Ukraine depends on U.S. for almost everything

I don't know exactly how much money we've spent on Ukraine so far, but this article from last week says $113 Billion. To put that into perspective, Ukraine's entire GDP in 2020 was $200 billion.

In 2022 the GDP by 30 per cent, in what was called as the biggest decile in the country’s independent history since the disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1991.
The country’s budget deficit in 2023 is planned at $38 billion, and the government plans to cover it with foreign aid, according to a January report by Reuters.

So the chances of Ukraine being able to pay us back is nil.
Ukraine's government is currently on IMF loan life-support.

Yet, Ukraine's dependency on the U.S. goes far beyond even this.
For example, remember when the western press was bragging about how Ukrainians were using US-provided High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) with such effectiveness? There's more context to that story.

According to a senior Ukrainian official who spoke to the Post, the targeting process often involves Ukrainian forces identifying a Russian target, requesting more accurate coordinates from US partners, and then waiting to receive said coordinates.

The official said that the US doesn't always send coordinates. In that case, they said, Ukraine holds its fire. As the report explained, Ukraine can still launch HIMARS attacks without US coordinates, but the country is reluctant to waste ammunition by potentially missing the target.

So when it comes to those expensive weapons systems that have killed so many Russians, the Ukrainians don't actually do anything with them except for pushing the red button.
Even that doesn't appear to be enough, because the Pentagon is getting ready to roll out some top-secret programs that will our troops in the war zone.

“Defense officials are preparing a proposal for lawmakers’ consideration in the coming months, when work begins on next year’s Pentagon policy and funding bill,” the article said.

The newspaper writes that “if successful, these programs could resume as soon as 2024, though it remains unclear if the Biden administration would allow U.S. commandos back into Ukraine to oversee them or if the military would seek to do that from a neighboring country.”

Any nation that had done even a tenth as much against us would be considered guilty of acts of war.

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Reuters: White House says blog post on Nord Stream explosion 'utterly false'

A 'blog post'. So some random blogger made a B.S. claim.
Not the greatest investigative reporter of our lifetime.

Reuters: Factbox: Prize-winning reporter Seymour Hersh no stranger to controversy

O.K. So he's an established reporter, but he often makes claims that turn out untrue, right?

Business Insider: The claim by a discredited journalist that the US secretly blew up the Nord Stream pipeline is proving a gift to Putin

This one is my favorite. First of all, he's 'a discredited journalist'. And secondly, he a Useful Idiot and Putin Puppet.
So what was Hersh 'discredited' for?

In recent decades, he has come under criticism by those who call it poorly-sourced, conspiratorial, and over-reliant on anonymous sources. The open-source investigative outlet Bellingcat was deeply critical of his reporting on chemical attacks in Syria, and Vox raised doubts about his infamous 2015 claim that President Barack Obama did not, in fact, mastermind the killing of Osama bin Laden.

I don't know about the second claim, but let's look at the first. Bellingcat did slam Hersh for reporting that Syria probably didn't do that chemical attack, and other establishment sources piled on. In fact, there were open calls for Hersh to be silenced. Hersh never actually claimed to have full proof. Only that there was a rush to judgement against Syria based on faulty evidence.
It turned out that a couple years later, new information began to leak out.

Initial reports by the UN and by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons argued that Assad is to blame for the attack. However, recently, the Working Group on Syria Propaganda and Media released leaked internal documents of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons that were previously kept secret. But now, these documents prove otherwise.

Now, MIT professor Ted Postol analyzed those new documents that were leaked and compared them with the official reports issued, and discovered that they contradicted the official report and that there is strong evidence to suggest that the attack was in fact staged.

Not only was the report questionable, but there's been testimony by whistleblowers.

A former director of the Organization for the Prevention of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), Jose Bustani, who had been invited to brief the UN Security Council on the cover-up scandal involving the now-disputed Syrian chemical weapon attacks has been blocked from testifying by the U.S., UK, and France.

These nations collectively bombed sovereign Syrian military infrastructure following the events at Douma, and their standing in the way of Bustani’s testimony is telling, especially as recent leaks from the UK Foreign Office have shown the enormous degree to which both the U.S. and especially the UK were involved in spinning, distorting, and propagandizing the image of the Syrian Civil War in western and Arab news media.
...
After several inspectors claimed the report was not only faulty, but that fraudulent and sinister activity, perhaps spurred on by certain state parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention, was present surrounding the investigation, they were dismissed, fired, or placed on leave.

Their report of the Douma site, which came to a much different conclusion than one that had been released earlier, was found according to the whistleblowers, to have been suppressed and covered up.

And yet the story goes that Hersh was 'discredited'.

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Cassiodorus's picture

@gjohnsit They'll be Ridin' with Biden! Four more wars! I mean four more years!

Or at least that's what Raw Story said a week ago. Meanwhile, as you've pointed out here, more pointless Biden war, and how 'bout that Doomsday Clock!

Meanwhile, Cool Joe is going to be running on "the economy." Here's how that's going to turn out:

So what do you think? Will President DeSantis continue the charade in Ukraine?

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"The war on Gaza, backed by the West, is a demonstration that the West is willing to cross all lines. That it will discard any nuance of humanity. That it is willing to commit genocide" -- Moon of Alabama

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Of course they have to attack the messenger. Glad Hersh has the shoulders to
withstand the blow back. The masters will never admit they committed a crime.
It is all a justified exercise in natal security. Fish farts.

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Pluto's Republic's picture

— the defensive lies of the Intelligence Agencies, the gaslighting of the American People, the obvious Hoaxes and False Flags, the US theft of assets and gold from weaker nations, the smearing slogans and propaganda about independent nations, and the criminal desperation and lying testimony of US officials —

The Neocons now believe they are fighting for their lives.

And they are.

We caught our first glimpse of US desperation back in 2016. That was when the Neocons first realized their 21st-century Plan could be exposed and they might lose everything.

But please understand that the war against Russia began on September 11, 2001. That's when the US physically occupied Russia's former Waterloo, Afghanistan, and stayed for the next 20 years. From this logistical location, they began to suffocate and destroy each of Russia's loyal allies (all potential locations for Russian military base expansion): Yugoslavia, Iran, Venezuela, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Yemen, and China.

The War on Terror was clearly a False Flag and cover for the War on Russia.

The Ukrainian People were consistently voting for pro-Russian Presidents. So their government would be overthrown, and Kiev would be infected by US maggots in the form of Nazis.

This is what we have been seeing and experiencing and paying for.

Brazil, India, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam are currently hanging in the cross hairs.

The Neocons now believe that the physical destruction of China is their ultimate KEY to US World Domination.

Try to come up with a more realistic narrative that fits all the known criteria.

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The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato
Cassiodorus's picture

@Pluto's Republic -- the charade in Afghanistan was going to be finished, twenty years of fighting and still no credibility, and so America needed a new charade, otherwise how was Joe to please the CEO of Raytheon and his friends? So Ukraine it was, and is.

And, as far as I can tell, the inner circles do not think any of this war stuff is real. For them, war is something cute and cuddly that keeps the egos of the perpetrators nice and well-inflated. It doesn't involve mass death or escalation or catastrophe or any of that. Back in World War I the Kaiser did not think any of what he did was real, either, until the Navy mutinied and his inner circle found a new home for him in Holland. The French "leadership," also, didn't think any of it was real, and they suffered mutinies too. What bailed the French out was the United States. Both sides lost a majority of their fighting strength in that war.

Maybe a nuclear exchange or three will convince Joe that it's real. I don't know. The Kaiser let two million troops die in the mud in Flanders.

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"The war on Gaza, backed by the West, is a demonstration that the West is willing to cross all lines. That it will discard any nuance of humanity. That it is willing to commit genocide" -- Moon of Alabama

Pluto's Republic's picture

@Cassiodorus

...is aware of what is actually taking place. This was also the case in the first two World Wars. And in all the wars that followed. But elected officials will always comply when war is a fait accompli. Principles go out the window when one might be fired and labelled a traitor.

You've been trying to tie all the loose ends together for a long time. Some of your long held beliefs have blocked your view.

There's a simple truth about the US government that confuses the hell our of USians and makes them believe in non-existent "political truths." The Federal government is not formed to act as a Democracy, and it does not do so. The will of the People is powerless at the Federal level. The will of the People cannot reverse what the Federal Government does, not even via elections. Here's why:

The US is a Republic. That means that State level politicians who are elected by a majority to represent them in the Federal Government, can and do violate the trust of the people they represent. Elected officials may decide to serve special interest groups instead of the constituents that elected them. They defend this by insisting that in a Republic, representatives vote in the interests of "all" the People, and not just the majority. [The slippery definition of 'Republic' has been undermining governments and harming people since the 14th century.] But the real culprit is the flawed and obsolete US Constitution, which forgot to include election laws and candidate funding. So, the Ruling Families just make it up as they go along. The Supreme Court has degenerated into a confab of biased political and religious appointments, who are empowered to twist and prejudice US laws for a lifetime, including their years of out-of-touch senility. This explains how the will of Citizens United, big-donor secrecy, and corporate rule became the law of the land.

This is the background political reality for most Americans; it is the tainted source of their political frustration and anger. However, people would feel fear and panic if they had to accept, intellectually, that they have invested their entire lives (and votes) on a fake democracy. Fake in every way.

Lately, I have become very sympathetic to people's discord, on a personal level. I am increasingly reluctant to publish what I write about it. The facts are too disruptive, psychologically, for a society that is so thoroughly brainwashed. The truth is fraught with political danger. People may panic and begin to question their local democracy, which for the most part are smaller and work well enough. Local politics can also be self-correcting since constituents are forced to experience the consequences of their local votes. They can learn from that.

Another unfortunate truth is that a polarized, two-party political system is going to produce a lot of rigging and corruption. The laws that are made tend to criminalize human behaviors. The rampant mental illness in the US exacerbates discord, and normally docile people may suddenly want to fight to the death to keep their delusions alive. Wise leaders are not elevated in this culture. The funding of the Neocon world War for global Empire will be the sole cause of the extreme financial pressure that the People will suffer under during the coming decade. Many will be terribly harmed, many will die. People will continue to cling to the propaganda.

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____________________

The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato
snoopydawg's picture

The War on Terror was a False Flag for the war on Russia.

Brilliant deduction. But Zelensky ran on upholding the Minsk agreements and making peace with Russia and got 73% of the vote. Today though he said that he got Merkle and Hollande not to do it.

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

Pluto's Republic's picture

@snoopydawg

(and I followed this closely at the time)

....was to run on solidarity with Russia.

His famous phone call with Trump, was arranged and wire-tapped by the Neocon staff at American Embassy in Kiev. The members of that embassy staff later became the key witnesses at Trump's embarrassingly stupid impeachment trial. The impeachment trial was actually the cause of the protracted US delay in responding to the Pandemic.

It was a two-fer of stupidity.

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____________________

The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato
snoopydawg's picture

@Pluto's Republic

If Trump was impeached for asking Zelensky about what Biden had done in Ukraine and especially Burisma then surely republicans have to return the favor and impeach Biden for his actual crimes?

Among the many financial affairs of the president’s son, two stand out. The first concerns a Chinese spy. It could reveal influence peddling in the service of a foreign power. While the second concerns his activities in Ukraine and particularly his appointment and that of his friend Devon Archer (former roommate of Christopher Heinz, John Kerry’s son-in-law, during their university period) to the board of directors of the oil company Burisma. This is the group that President Vladimir Putin denounced as "a bunch of drug addicts and neo-Nazis" [6] when he called on his armies to end the civil war in Ukraine under UN Security Council Resolution 2202.

At the same time, a delegation from the Departments of Defense and State, as well as USAID, went to Ukraine to advise the Zelensky government to clean up some of the mess [8]. Officially, it was only to ensure that the money offered at the expense of the US taxpayers was not misappropriated by corrupt officials. Unofficially, it was only a matter of eliminating the annoying pawns without touching the others. In two days, fourteen personalities resigned in a chain. Five regional governors (Valentin Reznichenko (Dnipropetrovsk), Oleksander Starukh (Zaporizhia), Dmytro Zhivytsky Surya), Yaroslav Yanshayevich (Kherson) and Oleksiy Kulba (Kiev)), four deputy ministers (including Viacheslav Shapovalov (Defense) and Vasyl Lozynsky (Infrastructure)) and two heads of a government agency left their posts, in addition to the deputy head of the presidential administration (Kyrylo Tymoshenko) and the deputy prosecutor general (Oleksiy Symonenko).

The Western media reported faithfully on this major sweep. But the most important thing happened on the 3rd day and very few people talked about it. SBU troops searched the home of oligarch Ihor Kolomoysky, sponsor of both President Volodymyr Zelensky and the "integral nationalists", but above all owner of... Burisma Holding, which he had bought from Mykola Zlochevskyi, in 2011, i.e. before Hunter Biden entered it. Of course the Anticorruption Action Center’s article on this change of ownership has long since been removed from its site.

Arresting mafia boss Ihor Kolomoysky removes the traces of many problems. He is the key witness to link President Volodymyr Zelensky with the "integral nationalists", i.e. between a defender of democracy and anti-democrats, and between a Jewish personality and mass murderers of Jews. For the "President’s Men", Kolomoysky is the main Ukrainian personality who can be held accountable for the corruption of Hunter Biden and, eventually, Joe Biden.

It will be remembered that in 2019 the US Secretary of Energy Rick Perry reportedly informed Rudy Giuliani about President Zelensky’s confidences during his inauguration ceremony about Hunter Biden [10]. President Donald Trump then asked the Ukrainians for information about their investigations. But the affair was leaked, President Trump was accused of acting out of revenge, and a new impeachment procedure was launched against him.

It’s not just the Biden’s who are up to their knees in corruption in Ukraine, but many democrats are also knee deep in the crap that happened before and during Trump’s tenure. I wonder why Trump didn’t expose everyone and everything that happened in Ukraine during Obama’s tenure, but maybe he was threatened because lots of republicans were also involved in it? Barr let the FBI sit on Hunter’s laptop for over a year and even after lots of his crimes came out. The gun disposal was a crime, but an even bigger crime was Hunter lying about his criminal record and history of drug abuse when he bought it. Oh…but…Jared got $2 billion from the Saudis after he left the White House so it’s okay what Hunter did according to shitlibs. Every bad thing that Biden does is excused because Trump did worse things.

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

@snoopydawg Don't go up against the spy agencies. They have "6 ways from Sunday" to get you.
Trump, or any President, would have been the next JFK thingie.

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

From what I read, didn't the US also give direct aid to Ukraine to keep their government running which includes things like teacher salaries, government pensions, etc. In total they are a total vassal state of America. A good amount of that money will be scammed and stolen by oligarchs and local mafias. It is no wonder the democrats in particular are against audits of the equipment, aid, monies, etc. And Zelensky keeps asking for more and more monies just for everyday needs.

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dystopian's picture

Well at least the Ukrainians can count on the working people's U.S. tax dollars being there for them. We sure can't. Our government can't support America and its people, it's vets FFS, but has a $100 BILLION for Ukraine. While most of my life I heard politicians saying we have to quit spending all this money on other countries. I think they should have Znazisky come back to congress and present him with one of those big oversize lotto winner checks, for $100 BILLION! Smile

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We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein

snoopydawg's picture

Russia to have gone into Ukraine in the OT. Maybe I should have posted it here instead, but oops. But take a look.

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

snoopydawg's picture

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.