NEWS. “Biden Announces More Aid for Ukraine as Group of 7 Powers Meet in Japan.” / “GOP faction decries $113B for Ukraine.” Looks like this war isn’t going to end soon. Meanwhile, flash media did go to work hoisting Volodymyr Zelensky as the star of the recent G7 in Hiroshima, Japan albeit a weeping clown of unbelievable absurdity, pleading for more aid on top of the $150 billion total that Ukraine already got so far.
And the West, starring Washington, is still biting–as though Russia’s defeat is in the offing. Worse, Zelensky even “...tried to convince fence sitters like India and Brazil that there is no middle ground.” Volo isn’t aware that both giant economies are buddies of Russia per BRICS? And then Z also went to chastise and push a noncommittal or “quiet” Arab powers for support. Didn’t he know that UAE, Saudi Arabia et al thumbed-down the sanction?
But yes the Ukrainian leader, who was embroiled in massive corruption expose before the war, received vows of resolute support and promises of further weapons shipments even as Russian forces claimed to have seized the war-torn city of Bakhmut. And as yet again, while faced with homegrown issues such debt limit debate (resolved now?) and imminent migrant crisis, President Biden changes tone and announces more aid to Kyiv, topped by the much-sought F-16 fighter planes. 🇺🇦☮️🇷🇺
TIME feature: “Zelensky Was the Star of the G7. But the Summit's Focus Remained on China.” Because media choose/s to cast him as some kind of hero, which I have been vehemently disagreeing with from the get go. Kyiv is smothered by high-scale corruption years before Volo sat and he didn’t fix it as he vowed during campaign in 2019. He instead jumped right into the murk wagon. The war’s shudder took the focus out of his filth and now he’s nothing but a “walking, talking doll” pushing for more aid as Russia relentlessly pummels Ukraine, or parts of it.
G7 has ideas, of course, why it opts to still okay military handovers to Z. But I don’t think the “goodwill” will carry on, especially that Washington starts to regear its sights again towards Asia or China. Or spending cuts are now on the Oval Office table.
Xi Jinping did talk to Zelensky but I am almost certain it was all about trade and economics. End the war. China is BFFs with Russia so for Beijing, Vladimir Putin is a no brainer. They only have to sit and talk. These guys are bros in the `hood. After all, a prolonged war has obvious effect on China’s gargantuan Belt and Road Initiative project and huge FDIs globally. 🇺🇦☮️🇨🇳
G7 is all about how to deal with China and its BRICS buddies, notably Russia and India. But they gotta entertain Zelensky since, believe it or not, at least in the U.S., people (or voters) still favor arming Kyiv some more. But China isn’t dumb. The giant nation has what the West wants, especially in the line of technology, pharmaceuticals, labor force, and raw materials for “climate” industry.
Besides being a major coal producer, China is one of the world's largest producers of gold and the world's largest producer of antimony, natural graphite, aluminum, steel, rare earths, barite, zinc and tungsten; and the third largest producer in the world of iron ore. Add mercury, tin, manganese, molybdenum, vanadium, magnetite, lead, zinc, uranium, and the world's largest hydropower potential. Did I add silicon, which is a much-sought chemical element for semiconductors? Polysilicon that is imperative to solar panels?
And China has petroleum and natural gas. Beijing is not even selling its oil though the Dragon is the world’s #6 largest producer, instead as #1 importer, Beijing buys a lot of fuel. What about APIs? Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients. China and India are top 2 producers. Meantime, China has invested in many countries, esp. North Africa and Sub Saharan Africa, for their resources. What the U.S. wants, China may have gotten them already while Washington was so busy with internal politics.
These extremely worry the West, not because China will invade Taiwan and flex its military muscle all over the globe. Nope. It’s all economics. 🇺🇦☮️🇨🇳
BACK to Ukraine. New York Times: “GOP faction decries $113B for Ukraine.” Sure, you may accuse me as a lame Republican, which I am not. Maybe I am lame but I am not GOP. Yet I concur, especially with Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) who fumes that Kyiv’s leadership “...thought it was an obligation for every American to pay $10 a month to fund their war.” Anyhow, after the meeting in Poland, Zelensky’s guys thanked the bipartisan U.S. delegation for the additional aid a.k.a. F-16 fighter jets to help in the war against Russia.
Meanwhile, in other News: “The Latest Rift Among Ukraine’s Allies Is Whether to Send F-16s.” And adds: “The United States is resisting a European push for the powerful fighters. But will it relent, as it did before with tanks, rocket launchers and air defense missiles?” But the latest news after recent U.S. lawmakers meeting with Kyiv reps in Poland is likely a green light. Lockheed Martin’s F-16 Block costs $64 million. Others depend on kind and make: From $12 million to $35 million, to as high as $108 million.
Remember, last year, U.S. Congress signed a $113 billion aid to Ukraine. And in February 2022, the State Department approved the sale of 12 F-16 fighter jets with an estimated cost of $4.21 billion — a deal that also included radios, targeting pods and associated munitions components like guided missile tail kits. F-16s et al to Kyiv is not a “sale” though. Those are handouts. Paid for by taxpayers. 🇺🇦☮️🇷🇺
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