Counting?

The U.S. announced Wednesday that it will provide Ukraine with another $325 million in weapons so it can continue to fight Russia.

The weapons, which will include ammunition for HIMARS, 155mm, and 105mm artillery rounds, and over nine million rounds of small arms ammunition, will be taken from U.S. stockpiles through the Presidential Drawdown Authority. The funding will be taken from the aid bill that was passed by Congress last year that will run out by the summer. Thus far, the U.S. has approved about $120 billion for Ukraine. 

The New York Times reported that the new round of funding is intended to bolster Ukraine’s capabilities before its counter-offensive.

“We are confident the counteroffensive is taking place in the nearest future,” Prime Minister Denys Shmygal said earlier this month. “The U.S. absolutely supports us.”

TREND FORECAST: Ukraine knows that the people (not politicians) in the West are losing interest in the war and its economic ramifications, so Kyiv will have to show some counter-strike capability to give war-mongering politicians an excuse to keep the weapons flowing. 

Nothing has changed since the start of the war. As we have forecast before the War began, Ukraine will not defeat Russia. Barely reported by the mainstream media is that Russia controls some 20 percent of Ukraine since the invasion and has destroyed much of Ukraine’s power and transportation infrastructure. Therefore, Ukraine cannot push Russia out, and Russian President Vladimir Putin will achieve his goals.