The actual text of the "Ukraine aid" portion of the bill (anyone here actually read it?) is farcical. Among other open admissions that it's nothing more than one final act of wealth transfer from taxpayers to the military industrial complex, there's a "stipulation" (with zero conseqences for ignoring it, as the Biden Admin will) that Biden has to produce an actual strategy for their Ukrainian project within 45 days of the bill being passed.
Here are some observations and questions that nobody in the media class will ever put to Jake Sullivan, Lloyd Austin or Joe Biden about this "stipulation" (for which, again, there are no consequences for ignoring - once they get the money, that's it, they have it):
1) Implicit in this '45 day' rule is that so far you haven't actually presented any strategy. Isn't it kind of insane that you're being given the money before you've presented a plan, rather than after it? Given that you're now 26 months into a war that you claim is existential for you?
2) Why 45 days and not 45 minutes? Is this again an admission that, despite what you say, you so far don't actually have a strategy? Why a month and a half to cobble something together? Is it because you know that 45 days from now everyone will have forgotten about this stipulation in the bill?
3) For 6 months now you've been chastising the "MAGA Republicans" for "sitting on this bill". But they told you from the outset that presenting a coherent strategy for your Ukrainian policy was a condition for getting the money. Why haven't you been working on this for the last half a year? You've been guilt-tripping "the MAGA Republicans" into passing the bill with fairytales of Putin marching through Europe if the 61 billion isn't handed over, but why haven't you been doing your job in the meantime by crafting the strategy they told you they needed? April 19th 2024 and you still don't have a clue what your strategy is, beyond funnelling more and more billions to your donors at Raytheon and Lockheed Martin.
It's always worth remembering that in Eisenhower's original prophetic warning about the military-industrial complex ("In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military–industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists, and will persist. - Farewell Address to the Nation on January 17, 1961), he used the term "military–industrial–congressional complex", indicating the role that the US Congress plays in the propagation of the military industry. His warning has come to pass. Nobody with even a modicum of understanding about this war believes that this "61 billion for Ukraine" (it's nowhere close to that if you read the actual bill) is going to change the outcome for Ukraine. It's one last payday for the uniparty's sponsors. Here's Lloyd Austin just this last week stuttering through a basic question about what Ukrainian victory looks like before all but admitting Ukraine's entry into NATO is a pipe dream they've been stringing the Ukrainians along with:
The guy above asked why "NATO" (it's not NATO, it's the US and the UK) are "torturing Ukraine" like this. Money. That's why. Money. The transfer of poor people's taxes to rich people's bank accounts under the guise of "protecting their freedom". It's a tedious game they've played many times before. A few US shareholders are about to get a whole lot richer in the coming days and a lot of Ukrainians will continue to get a whole lot deader. Chuck Schumer said unequivocally in February, and I'm quoting, "If Ukraine gets this supplemental funding, they will win the war". Today, visibly delighted with his latest payday, he said, and I'm quoting, "Come the end of this fiscal year Ukraine is going to need more of our support". Numbers quoted are already another hundred billion locked in before the election. At this point, they're not even bothering to hide their bullshit.
