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- cross-posted to:
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French manufacturers have reduced the manufacturing times for some of the weapons systems they supply to Ukraine by half or more, as France increasingly switches away from its previous policy of dipping into its own military stocks to support the war effort against Russia’s invasion, France’s defense minister said in an interview published Thursday.
“The logic of ceding materiel taken from the armies’ stocks is reaching its end,” the minister, Sébastien Lecornu, said in the interview with Le Parisien. “From now on, the solution is to directly connect French defense industries with the Ukrainian army.”
He cited the Caesar self-propelled 155 mm howitzer, made in France by Nexter, as an example of how French defense contractors are adopting a war footing. Caesars are among an array of Western-supplied artillery systems that have given Ukrainian gun crews an edge, especially when paired with high-precision munitions, against Russian artillery batteries using older Soviet-designed systems.
Sure, but who’s paying for this? Will Ukraine now be buying directly from the industry (presumably on credit), or will the French taxpayer continue to pay with the vague hope that Ukraine might some day pay it back?
I’m fully in support of Ukraine, but it bothers me that no one talks about how the vast majority of aid sent to them is under bilateral aid agreements. As the name suggests, it’s a two way deal, and because the recipient of bilateral aid is always desperate the terms heavily favour the giving country. Either Ukraine won’t survive the war, and thus won’t pay it back, or it will but will be financially crippled.
Furthermore, I worry that governments are using these loans to balance their long term financial forecasts, making them seem a lot better than they really are.
Sure, but these are loans owed by a country to another country, so as long as the terms aren’t too crippling, I personally see this as better than the alternative.
For example, the UK only paid off it’s WW2 loans in 2006
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6215847.stm
My issue is not about the loans though, it’s about politicians fluffing up the financial health of their country to justify pilfering the tax coffers for themselves.
I’m aware that the UK paid off the US for WW2. However the UK’s economy is vastly different to Ukraine’s, both present and historically. The comparison is not reasonable.
Again though, I don’t want aid to stop - I want more of it. I just want it done above board.
I wonder if the Ukrainian people would rather pay off loans or have their children stolen by Putin.
It’s a mystery for the ages.
Sure, and as I say I’m fully in support of Ukraine. I don’t want the support to stop - in fact I want more of it.
However, that doesn’t mean the people of the countries that are giving should just ignore how it’s being done, and what it might mean for the true financial health of their own country. It’s no good if politicians are fiddling the books and using it to justify padding their pockets with taxpayer money.
Imagine if Hitlers one week special operation in Poland hadn’t been a success.
At this point I think everyone is waiting to see how the war turns out. Nobody’s getting paid if they lose