Ukraine: US doubles down, Russia is cool - Indian Punchline
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US to transfer ATACMS system to Ukraine with 300 km range  Russia’s free running in the Ukraine war in the most recent months is about to end as the Biden Administration has met with success, finally, in the US Congress on the long-stalled Ukraine aid bill. The aid approved by the House on Saturday would send $60.8 … Continue reading "Ukraine: US doubles down, Russia is cool"

this was from monday, but i didnt see this round of aid posted on this comm

$60 billion, but its different this time in that they are going to use frozen Russian assets to partially fund it. this is actually a crazy move that flies in the face of the neoliberal rules-based international order. more than that, it’s sets a precedent for economic warfare. the US has seized assets from enemies during war, but the US is not at war with Russia. this is an egregious faux pas with deleterious consequences for the US (Russia doing the same to US-owned assets in Russia), but it may also mean the US intends to directly declare war against Russia (unlikely). what’s more likely is that the US strong-arms european allies to do this. ukraine simply doesn’t have the manpower to continue for much longer.

the article notes that this asset seizure is illegal. the author also hypothesizes that the US will force the EU to act similarly. this will lead to an even deeper rift between “the west” and Russia that will be near impossible to mend. this illegal asset forfeiture was enabled by bipartisan support (vote of 360-58 in the house). the global times agrees with this perspective

Putin will be visiting China soon, and Blinken just finished a 3-day visit that seemed rather unproductive and uneventful. blinken was tactless and the topics he brought up were the usual “China bad” drivel. among these topics was “concern” about China supporting Russia’s military industrial capacity

the US is also sending more of its troops as “military advisors”. so less than a quarter of this $60 billion is going to weapons for Ukraine, 11 billion is going toward the US troops, and the rest is to replenish the US weapon stockpile. $50 billion just handed over to the MIC. basically, they’re not sending enough for a counteroffensive, which is probably the best thing for ukrainians considering how much of a failure every single one of those has been.

the most “exciting” new toy ukraine is getting is the ATACMS (attack ‘em up real good). this missile system brings Crimea into range. however the US is running into problems meeting its goal of 100,000 shells per month by 2025. the deindustrialization of the US has consequences?!