Posted on 04/01/2014 11:57:19 AM PDT by Jim Robinson
When the U.S. began providing army rations to help Ukraine's military, caseloads of them went on sale on Ukrainian websites, raising questions about the country's endemic corruption just as the West begins delivering billions of dollars in aid.
Last week, Vladimir Belonog, a military supplies salesman in Kiev, Ukraine, put a new item up for sale, not on his usual website, where he deals in everything from camouflage jumpsuits to paintball guns and ninja stars, but on an Internet auction site he hadn’t used before. The new items were U.S. army rations – known as a meals ready to eat, or MREs – and right on the packaging, alongside the seal of the U.S. Department of Defense, each one said, “U.S. Government Property, commercial resale is unlawful.” In the days before Belonog started selling them, the Pentagon had begun delivering about 300,000 MREs as military aid to help Ukraine defend itself against a Russian invasion. How Belonog got his hands on such items is unclear.
Reached by phone on Tuesday, he admitted that he was the seller, but denied that they were the same MREs that the U.S. government is providing to Ukraine. (A few minutes after Belonog spoke to TIME, he deleted the MREs from his sales page.) Asked about the label forbidding their resale, Belonog says, “What can I tell you? These things are easy to get, and they’re for sale all over the place.” That seems to be the case.
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Even the leaders who emerged from that revolution have quickly fallen into the practice of self-enrichment. Dmitro Yarosh, the leader of a radical right-wing party who is also running for president, has admitted to riding around in the armored cars that were taken from the Yanukovych’s mansion right after he fled to Russia...
(Excerpt) Read more at time.com ...
To pay interest on the American debt.
A percentage of aid to corrupt regimes will come back to the politicians who provided it. That’s my theory.
Seems like no matter what we do, somebody’s crony makes a buck at taxpayer expense. Its why my attitude toward sanctions have changed. When we impose sanctions the state department turns around and gives waivers to politically connected cronies.
uhm,Ukraine didn’t ask for MRE’s.
I must be corrupt.
If I asked for an apple and received an orange, I’d sell the orange and buy an apple. Thus I see nothing wrong with selling the MREs.
As to the “ “U.S. Government Property, commercial resale is unlawful.”” label on the MREs. Doesn’t that mean that the US gov cannot sell the MRE’s? and, since it’s a product of the US, does the resale law apply in foreign countries? What if the reseller does not read English?
US spat on Ukraine with the MRE’s,Ukraine is doing what is done when one receives lemons.
“the Pentagon had begun delivering about 300,000 MREs as military aid to help Ukraine defend itself against a Russian invasion.”
How does 300,000 MRE’s defend against Russian tanks and artillery? Maybe I’ve gotten stupid, but the 1st Marine Division didn’t throw C-rats at the VC or NVA.
This sh*t is turning into low-brow comedy.
Unbelievable!
1930s: Why did you rob the bank? “Because that’s where the money is.
2010s: Why did you go into politics? “Because that’s where the money is.
Take the money out of politics and the criminals will follow.
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