It is a remarkable business model that sheds light on the interests involved in the Ukraine war. The winner is once again the US, which can look forward to gigantic profits – and the Europeans, especially Germany, are paying the costs.
In the United States, voices have recently been raised calling for Europeans to make greater financial commitments to Ukraine. The background to this is a triangular deal, hidden from the public, which generates billions in profits flowing into the coffers of the US armaments industry. In essence, it is about the Ukraine receiving masses of weapons from the West – not for free, but on leasing terms. And the Europeans pay for the leasing costs, mostly to the US defense industry.
As early as September, there were several meetings on the fringes of the UN General Assembly, at which US representatives and Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal put pressure on the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, to have Brussels transfer 3,5 billion euros to Kiev every month.
The Ukrainian side made no secret of the fact that this was to be done so that the Ukrainian government could pay for US arms. According to Schmyhal, this must be done “as quickly as possible”. Grants and loans are also welcome.
Of the nine billion euros that the EU had pledged to Ukraine, only one billion has apparently been paid out; another five billion must still be transferred in September, and the rest by the end of the year.
The Ukrainian budget is currently threatened with the loss of transit fees for failed gas deliveries, which the Russian state-owned company Gazprom is refusing to pay due to theft and sabotage.
Ukraine’s financial situation has been deteriorating because Ukraine’s state gas supplier, Naftogaz, has been legally challenged by Gazprom. Because of this, a matter has been referred to an arbitration court. And the US does not want to worry about its money, so the EU has been ordered to guarantee Ukraine’s liquidity.
Weapons deliveries from the US are made on the basis of a lease and loan law, which has been modelled on an agreement similar to that concluded between the US and Great Britain and the Soviet Union in 1941.
In concrete terms, this means that officially the delivered goods are only loaned or leased and would have to be returned after the end of the war. However, since they are mostly destroyed or damaged, they are no longer of any value, which is why the US now insists that they be paid on delivery.
Due to the gigantic corruption in the Ukraine, however, there are real fears in the EU that the money will simply disappear into the pockets of the leadership clique. US Congressmen have also called for stricter controls on arms deliveries.
Observers have no doubt that the EU will eventually give in to pressure from Kiev and Washington. This is to ensure that the war in Ukraine drags on for as long as possible – and that the US collects money for as long as possible.
A US official who wanted to remain unnamed, told the Financial Times: “We repeat our call to all partners in Ukraine to act faster and to provide promised help to Ukraine, increase their commitments and give aid in the form of [non-repayable] grants priority over loans.”
Due to the sabotage of Nord Stream 1 and 2, Ukraine now has a central role in supplying Europe with Russian natural gas. The destruction of the two natural gas pipelines strengthens Ukraine’s negotiating position in the legal dispute.
According to the report, US officials demanded that the EU provide Ukraine with non-repayable grants worth 42 billion euros a year – at a time when Europe is facing a deep recession.
Moreover, the US representatives proposed that the EU set up a kind of standing order, through which these vast sums are automatically transferred to Kiev. The Ukrainians are in fact already blackmailing Germany to immediately supply Ukraine with new ammunition for IRIS-T SLM air defense systems, Prime Minister Shmyhal said in an interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung recently. Otherwise, Shmyhal said, a “migration tsunami” will hit Europe.
From the point of view of the US armaments industry and the sectors cooperating with it, the war in Ukraine is a pot of gold at the expense of European citizens. The US benefits from the armaments business as well as from the expensive deliveries of LNG that will soon arrive after the sabotage of Nord Stream 1 and 2. The euro is tanking, while the US dollar is skyrocketing.
The Atlanticists have indeed been very busy wrecking the European economy. In May German State Secretary for the Economy, Patrick Graichen, shocked representatives of the municipal utilities with the request to start planning for the “dismantling” of the gas network. The use of gas should be irrevocably stopped, according to Graichen. He referred to the “Green” timetable for the “decarbonization” of the economy.
Incidentally, the German Foreign Minister was also included by Time Magazinein the list of the “100 aspiring personalities in the world” in the category “Leader”.
At least in Washington and probably also in Davos they are very satisfied with Annalena Baerbock, even if they complain about the slow payments for American armaments. She has previously promised to ignore voters.
https://freewestmedia.com/2022/10/27/us-urging-eu-to-transfer-more-money-to-kiev-for-us-weapons/