Biden Asks Congress for Another $37 Billion for Ukraine While Americans Continue to Suffer
How much money has the U.S. taxpayer sent to Ukraine since the start of the war back in February? I’m not being facetious with this question, too often I find myself confused as to the sum of financial aid sent to assisting the most corrupt country in Europe in its war effort.
I mainly get confused in this regard because the way U.S. aid to Ukraine is dicussed is often in a roundabout or vague sort of way. For instance, you may ask Google how much in total the U.S. has sent, the answer you will get, which appears to be definitive, only acknowledged the amount with the security aspect of past aid packages. It’s like asking what makes an apple so healthy and receiving the answer: “because vitamins and antioxidants.” This would be simultaneously true while telling you next to nothing.
So what is the official number then? $60-70 billion? $80-100 billion? Pretty much every article or mention of the topic brings a different figure. By my account, we’ve got to be close to $100 billion — easy. And now we’re learning president Biden is urging congress to approve another $37 billion. There has been no push to allocate funds to repairing the water supply in Jackson, Mississippi, or Flint, Michigan for that matter. There has been no effort by Biden or congress to do anything about the multiple charter schools that have closed down in West Philly during an increase in gun-violence, which effects the cities youth more than anyone else. We immediately learn so much simply from the juxtaposition of energy spent uplifting Ukraine with the absence of energy or appetite for improving the material needs of the country’s people.
The Ukrainian government had over 8 years to resolve the conflict and instead spent that time shelling civilians in the Donbass while Vladimir Putin denied Donetsk and Luhansk’s wish to secede. 8 years and more than 14,000 dead in southeastern Ukraine before tensions with Russia decided to intervene. You can agree with this course of action. You can find it abhorrent and morally reprehensible. It doesn’t really matter. What matters is this isn’t the U.S.’ war to wage. The damaged infrastructure of Ukraine isn’t the U.S.’ responsibility to repair. We’re supposed to view Russia as evil and barbaric in nature, and to believe any talk of U.S.-meddling in Ukrainian culture and political affairs is nothing more than Russian propaganda, but if this weren’t the case why else would the American-led West be so deeply invested in a conflict between two non-NATO nations?