#Russia defense spending

[latestnews-now]

Russian President Vladimir Putin has approved record military spending for 2025, allocating 32.5% of the national budget to defense amid the ongoing war in Ukraine. Meanwhile, new EU leaders visit Kyiv, pledging unwavering support for Ukraine’s fight against Russian aggression. In this video, we break down Russia’s escalating military strategy, Ukraine’s push for NATO membership, and the human cost of Europe’s largest conflict since WWII. Stay informed and join the conversation by watching this comprehensive update!

[tomorrowusa]

Remember how Trump often whined about NATO members allegedly not paying enough for their own defense? Under President Joe Biden, over 70% of NATO members have reached their defense spending targets – a high for this century.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg announced on Monday that 23 of its 32 member states were expected to meet the alliance's defense spending commitments this year. That is 13 countries more compared to last year's data, and five more than an earlier estimate in February. "This is good for Europe and good for America," Stoltenberg said in a speech unveiling the newest numbers in Washington, "especially since much of this extra money is spent here in the United States."

One of the NATO members is Iceland which technically has no military. But the stats don't include Sweden, a strong investor in defense, which just joined this year.

And as Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg reminded us above, a lot of that European defense spending benefits US industries.

Speaking to DW, Davis Ellison, a strategic analyst from the Hague Center for Strategic Studies, said that the collective recognition of NATO targets is especially noticeable when examining how much defense spending is now dedicated to new equipment. "In the past, you had a lot of focus on personnel costs, which ranges everything from pension to health care and everything else," Ellison explained. "But now you have a much greater collective investment in equipment, which is more to meet NATO targets than anything else." The security expert pointed out that this extra spending compounded NATO's military might.

Putin's invasion of Ukraine was a wake-up call for liberal democracies. It's significant that four of the top six NATO countries for defense spending share a land border with Russia.

Trump's claim that our allies respected America more during his administration is a bizarre joke. In fact, they actually made fun of him behind his back. Remember this classic SNL sketch about a NATO summit in 2019?

The only international leaders who liked Trump were dictators who found him easy to manipulate.

Former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull of Australia called Trump "creepy".

Malcolm Turnbull says Donald Trump's 'creepy' embrace of Vladimir Putin a threat to Australian security

NATO and other liberal democracies have become stronger since Trump's departure.

[elmacheteillustrated]

$858 vs $75

[alwayshistory]

G-7 Faces a $10 Trillion Reckoning as the World Races to Re-Arm

The US and its allies are just starting to come to terms with the vast increase in defense spending required to counterbalance the militaries of Russia and China. By Enda Curran, Natalia Drozdiak, and Bhargavi Sakthivel A new era of global rearmament is gathering pace, and it will mean vast costs and some tough decisions for western governments already struggling with shaky public…

[itsmassivecollectionpatrolus]

Russia spends 80 billion dollars/year on defense and is outmanufacturing all of NATO on the essentials of war.

[i-news-you]

In our latest YouTube video, we delve into a critical report from the Strategic Posture Commission, which is sending shockwaves through the realm of international geopolitics. The report highlights the urgent need for the United States to prepare for the possibility of simultaneous wars with both Russia and China.

Tensions with China over Taiwan and escalating conflicts with Russia due to its invasion of Ukraine have set the stage for a potentially dire scenario. The report even raises concerns about possible coordination between Chinese and Russian nuclear weapons, adding a layer of complexity to the situation.

Our video thoroughly explores the key findings of this report, the recommendations it presents, and the implications for the United States and global security. This is a pressing issue that deserves your attention.

Watch our video to gain a comprehensive understanding of this crucial report, and be sure to share it with your friends. Knowledge is power, and staying informed about these critical geopolitical matters is of utmost importance.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel for more in-depth analysis of the pressing global issues that impact our world. Don't miss out on staying informed and engaged in the world of international affairs.

[xtruss]

Who Are North Atlantic Terrorist Organization’s (NATO's) Biggest Spenders and How Much Bang Do They Get for Their Buck?

US dollars — Sputnik International. © Sputnik/Mihail Kutusov/Go to the mediabank

The Western alliance's defense expenditures top those of all of their major adversaries, and the world, combined. Which members of the bloc spend the most? And does higher spending actually make NATO’s armies more efficient? Sputnik breaks things down.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization received a major morale boost and cash infusion after provoking Russia into a proxy war in Ukraine, with French President Emmanuel Macron suggesting recently that Moscow had helped revive the "brain-dead" alliance, and US President Joe Biden boasting that while Russia had hoped for “the Finlandization of NATO, [it] got the NATOization of Finland – and Sweden" instead.

The alliance is spending over $1.3 trillion on defense in 2023, up from $1.2 trillion in 2022.

The uptick in the bloc’s expenditures goes back long before the escalation in Ukraine in 2022, with the alliance tasking all members with spending two percent or more of their GDP on defense at its 2014 summit in Wales following the Euromaidan coup in Kiev and the outbreak of hostilities in Donbass.

NATO consistently spends many times more on the military than its top adversaries.

For example, Russia, which is fighting in a proxy conflict against the entire Western bloc as the latter pumps Kiev up with tens of billions of dollars in weapons, has laid out about five trillion rubles, or $56.6 billion US, for defense in 2023. China, which surpassed the US economy in GDP by purchasing power in 2020, and faces regular provocations from Washington in the South China Sea and Taiwan, is spending 1.55 trillion yuan (about $224 billion) on defense in the current year.

Who is North Atlantic Terrorist Organization’s (NATO’s) Biggest Spender?

As you may have guessed, the United States has by far the biggest military spending footprint in the Western alliance, dedicating $877 billion, about three percent or GDP or 12 percent of all US federal spending, to defense.

US defense spending has increased every year since 2015 following a five-year post-Iraq and US economic crisis-related dip, with spending trending upward for decades after the 1948 low of $9 billion (about $153.7 billion adjusted for inflation).

Congress recently reached a landmark debt limit deal which caps defense spending at $886 billion for fiscal year 2024. But lawmakers from both parties have already begun brainstorming workarounds to spend more, such as using "emergency supplementals" for Ukraine for other Pentagon priorities. A recent independent audit of the money the US has spent in Ukraine over the past year conducted by the Grayzone confirmed the ease with which "money for Ukraine" can be diverted for other things, such as cash for foreign think tanks, media, and even private equity firms.

Efforts by a small handful of conservative Republicans such as Matt Gaetz, Marjorie Taylor Green, Paul Gosar, and Rand Paul to rein in defense spending have put the lawmakers on a collision course with hawks in their own party. Last week, Senator Lindsey Graham accused the MAGA wing of the GOP of "sinking" the US Navy by cutting funds to build new ships, and complained that there was "not a penny in [the budget] deal" to keep the Ukraine proxy war going.

Who are the Top Three?

Second after the US in terms of total spending is the UK, which laid out the equivalent of $68.5 billion for defense in 2023, and has pledged to increase spending another $6 billion over the next two years, even as the country balances on the brink of a recession, and faces a cost of living crisis unprecedented since the 1970s.

Germany is NATO's third-biggest spender, committing about $54.5 billion to defense in 2023, and planning a hike of up to $10.9 billion (to €60 billion total) in 2024. Germany, which is already in a recession, has suffered arguably the greatest losses among European countries as a consequence of the NATO-Russia standoff, losing a source of cheap Russian energy and resources to fuel its hungry industrial economy, and facing a terrorist attack against the Nord Stream pipelines by its own allies.

And the Top 10?

Next are France, Italy, Poland, Canada, the Netherlands, Turkiye, and Spain, which spent the equivalent of $42.8 billion, $30.3 billion, $22.5 billion, $21.4 billion, $18.1 billion, $15.9 billion, and $13.1 billion on defense this year, respectively. Virtually all of these nations have pledged further hikes, citing foreign threats, as well as commitments to NATO.

France, which has faced months of protests related to government plans to raise the pension age, and which is now in flames after the police shooting of a teen outside Paris, has far and away the most ambitious defense spending plans, with President Macron sending a $438 billion military budget plan to parliament this spring for the years 2024-2030.

More Expensive = Better?

Sir Humphrey Appleby: "If you walked into a nuclear missile showroom you would buy Trident. It’s lovely, it’s elegant, it’s beautiful. It is quite simply the best. And Britain should have the best. In the world of the nuclear missile it is the Saville Row suit, the Rolls Royce Corniche, the Chateau Lafitte 1945. It is the nuclear missile Harrods would sell you. What more can I say?"

Jim Hacker: "Only that it costs 15 billion pounds and we don't need it."

Sir Humphrey Appleby: "Well you can say that about anything at Harrods!"

These words, written over 37 years ago for the hit BBC television series Yes, Prime Minister, remain as relevant as ever when it comes to Western countries' perceptions of defense, where money seems to equal better capabilities.

"When it comes to these figures and numbers, we are an effective alliance and we have effective armies, but the cost level is much higher, reflecting just a higher standard of living," NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said in 2019 while trying to explain why the bloc was continuing to raise defense spending even after outlays had reached over 20 times Russia’s.

"If you compare salaries and costs across NATO allies and Russia, of course [NATO’s] cost levels are higher. And therefore, when you compare these budgets at market prices, and common currencies, then you get those conclusions you are referring to, but that doesn't reflect less efficiency," Stoltenberg assured.

Other observers have different explanations, including an overabundance of well-compensated senior officers like generals and admirals, exceedingly generous outlays for procurement and supply (like the famous $20.2 billion per year price tag on air conditioning during US operations in Iraq and Afghanistan), and mindboggling sums spent on prestige projects, like the Lockheed Martin F-35 fighter jet, which has a projected lifetime cost of over $1.7 trillion, and counting. The same can be said of the US’ half-a-dozen or so multi-billion-dollar hypersonic missile projects, which have yet to enter service, even as Russia, China, and Iran have all successfully unveiled similar weapons.

What Does NATO Get for Its Money?

The alliance has demonstrated that it can use its air power to pound smaller, militarily weaker countries into submission – case in point Yugoslavia in 1999 or Muammar Gaddafi's Libya in 2011. Yet when it comes to putting boots on the ground and keeping them there, the alliance has had far less success, with the $2+ trillion the US and its allies spent in Afghanistan between 2001 and 2021 failing to prevent the country’s government and NATO-trained army from collapsing in mere months after the US announced its withdrawal.

But perhaps that’s the point, as now-imprisoned WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said back in 2011.

"Because the goal is not to completely subjugate Afghanistan. The goal is to use Afghanistan to wash money out of the tax bases of the United States, out of the tax bases of European countries through Afghanistan and back into the hands of the transnational security elite. That is the goal. I.e. the goal is to have an endless war, not a successful war." Julian Assange — Imprisoned WikiLeaks founder, outside a London court, January 13, 2020.

— Ilya Tsukanov | Sputnik International | Sunday July 02, 2023

[politicalprof]

NATO matters

I don't know who needs to hear this, but NATO members don't pay the US to protect them. Instead, they agree to defend each other in case of an attack against any member, and back that pledge with a commitment to spend a certain percentage of their GDP on defense matters. It is the case that some member states have not always fully lived up to that commitment -- a commitment that has largely now been met given Russia's invasion of Ukraine. But NATO members aren't refusing to make payments to the US. That's not how NATO works.

[sov666sov]

Another night. russia plan to make huge missile atack. AGAIN. Also here's drons right now and half of Ukraine have air raid. I'm laying in my bed thinking that this night- morning again will spend in a basement of my house and honestly? I'm tired. Every Ukrainian is tired. Imagine how tired we are with this all day all night 7 days a week. We don't have time to sleep, to work, spend time with our family and friends because russian think that my country is their place. I don't know how much and how loud we should scream that we need more air defense and help.

Please, don't ignore the genocide that russia make right now. My heart is bleeding every day seeing the destruction of my country and death of my people. I'm scared and tired of this

[qqueenofhades]

Hwy dod we even need to send more money to Ukraine tho like we’ve already supported them plenty! But let Europe pull their weight and we can go back to spending that money on American policies

Do you read like, any news outside Tumblr, any Ukrainian perspectives, any basic analyses of the conflict, any rationale from Democrats or Congress, or anything? Because, in brief:

Ukrainians are currently facing a full-scale genocide. It has been going on for over a year and Russian military leadership has every plan to continue until fruition. If they stop resisting, there will be no more Ukraine or Ukrainians. So all the "appeasers" or "realists" insisting that Ukraine should "give up land for peace" (which notably worked so well with Czechoslovakia and Hitler in 1938) are basically deciding that it's fine to let the genocide be carried out, if it's even minorly inconvenient for us. Putin and cronies have repeatedly stated that if they are successful in taking Ukraine, they will go further. This is the exact scenario that leads to the "escalation" and/or WWIII that various people keep wringing their hands over. It is far more just and safe for Ukraine to be supported now and to stop that before it gets even worse.

America is not actually giving over buckets of black cash, regardless of what various bad-faith takes claim. They are handing over weapons valued at various amounts of money, along with some financial and budgetary aid. A lot of these weapons are older and would cost more to decommission than they cost to give to a sovereign democracy fighting for its life against an imperialist autocratic neighbor. This is some tiny amount like 5% (if that) of America's bloated military budget. And again: it's actual weapons valued at a certain dollar amount. These cannot be spent on American domestic policies.

The idea that helping Ukraine is directly coming out of our own pockets or preventing us from spending as needed on our own needs is propaganda. It is not good to repeat it.

I wrote this post the other day about why Putin is trying so hard to break American/Western support for Ukraine, and why the hard-right MAGA has enabled him in it. Putin's Russia is the motivating nexus, coordination, and funding center for Russian/European/American far-right theocratic fascism. This whole "America Only" is the exact rationale that appeals to said far-right domestic fascists and gives Putin and other imperial expansionist kleptocrats the justification to just throw away post-WWII international order and declare that any larger and more powerful state can systematically eradicate any neighboring country, claim its territory, destroy its government, kill its people, and get away with it. Because why would they stop, if there aren't any consequences and they are rewarded for it?

Putin has repeatedly interfered in American elections to help Trump and the Republicans. That should tell you something about who he sees as most favorable to his interests and what he would do again if allowed to emerge victorious.

Europe IS actually pulling its weight! They just brought all 27 defense ministers to Kyiv, they have been working on Ukraine's accession talks, they have committed all types of weapons (including the long-range missiles that the US still won't clearly authorize), they've committed a new tranche of 5 billion euros in long-term assistance, etc. But the whole "we should pull out of NATO and leave Europe to fend for itself" was a key isolationist and xenophobic Trump idea. We can see what that led to.

American aid is vital to Ukraine's continued existence as a sovereign country, period, and it is in American interests to continue to provide it as agreed upon. Not least because such an egregious betrayal of a democratic ally would empower the fascists of the world, both Russian and American, and because as noted, if this conflict was not stopped and got bigger, it would then involve American troops. It is a moral, democratic, political, and ethical imperative. This is not a difficult call or a complicated situation, regardless of what the Online Leftist tankies and the MAGA-world nutcases (because horseshoe theory) want you to think.

Слава Україні.

The end.

[latestnews-now]

Poland is taking bold steps to fortify its eastern borders, ensuring security against potential threats. Prime Minister Donald Tusk visited the border with Kaliningrad to inspect the groundbreaking "East Shield" project. Learn how this massive $2.5 billion initiative will safeguard Poland and NATO allies. Stay tuned for a full breakdown of this historic defense effort.

[tomorrowusa]

^^^ from @visegrád24

Yet another way Putin’s invasion has had the opposite effect.

Putin has been trying to make Russia great again by throwing its military weight around. He has only succeeded in showing the world he commands a third-rate armed forces and has alarmed neighbors into bolstering their own military establishments.

Poland is the latest country in Europe to announce a significant hike in its national security spending. Some others...

Macron: France to hike military spending by a third

Germany To Buy U.S.-Made Fighter Jets As Military Spending Prompted By War In Ukraine Ramps Up

North Macedonia is set to increase its defense budget to $542 million by 2027, says GlobalData

Yes, even North Macedonia (population: 2,130,936) is not taking its security for granted.

After winning the runoff election on Saturday, Czech President-elect Petr Pavel made a call to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy –– one of his first calls after the election.

Russia’s neighbors are not being cowed into submission by Putin’s aggression. Eastern Europe in particular remembers the 40+ miserable years as satellite states of the USSR and wants no repeat.

[mariacallous]

A month after Franklin D. Roosevelt won the 1940 presidential election, he called for legislation to ramp up military aid to countries fighting Nazi Germany. Congress passed the Lend-Lease Act in March 1941. Within months, Britain and the Soviet Union were pounding Adolf Hitler’s forces with U.S. weapons and other equipment.

Now that Americans have voted to return Donald Trump to the White House, the situation risks flipping into reverse: After Jan. 20, 2025, the United States may abandon its European allies to Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s fascist war machine.

During his campaign, Trump said he will “not give a penny to Ukraine.” Part of his plan to end the war “in one day” is that he would “tell [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelensky, no more. You got to make a deal.” But if Russia is allowed to conquer and subjugate Ukraine, it would only be a matter of which democracy gets colonized next by a neighboring dictatorship: Poland, the Baltic States, Moldova, or Taiwan.

Thus, over the next 75 days, Congress and the Biden administration face an urgent historic mission to help Ukraine get as many weapons as possible before a possible withdrawal of U.S. support.

U.S. President Joe Biden has directed the Defense Department to draw down all remaining Ukrainian security aid that Congress has appropriated by the end of his term. It’s not clear if the Pentagon could supply much more weaponry than that by Inauguration Day, even if it received additional funding from Congress.

Instead, the way to promptly fund more arms is to bankroll Ukrainian procurement of U.S. weapons. Specifically, Biden should request, and Congress should pass, another supplemental funding bill on a similar scale as the one in April, which included $60.8 billion for Ukraine. The new supplemental should authorize the administration to spend any amount of the aid—up to the full amount—to cut a massive check to the Ukrainian government with the stipulation that Ukraine use the funds to purchase U.S.-made weapons.

Sending Ukraine $60 billion to spend on weapons would be entirely consistent with the strategy that the Biden administration had been preparing in case of a Trump win. One of Biden’s main initiatives has been to push the G-7 to give $50 billion in frozen Russian assets to Ukraine, deliberately structuring the transfer to get out the door before Jan. 20 so that Trump cannot stop it. Biden originally wanted to seize and give to Kyiv all $300 billion of Russia’s frozen money, but the Europeans could not be convinced. The administration has also shown its willingness to throw U.S. budgetary resources into the mix: When the $50 billion was blocked by the Hungarian government, the White House engineered a clever way of guaranteeing the money through the Treasury Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development.

The key political challenge, however, could be getting House Speaker Mike Johnson to support this legislation during the lame duck period, when he will probably be preparing to run for another term as speaker. This may require some hardball maneuvering by some of the many pro-Ukraine Republicans in the House. It would be much easier, of course, if Trump quietly goes along with it, like he did with the last supplemental.

The United States would not be the first government to fund Ukrainian arms procurement. Denmark paved the way this year with a grant that finances contracts between Ukraine and defense manufacturers. Denmark and Ukraine developed a transparent set of financial controls that include factory site visits, validation of delivery, and auditing processes. All sides regard this pilot program as so successful that other allies are pulling out their checkbooks to join in on the action.

Americans’ tax dollars would be safely held by the most credibly reformed and reputably led wing of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry: the defense procurement agency. In the early weeks of the full-scale invasion, when Russian forces were bearing down on Kyiv and heavy Western weapons hadn’t yet arrived, Ukraine’s desperate Defense Ministry called up illicit intermediaries, begging them to help buy up old stocks of Soviet-type munitions on the notoriously opaque and fragmented international arms market. But over the following months, as Western aid started flowing, Ukraine’s strategy shifted to building a clean, transparent pipeline for buying weapons straight from producers.

Established in August 2022, the defense procurement agency is now run by Maryna Bezrukova, a seasoned reformer who previously cleaned up procurement at Ukraine’s national electricity company. To be her deputy, Bezrukova hired Ukraine’s most reputably independent corruption investigator: Artem Sytnyk, the former head of the state National Anti-Corruption Bureau. With these sheriffs in town, the surest way for even the most powerful Ukrainians to go to jail is to try to corruptly make money off weapons acquisitions.

Under this reformist leadership, the defense procurement agency is aggressively cutting out intermediaries by contracting directly with arms manufacturers. The clearest sign of success is that excluded arms dealers and their cronies are attacking Bezrukova with threatening messages, smear campaigns, and doxing on Telegram. Most recently, these intermediaries tried to sideline Bezrukova by getting Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov to merge her agency into another one—and fire her in the process. That announcement triggered such strong pushback by NATO and Ukrainian civil society that the minister canceled the planned reorganization. Instead, with support from Ukraine’s allies, the ministry formed a new supervisory board of reputable experts to oversee the procurement agency.

Any U.S. legislation that funds weapons contracts arranged by Ukraine’s defense procurement agency should come with one additional condition: Before Kyiv receives any money, it must enact legislation mandating the existence of the agency, safeguarding the independence of its supervisory board, and most importantly, prohibiting the defense minister from firing the agency head without a concurring decision by the supervisory board.

Beyond the strategic benefits, this approach could create jobs for Americans during Trump’s second term, largely in states that voted for him. Unlike military aid provided by Europe or allocated by NATO, U.S. funding would come right back home: to Northrop Grumman’s gun truck production line in Arizona, General Dynamics’ artillery shell facility in Texas, Raytheon’s missile factory in Alabama, and Lockheed Martin’s F-16 plant in South Carolina.

To prevent the Trump administration from using executive authority to block the export of weapons procured by Ukraine under the program, Congress should insert one exemption to the Buy American requirement: If the U.S. government ends up blocking exports, Ukraine would be free to redirect the funds to non-U.S. arms manufacturers.

Just as vital as the original Lend-Lease Act, this legislation could be called the Buy American Weapons Act. And it would keep the United States on the right side of history against the imperial armies that are once again on the march.

[misfitwashere]

The Neighbor's House is on Fire

You have a good neighbor.  He does a lot for you.  He keeps the street clean around your house.  He mows your lawn when you are away.  He signs for your packages and brings them to you later.  Your kids go and play with his kids in the backyard.  He has an alarm on his house with a camera, which you don't, and he once ran burglars away from your house.  He's done a thing or two for you that you haven't noticed.  Like the time he stopped a crew from mistakenly taking down a tree in your front yard.  And the time he found your cat outside, on the street, and gave it to your kid.

And now your neighbor's house has caught fire.  The flames are just now visible.  There's plenty of time to react.  In fact, you happen to be standing nearby, at exactly the right place, watering your garden, with a hose in your hand.  The flames are in easy reach.  Your neighbor runs to you and asks you to just turn the water in the direction of the flame. 

You refuse.  You turn off the water and walk away.  And then you hurry down to your basement and shut off the valve, just to make sure your neighbor can't be helped. 

All you had do was flick your wrist, turn the hose in the right direction.  But you didn't.  It wouldn't have cost you anything.  A nickel on your water bill that you wouldn't notice. 

And if you had helped, you'd have been a hero.  Your neighbor would remember you, as would the press, as would your kids, as would everyone.  But you chose not to help.  Your neighbor's house burns down. 

And then yours does, too.

This is, currently, our Ukraine policy. We are choosing to let a good neighbor burn.  Ukraine does things for us that we need, and often that we neglect to do ourselves, or cannot do ourselves.  It does things for us that we do not notice. 

These are not small things.  By resisting Russia, Ukraine shows the world that there are people who care about democracy enough to take risks for it.  It reduces the risk of nuclear proliferation and nuclear war by showing that nuclear blackmail does not work.  It maintains the international legal order.  It fulfills the NATO mission by absorbing and reversing a Russian attack, making war elsewhere in Europe very unlikely.  It deters China from risky action in the Pacific by showing how difficult offensive operations are. 

These are all hugely important American interests, most of which we cannot fulfill ourselves.  Ukraine can fulfill them, if we help, just a little, in ways we would not even notice.

Ukraine is on fire.  In the past few days, Russia has launched something like five hundred rockets and drones at Ukrainian civilians, including nearly a hundred drones on New Year's Eve.  Russia continues to undertake offensive operations in Ukraine.  Russian propagandists and Russian leaders continue to announce the same genocidal war aims now as at the beginning of the war: the end of the Ukrainian state and the end of the Ukrainian nation.  Ukrainian citizens under Russian occupation continue to be tortured and deported.  

Ukraine resists, very effectively, with the weapons it has.  It has opened the Black Sea to trade, something that no one expected.  It is holding back the Russian advance, inflicting huge casualties.  It is shooting down missiles and drones.  (If you want to help detect the drones, which is a matter of urgency, please make a contribution to my Safe Skies campaign here).

So we are standing here with easy access to water.  It would be so easy to help.  And yet we are turning away from our neighbor in need.  Ukraine needs our support, and some of our Congressional representatives are blocking it.

The amount in question is not meaningful, given what we spend on national security.  It is about a nickel on the defense budget dollar.  

And that nickel is extremely well spent!  The defense department budget, after all, is meant to keep us safe.  That nickel on the dollar brings us security in the Atlantic and the Pacific, it brings us a reduced risk of nuclear war and a greatest international respect for law, it brings us the sense that we have friends who take risks for good things.  There is no other nickel on the defense department dollar that is nearly so important as this one. 

And, in fact, we don't even really spend that nickel on Ukraine.  Most of the defense money we nominally spend on Ukraine actually stays in the United States.  The arms Ukraine needs are in large measure weapons that your tax dollars would otherwise be spent to decommission -- to destroy and throw away.  For example, we have about a thousand long-range missiles that we will soon pay tax money to take apart and drop in landfills.  Those missiles, given instead to Ukraine, would seriously hinder Russian attacks, and put Ukraine in a position to win the war.

We are turning off the water.  Running down to then basement, caught in some strange self-destructive fit of self-absorption, we are putting our own house at risk.  Ignoring our neighbor is the worst thing we can do, even if all we care about is ourselves. 

Everything that the Ukrainians are doing for us can be undone this year.  Russia can win, and be encouraged to start other wars, where our participation is likely to be much more direct.  China can be encouraged, and we can find ourselves in a cataclysm over Taiwan.  International order can break down, and we can confront confusing, difficult, and painful conflicts all over the world.  Russia can halt food deliveries to Asia and Africa, leading to starvation and further war.  Everyone can be demoralized by the realization that those who risked their lives for democracy were sold out, just because Americans lacked the wherewithal to what is obviously the right thing.

It doesn't have to be that way.  It's easy to help a good neighbor.  This is a conflagration that we can stop with a flick of the wrist.  A bit of legislation to support Ukraine, and we all have a safer year, and safer lives.

© 2024 Timothy Snyder

[yantalia545]

Yandere allies with a party girl s/o

*18+ warning

America:

As a party god himself, he understands the thrills of partying and is more than willing to join you at any out-of-this-world party. After all, going alone to parties can be so boring, why not have a trusted friend tag along?

The two of you will have more Instagram-worthy nights than anyone. He can’t help but fall more in love with you as the two of you giggle along at the excitement of the next party.

He absolutely loved going out to party with you, until that one terrible night.

Someone scumbag had managed to catch you when you were alone and try to put himself on you. It wasn’t until America heard your screaming crying pleads did he finally found you.

That night would be glued into America’s mind forever. Especially the image of you; terrified teary eyes, shaking, and the top of your dress ripped. Ruined by some dirty asshole.

Safe to say, that man had to be carried out on a stretcher and America had to make a plea for acting in defense. It doesn’t take much for the whole thing to get sweated away when he’s the America though.

Before that horrible night, he never once thought much about just how dangerous those places were they’d party out. Everyone was always drunk out of their minds and creepers lurked around amongst the mist of them. Just waiting for the chance to drab some helpless girl. It terrified America thinking of how easy it was for that dirty man to get you away from him. He needed to do better than that. He won’t let anything like that happen again.

He’d be clingier than before. Was he always so pushy about hanging out with you? If you say anything about it, America will argue that he just wants to make sure you’re safe. You would take his word for it, but something about the demanding glint in his eyes really puts you off.

When you finally get a breath of fresh air by somehow getting a party plan passed America. You were just trying to enjoy yourself with your girlfriends when a pissed off blonde figure comes out of nowhere and drags you out. Don’t bother screaming for help. It only took one look over to the bouncer did you know; he’s in on this too.

Russia:

It’s not a huge surprise that Russia would be one have an obsession over this kind of darling either. Russia is a man who often comes from a home of silence and suspicion. Someone who’s spicy and full of life would be the perfect kind of darling to fill Russia’s lonely heart. The only thing is he’s rather selfish and would rather have you shower him with all of your energy rather than sharing it with others.

Russia won’t be one to jump to kidnapping you surprisingly. Not right away at least. You just look like you’re having so much fun that he wants to join in too. The only problem is when you’re over six feet tall and are awkward as hell the whole club is tense. Not that Russia looming over you hells either.

You, bless your heart, may try to jock it up to Russia just having the nervous butterflies about going out to a club the first time and take him to a smaller club. When that doesn’t help, you try to argue to go without him since clubbing is really not his thing, but he insists on going with you.

Try to sneak out to a club without him and some during your stay you’ll feel a sudden presence and hot breath trickling down your neck. Turn around, and he right there with a childish smile plastered on his face saying about how silly you forgot about him. Hell do this as many times as it takes to show you that wherever you go, he goes.

Your fire for clubs may start to dwindle at this point. It’s just not as fun to go out when Russia is all over you. Not that just cutting off clubbing would get Russia to leave you alone. He’s just excited for the next adventurous thing you’d love to do.

It's also a good thing in Russia's mind that you grew out of partying... Those places were full of untrustworth people who were undeserving of your time. Why not just spend some more time together? Russia doesn't like to share, so independent acivities are much more Russia's speed anyways.

China:

Yeah, been there and done that already. Trust him on this one but partying is not really all that glamorous as movies make them seem. They're gross and people usually get hurt. Not to mention, the people who attend them are not always the cleanest. As a respected country, China knows that you need to be better than that.

China will see you as someone who reminds him of his past self. He's made lots of mistakes in his upbringing. Even if he hates to admit it. He needs to guide his wife to be a perfect, etiquite, darling and partying isn't marticulous of your time and energy. In fact, if anything, it only smudges your beauty. Don't fret though, China is going to fix you.

No more partying for you. He's made that mistake in the past and he will not let you repeat that awful lession. China is much older and more expericed than you and he will hold that over your head as being all knowing. Much to your annoyance. You can try to sneak up, but somehow, just as you're about to leave, it's like a que that China always shows up. If your try to rufuse China's company over parties he'll throw a fit and may even become a bit foreful.

In China's eyes, you're much like a child who needs constant supervison. If you keep trying to ditch him to sneak out to parties then he'll take matters into his own hands. He'll move you in to his place eventually seeing as you can't be trusted without his guidence.

China will become heavy on your lessions in order to shape you into his ideal wife. They'll be long and tiring, but most importanly, you can't say no. He's only trying to preserve your reputation as a nation. It's not a good image if his wife is a party animal going out and getting drunk every weekend.

Not to mention that China doesn't have the greatest history with drugs. The whole ordeal with England really damered his outlook on drugs and alcohol. If he's not allowing himself to partake than neither will you. China is well aware of the struggles of setting good habits but don't worry, he'll be here to help you every step of the way. If you've been good and doing well in your lessions, then China will paper you with all kinds of homemade goods and goodies. Desrespect his rules and China will be forced to keep you under lock and key with harshed lessions until you learn your place as his wife.

France:

Did you say party? France loves a good party. He'll be more than happy to come along with you rather he asked you or not. How did he even know you were going to a party tonight, you ask? That doesn't matter. You can't go to a party without someone. It would be so lonely without your darling companion to accompany you. Besides, what if you need a steady ride home or just need your hair tied back and he wasn't there to help you?

France can't stand the idea that some dirty person might try to take his place as your loyal companion. He worked too hard to jeopardize that. Not to mention that as someone who does a little partying himself, he'd know all the good spots for Instagram-worthy nights out in the city of France. Nothing like VIP treatment to better your partying experience.

Much like America, he didn't mind the partying at first. It was what made you your spunky self. However, darling, these places are starting to look too dirty for a fine diamond like yourself. Why don't the two of you just stay at his place and enjoy the Franch night on the terrace together over a few glasses of wine?

England:

How he could ever fall for a person like you is beyond anyone's best guess. You're his complete opposite. While he'd rather be relaxed at home with his favorite book and a cup of tea, you're right at home in the loudest of crowds.

Maybe his younger self loved your carefree and wild personality. He was quite the teenage dirtbag during his punk phase himself. However now that he's older that's all behind him. You're too old to be acting like this anymore. It's time you became more like a proper young lady and he sees it upon himself to guide you.

You'll be woken up one early morning with him at your front door. He doesn't care how early in the morning it is nor how much you protest. You're going to learn to be a proper lady whether you like it or not.

Before you know it, you're dragged out of your house and forced to live with him. All in the same day, you'll be forced into a marriage contract. Seems like your boos thought it would be a wonderful idea to go over your head and agree to the profound man.

No more sneaking out to parties for you. You'll be kept in a locked room until you learn your place. No amount of disrespect or refusal will stop England. Can't you see he just wants to focus on more important things and reach your full potential as his wife?