Funding Ukraine, Israel, and Palestine

It seems that politics can always surprise us, and the recent funding saga involving Ukraine, Israel & Palestine is no exception. Will President Biden’s recent aid package sent to Palestine and proposed funding for Ukraine help the situation in Israel? 

Funding Fail

As September turned to October in 2023 Congressional Republican opposition to Ukraine aid is steadily gained momentum. Recent voting in the House has cast a shadow on the path forward. A significant development was observed when nearly half of House Republicans voted in favor of reducing $300 million in funding from a defense spending bill designated for the training of Ukrainian soldiers and procurement of weapons. Although the funding was later approved separately, opponents of aid to Ukraine celebrated their growing numbers.

In a recent article by Time Magazine it was reported that Florida Sen. Rick Scott, a Republican who voted for the spending bill after the Ukraine aid was stripped out, stated that:

Congress needs to have “a conversation with the American public.” He said he was optimistic after seeing the money taken out of the bill.

“In my state, people want to be helpful to Ukraine, but they also want to be helpful to Americans,” Scott said. “And so they want to really understand how this money has been spent.”

After failing to secure additional funding for Ukraine, it seems President Biden noticed an opportunity to play matchmaker with emergency funding for Israel. By piggybacking his precious Ukraine funding on the back of a care package for Israel, it appears that he is attempting to virtue signal the current thing and bring back financial support for Ukraine.

During a campaign event in Washington, President Biden proudly recounted his accomplishments, emphasizing his successful efforts in persuading Japan and South Korea to provide financial support to Ukraine.

He also highlighted the rail and ports agreement he signed with the European Union, India, and Saudi Arabia at the G20 summit held in New Delhi last month, asserting that Washington would play a key role in shaping the subsequent global system.

“So, I think we have an opportunity to do things, if we’re bold enough and have enough confidence in ourselves, to unite the world in ways that it never has been,” Biden declared.

“We were in a post-war period for 50 years where it worked pretty damn well, but that’s sort of run out of steam. Sort of run out of steam. We need a new, new world order in a sense,”

As Washington seeks resources to finance two overseas conflicts, the certainty of American supremacy is becoming less solid, or as Biden put it “running out of steam”. In 1991, China’s economy ranked eleventh globally, but today it stands as the second-largest, trailing only the United States.

Beijing’s efforts to enhance its nuclear capabilities and modernize its military have been evident. President Xi Jinping has made repeated references to the “decline” of the Western-led United States and welcomed the rise of a “multipolar world.”

In this new paradigm, international relations would be regulated by international laws and treaties, rather than rules enforced solely by the United States. The request for this most recent aid package may look like diplomacy but the end result may be a different “New World Order” than Biden is calling for.

Convenient Timing 

International acts of aggression often raise eyebrows, especially when they followed by an ask on a previously unpopular project or operation. Much like we see in this situation where Biden was requesting more aid for Ukraine, got shot down and now is repeating the request coupled with aid for the recent tragedy in Israel.

Civilian casualties seen in the recent Israel/Hamas conflict are real, utterly devastating and should not be downplayed. Even so, some conveniently timed events fall suspected of being “false flag events”, an event that was some way caused on purpose for a desired outcome, an outcome that could benefit a given party. Whether or not the recent attack on Israel falls into this category is still a subject of debate.

An undeniable upside to this conflict is that Joe Biden’s endless call for aid to Ukraine suddenly became relevant again by proxy. The Military Industrial Complex is the ultimate beneficiaries of warfare, getting paid for the sale of weapons and in many cases reconstruction, post use of said weapons. They cheer from the sidelines safely distanced from collateral damage, secretly rooting for both teams. 

Aid Allocation

International aid is intended to assist countries in need, but it’s often akin to throwing money into a black hole. In many cases, the aid meant for victimized countries remains untracked, leaving room for misuse. There’s a growing belief that a significant portion of this funding ends up in the hands of unintended recipients or gets diverted to unintended causes.

John Sopko, the special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction, said in an interview:

“When you spend so much money so quickly, with so little oversight, you’re going to have fraud, waste and abuse,” “Massive amounts.”

With no oversight for previous aid sent to Ukraine it is believed that up to 90 percent of a given payment could end up not going to its intended cause. Additionally with the previous fiasco while Hunter Biden was working for Burisma, it is unclear if there is possible leverage Ukraine maintains over the Biden family.

The same skepticism can be seen in reactions to the $100 million in humanitarian assistance for the Palestinian people in Gaza and the West Bank. Many people believe that this funding may very well make it into the hands of the Hamas terrorist group.

Analyzing previous aid that has went towards assistance for the Palestinian people in Gaza, Levitt from The Washington Institute said that Hamas now earns several hundred million dollars each year. The biggest portion comes from Iran, followed by the taxes it levies in the strip. Some of that money goes to governing, but he estimates Hamas’s military wing is the priority.

“The international community became ready to help Hamas govern Gaza and they were allowing funds to flow into Hamas’s pocket,” added Kuperwasser, the former Israeli official. “Everybody knew that.”

This may be an indication of how the US aid package could ultimately fall in to the hands of Hamas as they are interconnected with the Palestinian Government, a concept even Joe Biden seems to grasp.

Much like the unchecked spending within many other bureaucratic money pits our political infrastructure is infested with. Resulting in golden toilet bowls, 10k$ hammers and mabye even some sex workers for poor old Hunter. 

Intention ,Chaos & Opportunity

Whether any of this is by design or simply a result of political confusion, one thing is clear – opportunities are seized when they arise. In the world of international politics, anything is possible, and politicians have a knack for extorting taxpayers every day of the week and twice on Sunday. 

The news cycle moves so fast these days that public support can turn on a dime. Time is critical to some parties involved because funding for aid can not be approved without a speaker of the house. How long will it take to get a new speaker of the House in position?

Will whoever ends up as speaker be amiable to approving the 106 billion dollar package Biden is proposing? Is this just another chapter in political soap opera, fresh drama on the horizon to designed to distract and demoralize?  

It is likely that History will repeat itself as we watch the story unfold into a larger set of bureaucratic blunders, the military-industrial complex and the growing global technocracy will undoubtedly find a way to capitalize on the chaos.