Re: [Salon] Biden Administration Announces $2.1 Billion Weapons Package for Ukraine. Republicans scream: Not f***ing enough!



If I were a headline writer for AntiWar.com, the addition to the subject line I made would be the headline I would write. To add context, and to state the "true facts.”  Otherwise, without that for “context,” ignorant and stupid people, Conservatives and libertarians especially, will get the “subliminal” message that if “We Want Peace, we need to elect Republicans. Especially those Carl Schmitt fascist worshipping, “New Right,” “right-wing peaceniks” of MIC mogul Peter Thiel’s “private equity” colleagues milking every last penny out of the U.S. populace for their war making and surveillance industries, while incessantly calling for war against Iran and China. And pretending to leave Russia alone. But it defies commonsense (that explains it, they don’t have any) and Trump’s U.S. 2018 military doctrine, to attack China and Iran, and let Russia go unmolested. And all three know, “first they (the U.S.) came for ____, then they came for  . . . .

So here’s the Republican’s policy: 
https://www.politico.com/newsletters/national-security-daily/2023/05/30/ukraines-counteroffensive-plan-impressive-sen-graham-says-00099230
"The Republican, though, has continuously called for the Biden administration to send more, namely the long-range Army Tactical Missile System. Graham believes the U.S. can make enough replacement ATACMS after they’re delivered to Ukraine, even if the Pentagon fears it doesn’t have any to spare.

And he wants Congress to agree to a spending package that will send more equipment to Kyiv. It’s unclear, though, if lawmakers will take up a weapons supplemental as they debate how to avoid a debt-limit crisis.

The senator said he told Zelenskyy: “I will do everything in my power to ensure you have a robust package of weapons and technology to finish the job.”

No matter how much “aid” the Biden administration send to Ukraine to “kill Russians,” in Graham’s artful words, it will never be enough for the Republicans, who are dedicated to waging war, for its own sake, it should be clear now. “Restrained,” by nothing. And that has been their policy since the 1950s when the Conservative Movement denounced their own party’s President for “not doing enough,” their persisted charge against the Democrats, through war after war after . . . 

Here’s more of the “alternative” to Biden everyone is looking forward to come 2025, while pushing (not that he needs a push as a Goldwater Democrat) him to raise the stakes every day against Russia:

https://www.reuters.com/world/failure-back-ukraine-would-send-signal-china-about-taking-taiwan-us-senator-2023-05-26/
"In order for a long-anticipated Ukraine counteroffensive to succeed, its forces need more and better armaments, such as U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets and longer-range weapons, Graham said.
"There are weapons that matter and we've been too slow getting weapons that matter to the Ukrainian military ... my message to the Biden administration is, I appreciate what you have done. You need to do more," said Graham.

And Graham speaks for the Republican Party, as he did for Trump, on foreign policy. But here’s more; it’s not only Ukraine that needs more U.S. money  for its military but so does the U.S. military, for the war insatiable Republicans:

https://rollcall.com/2023/06/01/senators-eye-ukraine-aid-bills-as-avenue-to-increase-dod-budget/
"But Ukraine aid, if classified as emergency funding, could not count toward those limits, providing lawmakers with an outside avenue for military spending. Congress has appropriated supplemental funds for Ukraine before, including a measure Biden signed into law in May 2022.

“When you have a supplemental for Ukraine, I’m hoping we’ll use that as an opportunity to repair the damage done by this budget deal,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. “I don’t see how we help the Ukrainian military and not help our own.

"But he did say that “shaping operations” — that is, strikes that stretch Russian defenses and worry Moscow’s planners about what’s coming next — have already begun, which means the counteroffensive itself is likely to begin relatively soon.

U.S. “shaping operations” have been going on against Russia since the late 1990s, fully evident to anyone who has studied U.S. War Doctrine, and brains enough to understand what they read!

Once again, supposed opponents of war on the “right,” are pushing a false narrative that the Republicans “will save us from endless wars.” Backed as they are by the MIC, and Republican/Israeli “ZioCons,” ticked off again at the Democrats for talking to the Iranians. I saw this before, when one-time sound “antiwar” advocates, one in particular (since deceased) who will remain unnamed, as will the website he wrote for, went all agog for Trump, as in actuality, “Trump’s Chumps,” heralding him as the “Peace candidate,” in their crazed minds, whilst he was boosting the military budget to unheard of levels, as he bragged, and encircling China and Russia, with our Polish launchpad, Camp Trump, and waging war with Israel against Iran and the Palestinians. How f-ing many times (infinite?) does it take before people resolve not to be “fooled again?” And even more importantly, exercise their brains to not get “fooled again.” 

You say Graham doesn’t represent Republican policy? The hell he doesn’t. But try this war-fanatic on for size then:

https://www.nationalreview.com/news/cotton-urges-biden-to-stop-pussyfooting-around-and-send-ukraine-long-range-missiles/

Cotton Urges Biden to Stop ‘Pussyfooting Around’ and Send Ukraine Long-Range Missiles

"Cotton went on to suggest the U.S. should supply Ukraine with cluster munitions, “a kind of artillery that has lots of small bombs on it.”

“We have an almost unlimited supply and we won’t provide it to Ukraine,” he said. “Why? well, because the progressives in the White House are worried about offending European sensibilities and people who signed the Arms Control Treaty.”

Go**amn the Republican "War Pusher Man!” And men and women. Try as they might, the Democrats are never a match for Republican war fanaticism! Not in my lifetime, and not since their founding! It’s who they are. The Democrats are as bad as they are as they’ve been trying to stay not to far behind or get crushed electorally, as was the “lesson” of McGovern. So they turned to Goldwater for inspiration, and we got Scoop Jackson, the Clinton’s, and Biden. 

Now we’re on a “murder/suicide” crime binge in the world, with the only “restraint” being when Democrats won’t go quite as far as Republicans will to satiate their war lust!



On Jun 9, 2023, at 12:56 PM, egarris2--- via Salon <salon@listserve.com> wrote:

 

Biden Administration Announces $2.1 Billion Weapons Package for Ukraine
The latest round of military aid for Kiev includes air defense systems
by Kyle Anzalone

 

The Department of Defense announced on Friday it will purchase $2.1 billion in weapons for Ukraine, including munitions for Patriot and Hawk air defense systems.
The weapons to be purchased include:
  • Additional munitions for Patriot air defense systems;
  • HAWK air defense systems and missiles;
  • 105mm and 203mm artillery rounds;
  • Puma Unmanned Aerial Systems;
  • Laser-guided rocket system munitions;
  • Support for training, maintenance, and sustainment activities.
The weapons are being purchased for Kiev under the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI). The Joe Biden administration has primarily relied on the Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA) to ship arms directly from US stockpiles to Ukraine. Weapons provided under the USAI could take months or years to deliver as they involve contracts and might need to be manufactured.

 

"This announcement represents the beginning of a contracting process to provide additional priority capabilities to Ukraine," the Pentagon press release said. "This USAI package illustrates the continued commitment to both Ukraine’s critical near-term capabilities as well as the enduring capacity of Ukraine’s Armed Forces to defend its territory and deter Russian aggression over the long term."

 

A Pentagon fact sheet claims the US has now committed to Ukraine $39.7 billion in security assistance alone. However, a February report published by the Kiel Institute said American military aid had already topped $45 billion.

 

Congress authorized the White House to spend $18 billion through the USAI in FY 2023. The Pentagon has announced $10.8 billion in arms purchases using the USAI this year.

 

A conflict of interest looming over purchasing the weapons in this package is that Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin previously worked with Raytheon. The arms industry giant manufactures the Patriot interceptors the Pentagon plans to buy. 60 Minutes recently interviewed a former Pentagon contract negotiator, Shay Assad, who warned companies were exploiting the war in Ukraine by "price gouging" the US government.

 

Assad pointed to Raytheon making a 40 percent profit on Patriot munitions. The company also lied about the cost and time involved in building radar equipment to build the Patriot system, according to the former Department of Defense employee.

 

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