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No matter how divided Washington gets, as proven by its steady stream of wars across the globe since the end of WWII, the one thing U.S. politicians can agree on is military spending and funding proxy wars across the world.
Congress on Wednesday passed a $1.5 trillion spending package that will include $13.6 billion for Ukraine’s military and humanitarian assistance while the country squares off with Russia. The war shows no sign of slowing.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s administration announced Saturday that at least 1,300 of its soldiers have been killed so far during Russia’s invasion.
Ukraine put Russia’s death toll at 12,000 since the start of the invasion. A U.S. official told The Express newspaper that that figure is likely inaccurate and it is more likely that 5,000 to 6,000 of its forces have died.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer told reporters that the U.S. will give Ukrainians billions for food, medicine, shelter, and support for the over two million refugees who have had to leave Ukraine.
Al Jazeera also pointed out that the funds will also go toward arming Ukrainian fighters with Javelin anti-tank missiles and Stinger anti-aircraft missiles. (See “WAR IN UKRAINE ECONOMIC OVERVIEW.”)
President Joe Biden announced Saturday that the U.S. will rush about $200 million in small arms to Ukrainian fighters standing up against Russian forces.
Reuters reported that the latest announcement will bring the total amount of security aid to Kyiv to $1.2 billion over the past year. Senior administration officials told the outlet the U.S. has spent $3.2 billion on Ukraine since 2014, when Russia annexed the Crimea Peninsula.
The massive amount in spending for Ukraine was panned by some on social media who said the money could have been spent elsewhere.
“Biden signed a bill to send $13.6 billion in aid to Ukraine; Biden authorized $200 million in weapons for Ukraine. Shouldn’t American taxpayer dollars be allocated to Americans, especially when 71% of small businesses were devastated by disastrous government COVID mandates?” tweeted Jason Bassler, co-founder of The Free Thought Project.
Another posted, “Amazing how @SpeakerPelosi @JoeBiden have no problem sending our hard earned tax dollars, $13.6 billion to Ukraine, but couldn’t fund 6 billion for a secure wall against the invasion coming across the Southern Border.”
The White House and prominent members of Congress praised the package’s passage. Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, said in a statement that the bill proves “that members of both parties can come together to deliver results for the American people.”
The New York Times reported that Republicans in Congress also claimed credit for getting their colleagues to “accept a $42 billion increase in military spending, bringing the total this year to $782 billion.”
TRENDPOST: The latest military budget further illustrates our forecast that the 20th century was the American century and the 21st will be the Chinese century because the business of America has been war while the business of China is business.
We have long stated that Washington has never concerned itself with military spending—with nothing to show for it in decades, other than, of course, military contractors taking in billions from the government to fight losing wars. (See “DUH! PENTAGON SURPRISED BY CHINA’S TEST OF HYPERSONIC MISSILE,” “PENTAGON: TARGET CHINA” and “U.S. ‘ALREADY LOST’ AI WAR WITH CHINA, PENTAGON’S FORMER SOFTWARE CHIEF SAYS.”)
Brown University’s Costs of War Project found that the arms industry has spent $2.5 billion on government lobbying over the past two decades. The Pentagon has spent $14 trillion since 2001, and about one-third of the funding went to these companies.
High Praise for Ukraine Aid
Sen. Chuck Schumer, the Senate majority leader, called the package “the strongest, boldest and most significant government funding package we’ve seen in a long time.”
“The brave, freedom-loving people of Ukraine and our allies in the region will receive urgently needed investments to fight Vladimir Putin and the Russians’ illegal and immoral invasion,” Schumer said in a statement.
TREND FORECAST: Chuck Schumer, as with the majority of Washington and the mainstream media, are championing Ukrainians as brave heroes… which they are.
However, as brave as they may be, we have forecast that since neither Napoleon nor Hitler could defeat the Russian military, the Ukraine military will not defeat them either. Therefore, sending billions of dollars to “fight Vladimir Putin and the Russians’ illegal and immoral invasion,” is a waste of American taxpayer’s money and a waste of lives.
Indeed, it is, by the standards of America’s Founding Fathers, “illegal,” and since it will wrath needless death and destruction, it is illegal.
TRENDPOST: We would like to remind our readers that most Ukrainian men, unfortunate to still be in the war-torn country, have been banned from fleeing—most likely because they will be tapped by depleted Ukrainian forces in the later stages of the conflict.
The Money Flow
Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the minority leader, indicated that he was surprised that Republicans had to broker a deal with Democrats when it came to the military spending. He said it put his party “in the surreal position of having to push a commander in chief’s party into giving his own commanders the funding they need,” according to The New York Times.
“But over many Democrats’ objections, Republicans made sure this deal gets the job done for our armed forces,” he said.
The package earmarks $145 billion on new aircraft, ships, and other military vehicles, The Times reported. The bill will also invest in a dozen F/A-18 Super Hornets and 85 F-35 Joint Strike Fighters, the report said.
TRENDS FORECAST: Congress has never been more divided and disagreements seem to border on hatred from every major domestic and international issue… but among the only bills that get bipartisan support are for….more military spending!
Military spending will only continue to surge with new threats from China and Russia, and it will continue to cost millions of lives until there is a legitimate pro-peace leader.
Yet, there are minimal protests among Americans to end the foreign entanglements sapping economic resources of their declining, deep in $30 trillion nation or further enriching the military/industrial/intelligence complex.