วันอาทิตย์, มีนาคม 02, 2568

Why should Americans care about the war in Ukraine? Do you know 90% of Ukraine aid spending stays in the U.S., creating thousands of jobs. Virtually all the munitions Ukraine is most reliant upon are fully built in the U.S.



90% of Ukraine aid spending stays in the U.S., creating thousands of jobs

Although some may claim U.S. aid vanishes into a cesspool of unchecked Ukrainian corruption, one study has shown that 90% of Ukraine aid dollars are not actually sent to Ukraine after all. Rather, these funds stay in the U.S., where leading defense contractors have invested tens of billions in over 100 new industrial manufacturing facilities, creating thousands of jobs across at least 38 states directly, with vital subcomponents sourced from all 50 states.

Virtually all the munitions Ukraine is most reliant upon are fully built in the U.S., ranging from javelins made in Alabama, to Guided Multiple Launch Rocket Systems (GMLRS) made in West Virginia, Arkansas, and Texas. Not forgetting the smaller-ticket items such as night-vision gear, medical supplies, and small-arms ammunition, all made in the U.S. Any additional Ukraine aid would likely only help the U.S. economy even more, since previous weapons shipments were largely drawdowns of musty old stockpiles and existing inventories rather than new supplies.

The Ukraine conflict has revitalized NATO, lessening the relative economic burden on the U.S.

Though Trump has complained for years that the European countries are not contributing their fair share to NATO—a common gripe of President Obama’s as well—and despite Trump’s threats to let “Russia do whatever the hell they want” to NATO free-riders, Trump largely failed in his quest to get the E.U. countries to contribute meaningfully more to their own defense, and ironically, only Putin has been able to succeed where Trump failed.

The degree to which Europe is now stepping up to the plate after Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and sharing the burden with the U.S. is striking. Prior to Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, only two European countries spent more than 2% of their GDP on defense spending. Now, 11 NATO members spend more than 2% of their GDP on defense, with some members such as Poland spending even more than the U.S. as a percentage of GDP. At least six European countries increased their defense spending by over 10% last year alone, including some by up to 30%.

Furthermore, although, under Trump, the U.S. spent over twice of what the rest of NATO spent on their own defense, combined; now, Europe’s financial commitments toward Ukraine exceed that of the U.S., with European aid especially invaluable over the last month as the U.S. funding spigot dried up, with some countries such as Estonia setting aside half their defense budget for Ukraine. This is not to mention the addition of new members paying their own way such as Finland, with Sweden soon to follow.

Source: TIME
https://time.com/6694915/ukraine-aid-bill-what-united-states-gains/





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