As the Republican Party’s blockade of aid to Ukraine drags into its fourth month, the U.S. government under Pres. Joe Biden has found a clever new way to give Ukraine’s forces the weapons and ammunition they need to defend their country.
It is, in essence, an American version of Germany’s circular weapons trade—the so-called Ringtausch. The United States is gifting older surplus weapons to Greece with the understanding that Greece donates to Ukraine some of its own surplus weapons.
Greek media broke the news last week. According to the newspaper Kathimerini and other media, the Biden administration offered the Greek government three 87-foot Protector-class patrol boats, two Lockheed Martin C-130H airlifters, 10 Allison T56 turboprop engines for Lockheed P-3 patrol planes plus 60 M-2 Bradley fighting vehicles and a consignment of transport trucks.
All this hardware is U.S. military surplus—and is available to Greece, free of charge, under a U.S. legal authority called “excess defense articles.” Federal law allows an American president to declare military systems surplus to need, assign them a value—potentially zero dollars—and give them away on the condition that the recipient transport them.
Unless I am on the wrong thread it started with him saying; “Then I’d call you a complete liar with a weak grasp on reality, and a poor understanding of where and when you ought to open your ill-informed mouth, before I walked off and continued with my day, secure in the knowledge that you’re as wrong about something as it’s physically possible to be.”
Why do you think responding to someone like that with an thoughtful comment would be worth my time?
What in paticular are you wanting me to tell you what I think about?
I’m not asking you to respond to anyone but me. Forget all the replies. I’m talking directly to your original comment. The one about the funding harming Ukraine.
Why do you believe that?
I was just explaining why I didnt respond with anything.
The reason that Ukraine has been harmed is that in spring of 2022 russia and Ukraine had a deal in the works that would have given Ukraine more territory than it has now, and the war would have been over. But instead of taking the deal, Boris Johnson flew in and offered to support Ukraine to keep fighting. So all the funds from the west have done is extend the war so that tens of thousands of Ukrainians are dead and they are in a much worse place of negotiation.