(WND)—There’s an old saying, “With friends like these, who needs enemies?” Watching 101 “Republicans” betray conservative values, siding with Democrats and deficit spending $61 billion on Ukraine, in addition to the $113 billion already spent, reveals that the Republicans don’t hold a majority in the House of Representatives. Instead, the majority is held by the combination of RINOs and Democrats.
The AP reports lawmakers “have grown gravely concerned about the tide of the war, as Russia pummels Ukrainian forces beset by a shortage of troops and ammunition.”
Billions of dollars from America might help with ammunition, but “a shortage of troops” means a lot of people are dying. A mobilization law is waiting for Ukrainian President Zelensky’s signature. “Under the law, men aged 18 to 60 will be required to carry documents showing they have registered with the military.” Unfortunately, a key provision in the bill was removed, which allowed troops to rotate out “who had served 36 months of combat.” The AP reports, “Exhausted soldiers, on the front lines since Russia invaded in February 2022, currently have no means of rotating out for rest. … Ukraine already suffers from a lack of trained soldiers capable of fighting, and demobilizing soldiers on the front lines now would deprive its forces of the most capable fighters.”
Volodymyr Fesenko, analyst at the Center for Applied Political Studies, stated, “A large part of the people do not want their loved ones to go to the front, but at the same time they want Ukraine to win.”
The Guardian reported that Kremlin spokesman Dimitry Peskov said “the approval of security aid to Ukraine would lead to more damage and deaths in the conflict there.” Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev stated the U.S. approval was grounded in “Russophobia.” Continuing, he said, “We will of course, be victorious regardless of the blood soaked $61 billion, which will mostly be swallowed up by their [U.S.] insatiable military industrial complex.”
Tracing where the money goes, about $23 billion will be used by the U.S. to “replenish its military stockpiles, opening the door to future U.S. military transfers to Ukraine.” The Pentagon will use $14 billion to purchase “advanced new weapon systems for the Ukrainian military directly from U.S. defense contractors.”
The AP reports that the money “largely flows to American defense manufacturers, to produce weaponry used overseas.”
Breitbart reports a spokesperson for the Ukrainian Embassy stated, “An analysis” found “nearly 90%” of aid granted by Congress “is benefiting American interests.” “‘American interests’ in this context presumably means weapons manufacturers.”
So, these U.S. taxpayer deficit-dollars aren’t really going to Ukraine. For the most part, the money is going to U.S. defense contractors.
“War Profiteering” is defined as “any person or organization that derives unreasonable profit from warfare or by selling weapons and other good to parties at war.” Major modern defense contractors possibly fitting this description include Lockheed Martin, Boeing, BAE Systems, General Dynamics, Northrop Grumman and Raytheon.
The U.S. government has an Armed Services Committee in the House of Representatives and in the Senate. Apparently, there is a history of Armed Services Committee members receiving donations from “private defense companies whose profits depend on their decisions.” Start digging into this, and you’ll find a mess. During the 2022 election cycle alone, Armed Services Committee members received $5.8 million from the defense sector. A July 2022 detailed report shows that when $10 million was distributed to certain committee members, the Defense Department received a $45 billion increase in spending, meaning this is a “450,000% return” on the defense contractor’s investments. A January 2023 report states the defense sector contributed heavily to 45 senators, who secured and allocated $1.8 billion in military construction to defense contractors in “discretionary spending.”
In the most recent $61 billion allotment for Ukraine, 101 “Republicans” sided with 210 Democrats to pass the bill, with 112 Republicans voting against it. The list of how the House of Representatives voted is found here. Comparing this voting record to the representatives in the House sitting on the Arms Services Committee, you learn that 43 members of the committee voted for the bill, and 16 Republicans voted against it. It is true that some of these Republicans who voted no did receive contributions from defense contractors, like Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., who received $5,481 from defense contractors. However, when you compare that amount of money to moneys received by people “who voted for the spending,” like Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Ala., you find that Rogers received $404,525. The range of money given to Republican and Democratic representatives ranged from $3,000 to $404,525 with only four representative receiving less than $10,000.
With this kind of money being thrown around, it can make you wonder who is really representing the American people, and who is representing fat, greedy defense contractors who are reporting sharp revenues and profits.
In addition to the weapons manufacturers, “major oil and gas companies, including Shell, ExxonMobil, Chevron, Phillips 66, BP, and Sinopec” are also reporting sharp rises in interim revenues and profits. The “ABCD” companies, “ADM, Bunge, Cargill, and Louis Dreyfus,” who dominate world agricultural commodity trading, have also seen large profits because of the war in Ukraine and rising food prices.
“In March 2022 Bloomberg reported that China was reselling US LNG (liquid natural gas) shipments to a desperate Europe at a ‘hefty profit.’ India was buying discounted oil from Russia. Saudia Arabia also increased imports of discounted Russian oil. In September 2022, German Economy Minister Robert Habeck accused the United States and other ‘friendly’ gas supplier nations that they were profiting from the Ukraine war with ‘astronomical prices.'”
Maybe the real reason that Russian/Ukrainian peace negotiations keep failing is because too many people and countries are making lots of money, and all this money keeps being poured into the war. If countries are making money, and defense contractors are making billions of dollars, and politicians are receiving election donations from defense contractors, why would anyone want the war in Ukraine to end?
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