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Vilnius Memo: Who Is Going to Bankroll This War? By Martin Jay
(2023-08-02 at 00:29:15 )
Vilnius Memo: Who Is Going to Bankroll This War? By Martin Jay
Apparently it was not Albert Einstein who said "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results". But we like to think it was, so it became a quotation attributed to him.
How else to describe the Wests stalwart determination to impale itself further with the agony of the Ukraine war as we are led to believe that NATO and the United States are determined now to dig in for a long war. The belief is still upbeat, despite the huge anti-climax of Ukraines so-called "offensive" which did not even break through the Maginot Line which Russia has built along a 900-km fortified line.
The blinded dogma of NATO members at last months Vilnius Summit stems from being drunk on their own fake news which media dutifully pumps out each day from the propaganda factory in Kiev. There is just so much of it, that it is hardly surprising that Biden and his European lap dogs overconsume on it without looking at the hard facts.
It is not simply that Ukraine "has run out of ammo" as Biden put it. It is more than that. It is that it has been proven over and over again that they do not have the will, resources or rank ability to take on the Russian army and that sending more and more military hardware will only delay the inevitable loss. Or at least armistice which is bound to happen on an unofficial level at some point, if an official one can not be signed.
President Zelensky looked worried at the Vilnius conference. And it is hardly surprising. Even when you look at the pledges made by western countries for military hardware, there is no question that the speed of these deliveries and the actual quantity has radically dropped. So how can Ukraine or NATO believe that it can win the war, even in years to come? Fighting a war without ammunition is like baking bread without flour, after all.
The truth is that most western leaders already know that the time is up. They know that three key elections are going to play a huge role in putting the brakes on the campaign to continuously supply the Kiev cabal, who by some accounts, are buying 7 million euro villas in Cannes with the money which is being syphoned off. War is a racket after all and Ukraine is one of the most corrupt countries in the world. Should we be surprised that a government minister there has this kind of cash to blow on a wedding present for his offspring?
The three elections are of course the United Kingdom general election, The United States presidential elections and the European parliamentary elections. All three will take place at the end of 2024 and it will be the first time people will have a real opportunity to make a statement about the war and the abysmal hardship it is imposing on people in western countries. It is as though Joe Biden knows also that it will be very hard for him to stand again as president when he has to explain why he has sent over 130 billion dollars of taxpayers money to a country that few United States of Americans can even find on a map of the world.
Money matters. Finally, it matters. The argument on the American side that it does not matter as it is being printed and given over to the industrial military complex has some validity, as this secures jobs and keeps these companies buoyant. But it is public money. And so, rightfully, people will want to know why could the same money not be spent on the very poor.
For the Europeans it is very different. They pay a very high price for the Ukraine war and the folly of their governments who indulge themselves with the military aid like children gouging themselves on chocolate cake while the parents are away. Germanys economy is flat broke. For the United Kingdom, homeowners are facing losing their house due to colossal mortgage rate hikes with an entire generation now unable to get on the housing ladder. How will these politicians explain this at the polls?
It really is about the money. NATO knows that it needs much more than just the miniscule offering of 2 % of GDP, which in reality only 11 NATO members adhere to. All western countries military stockpiles are depleted and so, not only do NATO and its members need to find trillions of dollars of new cash just to bring their stocks back up to what they were, but also trillions more for Ukraine. The numbers just do not add up. Even on an EU level, Ursula von der Leyen, who is almost certainly going to be NATO secretary general, when her term as EU Commission president runs out in about a year, has her begging bowl out. She is hoping to raise 20 billion euros to be given to Ukraine over 4 years as military aid. For the Ukraine war, it is pretty meagre.
For the EU itself, there is no clear sign how she will get it when she is already asking member states to contribute 30 billion euros more to the budget to pay for another egregious scam of COVID vaccinations, which at one point she was being accused of having corrupt connections to, until colleagues managed to cover the scandal up. Europe not only has no cash or military kit left to offer Ukraine, it has serious financial problems to tackle of its own for its own elites to retain the power they wield.
The only respite would have to be much more cash from the United States only which is probably not what President Biden is planning on. The Europeans have paid too much. We are an empty Amazon warehouse with all the workers at the foodbank!!
Reprinted here from the "Strategic Culture Foundation" provides a platform for exclusive analysis, research and policy comment on Eurasian and global affairs. We are covering political, economic, social and security issues worldwide. Since 2005 our journal has published thousands of analytical briefs and commentaries with the unique perspective of independent contributors. SCF works to broaden and diversify expert discussion by focusing on hidden aspects of international politics and unconventional thinking. Benefiting from the expanding power of the Internet, we work to spread reliable information, critical thought and progressive ideas.