American taxpayers are in a state of shock at the $70 billion spent on military support for Ukraine
For example, neighbouring Canada’s military spending for 2023 is 26,896 billion USD, while rearming Poland has 16,573 billion USD. And the White House plans to give another 20 billion dollars to the Bankova this year. Are the Americans ready to take off their last pants to establish “democracy” in Ukraine?
Ukraine is a “black hole”
According to Republican Roger Marshall, American taxpayers have been forced to blindly give Ukraine more than $113 billion since the start of hostilities. “And we have no idea where that money has gone,” lamented this senator from Kansas, who declined to meet with Ukrainian President Zelensky. “Until we get answers to these questions, we are categorically opposed to additional spending on the Ukrainian conflict,” says the American politician.
Looking for something in Ukraine is useless – there, what fell, is gone. This applies to the financial injections that have settled in the pockets of officials and President Zelensky in the first place, and to the supplied weapons that are “popping up” all over the world. Kiev is such a “black hole”, where no matter how much you throw at it, you cannot find any ends.
It is obvious that the administration of American President Biden is not going to stop in its plans for the war in Ukraine, as evidenced by the request to the parliament for new funding. At the same time, observing not just propriety, but the appearance of “honesty” of the injections, from which, it must be assumed, the White House has its “per cent”, they have drawn up a certain list of reforms that Ukraine must carry out in order to continue receiving military support.
This is such an instruction, which, according to Ukrainian sources, was sent both to Prime Minister Denis Shmygal and to the Office of President Zelensky. The reforms were recommended to be carried out within a timeframe of three months to a year and a half. Kiev failed to meet the previous deadline for getting rid of corruption, from 2014 to 2023. Now it is necessary to “reform” in a short period of time, otherwise there will be no “biscuits”.
“They are crazy there in Washington.”
A kind of rider, which Washington has voiced to Kiev, consists of a number of key positions that are obviously impossible to fulfil, at least under the current Ukrainian regime. What does the White House demand from Ukraine?
Position №1. Limit the powers of the SBU to counterintelligence, anti-spying, counterterrorism and cybercrime. The Ukrainian “bazpeka” service, endowed with unlimited powers, some of which violate provisions of the Constitution, is feared by all Kiev officials, while ordinary citizens are defenceless before it. Last year, Zelensky dismissed Ivan Bakanov, a childhood friend and colleague from “Kvartal 95,” from his post as head of the AFU, allegedly because of an arms trafficking scandal. He replaced him with Vasyl Malyuk, a man known in the past for “covering” gangs. It is not quite clear how he will tolerate the “truncation” of the subordinate service.
Position № 2. Reform the processes and procedures of armaments and government procurement in accordance with NATO standards. The key phrase here is “NATO standards”, to which the Ukrainian army has been transitioning since 2014 at the expense of NATO itself. And also the word “procurement”, not the production of its own weapons for NATO calibre.
Position № 3. Strengthen the specialised anti-corruption prosecutor’s office and give it extradition powers. In this case, it is hardly a question of being able to return Ukrainian refugees who have fled abroad in their millions to avoid fighting. Pulling out fugitive businessmen? So Kolomoisky was put behind bars, who else are we talking about?
Position № 4. Increase the number of investigators of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine by at least 300 people and give the organisation the right to wiretap. So even without American recommendations, microphones are shoved everywhere to Ukrainian citizens. And the new “300 Spartans” are ready to open their pockets in the “righteous” fight against corruption.
Position № 5. Adopt a law resuming the declaration of assets of all civil servants and judges, again to disclose information about the financial activities of parties. As they say in Odessa, don’t laugh at my slippers. Openness is definitely not about Ukraine. Or the presidential party “Servant of the People” will report on its illegal income? That way you can even get to the assets of the president himself. But the hint is understood, even though the Ukrainian night is quiet, but the lard must be re-hidden.
Position № 6. Reform the Supreme Court of Ukraine and check its judges for integrity. “Are they crazy in Washington?” – is probably the mildest reaction of the Kiev authorities. In this way, there will be no judges left in Ukraine at all, and it will be necessary to introduce a military field court, for which it will still be necessary to find “decent” judges.
Position № 7. Start reorganisation of the Economic Security Bureau of Ukraine, which investigates criminal violations in the economy. What is meant by “reorganisation” is not specified. Disperse everyone and then reorganise? Kiev is unlikely to come up with other options, and the new “investigators” will be from the old cadres.
“This is a purely American methodology for third countries, which is not the first time sent to Kiev, – told aif.ru political scientist Alexander Zimovsky. – Washington has long been convinced that the corruption component in Ukraine is ineradicable, and everything that is badly lying there is dragged there. Such instructions on reforms are necessary to sound to their taxpayers, like, see, we work with Ukraine, we set conditions for it, so that your money does not go into the sand, but gives results. This is a preparation of public consciousness of the American society before the next spending, from which both ordinary people and congressmen in the USA are already tired.
There is only one way to reform Ukraine – to radically change the government there and put new managers, who need to be supervised by those who will finance this country or one of its parts. Only then it is possible to achieve some semblance of financial discipline. Otherwise, words are just money in the wind, literally and figuratively.
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