As the Republican Party’s blockade of aid to Ukraine drags into its fourth month, the U.S. government under Pres. Joe Biden has found a clever new way to give Ukraine’s forces the weapons and ammunition they need to defend their country.
It is, in essence, an American version of Germany’s circular weapons trade—the so-called Ringtausch. The United States is gifting older surplus weapons to Greece with the understanding that Greece donates to Ukraine some of its own surplus weapons.
Greek media broke the news last week. According to the newspaper Kathimerini and other media, the Biden administration offered the Greek government three 87-foot Protector-class patrol boats, two Lockheed Martin C-130H airlifters, 10 Allison T56 turboprop engines for Lockheed P-3 patrol planes plus 60 M-2 Bradley fighting vehicles and a consignment of transport trucks.
All this hardware is U.S. military surplus—and is available to Greece, free of charge, under a U.S. legal authority called “excess defense articles.” Federal law allows an American president to declare military systems surplus to need, assign them a value—potentially zero dollars—and give them away on the condition that the recipient transport them.
It will be if Ukraine falls, I guarantee it. We pay now, or we pay more later having left them to suffer and die while China watches the West clutch pearls. There is no not paying. Putin made that decision for us.
This is the justification every single time.
I’m honestly sick of hearing it, especially when Americans can’t get their own tax dollars back in aid.
Just get off with this tired argument. The US is the STRONGEST ECONOMY IN THE DAMN WORLD RIGHT NOW. We have built our land on the backs of every other nation on the planet pretty much. If nothing else, we deserve to give some back as a nation just to balance the scales, just to allow every armchair economist/philosopher/world leader here and every other stupid-ass social media platform to spout the bullshit they pull out of their half-brain ass.
Homelessness in the US went up 12% last year, in one year, alone.
What’s tired is watching us continue our warmongering when the neglect of our own people has grown to such a vulgar extent. It doesn’t matter how strong our economy is when all it’s doing is making a handful of people wealthier and funding other countries’ wars to our own detriment.
A nation can address more than one thing at a time.
Tax millionaires and above at a commensurate tax rate.
Stop voting for people who only ever vote to slash social service programs, like housing aid and renter’s rights. Now who, might I ask, is the group that does that every damn time?
And, as another poster reiterated, this is surplus equipment That’s being given away. Thankfully, it’s not going to some podunk police department so they can sit on their ass while a school gets shot up (see: Uvalde, TX) or used as urban assault vehicles against civil rights protesters (see: protests all over the country). Furthermore, while exporting weapons of war may have moral qualms in some cases, maintaining strong allies against aggressors is of benefit to the entire alliance, and puts our factories (and the workers in those factories and industries) to work, earning money to shelter, feed, and clothe their families.
You partisan folks always repeat this, as if our government’s doing anything other than spending its time figuring out ways to spend more of our money on war.
That will only happen if you vote third party. All the legislators in Washington ARE millionnaires.
Both of you, ever since Clinton.
Congratulations - that’s the stupidest thing I’ve read all day. NOAA, NWS, HUD, Dept of Education, DoT, NASA, AMTRAK, BLS, Census… That’s just off the top of my head. Hyperbole is hyperbolic. Get rekd.
We are.
Homelessness is up 12% and you and yours only care about shipping more of our money off to war, even if it gets a fascist elected.
We are rekkd.