NATO Allies Escalate Military Support for Ukraine Despite U.S. Claims of Arms Supply Halt

PIF: "Fulfilling existing and outstanding appropriations for arms is to be expected.
No one called for a freeze on all exports."

MeganC: "The US declared there is no US funds to ship US weapons - they said nothing about other country’s shipping their own weapons."

Right, there are also future shipments of existing authorizations plus other methods of authorizing, including Presidential emergency authorities.
Further, nothing prevents Ukrainians from using their own funds to buy weapons, especially emergency resupplies of air-defense ammunition.

Ukraine's overburdened air defenses include everything from

Stinger ManPads
NASAMS medium range SAMS
Avenger medium-long range SAMS
Patriots medium-long range
German Skynex short range air defense systems
German IRIS-T Surface-Launched-Missile (SLM) systems

None of these work so well without ammunition.

Here are my rough estimates of Ukraine's total war efforts for 2024:

~25% or $50 billion from Ukraine itself.
~25% or $50 billion from the USA
~25% or $50 billion from the E.U.
maybe up to 25% or $50 billion from all other sources, including individual countries, NGOs and private individuals.
= ~$200 billion total, potentially.

In the meantime, Russia's 2024 military budget is estimated at $112 billion.
So, obviously, Russia's numbers grossly overmatch Ukraine's alone, though Western aid to Ukraine could tip the balance in Ukraine's favor, if all happens as is currently reported.

imardmd1: "I don't know why we're supporting Zelensky.
Staying freed from Russia, yes.
Sustaining a dictatorship?
Maybe, but not a communist, socialist, or Godless philosophy?
No."

I seriously don't understand where such nonsense comes from.

There is nothing ambiguous or uncertain about the basic situation -- Russia's Vlad the Invader is an evil dictator directly from Stalin's Old Soviet KGB, who invades his neighbors on the flimsiest of pretexts, bringing murder, pillage, rape & oppression to his victims.

Ukraine is a constitutionally structured republic with democratically elected officials who are simply defending their country from foreign invaders.

As for their relative morals, approximately --

85% of Ukrainians are Christians, 12% have no formal religion.
45% of Russians are Christians, 45% have no formal religion.
70% of Americans are Christians, 25% have no formal religion.

So, the moral issue here is clear and beyond serious debate that I can see.
The question of how much, if any, the US should help Ukraine is a matter for debate, but certainly not in terms of allegedly "evil Ukraine" versus "good Russians", that would be pure nonsense.

Robert DeLong #16: "Ukraine is just as much at fault for this conflict, but that aside."

Naw... by any sane legal standards, Ukraine is 100% innocent, and anyone claiming otherwise has been smoking or drinking something illegal or hallucinatory.
There is simply no truthful moral defense of Vlad the Invader's actions in Ukraine or in other countries he's abused.

Robert DeLong #16: "We can no longer be the policeman of the world.
In fact, we never should have taken on that role to begin with, but things have changed considerably when we agreed to take on that role, and all it has provided was the destruction of this nation as we took on the world's problems while ignoring our own."

All of that is pure nonsense beginning, first, with this: "policeman of the world" is just a slogan, corresponding to no defined reality.
The reality is the US has a long list of bilateral and multilateral alliances through which we support our friends and deter our enemies worldwide.
There's nothing "policeman" about that -- we don't, for example, arrest bad actors in Mongolia or Nepal!

We do threaten the CCP's Xi-snake with dire consequences if he slithers across the Straight to invade Taiwan.
That's not "policeman", that's deterring Chi-Com aggression and defending our own national interests.

Second, since 1945, US foreign policies and military deterrence have kept the world at relative peace and allowed for the greatest explosion in average prosperity in the history of mankind.
Since 1950 US average GDP per capita has doubled -- adjusted for inflation only, but without valuing massive technological advances enjoyed by all, including life expectancy increases from 68 years in 1950 to nearly 80 today.

At the same time, the worlds average GDP per capita has multiplied five times, especially in its poorest countries.

These are the tangible results of "Pax Americana".

Finally, the manifest "destruction of this nation" has nothing to do with US foreign policy or "world policeman" and is 100% the result of our radical Democrats' war on Americans, including everything loathsome we see -- from woke to DEI to corruptions and stolen elections, they manifest our Democrats' Voter Replacement agenda and their Accelerationists priorities.

So, this has nothing to do with being the "world's policeman" and everything to do with radical insanities inside the reptile brains of our demented Democrats.
Allowing Vlad the Invader to work his will over Ukraine will not slow down our radical Democrats' agenda by even one heartbeat.
Only overwhelming legitimate defeats at ballot boxes can put a stop to our Democrats' craziness.

US Military Allies worldwide:

US Friends and allies worldwide:

there are also future shipments of existing authorizations plus other methods of authorizing, including Presidential emergency authorities.
—

There are no funds to ship US weapons - the account is dry for now. Congress has to authorize more funds, all work arounds are spent.

Ukraine is broke the government, has no funds to buy anything which is why they have been getting financial aid

The rest of your post is made up or Russian Propaganda

McGruff: "Europe can defend themselves. Time people learn that we are not the world’s policemen."

NATO has nothing to do with "policemen".

NATO was founded in 1948 to defend Europe against Old Soviet aggression.
After the Old Soviet Empire collapsed in 1991 people could make a reasonable argument that NATO had accomplished its purpose and could now disband and enjoy retirement sitting on its laurels.

Except that, for some eerily strange reason, every d*mn one of the Old Soviet Empire countries came clamoring for admission to the now presumably obsolete NATO -- why was that?

Well... well... well... because, come to find out, that Old Soviet Empire was not quite as dead or defunct as first reported.
Turns out that Old Uncle Joe Stalin's premier lovechild, born just a week before Old Uncle Joe's death in 1952, later became a young KGB LtCol named Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin.
Today Vlad the Invader rules over Russia and has restored Old Uncle Joe to positions of honor and Stalin's expansionist policies as driving forces in Russia's behavior on the world stage.

So today NATO's original purposes are reborn with a vengeance and of course the USA is part of NATO, at least nominally its leader, and so necessarily a primary contributor to any collective defenses NATO undertakes.

None of this has anything to do with being the "world's policeman" and has everything to do with fulfilling NATO's 75 year long committment to defending Europe against the Kremlin's crazies and Muscovy's maniacs, "mother Russia's" radical Ras-Putins.

Nothing good can result from the US abandoning our allies.

All it has done is allow the criminals to fleece the American taxpayers, while letting the nation's infrastructure go to decay & waste.

We have been allowing uncontrolled legal immigration. as well as, illegal immigration in order for the top 1 percent to become even move wealthy, because the whole purpose is to bring in cheaper labor, because their wealth is never enough.

Ukraine is a constitutionally structured republic with democratically elected officials who are simply defending their country from foreign invaders.

Russia does the same thing, but in fact, Zelenskyy is acting like a dictator that you claim Putin is. Putin is certainly no angel, but the U.S. has been nothing but bellicose towards Russia & Putin.

You are a simpleton who can't see the realities, because you have been successfully brainwashed/conditioned just like Pavlov's dog, and Russia/Potin is your red meat that makes you salivate. Good boy.

You need to look around & employ critical thinking skills, then perhaps you can start to see the BS that you swallow without question. Biden said right off that we need to take this man out. Instead of pushing a peace agreement, would have saved much blood shed, as well as, kept Ukraine intact, but that wasn't what was wanted. What was wanted is exactly what we are seeing, a proxy war that is destroying Ukraine, because it is the criminal 1 percent wants more control, and Ukraine has lots to offer.

Wake up before it's too late. You are helping evil, period.

PIF: "There are no funds to ship US weapons - the account is dry for now.
Congress has to authorize more funds, all work arounds are spent."

If you say so, but there is also a presidential emergency authorization fund of several billions which could be drawn on in a genuine emergency.
On can also imagine work-arounds that pre-position supplies in nearby NATO countries, ready for immediate release when authorizations are finally received.

Point is, I seriously doubt if the situation is 100% hopeless, though it does sort of remind me historically of Washington's winter at Valley Forge, 1776 to 1777.
In Thomas Paine's words...

"These are the times that try men’s souls: The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.
Tyranny, like Hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph..."

PIF: "Ukraine is broke the government, has no funds to buy anything which is why they have been getting financial aid"

Ukraine does have an actual 2024 federal budget, iirc, about 40% of its GDP overall, of which roughly half or $50 billion is devoted to its military.
This compares to Russia's published 2024 military budget of $112 billion for 2024, though all such numbers could be meaningless.
My only point here is that all budgets include emergency funds that can be used, for example, to resupply stocks of air-defense missiles, which is what may be reported on here --

"A plane carrying ammunition from the United States landed in Rzeszow, contradicting official statements."

PIF: "The rest of your post is made up or Russian Propaganda"

Hmmmm... that's the first time I've been accused of using Russian propaganda, and I'm not quite sure how I feel about it. 😊

Actually, the only estimate I made up is the potentially $50 billion from "all other sources", meaning non-NATO governments, NGOs and private individuals.
I based this on the published number of $350 billion as the total so far committed to Ukraine from all sources worldwide, of which we know about $100 billion was from the USA, another ~100 billion from EU countries, leaving circa $150 billion from... where?

"Ukraine has been able to keep the fight going in large part due to nearly $350 billion in aid that’s been committed by mostly Western nations since January of 2022."

That is the source for my 2024 estimate of possibly $50 billion in non-US, non-EU aid for Ukraine.

Bottom line -- if there is any Russian propaganda inadvertently mixed in with my analysis, I'm not aware of it, and will be most curious to learn what that might be.

it does sort of remind me historically of Washington's winter at Valley Forge, 1776 to 1777

The similarities are stark, and right in front of US: On one hand we have the birth of our nation, guided by the hand of God, and on the other we have Greasy Zelensky, a failed comedian propped up by Vicky Nulend, Joe Biden and the American taxpayers.

Robert DeLong: "All it has done is allow the criminals to fleece the American taxpayers, while letting the nation's infrastructure go to decay & waste."

Repeated Russian propaganda, to the effect that criminals are fleecing American taxpayers through Ukraine aid, is not supported by any actual evidence I've ever seen.
As best I can tell, your words here are meaningless.

As for American infrastructure, that is a very different subject, a matter of political policies and priorities.
Sadly, our Democrats are less concerned with the nation's infrastructure than they are with their own radical agenda, spending untold $trillions on insane vote-buying schemes like "green new deal" and college student loan forgiveness.
The result is that even if we eliminated 100% of Ukraine aid it would not improve our infrastructure or border security one bit, because those are not things our Democrats care about.

The only thing that can improve those problems is voting Democrats out of political power and restoring sanity to our national policies and priorities.

Ukraine has nothing to do with any of that.

Robert DeLong: "We have been allowing uncontrolled legal immigration. as well as, illegal immigration in order for the top 1 percent to become even move wealthy, because the whole purpose is to bring in cheaper labor, because their wealth is never enough."

I gather from your words that you are not really American and so don't really understand what's going on here.
In fact, our government-managed flood of illegal immigrants is only tangentially related to cheaper labor.
The real existential purpose for Democrats is to increase Democrat representations in Congress, in the face of massive population flights from the Big Cities, which are the core of Democrat political power.
Illegal immigrants increase Democrat representation even though they cannot vote.
Massive illegal immigration is also intimately related to radical Democrat goals of Voter Replacement and Accelerationism.

Robert DeLong: "Russia does the same thing, but in fact, Zelenskyy is acting like a dictator that you claim Putin is.
Putin is certainly no angel, but the U.S. has been nothing but bellicose towards Russia & Putin."

No, first of all -- there is a huge difference between Russia and Ukraine, beginning with this: Vlad the Invader has been Russia's dictator for effectively 24 years now, making him Russia's longest serving ruler since Joseph Stalin's 30 years from 1922 to 1952.
By stark contrast, Ukraine has constitutionally elected six presidents since 1991, only one ever reelected, meaning Ukraine's democratic institutions are strong and frequently exercised, unlike Russia's atrophied democracy rendering Russia an effective dictatorship.

As for allegations that Ukraine's Pres. Zelenskyy rules "like a dictator", it's just nonsense, since any country under invasion from foreign armies -- including the USA -- grants temporary emergency war-powers to its leaders, in hopes they can direct the country's resources toward victory.

Finally, here, your word "bellicose" is meaningless nonsense, since it violates a basic tenet of US foreign policy going back well over 100 years to the time of Pres. Teddy Roosevelt:

"Speak softly and carry a big stick."

So for Americans, loud "bellicose" talk is a sign of weakness and would absolutely be interpreted as weakness by aggressive dictators like Vlad the Invader.
Clearly, combined with our disgraceful and unnecessary abandonment of Afghanistan, Vlad was provoked by American weakness into doing what he has intended for many years, to fulfill his pledges to begin to restore Russia's Old Empire of Fear.

Robert DeLong: "You are a simpleton who can't see the realities, because you have been successfully brainwashed/conditioned just like Pavlov's dog, and Russia/Potin is your red meat that makes you salivate.
Good boy."

Here you are simply describing your own mental state and projecting it onto me.
It is a propaganda tactic long used by the Old Soviets and also increasingly by our own US Sovietized Democrat radicals.

So, here's the truth of this -- I see perfectly well that Vlad the Invader is fundamentally an Old Soviet KGB LtCol, who has now ruled Russia for 24 years and intends to restore as much as possible of the Old Soviet & Tsarist Russian Empires.
I see clearly that "Putin's Brain", Alexander Dugin, has laid out the philosophical and mystical-religious basis for a resurrected Russian Empire of Fear.
I see Vlad's decades long pattern of serial threats & aggressions against Russia's neighbors, combined resembling nothing so much as the 1930s.
And I see a new very dangerous "Axis of Evil" including Russia's Vlad the Invader, the CCP's Xi-snake, NoKo's Little Kim and Iran's Moolah Mullahs, among others.

Fundamentally, we are looking at a world divided between peace-loving more democratic countries versus militarily aggressive dictatorships.

Robert DeLong: "You need to look around & employ critical thinking skills, then perhaps you can start to see the BS that you swallow without question.
Biden said right off that we need to take this man out.
Instead of pushing a peace agreement, would have saved much blood shed, as well as, kept Ukraine intact, but that wasn't what was wanted.
What was wanted is exactly what we are seeing, a proxy war that is destroying Ukraine, because it is the criminal 1 percent wants more control, and Ukraine has lots to offer."

So far as I can tell, not even a single word that is factual.
It's all just propaganda fever dreams from the Kremlin's information sewer pipes, having no more relation to reality than a paranoid's abstract painting might.

Robert DeLong: "Wake up before it's too late.
You are helping evil, period."

Obviously you are disoriented and fundamentally confused about the basic differences between good and evil, right and wrong, up and down, day and night.
So I doubt if anything I post here can slap any sense into you, but let me try by showing you the Big Picture, the world's New Axis of Evil, aggressive dictatorships versus more peace-loving western style democracies.

Shades of blue = more democratic. Shades of red = more authoritarian:

JonPreston: "The similarities are stark, and right in front of US:
On one hand we have the birth of our nation, guided by the hand of God, and on the other we have Greasy Zelensky, a failed comedian propped up by Vicky Nulend, Joe Biden and the American taxpayers."

So, let's start with your word: "Greasy", it implies nothing more than your own irrational racist hatred of Ukrainians.
That makes your "greasy" very likely just a projection of your own inner soul, FRiend.
"A failed comedian" was nevertheless highly successful and beloved by his fellow Ukrainians for his acting role as the President of Ukraine in the TV series "Servant of the People".
That's what helped elect Zelenskyy in 2019, previous comedic roles notwithstanding.
"propped up by Vicky Nulend, Joe Biden and the American taxpayers."
So, let's compare them:
- Zelinskyy's family religion is Jewish, though he is not often publicly religious.
- Washington's religion was Christian, though he is sometimes accused of being a less-than-Christian, Jewish-friendly Masonic Deist.
- Ukraine has indeed received substantial aid from the USA and many other countries, just as our Founders received substantial aid from France, Spain, Dutch Jews and other countries.
- Arguably, the USA, like Ukraine, could not have won our independence without such aid, especially aid from France in 1781.
  Vive la France!

French victory over the British navy at the 1781 Battle of the Capes, leading to British surrender at Yorktown:

The Ukrainians are getting our castoff materiel.

Not true. The US gave Ukraine 18 of its M777 UFH artillery howizters plus 40K rounds of shells in May of 2023. They are not 'cast offs.'

There was an announcement by Blinken, I think it was, that all funds including the emergency ones are used up. Releasing overseas depots require money of which there is none - according to the US government.

It is hopeless until the House GOP signs off on a spending bill. Funds to ship weapons to Ukraine are being held hostage to the GOP getting the border issue settled in their favor, which will not happen while Biden/0bama keeps their policy in place.

“They are not ‘cast offs.’ “

They are indeed almost twenty year old cast off individual examples from a weapons system that was no longer in production. IOW, not new.

https://www.businessinsider.com/us-army-orders-m777-howitzer-parts-bae-systems-ukraine-success-2024-1

“The US Army has signed a contract with a British defense company to restart production of M777 howitzer parts that will be sent to Ukraine to refurbish old guns.”

“Though restarting older weapon production lines is rare, the war in Ukraine has become a testing ground for the arms industry.”

So now you wheel anti-Semitism into your comparison?

Please decide; is Greasy Zelensky a young Winston Churchill or is he more like George Washington?

Your lengthy Neocon wind adds nothing other than the annoying habit of correcting grammar/spelling on a freaking message board of all places. Call me a victim to Spellcheck. If it doesn’t pick it up, or I miss it, I hit Send. Oops. You do know this is not legal work or an academic essay of some sort, right?

That’s because the Ukrs aren’t/can’t maintain or fix them. Just shooting constantly. Those 40K Rounds went quick. The M777 still is the de facto frontline piece for the US and Not ‘cast off.’

The individual guns sent to Ukraine are old. If you want to talk about what the US Army currently deploys they’re not as old but they’re still out of production.

Them’s the facts.

Your argument is akin to saying all Ford F150 trucks are new. Like the F150 the M777 was made across several production years. Figure it out.

Sorry, I could careless about Russia or Putin. I only care about facts, which you have none of. Just propaganda by the criminals who have taken this nation & you are too ignorant to recognize that reality. You are a lost cause.

As for American infrastructure, that is a very different subject, a matter of political policies and priorities. Sadly, our Democrats are less concerned with the nation's infrastructure than they are with their own radical agenda, spending untold $trillions on insane vote-buying schemes like "green new deal" and college student loan forgiveness.

That statement shows just how clueless you are, because you are stuck on the old Democrat/Republican BS. The truth is both political parties do not care one whit about America, other than it being their personal piggy banks from which they can enrich themselves. They do this by getting us into endless wars. They rebuild what they destroy which lines their pockets, while you & I , our children & grandchildren get the bill for. There are a few on the Republican side who are trying to fight for the American citizens, but cucks like you criticize them at every turn, because you have no fight in you whatsoever.

Robert DeLong: "We have been allowing uncontrolled legal immigration. as well as, illegal immigration in order for the top 1 percent to become even move wealthy, because the whole purpose is to bring in cheaper labor, because their wealth is never enough."

To which you responded: I gather from your words that you are not really American and so don't really understand what's going on here. In fact, our government-managed flood of illegal immigrants is only tangentially related to cheaper labor. The real existential purpose for Democrats is to increase Democrat representations in Congress, in the face of massive population flights from the Big Cities, which are the core of Democrat political power. Illegal immigrants increase Democrat representation even though they cannot vote. Massive illegal immigration is also intimately related to radical Democrat goals of Voter Replacement.

Well, actually I would have mentioned that ad I thought you actually had the capacity of understanding that. However, you are wrong that they can't vote. Perhaps what you meant to say was that they are not allowed to legally vote. What they do is add them to the voter rolls, via motor voter process (that's why they insist on giving these illegal invaders driver's licenses) and viola, they are voters too. They do not need to replace anyone, just counter enough of legal voters votes.

So, tell me why you believe this conflict is our issue, and why we must become more in debt? While Russia has nuclear weapons, so do we, and a few is all it takes to cause severe damage, and that damage will fall upon all nations involved in deploying the nuclear weapons upon others.

Had you all listened to those of us who said to not get involved other than to work out a peace agreement this conflict could have been resolves as it should have been resolved.

But people like you who react like Pavlov's dogs to red meat, which is what Russia & Putin are your meat meat triggers that get you to comply with commands & statements that Russia is dangerous, and that we must use a military action to defend against its aggression. If you would honestly look around, you would see that we are by far the most aggressive nation in the world. Mainly because of people like you that tend to believe everything our government has to say. even with a usurper in occupying the White House as a result of a stolen election.

Sorry BroJoe, but you are nothing but a useful idiot, on so many levels.

Just for the record idiot, I am not only a US citizen, I qualify to hold the offices of President & Vice President, because I am a Natural Born Citizen.

Robert DeLong: "You need to look around & employ critical thinking skills, then perhaps you can start to see the BS that you swallow without question. Biden said right off that we need to take this man out. Instead of pushing a peace agreement, would have saved much blood shed, as well as, kept Ukraine intact, but that wasn't what was wanted. What was wanted is exactly what we are seeing, a proxy war that is destroying Ukraine, because it is the criminal 1 percent wants more control, and Ukraine has lots to offer."

To Which you responded: So far as I can tell, not even a single word that is factual. It's all just propaganda fever dreams from the Kremlin's information sewer pipes, having no more relation to reality than a paranoid's abstract painting might.

This is what I mean that you lack real critical thinking skills. It apparently affects your searching skills as well. Though I know it would have required you to bypass the crap at the top of the search results, because they want to own the narrative, so I will give you an out on that aspect.

Biden says of Putin: 'For God's sake, this man cannot remain in power'

Ukraine, It Was All Written in the Rand Corp Plan. “the U.S. Plan against Russia was Formulated 3 Years Ago

Former German Chancellor Merkel admits the Minsk agreement was merely to buy time for Ukraine’s arms build-up

For 8 years terrorist activities had taken place in eastern Ukraine against Ukrainians whose crime was the ability to speak Russian, as well as, Ukrainian languages and perhaps spoke Russian more often than Ukrainian language. They were asked in to provide security for these Russian speaking Ukrainian citizens, because their government would not provide them that security. Putin was relentless, and in good faith, in his attempts to engage the international community in coming up with a peaceful resolution. His taking the Crimea was due to the color revolution that led to the coup d'état of the duly elected President of Ukraine that the international observers was deemed to be an honest election. The color revolution was the result of Viktor Yanukovych choosing to sign the trade agreement with Russia. He was fully prepared to sign both the EU & Russian trade agreements, because that was what was best for Ukraine, because competition makes for a better outcome. But when the EU found out that Viktor Yanukovych was going to sign both trade agreements, they threatened to pull their trade agreement offer off of the table. Putin & Russia were going to allow Ukraine to trade with the EU, they just were adamant that Ukraine did not become part of NATO which was a direct threat to Russia's national security. Just as when the USSR was threatening to put nuclear weapons in Cuba, was a threat to US national security.

Now the proof that there would have been no bloodshed taking place, would be the result of a peaceful resolution, which they had almost hammered out until Boris Johnson went to visit Zelenskyy who informed him that NATO would have their backs if Zelenskyy refused to sign a peace treaty with Russia. I'm assuming that agreement required Ukraine to remain neutral & not join NATO. Zelenskyy even ran on the platform that he would resolve the tensions in eastern Ukraine, so while I assuming that language regarding BATO was involved, because in 2008 Putin stated that as far as Russian was concerned. NATO encroachment in Georgia & Ukraine were redlines. BTW, Georgia also invited Russia in to put down a rebellion taking place there.

BATO should be: NATO

Hey BroJoe, do you need anymore evidence than this:

President Joe Biden offered no words of congratulations or support to Taiwanese President-elect Lai Ching-te following his election victory on Saturday, telling reporters simply that America does “not support independence.”

Joe Biden Fails to Congratulate Taiwan’s President-Elect: ‘We Don’t Support Independence’

Let me be perfectly clear, it confirms that you are nothing but a useful idiot who is buying this illegal usurper administration that gained control by the theft of the 2020 election, PERIOD.