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All aboard the gravy train: an independent audit of US funding for Ukraine
The Grayzone ^ | 27 June 23 | Heather Kaiser

Posted on 07/12/2023 4:07:15 PM PDT by delta7

In the absence of official scrutiny of Washington’s spending spree on Ukraine, The Grayzone conducted an independent audit of US funding for the country. We discovered a series of wasteful, highly unusual expenditures the Biden administration has yet to explain.

During a recent discussion with New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Samantha Power, touted her organization’s push to guarantee transparency for US taxpayer funds sent to Ukraine.

“We are involved in funding efforts at ensuring judicial integrity, which is intrinsically important to building Ukraine’s democracy and its integration plans to get into Europe,” Power declared, adding USAID’s work in Ukraine was “also really important in terms of assuring the taxpayer, the American taxpayer, that they’re resources are well spent.”

While innocuous on the surface, Power’s comments revealed a great deception the US government is currently waging against the American public. In the roughly 16 months since Russia’s February 2022 escalation of the Ukraine conflict, the US government has approved several multi-billion dollar spending packages to sustain the Kiev military’s fight against Moscow.

Though many Americans likely believe that US dollars allocated for Ukraine are spent directly on supplies for the war effort, the lead author of this report, Heather Kaiser, conducted a thorough review of Washington’s budget for the 2022 and 2023 fiscal year and discovered that is far from the case.

US taxpayers may be shocked to learn that as their families grappled with fears of Social Security’s looming insolvency, the Social Security Administration in Washington sent $4.48 million to the Kiev government in 2022 and 2023 alone. In another example of bizarre spending, USAID paid off $4.5 billion worth of Ukraine’s sovereign debt through payments made to the World Bank — all while Congress went to loggerheads over America’s ballooning national debt. (Western financial interests including BlackRock Inc. are among the largest holders of Ukrainian government bonds.)

Though it is nearly impossible to calculate the total sum of US tax dollars sent to Kiev, Kaiser was able to perform an independent audit of Washington’s proxy war in Ukraine through a careful search of open source data available on the US government’s official spending tracker.

Kaiser reviewed all the funding allocations in which Ukraine was listed as the “Place of Performance” for fiscal years 2022 and 2023. Additionally, she discovered supplementary funds were sent to Kiev by listing Ukraine as the “justification” for spending, rather than the location where the money was physically sent.

Calculating the total dollar amount that the US has given to Ukraine is incredibly challenging for multitude of reasons: there is a lag in reporting expenditures; covert money given by the CIA (Title 50 Covert Action) won’t be publicly disclosed; and direct military assistance in the form of military equipment is not calculated in the same manner as raw cash. The Pentagon recently admitted to an accounting error revised up to 6.2 billion dollars. Despite this, Kaiser submitted a request to the Department of Treasury asking them to disclose the total dollar amount of US taxpayer support for Ukraine. Treasury has not responded at the time of publication.

Though Kaiser was able to search through pages of reported spending, the US government has yet to conduct an official audit of its funding for Ukraine. What’s more, there is currently no limit to how much Washington can send to Kiev.

In the absence of dedicated official scrutiny of Washington’s spending in Ukraine, The Grayzone has produced an independent audit of US tax dollar allocation in the country.

Among the many troubling contracts we discovered was a $4.25 million payment from the Pentagon to a military diving contractor that a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee has described as a “fraudulent company.” The US government asserts the payment covered the company’s delivery of explosives equipment to Ukraine.

So how exactly was that money put to use? And why has Congress so far refused to implement any program to track these shady weapons deals?

Unfortunately, the “justification” for contracts like these often consists of just a brief paragraph — or worse, a single sentence. Little little information is available that documents precisely how the funds were spent down to the dollar and item.

Beneficiaries of USAID’s Ukraine aid: Polish NATO lobbyists, a private equity firm, rural Kenyans, a TV station in Toronto

USAID awarded $21.8 billion to Ukraine throughout fiscal years 2022 and 2023, roughly 41 percent of the 53.4 billion it spent during that period. Mysteriously, a portion of USAID funding earmarked for Kiev was sent to Kenya and Ethiopia via other agencies, with the award description stating projects in Africa were “partially funded with response funds and Ukraine supplemental funds.”

USAID sent $4.5 billion to Ukraine via the World Bank to pay off Kiev’s debt and fund various social programs, including government pensions. USAID made a total of $21 billion worth of direct payments to the World Bank in fiscal years 2022 and 2023 (9.1 Billion and 11.9 Billion, respectively), more money than all of the funding Washington sent to the bank between fiscal years 2008 and 2021 combined. The $4.5 billion allocated for Ukraine funded programs directed by the bank’s International Development Association and International Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

USAID supplied a $1 billion grant to the World Bank’s International Bank for Reconstruction and Development to subsidize projects “Ukraine cannot fund at this time.”

USAID has supplied $20 million to “Miscellaneous Foreign Awardees” since February 2020. Recipients include a Polish think tank called the Casimir Pulaski Foundation, a Toronto-based Ukrainian TV channel, a collection of Ukrainian “anti-corruption” organizations, and other groups listed in the screenshot below. These awards were issued on top of $26 million worth of funds USAID sent these groups between 2016 and the February 2022 war escalation.

USAID allocated $500,000 for the Casimir Pulaski Foundation in 2023 to fund a program dedicated to “advanc[ing] U.S. foreign policy objectives by supporting economic growth, agriculture and trade; global health; and democracy, conflict prevention and humanitarian assistance” in Ukraine. The funds were earmarked “to strengthen the International Center for Ukrainian Victory (ICUV) initiative in implementing international advocacy campaigns to keep high levels of international solidarity with Ukraine.”

……and much, much more…..


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs
KEYWORDS: heatherkaiser; thegrayzone; ukraine; war
America is being drained dry, the Ukie welfare checks are far, far more than being reported….read carefully, US Social Security checks to Ukraine? We are being fleeced.
1 posted on 07/12/2023 4:07:15 PM PDT by delta7
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To: delta7

Imagine if that money was used in America.


2 posted on 07/12/2023 4:10:17 PM PDT by SkyDancer (My Talents Are So Hidden That Even I Can't Find Them ...)
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To: delta7

USAID == CIA front


3 posted on 07/12/2023 4:11:07 PM PDT by Tench_Coxe (The woke were surprised by the reaction to the Bud Light fiasco. May there be many more surprises)
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To: delta7

How many of those billions are coming home all freshly laundered? Young, innocent Ukrainian boys are dying by the tens of thousands in a hopeless war. The DC and Uke oligarchs will continue to rob us as long as there is still Uke blood to grease the gravy train tracks.


4 posted on 07/12/2023 4:23:00 PM PDT by hardspunned (Former DC GOP globalist stooge)
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To: All

The Grayzone conducted an independent audit of US funding for Ukraine and discovered a series of wasteful, highly unusual expenditures the Biden administration has yet to explain.

Zelensky is a phony. America is being drained dry. We are being fleeced.

The war/welfare checks are far, far more than being reported…......
including scarce US Social Security funds going to Ukraine.

US taxpayers may be shocked to learn that as their families grappled with fears of Social Security’s looming insolvency, the Social Security Administration in Washington sent $4.48 million to the Kiev government in 2022 and 2023 alone. In another example of bizarre spending, USAID paid off $4.5 billion worth of Ukraine’s sovereign debt through payments made to the World Bank — all while Congress went to loggerheads over America’s ballooning national debt.

Beneficiaries of USAID’s Ukraine aid:
<><>Polish NATO lobbyists,
<><>a private equity firm,
<><>rural Kenyans,
<><>a TV station in Toronto

<><>$21.8 billion to Ukraine throughout fiscal years 2022 and 2023, roughly 41 percent of the 53.4 billion it spent during that period.
<><>Mysteriously, a portion of USAID funding earmarked for Kiev was sent to Kenya and Ethiopia via other agencies, with the award description stating projects in Africa were “partially funded with response funds and Ukraine supplemental funds.”

<><>USAID sent $4.5 billion to Ukraine via the World Bank to pay off Kiev’s debt and fund various social programs, including government pensions.
<><>USAID made a total of $21 billion worth of direct payments to the World Bank in fiscal years 2022 and 2023 (9.1 Billion and 11.9 Billion, respectively), more money than all of the funding Washington sent to the bank between fiscal years 2008 and 2021 combined.
<><>The $4.5 billion allocated for Ukraine funded programs directed by the bank’s International Development Association and International Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

<><>USAID supplied a $1 billion grant to the World Bank’s International Bank for Reconstruction and Development to subsidize projects “Ukraine cannot fund at this time.”

<><>USAID has supplied $20 million to “Miscellaneous Foreign Awardees” since February 2020. Recipients include a Polish think tank called the Casimir Pulaski Foundation, a Toronto-based Ukrainian TV channel, a collection of Ukrainian “anti-corruption” organizations, and other groups listed in the screenshot below. These awards were issued on top of $26 million worth of funds USAID sent these groups between 2016 and the February 2022 war escalation.

<><>USAID allocated $500,000 for the Casimir Pulaski Foundation in 2023 to fund a program dedicated to “advanc[ing] U.S. foreign policy objectives by supporting economic growth, agriculture and trade; global health; and democracy, conflict prevention and humanitarian assistance” in Ukraine. The funds were earmarked “to strengthen the International Center for Ukrainian Victory (ICUV) initiative in implementing international advocacy campaigns to keep high levels of international solidarity with Ukraine.”

……and much, much more…..


5 posted on 07/12/2023 4:25:49 PM PDT by Liz (Vox Populi, Vox Dei (voice of the people is the voice of God))
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To: Liz
So where are all those “I Stand With Ukraine’’ idiots now?

Not to beat a dead horse but I said from the beginning of this that Russia and Ukraine are two scorpions in a bottle. They deserve to kill each other off and it's way past time to stop funding this blood feud.

6 posted on 07/12/2023 5:01:32 PM PDT by jmacusa (Liberals. Too stupid to be idiots.)
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To: delta7; lightman; Navy Patriot

......Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Samantha Power.....

Oh boy! the long-time Serb-hater Samantha World Power is still around, and doing her dirty work!!!!


7 posted on 07/12/2023 5:01:58 PM PDT by Honorary Serb (Kosovo is Serbia! Free Srpska! Abolish ICTY!)
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To: delta7

Is there a purposeful program ongoing to officially bankrupt the US and destroy all vestiges of what is supposed to be a constitutional republic?????


8 posted on 07/12/2023 5:06:05 PM PDT by elpadre
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To: delta7; All
"All aboard the gravy train: an independent audit of US funding for Ukraine"

Ukraine is probably nothing more than a front-end for unconstitutional, unaccountable desperate Democratic and RINO spending for Democratic and RINO reelection campaigns.

Justice Joseph Story had explained that such spending is unconstitutional imo.

If the tax be not proposed for the common defence, or general welfare, but for other objects, wholly extraneous, (as for instance, for propagating Mahometanism among the Turks, or giving aids and subsidies to a foreign nation, to build palaces for its kings, or erect monuments to its heroes,) it would be wholly indefensible upon constitutional principles [emphases added].” — Justice Joseph Story, Commentaries on the Constitution 2 (1833).

Unconstitutional federal spending for Ukraine is one more reason why both Democratic and Republican Trump supporters need to effectively "impeach and remove" ALL incumbents up for reelection in state and federal governments, except for Gaetz and MTG, by primarying them in 2024.

After all, lawmakers and executives continue to show that they do not have the patriotism and leadership skills necessary to find legislative support for effective remedies for unconstitutional government policies.

In fact, given that one of the very few powers that the states have expressly constitutionally given to the big, bad federal government to dictate peacetime domestic policy is to run the Mail Service (most federal domestic policy actually based on stolen state powers), the worst problem that the country would otherwise be looking at with a new Congress of freshman lawmakers is arguably a delay with mail delivery.

"Article I, Section 8, Clause 7: To establish Post Offices and post Roads;"

Trump can endorse candidates that Constitution-savvy patriots recommend as long as candidates are not incumbents, candidates also promising to repeal the 16th (direct taxes) and 17th (popular voting for federal senators) Amendments after they win office.

The definition of insanity is reelecting your beloved career state and federal lawmakers and executives over and over again, expecting those same politicians to find remedies for unconstitutional government policies every time.

9 posted on 07/12/2023 5:10:27 PM PDT by Amendment10
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To: delta7

If Ukraine politicians are anything remotely like American, a good chunk of the money/equipment has been grifted.


10 posted on 07/12/2023 5:22:08 PM PDT by Bonemaker (invictus maneo)
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To: delta7

Lucky for us tha McCarthy and the republicans continually fund this. I mean what kind of deathly terror would we be succumbing to if it weren’t for trump picking the speaker nom most likely to sign blank checks to the democrat money launderers in Ukraine and all around.
Great thing he ignored all of those with a fiscally conservative record or we would probably all be in mass graves.
Big pharma blank checks to big regime change machines.
If the globalists do not succeed in replacing Putin they cannot get access to Russian natural resources and the slave labor to mine it.
We must’ve depleted Afghanistans lithium already.


11 posted on 07/12/2023 5:22:43 PM PDT by momincombatboots (BQEphesians 6... who you are really at war with. )
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To: jmacusa

Amen.


12 posted on 07/12/2023 5:51:43 PM PDT by Liz (Vox Populi, Vox Dei (voice of the people is the voice of God))
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To: little jeremiah

Heads up


13 posted on 07/12/2023 6:04:40 PM PDT by thinden (buckle up ....)
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To: momincombatboots

Great thing he ignored all of those with a fiscally conservative record

*****

All 45 of them.

The 45 fiscal conservatives who couldn’t find more than 10 votes for an alternative to McCarthy. Those 10 pathetic votes were for a guy that didn’t want the job.(Jordan)

Maybe the fiscal conservatives should’ve had 45 votes for their preferred Speaker. Still wouldn’t have been impressive or enough to win anything, but would’ve been a move in a coherent direction.


14 posted on 07/12/2023 8:06:55 PM PDT by unclebankster ( Globalism is the last refuge of a scoundrel)
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To: unclebankster

So mccarthy is coherent? The guy who has continually been a Marxist puppet?
I guess that makes sense because the republicans are our enemies from within that support lockdowns, blank checks to big pharma… yes the same big pharma who just can’t seem to find a way back from perpetual drug shortages.
I remember how many people died alone in hospitals and homes, without the humanity of a funeral.. this is what McCarthy is funding, plus the militarized IRS.
At some point, either the republicans have to detach from this continual attack of their own, or we need to detach from them.
Anyone who supported lockdowns and big pharma blank checks, that has not gone public with a sworn 180 is trying to kill you, literally. If they don’t imprison you or starve you first.
That is coherent. It is simply saying yes to their terms to support this.. and it is a dishonor to all who suffered and died alone while big medical cashed in off your hard work.


15 posted on 07/13/2023 1:39:45 AM PDT by momincombatboots (BQEphesians 6... who you are really at war with. )
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