The US Congress recently voted to authorize $40 billion to the war effort in Ukraine. Along with the $13 billion already pledged to Ukraine’s military effort, this means that in just a few months the US contribution ($54 billion and counting) to Ukraine’s war effort rivals Russia’s entire annual military budget ($66 billion). But there is another less talked-about historical facet of this question: the 82 year-old precedent for this new Lend-Lease law. To paraphrase another proverbial phrase, this time borrowed from The Godfather, Lend-lease is an offer Ukraine could not refuse. In the short term, however, American generosity can be seen as the programmed impoverishment of Ukraine.

Source: The North Africa Journal June 08, 2022 13:06 UTC