Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA), the head of the House Armed Services Committee, said Saturday that the growing calls for more oversight of the billions of dollars the US is spending on Ukraine are “part of Russian propaganda.”
While the majority of Republicans strongly favor continuing to arm Ukraine, even the more hawkish GOP members have said they favor increased oversight for the aid. Smith said that the concern from Republicans for more transparency “makes me a little crazy.”
“Ukraine is spending the money really well; that’s why they’re winning,” Smith said at the Reagan National Defense Forum, according to Defense News. “Yes, we need oversight, but we don’t need that as an excuse to not fund what we’re doing.”
Last month, a small group of House Republicans opposed to arming Ukraine led by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) introduced a bill that would require an audit of the funds that the US has spent on the war so far. Greene said that if she needed to, she would reintroduce the legislation after the next Congress is sworn in this January.
The White House is looking for Congress to approve $37.7 billion in new Ukraine aid during the lame-duck period. If authorized, the new funds will bring total US spending on a proxy war on Russia’s border to about $105 billion.
You A-HOLES ALWAYS have money for war!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
How about Humanitarian causes?………………………………………………….
How about Human Rights issues?…………………………………………………..
How does it benefit them? Do they get kickbacks? Camping contributions? Share options and c level jobs after leaving office?
I want some bloody oversight! You are funding the flipping WAR MACHINE, you ruddy bast—-!
I was a Smith ONCE, now I’m a FLIPPING VOLATILE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
“Lame Ducks” my A–! Lame Dicks is more like it!
To believe that now requires either deep ignorance or stubborn refusal to face reality.
I guess it depends on how you define “winning.”
Any outcome that doesn’t result in the Russian forces achieving their objective as declared at the beginning of the war (“de-Nazification and de-militarization,” i.e. regime change) is a reasonable definition of defeat for the Russian regime.
But any outcome that leaves LPR and DPR in Russian hands is also a reasonable definition of defeat for the Ukrainian regime.
It’s not obvious that there are going to be any “winners” here.
You’re off on a tangent, Thomas. There is simply no sane and sensible definition of “winning” that can be appropriately applied to Ukraine’s situation at this point. Period.
Yes. The millions who left and will not return, the economic losses, the lost lives, and the ramping up of hostility between cultures that could have lived in harmony are losses for everyone who may survive.
War specifically and politics in general aren’t known for the prevalence of “sensible definitions.”
If the Russians manage to hold onto LPR/DPR and a land corridor connecting them to Russia, and the Ukrainians manage to get back everything else — which seems like the most likely outcome as of a unilateral Russian ceasefire — both sides will declare that they “won.” And both sides will have actually “lost” versus their declared objectives.
You keep doing it — responding to a post by pontificating on a related issue that isn’t actually responsive. You should run for public office; one of the hardest things to teach candidates is to use every question and comment as a chance to repeat the campaign message.
There is simply no sane and sensible definition of “winning” that can be appropriately applied to Ukraine’s situation at this point. Period.
To the extent that that’s true, it’s equally true of Russia’s situation.
Putin declared an objective (“de-Nazification and de-militarization” of Ukraine, i.e. regime change) at the beginning of the war. That objective has not been achieved and is vanishingly unlikely to be achieved.
Zelenskyy likewise declared objectives at the outset which have not and are not going to be achieved (most notably, taking Crimea).
There’s no definition of “winning,” as outlined in either party’s objectives, that’s going to happen. Period.
But both sides will find ways to “declare victory” when the conflict re-freezes with not that much having materially changed.
As far as running for public office is concerned, I’m probably done with that after six electoral campaigns ranging from local office to vice-president, and two appointments (one federal, one local, the latter of which I’m still in).
The top post in this thread is my challenge of Smith’s assertion that Ukraine is winning — a narrow, focused point. You keep hijacking the thread to use it as a soapbox for your general view of the conflict.
Yup, no one can be said to be winning at the moment, and everyone is fairly likely to lose, at least in some ways. Yup, that’s how wars go. But I was just responding to Smith’s ridiculous claim.
Ah, so you’re practiced in nonresponsive responding in real life as well as on the internet. Campaign managers love that. 😎
“Campaign managers love that.”
Yes, they do (I’ve been more successful as a campaign manager than as a candidate, with a few local wins under my belt).
Moderation, I suppose.
My father can beat up your father.
One father in this fight as it is currently arranged has the power to crush the other who is has no such veto power, but only what charity he can get. It doesn’t take too much to guess who will be the winne if the guns go silent. Or who the losers will be.
nothing wrong with phony declarations of victory if they end the war
“A unilateral Russian ceasefire” Surely you jest!! That really would cause the Russkies to get rid of President Putin!! Scholtz and Macron with their pretend peace plan (ie Ze’s plan, all Russians leave all of “Ukraine”) want Russia to give up all and fall into oblivion as their land is overrun like what the”West” tried in the 1990s and nearly succeeded except for Vladimir Putin!!!
You don’t seem to understand what I’m saying:
The Russian forces achieve some semblance of securing objectives — LPR, DPR, and a land corridor, for example, and Putin declares victory. Then any continuation of the war is on Zelenskyy, not on him.
Or he continues to attempt to achieve objectives that are not, under any circumstances, going to be achieved, such as “de-Nazification and de-militarization of Ukraine,” and Russian troops keep dying for no discernible benefit.
Since I don’t assess either Putin or the Russian people as batsh*t insane, the former course makes more sense — and seems less likely to result in anyone other than bitter-ender hardliners trying to “get rid of” Putin. While the bitter-ender hardliners might be a danger in that respect, nothing is without risk.
Why would Putin declare victory when there is obviously none? Denazifying is impossible I agree, when you see the behavior of “leaders” like Ursula von der Leyen of the European Commission following the line they are, but you cannot deny that demilitarization is happening on a grand scale in Ukraine, affecting all the NATO countries and others , now even being admitted by the Western media. It will take years to “replace and improve” the Western weapons lost in the black hole of Ukraine and the moneymakers involved.
Militarization, not de-militarization, is happening on a grand scale in Ukraine, and there’s no plausible outcome of this war that doesn’t leave NATO larger, andmore well-armed, with Ukraine as a de facto member state and Ukrainian forces far better armed (not to mention more experienced) than before. So you’re right that there’s no real “declaring victory” there.
BUT: The plausible objectives — and, IMO, the real ones from February on — were securing LPR, DPR, and a land corridor connecting them to Crimea. If the Russian forces can get those done, they can declare a “victory” along a defensible line of control. Or they can keep banging their heads against a wall that isn’t going to give, while further depleting their own weapons stores versus opponents who are far more well-equipped to ameliorate such depletions.
So you think that the demands of Russia last year are never achievable and that the continuation of the conflict will allow NATO to enlarge and Russia to be defenseless? We just have to wait and see, but Russia waited 8 years and Ukraine now is in a pitiful state, while the West will take a very long time to replace their gifts to Ukraine. Russia has a full time production of all types of weapons, and the quality and quantity far outdo the West. Check out Brian Berletic’s channel.
“So you think that the demands of Russia last year are never achievable and that the continuation of the conflict will allow NATO to enlarge and Russia to be defenseless?”
The US/EU/NATO empire and the Russian empire are both in terminal decline. I don’t know which one will completely collapse first, but they’re both on their way out.
We shall see.
For Russia, there was no way to achieve what they needed and still need. They were in the unenviable position of having to either deal with an opponent (Team Biden) which is hell bent on neutering Russia on its way to taking on China, or making the assholes in DC pay a price for sticking its business in everyone’s behind. They chose the latter, more to send a message than any other.
There is one exception which a some people here on team Biden devalue: the Russians may well succeed in removing the people in Eastern Ukraine from the influence and outright persecution by the Azov assholes. If he succeeds in that, I believe Putin will consider the effort to have been well worth the trouble.
I suppose all good people of peace should hope for some deal along the lines you suggest as possible. The only down side being that the conspirators who overthrew the elected government and elevated their Nazis to power to do Wasington’s work of weakening Russia by killing off their Russian speaking citizens as to lure them into a NATO American designed & cage fight war on Ukraine or capitulate to NATO missiles on their Southern border with few real conquences
Gee, I guess we will actually wait to see if there are any winners besides the current ones, not often mentioned in MSN, the weapons edifice and its army of profiteers, lobbyists, politicans on the take and various facilitators with outstretched open hands that are the masters of our war state.
When this kind of money is involved somebody, somewhere better have some damn oversight. Proxy this and proxy that, kiss my backside. $105 flipping billion bucks?! There are not enough verbs in my vocabulary to express my flipping feelings!!!
Rep. Adam Smith come over to my house and hear my rhetoric! It’s full of four letter words and most of them start with “F”………………………!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh lord, who is this misbegotten shlub brain? WA senator. OK, he worked as prosecutor/pro tem judge for a whopping two plus years — and has been a political creature ever since (that is, 42 years). Chairman of the Armed Services Committee, from Seattle, representing Seattle, home of Boeing, is it any surprise he is pro spending $$$$$ on military items? Accountability? Naw. We don’t need that. We just BELIEVE what we are told all that $$$$ is going to the right place, no detours to all those enticing outreached fingers and hands for graft, deals, so on. Everything is just A-OK in Seattle. Oh, dear, I think Boeing is leaving….
In the Great Tradition. We don’t know about Elvis, but Scoop Jackson lives.
Really comes down to corrupt vs. shrub brain. Likely most of the former with a touch of the latter.
$105 BILLION is most likely conservative, after all they lie to us the moment their lips move. And these oligarchs living it up in Monaco need money to live on and lots of it.
The Duran is reporting Ukranian forces being decimated around Bakhmut, a strategic rail hub. The ground is full of thousands of corpses and Ukranian forces are surrounded or nearly surrounded in the area.
Ukraine is “winning” by spending their soldiers’ lives like water and using our money and weapons like the same liquid substance.
Neither of these are sustainable for them or us and both are also temporary for the additional reason that Russia seems to be getting a bit more serious with their war staffing.
But all that aside, is the congressman from Boeing actually taking a position against knowing what our money and weapons are being spent on? He’s genuinely calling this Russian propaganda?
So it goes.
“Ukraine is spending the money really well; that’s why they’re winning,”
Ukraine is winning? ha haha ahaha ahahah!
We provide the guns. They provide the bodies…. lots and lots of bodies. This can’t go on forever.
Look inside the pockets of those Armed Services Committee members, and you’ll find Ketchup stains from a Raytheon lobbyist trying to stuff their pocket with a fist full of dollars.
Calling for oversight is “Russian propaganda”? How on earth could that be construed as propaganda? Shouldn’t that be a concern with every transaction involving billions of dollars’ worth of taxpayer’s money being sent to a foreign country? If you want an example of propaganda , here is a doozie: “Ukraine is spending the money really well; that’s why they’re winning,”
Secure our border.
“Thats why they are winning” Of course they are winning, if you believe that having 20% of your land occupied is the winning position. If you read the the Washington Post or I suppose if you are tuned into Radio free Europe, or think losing 100,000 officers is a win, and Perhaps it is a win to have no Navy, or Air Force…. Wow, it seems there must be no way the Russians can possibly win against any such posative reviews
& analysis of all things Ukrainian in this war… When pigs can fly and tell a lie and truth is just a thought from getting high, the worm will turn and burn your dreams like light burns dark and all such utter snark….
Russia has surrounded or nearly surrounded several thousand Ukraine soldiers near the strategic rail hub of Bakhmut. Thousands of Ukraine dead are lying in the fields and forests in the region killed by Russian artillery as reported at the Duran. Western media has completely ignored the fighting in this region.
“Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA), the head of the House Armed Services Committee,
said Saturday that the growing calls for more oversight of the billions
of dollars the US is spending on Ukraine”
Of course, just send plane loads of cash until the dollar is worthless.
People with something to hide are very good at coming up with reasons to withhold information. The true motivation behind this kind of behavior is typically that when the truth sees the light of day, responsible people are more likely to put things right.
BTW. Check out another article featured by Antiwar.com today: Nigerian President Says Weapons From Ukraine are Winding Up in Africa
The all-purpose McCarthyite smear.
“Russian propaganda” is the LAST thing this call for “oversight” could be! Is this “representative” serious? The Russians are propagandizing so they can face the prospects of a long-drawn-out war? And why is Russia always the culprit when it comes to “propaganda and collusion”? The “reporting” that Russia’s enemies do about this war is 180 degrees from the truth. Shame on this dirt-bag Democrat for wanting to strip Americans’ rights to government accountability!
“Smith said that the concern from Republicans for more transparency ‘makes me a little crazy'”…
…’An shucks, no tellin’ what a wee crazy feller might do, ‘f he’s pushed too far,’ Smith added, edging back his jacket to stroke the handle of his conceal-n’-carry Glock 42 with the twitchy fingers of one hand.”
Adam Smith, wonderfully serendipitous name, is an Orwellian master.
I don’t understand. Why is it serendipitous? was the scottish economist adam smith pro-war or something?
Doctor Angelicus of Capitalist Theology and fountainhead of the nightmare of living industrial history, his doctrine of salvation through greed, reversing the 1700 yr tradition of Xtian teaching, unleashed upon the modern era the domination of the lowest types, self-assured in the grossest predation and pillage, destroying all that opposed it’s privileged right to exploit markets and resources the whole world over.
Time to re-read Adam Smith. It is cery convenient to dump upon him all the ills of mocern era lillaging of anything of value to prop up the paper money god,
Adam Smith was only stating the obvious -/ we engage in economic activity for a gain.
But he had much to say about greed. He in fact puts social interests above private gred. And he lived in an era when such excesses of “credit” creation, where ever since Napoleonic wars nations tried to use wars to rearrange debt by emerging victorious and imposig payment schemas on losers.
World War One was a rude awakening — nothing was solved. high debts remained and could not be wiped out. WWII was a continuation of tge same, and the endebted Europe became an easy pray to the new emerging power with plenty of resources and with clean debt slate.
But the new power simply continued the European prescription- get everyone in debt as it lioked like there was thecwhole globe to exploit. There was still a small matter of non-complying, Soviet Union and China, But with the whole globe trading within Brettton Woods, eventually Soviet Union was gone, but before them China made a plan to develop cutting a deal with Nixon.
But as the credit creatiin system continued unabated — and neither Russia nor China quite complying with forking iver theiir goodies, or allowing financial “innovation”, it all hit a fan in 2008. But China saved the day pulling globe out of depression, when G-20 was born.
Now, China is in no hurry. We can blame their COVID policies for not exactly killing themselves to pull global finances out if funk. What comes next? Who knows. But the international credit creation gig is over, Today. European countries cannot sell their debt even with high interest rate. Us beat them by jumping ahead — but it is a war among allies. Now the famous IRA (Inflation reduction act) will bring European industry to US. while helping them a tad — cutting off cheap energy from the neighborhood. Simple.
Ys, Adam Smith tries to have it both ways rhetorically; but his ascendant thesis is individual gain; egoistical greed is the key to the wealth of nations. The ethical mitigation for communal values, bourgeois liberal reformism, has ever been the confidence game played on the working class. The Brits did somewhat mitigate the harshness of the “Oliver Twists”, but the Indians made up for it.
Is Ukraine winning? That is the question. Besides that, why not audit where the money is going? And at the same time complete an audit of the Pentagon.
Looks like The Stupid is crawling all over the democratic party.
“Ukraine is spending the money really well; that’s why they’re winning,” HAHAHA!
I suppose it is ok since the USA never worries about cost overruns or waste, since it always wins all its wars and the USA is full of good infrastructure, healthy well educated and well-fed peaceful people and the USA has no enemies.
No, doozy, they are legitimate Congressional authority.
No one ever said you have to be smart to run for office. DC is oozing with exemplars.
Gee, this means a lot coming from a CCP puppet.
What hath God wrought……The ignorance and criminality displayed by our elected officials.
Actually, as american taxpayers who are footing the bill, its sorta our right TO KNOW…And since you are simply our [american taxpayer] employee you are ordered to find the f^^^ out!