Ukraine’s Rada approved a draft budget for 2023 in a closed session. The spending plan has a $30 billion deficit which Kiev largely expects to be covered by Washington. The White House has sent Ukraine tens of billions in aid since Russia invaded in February.
Yaroslav Zheleznyak, the first deputy chairman of parliament’s finance, tax and customs policy committee, said the first reading was passed by the legislature on Friday. The spending package will need to be resubmitted before receiving final approval.
Andrii Pyshnyi, the newly appointed head of Ukraine’s central bank, said the budget includes a $30 billion shortfall. Pyshnyi indicated that Kiev’s international partners are willing to cover the deficit.
Last month, Ukraine’s Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal noted the government expected a $38 billion deficit. He said the US would provide $18 billion and the European Union and International Monetary Fund would combine to give $12 billion.
Over the past seven months, the White House has spent nearly $70 billion on the war in Ukraine. The US spending on the war includes direct assistance to fund the government in Kiev and weapons transfers.
Western aid to Ukraine is announced almost daily. On Thursday, USAID announced $55 million in assistance for Kiev. On Friday, The IMF approved $1.3 billion in additional emergency funding for Ukraine.
Still, Kiev says aid is now flowing fast enough. On Monday, Oleg Ustenko, an economic advisor to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, told the EU that they must increase the pace of aid and delays were "not acceptable."
Kyle Anzalone is the opinion editor of Antiwar.com, news editor of the Libertarian Institute, and co-host of Conflicts of Interest.
Read headline “Zelensky Accepts Russian Proposal” re agreeing to ceasefire, pullback of troops, so on — I thought hallelujah! Is sense prevailing? Then I realized I was looking at a news puzzle from 2019 — sigh. What exactly has happened to make situation so much more intractable now? hmmm, continued US meddling? push, push, push of NATO? resultant grump, grump, grump from Putin?
The neocons are in charge and not a single sane person around to stop the deranged president and his deranged clown in Ukraine. That is where we are. The train left the station in 2008 with Bush in charge and has picked up speed ready to ram through the concrete wall just ahead.
What happened was – Zelensky’s popularity plummeted due to his most obvious corruption. In the summer 2021 he sold Ukraine’s public land to foreigners. China got 10% of their farm land, for example. And he sold land to Larry Fink’s Blackrock – a close Biden ally with several people, or their spouses, in Biden’s administration.
Polls showed he dropped to 30%. And the man who came in second in the last election (despite all the money Zel had from oligarch Kolomoisky), who Zelensky arrested after the election, soared in the polls and would win the next election.
That’s when Zelensky increased the shelling of Donbass to more than 100 times per day, up from the usual 20 the last seven years. (As confirmed by UN observers.) He gathered an invasion army. Hoping to get international popularity this way so he could make Ukrainians swoon at his victory over the resistance.
And of course, in February the shelling increased to almost 2,000 per day, and then Russia stepped in to stop the attacks. Which the media never mention. And Zelensky arrested the opposition leader again and banned his party. But I digress.
The Budget Deficit of the Ukraine is the entire Budget, so this means that the Ukraine is now the 52nd State.
Nope. The 53rd State. Forget Israel?
What are the 3 states past 50? Ukraine, Israel and ?
I believe William meant that IsraHell is the 51st state.
Wonder if Biden will ever ask Americans if they want to pay for all of Ukraine not just this month but every single month from now on.
You are pretending the USA is some sort of democracy??
Zelensky is right of course. Figuring 200K dead Ukrainians, that’s only 150K per body, man & boy. It’s the devil’s own obscene business, but a bargain by Washington standards. Bill Gates, personally, could easily cover it, … Melinda got more.
To hell with the Ukrainian Nazis and to hell with this administration..
Retarded Joey Biden, the obama puppet, needs to resign.
Why can’t he be fired, he should be in an insane asylum with his whole administration and congress.
“not acceptable” sounds like saying that is the price for Ukraines annihilation by the USA and NATO. They are DEMANDING TO GET PAID for selling their country TO BE ANNIHILATED.
We can’t spend money to rebuild Puerto Rico, our territory or even the people of Fort Myers’s, who have have their city destroyed but we sure can cover the budget of Ukraine for their Nazi war goals! Disgusting empire logic.
Why does anyone think voting matters. Nina was right in spades when she said the choices in the 2020 election were like a half plate of sh*t, half representing Trump, half representing Biden.
Zelensky is not a “nazi”, stop using that ridiculous claim that convinces no one except those who already want to believe it.
Zelensky has condemned those who honor the nationalist Stepan Bandera. That means condemning the Azov Battalion, the Kraken and the battalion in Odessa. He only keeps them in the armed forces because they are anti-Russian like him.
He is funded by leftist Biden and supported by every single social democrat and communist party in the West. The only ones who criticize the propping up of Zelensky are found among nationalists. Victor Orban is called a “nazi” by the Left for not sending weapons to Ukraine and for wanting to buy Russian gas.
How funny to see people on both sides call the other side “nazi”.
Please do use it, the more you discredit your argument the better.
I’m not sure what Zelensky is. But he represents the notion that Ukraine is for Ukrainians only. Ethnic Russians are expected to give up their own heritage or leave. And that’s problematic because the fruits of manufacturing, energy, and much of the agriculture comes from the lands they have occupied for generations.
I’m not sure what Biden is, either. But his use of sanctions to control or destroy individuals and businesses, including those in the US, that do not serve the interests of the Fatherland smacks of national socialism.
I’m pretty sure what Zelenskyy is: A puppet. A pretty face who thought he lucked into a powerful position and quickly found out that things run him rather than vice versa. Maybe he rides off into the sunset of “wealthy retirement for the beautiful people” at the end of all this, but I wouldn’t bet money on that.
Looks more like Biden is the puppet to me. Zelensky/Blinken say jump, and Biden dishes out the cash from his “personal” account.
Er…”pretty face”, Thomas?
I suppose there might be a couple of women who might find him attractive; I ain’t one of ‘em 😉
Well maybe, but Ukraine certainly isn’t for Russian invaders. Once this is all over I would hope that ethnic minorities will be protected. Still with their culture of victimhood you may never be able to convince a Russian that they are safe.
The American saps will cover the budget. What a dump we have become, “governed” by a crowd of poorly educated misfits.
Oh well, SSDD here in the land of exceptionalism.
Extra dumpy considering the money has to be borrowed first, then handed over by Biden to Ukraine. And Americans have to pay the interest rate on the loans, forever increasing interest.
Yes. But on the other hand they’re very good at robbing the taxpayers and lining their pockets.
“Ukraine Passes 2023 Budget in Secret, Expects US To Cover Deficit Kiev
expects a total budget shortfall of $30 billion to be covered by the
White House, European Union and International Monetary Fund”
Another reason for Voldomort Zelensky to be exterminated as soon as possible!
Sometimes anger gets the better part of us. Speaking for myself I have never been so angry about government as now. The damage these people have caused is hard to digest, Biden is worse than Bush and Trump combined, he could have prevented this disaster with just a little good will. He could do so now and prevent more damage, but he is too deranged and his whole deranged administration needs to be fired.
He could have avoided the disaster last November/December. Or April, 2022.
As the old saying goes, I’m so pissed I could spit. I’m a refugee from Political Wire, a once decent forum site that has become infested with a crowd of democrats who on every available occasion will jump down the throat of any citizen who dares to question Uncle Joe’s moves wherever we are projecting lethal power in the world. The denizens of The Wire have hooked themselves to the kool aid and are mainlining it intravenously.
hahaha/deep breathe….you ran away because everyone laughed at you. and you were just there.
Keep your sh*t to yourself, sweetheart. We LIKE Old Bear; note all the upvotes he receives.
Typical, against free speech and resorting to cursing. Use your grown up words little girl.
Well, we’re very happy to have you on AW, Old Bear!
I was banned from sh*tlib website Common Dreams for posting “too many anti-IsraHelli” comments 😁
I was once a Democrat before I grew up 😉
CT has called for murder, assassination and flat-out genocide on repeated occasions. One of the first comments I saw from him here was “the only good Ukrainian as a dead Ukrainian.” Frankly, I’m relieved they finally banned him. I’m just shocked it took this long.
I don’t recall any posting like that, and yes it is also a judgement in the eyes of the moderator, the way he/she understands it. The only good Ukrainian……….. is really a common way of expression, it is not something unusual considering the raw language being used nowadays. I do know there are things I don’t like and others think nothing about it.
Lately I have been so angry I have used a four letter word which I think is very vulgare.
I try to be as lenient as possible, but there are legal issues that could put the site at legal risk, especially with calling for the killing of politicians (they control the law and they’re sensitive about that). CT kept very specifically calling for the killing of one particular politician.
Killing a politician never works. These a**holes have.a very deep bench.
He absolutely did, although the comment was deleted many months ago. But I’ve called him out on it since, and he’s never denied it or even responded https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b27b8d71d6a2d708fc3d932d90d5e06f464bdd82425aa85c5be88f1aa9a89d06.jpg
I must be missing something, I read you addressing CT about a third person, ” OUR resident genocide promoter, the same dude who said ” the only good Ukrainian was a …………..!
CT did not say it, the other dude said it. The other 2 posts never mention CT and are not related to the issue.
The other two posts are only there because that’s how they display on Disqus. And yes, I was addressing CT in the third one, because of his previous comments.
Here’s another one where I confront him about it. The comments are also gone (both his and mine, for some reason) in the article, but I can still see them in my notifications.
I understand now, it is difficult to understand when the context is missing. Hopefully Thomas will be able to clear it up with CT.
To be honest, why would we WANT someone back who repeatedly calls for assassination and genocide? Is that really the caliber of person anyone should want posting on AW?
I’m not calling for censorship of a person solely because of their beliefs. But when they seem incapable of NOT posting those beliefs repeatedly, then that points to a lack of self control as well as a lack of moral fiber.
My job as moderator is to enforce the site’s guidelines, not to decide “who we want here.”
While I have personal opinions about both CT’s positions and the general quality of his posts, those opinions are not and should not be the basis of how he’s treated. Offering my personal email and an opportunity to get back in is something new, but probably something I’ll continue doing.
Perhaps I was unclear; I was responding to Renate’s hope that things could be worked out, not calling for moderators to evaluate the caliber of each commenter.
I personally have no particular optimism that he can either contain his hopes for assassination and genocide, or contribute meaningfully in any way. But I am in agreement that only the former should preclude him from commenting.
That’s mighty nice of you Thomas 🙂
“why would we WANT someone back who repeatedly calls for assassination and genocide”
Who are “we”? You, who support killers?
Show me where I’ve ever called for anyone to be assassinated or for an entire country to be eliminated.
Well then, we need to bar Biden and Zelensky among others, from spouting their BS…
Are they posting here? 🙄
removed
so, are you getting extra potatoes fom putin while wearing your red hat?
Red hat?
You are aware ( or apparently you’re not) that Russia is not a communist nation?
And your screen shots just continue. How many months have you kept doing this? You really hold a grudge. Extremely deranged.
I just looked back through my own posts, genius. I didn’t take screenshots and save them for months.
Dammit, I missed the whole darn thing, Renate 🙁
You screen shot people’s posts OVER MONTHS to harrass them, that’s deranged.
How petty.
Yeah, how dare I be offended bc someone who calls for genocide?
Tell me, how much sympathy and understanding would be extended to a poster who said, “the only good Russian is a dead Russian?”
“Lately I have been so angry I have used a four letter word which I think is very vulgare.”
I can’t help myself. Set yourself free my friend. Dropping f-bombs is so therapeutic. 😉
Thanks, you make me feel better. I noticed it, I just can’t do it too often.
😂
Right ON, Wars!
It’s an integral part of my vocabulary; sometimes, just no other word will do!
“Some people think I’m trashy
A little too hard-core
But in my neck of the woods
I’m just the girl next door!”
Meanwhile Lemony supports murderers in Kiev. Just today they killed civilians in Donetsk, with Biden-provided artillery. They have killed 14,000 civilians the last seven years and 100,000 have been made homeless.
Even in wartime, they use the artillery to kill civilians instead of using it all against the opponent’s military.
And you support Kiev’s dictatorship.
But go on, you were saying?
Still waiting for the evidence that the Ukrainians were responsible for the deaths for all 14,000 of those civilian deaths.
Trump is now calling for negotiations. Who’d a-thought that The Donald would ever be the voice of reason?
Biden calls for murder openly, though. “This man can’t be allowed to stay in power.” The media have dozens of people calling for the democratic president Putin’s murder.
And they praise the dictator Zelensky, who has banned the opposition and opposition media and whose government has a kill website with “enemies”, and when one of them is killed he’s crossed off the list as “terminated”. They did that with Dugina after she was murdered.
People say here all the time that Biden shouldn’t be allowed to remain in power. Are you saying they’re all calling for his assassination?
True, obama, Joey Biden, and various Senators have called for the elimination of President Putin. If you are part of the entrenched political class you can advocate murder and mayhem with impunity.
Jon—-and rock god ROGER WATERS of all people is on that list!
A congressman from my state is running for re-election. On one of his radio ads, he’s bitching about being forced to pay for other’s student loans. Of course, he’s a retired general so I don’t anticipate him saying about the billions being poured into Ukraine. Not that I favor paying off student loans, but every dime siphoned from us should stay right here.
The people that are so enthusiastic about Ukraine should be willing to pay for it. Leave the rest of us alone.
ex government employee, with a sweet retirement package but probably anti government.
One wonders on what boards he sits on and for whom he lobbies. The MIC most likely. He had all the right tickets punched.
A retired general most likely had a tax payer paid West Point education.
Socialism is good for him but not for thee.
I support public higher education, we reached a point where even higher income middleclass people have to struggle to educate their children. The kind of socialism other rich nations do provide, they also have affordable health insurance.
You must be talking about Rep. Michael Waltz. He’s one of the biggest loudmouths when it comes to Ukraine.
Jack Bergman. Retired Marine general. A two-time loser.
The corrupt regime’s parliament members recently gave themselves a 70% pay increase, courtesy of Biden taking the money from American taxpayers.
Of course people won’t hear about that. And here’s how AP describes the shelling of the power plant, calling it “Ukraine’s power plant” and omitting that Ukrainians were the ones shelling it, to make readers think it is in Kiev’s control and shelled by Russia:
“Possible war crimes”. AP will also talk about “Biden’s possible crimes,” right? You can write anything without proof, and then say, hey, I added “possible”, so you can’t say it’s a lie!
Meanwhile, Kiev is still shelling Donetsk City. They are doing it with the artillery Biden provides. They have been shelling civilians in Donetsk, and all of Donbass, every single day for seven years. Even in a war Kiev uses the artillery to attack Donbass civilians. But of course AP says nothing.
Every single day for seven years? Can you provide a source for that? Because I’ve asked numerous people here and I have yet to see a single one.
The corrupt regime’s parliament members recently gave themselves a 70% pay increase, courtesy of Biden taking the money from American taxpayers.
Of course people won’t hear about that. And here’s how AP describes the shelling of the power plant, calling it “Ukraine’s power plant” and omitting that Ukrainians were the ones shelling it, to make readers think it is in Kiev’s control and shelled by Russia:
“Possible war crimes”. AP will also talk about “Biden’s possible crimes,” right? You can write anything without proof, and then say, hey, I added “possible”, so you can’t say it’s a lie!
Meanwhile, Kiev is still shelling Donetsk City. They are doing it with the artillery Biden provides. They have been shelling civilians in Donetsk, and all of Donbass, every single day for seven years. Even in a war Kiev uses the artillery to attack Donbass civilians. But of course AP says nothing.
A section of a bridge connecting Crimea with Russia was taken out by either a truck bomb, or a missile hitting the truck and bridge. Read it in Moon of Alabama. Not mentioned in strong terms in the posts is the fact that since the referendum, Crimea is considered a part of Russia. So I would think it could be considered a strike inside Russia. MoA also said that Russian forces took out a Ukraine force, that included American special ops personnel, killing many. If that is the case, and proven true, then the chickens have come home to roost. American reaction to pictures of the dead Americans will be interesting.
If American special ops are operating inside Russia that would be state sponsored terrorism or not?
The American reaction would be interesting, the special ops people are mercenaries, not young draftees, basically they are paid hit men and happened to get killed doing a job terrorists do. They are not even patriotic terrorists, they are just paid assassins.
War is big business for sure.
It would be a very serious red line. I don’t think we are that stupid, Ukraine is doing just fine with our current level of support. Indeed if we really want to screw Russia up we should let them think they can win so they keep trying kind of a hustle.
I have no expertise, I might be entirely wrong, but I think the Russians are watching the NATO alliance falling apart, NATO is cracking up and so is the EU. Russians allow the Ukrainians to waste their people and weapons on less important military targets and in the end it will be the US and Ukraine alone against Russia, maybe some Canadians, Australians, and British will support them. And if needed the Chinese would likely provide assistance to Russia. They have the same interests and need each other. Maybe I have just a stupid thought.
I have no expertise, I might be entirely wrong, but I think the Russians are watching the NATO alliance falling apart, NATO is cracking up and so is the EU. Russians allow the Ukrainians to waste their people and weapons on less important military targets and in the end it will be the US and Ukraine alone against Russia, maybe some Canadians, Australians, and British will support them. And if needed the Chinese would likely provide assistance to Russia. They have the same interests and need each other. Maybe I have just stupid thoughts.
For Russia and Europe, it is an existential issue, they will defend their own interests. Don’t underestimate the Russian people they will die for their homeland not just oil.
It is inconvenient but they also have a land connection to Crimea and the bridge’s railroad still works. They also have ferries.
There are about 50,000 Russian tourists in Crimea now, by the way. All of them come across that bridge, or by ferry. Yet another reason why Crimeans overwhelmingly want to belong to Russia.
Plus they get way better pensions in Russia. And they speak Russian and have been Russian longer than California has been American.
But none of this will be mentioned by the media.
The strike on the bridge has reduced its capacity to carry supplies to the Russian military in Ukraine. They are already having logistical problems and those just got worse. Hopefully they will find a way to get 100k extra troops in there as then they would run through their supplies even quicker.
Considered part of Russia by Russia. I suppose they are entitled to their opinion but Ukraine and the USA and the EU don’t share that opinion.
I wouldn’t worry too much about MoA predictions coming true they never seem to.
It’s ironic that Biden thought that the cost of this conflict would bankrupt Russia because it could eventually bankrupt our own government.
We borrow to pay all of Ukraine’s costs. Europe will soon be asking for financial assistance. And our own economy is suffering from stagflation because sanctions drove up the cost of energy and food.
It’s ironic that Biden thought that the cost of this conflict would bankrupt Russia because it could eventually bankrupt our own government.
We borrow to pay all of Ukraine’s costs. Europe will soon be asking for financial assistance. And our own economy is suffering from stagflation because sanctions drove up the cost of energy and food.
Joe Biden, Zelensky’s poodle.
old bear, putin and bernies tool and poodle
Still mad at the world, Tracey? That’s a shame. But hey, you got Bernie in there too. And there you’re correct. I fully support Bernie Sanders. He’s a good senator and he’s on the right side. And he’s a democratic socialist to boot. Win win.
Nope, just trolling you and your anti Dems BS. Trashing PW because you were rejected. Yet you keep going back under different monikers. Bernie is a loser who helped trump win..I let everyone at PW see how you trashed the site and the people there
Fine by me. I offer no apologies for what I’ve written there or here.
You seem to be a very vindictive person. I feel sorry for you.
you seem to be a liar, on PW you whined about people not enthralled by you. You change your name and come back….yet here you are trashing a site you yearn to be a part of. So, vindictive is trashing a site that rejected you
If that site’s so exceptional, why aren’t you there instead of here attempting to trash Bear?
why are you angry that I am on a site that you covet and behave as fools
I’m angry because the only reason you appear to be on this website is to diss Bear.
If you have nothing to contribute to the subject at hand without singling out individual commenters, just GO AWAY. We’re trying to have an adult conversation here.
Welp little girl, you need to read ALL my comments instead of whining like a toddler. Unlike you and your little buddies, I commented on many articles on this site and did not like you and old bear troll posters you disagree with. Now grow up, open your own site and realize, this is NOT your site, you do not control posters and you DO need to grow up and break out of that “save my feelings” bubble you live in
That’s fair. No one here would dream of questioning your expertise on the subject of behaving as a fool.
She does seem rather pathetic, Bear.
I’ve never seen her here before…looks like she’s stalking you! I know what that’s like, friend!
I’ve been hearing all day about the latest mass grave uncovered in territory retaken from Russia and not a peep here at AW about it. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/10/8/ukraine-governor-says-mass-grave-found-in-liberated-eastern-town
Please wake up to staged propaganda from Ukraine.
I guess they staged the bridge as well!
So, the Ukrainian government budget deficit will be covered by increasing the US government budget deficit.
Don’t you love it?
We’re gonna cover the Ukrainian deficit to the tune of $30 billion? Nice profit for Ukraine on a mere $11 million in Burisma payments to Hunter.
This has about as many reference sources as one of Noam Chomsky’s books.
Here goes my money supporting Gestapo military regiments, and the Gestapo security indtitutikns thst underpin Zelenski government. Control it, to be precise.
So, what are the deeds we support? Russian minority is targeted by legal and extra legal means. Somebody covets your propert, off you go for sedition. Covers your job? You are not suitable because of political views or just plain not speaking “real Ukrainian” correctly. You can just dissapear, or be shot at home in front of family. Thousands upon thousands of examples, lidged with helpless/ useless UN.
It is so much easier to believe that it is not so. It alliwes for endless debates on politics and strategies. Avoid the real issue. But without getting it — nothing makes sense. All is so illigical and unnatural. Why did Rusdia invade? It took us eight years observing the events — assuming what? Russia will just have to swallow it — no choice, Otgerwise, sanctikns from hell. How justified these sanctions look if you explain away everything by Russia’s misculculation. All sterike.
Plenty of spare money in the USA. Nobody in Congress or the WH cares about the American population.
“The United States declares war on Russia, Germany, the Netherlands and France” by Thierry Meyssan Voltairenet.org
Above article is a real stunner with its shocking perspective on Nordstorm sabotage. Meyssan fearlessly rips the lid off the sewer of intrigue and explains its callous intent and the deafening silence of it’s victims.