Where Does The Money Go?

There has been a considerable amount of talk of late about military aid to Israel and Ukraine.   To suggest it must be either one or the other is a false dilemma fallacy.  For reasons that I will get to in the conclusion of this post I believe it can and should be both.  If you want to condition it on a more muscular approach to securing our southern border I'm OK with that too.  Horsetrading is how you govern.  As you read this you will get the impression I'm comfortable with security; both here and abroad.

Today I want to dispel some of the misinformation I catch from media soundbites and from the general cesspool of deceptions planted on social media by Russian and Communist Red Chinese trolls specifically as it relates to aid to Ukraine.

Congress has appropriated $113.3 billion since February of 2022 to assist Ukraine in its fight against Russia's unprovoked invasion.  This money has been provided in four tranches known as supplementals.  

To better understand  the purpose of the support these funds are divided among nine buckets including:  Economic support, weapons back-fill, Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, Defense Department accounts, humanitarian and civil society assistance, Foreign Military Financing (FMF), other non-defense efforts, oversight and other defense efforts.

From a defense perspective, the supplemental appropriations allow for the rapid transfer of equipment and supplies from Department Of Defense (DOD) stockpiles to Ukrainian forces under something called the Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA).  This is an executive power granted by congress in 1961 to the commander in chief.

Some have mischaracterized US support to Ukraine as a blank check.  The political spin is to leave an undiscerning individual with the impression we are shipping pallets of cash currency to a country at war.  The truth is that the vast majority of the money is actually spent here at home for production contracts with US companies manufacturing ammunition, weapons and equipment to back-fill our own stocks.

Almost all of the military aid sent to Ukraine is older cold war weapons systems and materiel.  This stuff represents a sunk cost budgeted under prior defense authorizations dating back as far as the 1970s.  There is no small amount irony in the knowledge that stuff our military purchased for an expected European land war with the Soviets is being given to Ukrainians to defend against Russians.  It also happens to save the US taxpayer the cost and trouble of eventual disposal.

Naturally, older inventory sent to Ukraine has to be replaced.  It is important to note that the replacement of US weapons stocks will include the latest version of war fighting technology and will stimulate the development of newer, necessary technologies.  Why is this important?  The nature of warfare has changed and if expensive systems such as HIMARS can be electronically jammed, then we'd be well-served to know that now and build replacements that cannot be compromised. 

Before Ukraine who knew we had the capability to shoot down Russian hypersonic missiles with the Patriot system?  Or how to deal with the broad deployment of drones on the battlefield - something US forces have not had to face.  This is real-time testing of American military equipment against the best Russia has to offer. This affords us an opportunity to build better systems to defend against a sophisticated adversary.  Peace through strength.

And yes, helping Ukraine defend itself against an unprovoked Russian invasion is money well-spent because Russia will not stop at Ukraine.  Putin has stated that his next objective after Ukraine will be Poland and the Baltic states.  Sweden and Finland have joined NATO as they know they are targets of Russian expansionism.  And China would see our non-support of Ukraine as an open invitation to invade Taiwan.  But I digress.

Getting back to where the money is going, about $69 billion of the $113 billion (60 percent) will be spent in the United states, benefiting our armed forces and US industry. 

In conclusion, I do not support Ukraine because it is better for our military preparedness, the economy or as a shareholder.  To be absolutely clear, we should never forget the human cost of war.  And this disastrous conflict wasn't started by the west or Ukraine.  Russia picked this fight and if Russia is allowed to succeed the US may pay for it many times over, in treasure and in lives.  

I believe it is proper to be thoughtful and judicious about military and humanitarian aid to others.  This is not warmongering jingoism.  Consider this:  Russia and Hamas are the nexus of aggression and disinformation along with their Iranian patrons.  You can bet that China and North Korea are paying close attention.  Countries such as Ukraine and Israel are worthy of our material support to defend themselves from aggressors bent-upon their annihilation.

The moral depravity of the pro-Hamas left and the pro-Putin right have made our world an exceedingly dangerous place.  Helping Israel and Ukraine stand up to the bad guys is doing the right thing.  

Charts: American Enterprise Institute

Either-Or

Michael Herzog, the Israeli Ambassador to the US, has been sharing a 45-minute video of the October 7 Hamas attack to members of the media at their embassy in Washington.

The video is a collection of social media posts, security camera and body cam footage captured from Hamas attackers to illustrate the brutality of the attacks on innocent civilians.  

The Israeli government will not publicly release the content out of respect for the victim's families.  To be clear, I have not viewed it and can only rely-upon press accounts of those who have. I have read and heard that it constitutes the most complete record of the slaughter of 1400 Israelis in a single morning.

There's a gravely-wounded man on the ground yet very much alive.  Hamas terrorists slowly behead him with a garden hoe.  A young Israeli woman  cowers under a desk in her bedroom as Hamas member wait and wait before killing her.  A young man whose arm ends in a bloody stump is tossed into the back of a pickup truck slick with blood while his captors laugh.  Two young boys in their underwear run into a shed with their father who dies falling-upon a grenade to protect them.  One of the boys cries out in English for their mother.

The most striking element of the content is the intoxicating joy, exultation and exhilaration the killers display at every turn while executing children, the elderly, spraying gunfire into homes and shooting  dogs that come loping from gardens to investigate.  The killers make calls home to celebrate and revel in the carnage.

I've read that the video closes with a flood of images of slaughtered babies and children.  Ten children under the age of five are missing and presumed held as hostages. 

Reflecting-upon Hamas' orgy of savagery it is righteous that the attention of the world be drawn to Israel.

Yet, let us not forget that continuing Russian aggression in Ukraine has already cost the lives of almost ten thousand innocent Ukrainians.  Russia has forcibly taken children from their families and sent them back to the Motherland for Russification.  There are Russian army camps for rape and torture.  A formality of barbarous convenience.

There is credible evidence that Russia has committed crimes against humanity and genocide in Ukraine.  Global authorities confirm that war crimes are part of the Russian playbook.  

I know evil when I see it.  Russia and Hamas are dissimilar yet they share a common goal of the total annihilation and eradication of a neighboring country. 

The moral depravity of the pro Hamas left and the pro Putin right has made our world an exceedingly dangerous place.  

I believe it is right to be thoughtful and judicious about military and humanitarian aid to others.  This is not warmongering jingoism.  Considering the notion that Russia and Hamas are the nexus of aggression along with their Iranian patrons are not Israel and Ukraine both deserving of our support in defending against their aggressors? 

To suggest it must be either one or the other is a false dilemma fallacy.

Evil Personified

Russia’s bloody and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine has strategically made use of rape, abductions, torture and the targeting of civilians.  These are war crimes and evil personified.

Hamas’ bloody and unprovoked attack on Israel has been rife with rape, abductions and the slaying of civilians; including children.  All war crimes and stunningly evil.

 

Iran is a twisted degenerate theocracy; a barbaric defilement of one of the religions of Abraham.

 

Russia, Iran and Hamas are complicit. 

 

The war in Ukraine has seen Russia become reliant on Israel’s most serious rival in the Middle East. Iranian unmanned aerial vehicles have become vital to Moscow’s war efforts due to their effectiveness and affordability. Additionally, Tehran is seeking billions of dollars of Russian military goods in exchange for its support, which includes allowing Moscow to create its own versions of Iranian attack UAVs.

 

There are Russian remarks directed at Zelensky, who is Jewish. Last month, Putin himself said Western Masters put a person at the head of modern Ukraine an ethnic Jew, with Jewish roots, with Jewish origins to help glorify Nazism.  This has been a tiring and oft-repeated trope.

All the while the war in Ukraine has drawn Russia closer to Iran, Israel’s most powerful regional rival and a key backer of Hamas.  It is the attacks by Russia and Hamas that are harrowing echoes of Nazi massacres. 

 

Meanwhile, China is watching and waiting to see how things play out for those who ‘went first’. And BTW - North Korea’s role in this makes the circle complete. 

 

Yup, Russia, Iran, China, North Korea.

 

I know evil and I know bad guys and their apologists when I see them.   Including the moral depravity of the pro Hamas left and the pro Putin cheerleaders of the right. They disgust me. Their machinations have caused the world to become a more dangerous place.

 

How hard is it to condemn and stand-up to the murder of civilian noncombatants?

Behind the Curtain

 

On our recent travels thru Eastern Europe I ticked-off a bucket list item.  A visit to a Nazi concentration camp.  Sachsenhausen to be exact. 

This was an emotionally exhausting visit; I needn't do this again.  Although I would recommend everyone make a similar pilgrimage in their lifetime.

Construction of the camp began in 1936 with its proximity to Berlin making it not only the administrative and training center for the Schutzstaffel (the SS) but a showcase camp for visiting members of the axis powers.  It was at this camp that the most efficient methods of execution were perfected before export to other Nazi death camps.  Himmler called Sachsenhausen a completely new concentration camp for the modern age.

Small scale trials were conducted here that would become larger in scale including the design of gas chambers and crematoria.  It was here that the first use of gas vans was launched.

crematoria ovens

The camp also contributed slave labor to the German war effort including a brick factory and aircraft manufacturer Heinkel for production of the He 177 bomber.  It was at this camp that Operation Bernhard was conducted.  Prison artisans designed and produced forged American and British currency in the largest currency counterfeiting endeavor to date.  Designed to undermine the economies of both countries these notes remained undiscovered as they were introduced into circulation in 1943 and are highly prized by collectors today.  

morgue in the medical experimentation facility

It is estimated that more than 50,00 inmates died at Sachsenhausen from causes that included malnutrition, disease, torture and abuse, medical experimentation and execution. Famously, high value prisoners such as captured allied special operations and commando units, resistance fighters, dissidents from both domestic and occupied territories.  Famous political prisoners included Stalin's oldest son, Yakov Dzhugashvili, assassin Herschel Grynszpan, French Prime Minister Paul Reynaud, Spanish Prime Minister Francisco Largo Caballero, the Bavarian Crown Prince's family and Ukrainian Nationalist Stepan Bandera.

At least 30,000 Russian POWs were executed at this camp. 

execution trench

With the advance of the Red Army in the spring of 1945 Himmler ordered the execution of all of the camp inmates and the camp began to evacuate prisoners by means of a forced march to other camp locations.  Most perished of exhaustion or execution at the hands of the SS.  The remaining 3400 inmates were liberated by Soviet and US Army forces on April 22, 1945. 

In 1947 fourteen of the camp's officials, including former commandant Anton Kaindl and camp doctor Heinz Baumkötter and a couple of Kapos were brought before a Soviet Military Tribunal in Berlin.  All sixteen were found guilty and sentenced to life at hard labor.  They served their time in the harsh conditions of a Siberian camp with six perishing (including Kaindl) within a few months.  In 1956, those who were still alive were repatriated to Germany.

In March 2009 Josias Kumpf, 83 was deported from Wisconsin to Austria after he was identified as an SS guard at Sachsenhausen.  In May of 2022 a trial commenced in Germany against another SS guard, Josef Schütz.  He died in April of this year at the age of 102.

As a consequence of being located in the Soviet occupation zone after the war the Russians used the camp to house upwards of 60,000 German officers, Nazi functionaries and their own political prisoners and dissidents.  With the founding of the German Democratic Republic in 1950 remaining inmates were transported to Russia or other Nazi concentration camps in East Germany.  It is estimated at least 12,000 inmates perished from malnutrition and abuse during this post-war period.

With the fall of communist East Germany it was possible to conduct excavations of Sachsenhausen.  In 1990 the bodies of 12,500 victims of the Soviet period were found in several mass graves.  Most were children, adolescents and elderly.

Today the SS barracks and headquarters buildings remain in use as a training facility for the German national police force and living reminder of the brutality that took place here.

Never again