(Kevin Whiteley, Headline USA) CIA Director William Burns’s “emergency” visit to Ukraine this week for secret meetings with its president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, signaled to some that heavy casualties in recent military operations may force the country to end its quixotic territorial dispute with Russia.
“So, the war in Ukraine—which some have pointed out for nearly two years now was never going to be won by Ukraine since Russia has a population of over 100 million more people—is apparently headed for peace talks,” said former Fox News host Tucker Carlson said in a recent interview with investigative journalist Glenn Greenwald. “NATO seems to have acknowledged that this is not actually going to work.”
Ep. 37 The two defining tragedies of our time — the war in Ukraine and the presidency of Joe Biden — are both finally coming to an end.
TIMESTAMPS:
(00:17) Glenn Greenwald joins
(05:41) Will the Ukraine War Hawks ever apologize?
(07:25) Using foreign wars to punish Americans… pic.twitter.com/vTVXqNNPhT— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) November 7, 2023
In fact, Zelenskyy himself appears to be growing more dictatorial by the day—including a recent announcement that he plans to suspend democratic elections indefinitely, the mysterious assassination of a top critic and the jailing of a one-time ally amid allegations of treason.
Thus far, Democrats and neocon members of the U.S. deep state have inexplicably held steadfast in their support for the financial quagmire, although it appears to be eroding elsewhere.
Tellingly, a recent Washington Post article pinned blame on Ukraine for the bombing of the Nord Stream pipelines, which propagandist media previously claimed was Russian self-sabotage.
But if a humiliating surrender to Russian President Vladmir Putin seems imminent, the fate of Ukraine—and the billions already invested in it—leave even more questions begging to be answered.
PRICETAG UNKNOWN
According to calculations from ZeroHedge, the United States has disbursed some $73 billion in military, humanitarian and financial donations to the country since the war began in February 2022, part of a $233 billion total package that includes aid from European Union institutions and other nations.
Other estimates, however, put U.S. contributions significantly higher, with the exact amount difficult to ascertain given the frequent murkiness of Pentagon record keeping.
A List of American Taxpayer Funds sent to Ukraine since the start of the Russian-Ukrainian Conflict:
2/20/2023 $500 Million
2/23/2023 $10 Billion
2/24/2023 $2 Billion
3/3/2023 $400 Million
3/20/2023 $350 Million
4/04/2023 $2.6 Billion
4/19/2023 $325 Million
5/08/2023 $1.2…— Joey Mannarino (@JoeyMannarinoUS) September 7, 2023
Regardless, one insider from the Zelenskyy administration recently confirmed what many U.S. critics had long suspected—that the money was not being used to fund the war effort at all, but rather being ciphoned off by corrupt officials in Kiev.
“People are stealing like there’s no tomorrow,” the whistleblower told Time magazine’s Simon Shuster.
In response, Rep. Josh Brecheen, R-Okla., recently introduced the Stop Stealing Like There’s No Tomorrow Act to counter the alleged corruption, the Daily Caller reported.
It would require the secretaries of State and Defense to disclose to Congress any/all Ukrainian-government officials in violation of End-Use Monitoring (EUM) agreements between Ukraine and the U.S.
Of course, Brecheen’s bill faces a steep climb in both the Democrat controlled Senate and the White House. Both have fiercely resisted any form of congressional oversight in the past with respect to Ukraine spending, despite the clear evidence of abuse.
WORTH EVERY PENNY
The prospect of a Zelenskyy coup or other instability tied to the war’s tumultuous resolution will only make it harder to track where the billions of dollars in U.S. tax dollars are going.
That might explain the sudden interest of the Clinton Foundation.
Fortunately, the Biden administration is planning on having its own official in charge of conducting proprietary oversight during the “rebuilding” phase.
In September, former Obama Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker, a major Democratic donor and sister of Ill. Gov. J.B. Pritzker, was appointed to oversee Ukraine’s economic restructuring, with woke investment companies BlackRock and JPMorgan Chase leading the way.
“Working in lockstep with the Ukrainian government, our allies and partners, international financial institutions, and the private sector, [Prizker] will drive the United States’ efforts to help rebuild the Ukrainian economy,” Biden said in a statement.
“This includes mobilizing public and private investment, shaping donor priorities, and working to open export markets and businesses shut down by Russia’s brutal attacks and destruction,” he added.
THE COMING CASH-GRAB
Whatever may become of public funds, private companies—many of which have deep ties to the Biden administration—see the promise of a major cash grab in the months ahead.
That includes weapons suppliers, who, logic dictates, would seem to be in shorter demand if peace talks commence.
An Oct. 24 conference call between leading defense firm Raytheon and Kristine Liwag, executive director of Morgan Stanley’s aerospace and defense equity research offered an overview of Raytheon’s Q3 earnings with a particularly bullish outlook ahead for the weapons manufacturer.
In today's earnings call with defense firm Raytheon, a Wall St analyst noted Israel’s war is an "opportunity" that "fits quite nicely” with the company’s portfolio
Raytheon’s exec agreed they'll “see a benefit…on top of what we think is going to be an increase” in DoD's budget pic.twitter.com/4TQraMTK6I
— More Perfect Union (@MorePerfectUS) October 24, 2023
In the call, Liwag referenced the White House “requesting $106 billion in supplemental spending,” which included “$50 billion in investment for the U.S. defense industrial base.”
The requested monies entailed “equipment for Ukraine, air-and-missile defense for Israel, and replenishment of stockpile for both,” according to Liwag.
“This seems to fit quite nicely with the Raytheon Defense portfolio,” she added.
Such information could prove quite beneficial to those who might have inside knowledge of the matter—including members of Congress, if Brecheen’s bill were to pass.
Between March 2020 and November 2023, a record number of House and Senate lawmakers have made trades on Raytheon stock, according to Unusual Whales.
Latest trades of Raytheon happened amid the U.S.’s tanking economy, mounting national debt, and negative assessments from both credit-ratings-company Fitch and financial-analysis-provider Moody’s Analytics.
An addendum to consider:https://t.co/5eZUyy9Brf https://t.co/bpCQdw2Zbt
— The Editor (@Rebel_Editor) November 10, 2023
Headline USA’s Ben Sellers contributed to this report.
