President Biden on Monday signed a bill into law reviving the World War II-era lend-lease program for Ukraine, paving the way for an escalation in US military aid to Kyiv.
The Ukraine Democracy Defense Lend-Lease Act of 2022 allows Biden to send weapons to Ukraine free of charge while technically requiring payment at a later date. Under the lend-lease act during World War II, the US sent billions of dollars in weapons to the Soviet Union, China, Britain, and other allies.
The legislation received massive bipartisan support in Congress, passing by voice vote in the Senate and by a vote of 417-10 in the House, with only Republicans voting against the bill.
According to a summary of the bill, it waives “certain requirements related to the President’s authority to lend or lease defense articles if the defense articles are intended for Ukraine’s government or the governments of other Eastern European countries affected by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.”
The bill’s signing comes after President Biden asked Congress for $33 billion in new aid for Ukraine, including $20.4 billion in military assistance. He has nearly exhausted the funds for arms shipments to Kyiv from a $13.6 billion Ukraine aid package that was included in a spending bill he signed in March.
President Biden waited until Monday to sign the bill since May 9 is the day Russia marks its victory day for the Soviet defeat of the Nazis in 1945. Ironically, the Soviet Union was one of the largest beneficiaries of US military aid under the lend-lease act during World War II.
According to the US Embassy in Russia, the program provided the Soviet Union with $11.3 billion in assistance, the equivalent of $180 billion in today’s currency, from 1941 to 1945.
Change the name, instead of the United States, change it to Weapons R Us.
Right on! War is our biggest export.
And, seemingly, regardless of party…
Or wars r u.s. 😉
There is a serious miscalculation here. Unlike WWII, when US got its money back and then some, by occupying Europe and controlling its economy, This is why initially EU was founded as coal and steel union, to support their undustrialists and build up the badly needed infrastructure. But then, with US prrodding went into financial/currency union, with the Commussiin approved by corporate power, mostly American.
As EU economy suffers. Euro tanks, Yen tanks, Swiss Frank tanks — where is the energy comming from, to generate the economic boom. This is emptying magazines of old weapons, to build new! This must be a new math — but all those hanging on US securities of any kind — treasuries or corporate — will have to think fast as US is not protecting their value.
According to Alex Christoforou it is a big money laundering operation.
I bekieve that. It is desugned for some to keep their money. The rest if us will hold the bag.
“War is the health of the State,” per Randolph Bourne — true, until the State has utterly, like a drunk wastrel fallen into the gutter, and goes kapput.
Meanwhile store shelves are bereft of baby formula, and inflation for everything but especially food soars thanks to supply chain woes.
The American people may not approve of Team Biden’s priorities, they are too starkly America Last.
As well as hopelessly incompetent. In order to prioritize backlogged rail shipments like grain, clusterfracked because of COVID-1984, railways are pressed to stop shipping fertilizer to farmers during spring planting.
D’oh.
Voting Biden was supposed to return things to normal; as in, here’s your damn vote, stop making trouble. Instead… clusterfrack.
Defending abortion rights just lost major points when families can’t feed wanted children.
I just finished watching Biden on the tellie and here is what struck me the most… First, how old and feeble he seemed (and sounded), it was very disconcerting… Secondly, maybe there should be some well defined age limits determined and set for the highest office in the country!
The problem is not Biden’s age, though, its the political loyalties and level of competence of himself and his team.
Sure, the more you watch him the less confidence inspiring he is.
However, the Reset proceeds with the precision of a professional demolition team.
Ironically symbolic the first food item to really make shortage headlines is baby formula.
At this rate, who will be lending it to us?
Another good summary by Dave DeCamp. How did that change Afghanistan decades old project work out?