RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – (Opinion) The US Congress has passed a “Lend and Lease” bill for Ukraine. US weapons will be lent and leased to Ukraine.
Since Kiev has no money, the cost of this will probably soon be borne by European taxpayers – even though Ukraine is not an EU state. For the time being, we are talking about US$33 billion.
In the USA, policymakers are probably rubbing their hands. It’s a good deal – and of such high moral quality.
People are also patting each other on the back for ‘the good idea’ because there was a precursor to this law during the Second World War.
At the time, Churchill’s Britain was said to be fighting the battle against Germany for the sake of all civilization. Therefore, they deviated from the “cash and carry” principle, according to which only paid weapons were supplied.
Henceforth, it was possible to rent American weapons systems under the title “Lend and Lease”.
It is not yet known which weapons systems the USA would like to lend to Ukraine under this title. All that is known is the dimension: US$33 billion.
The controversial Ukrainian president and former comedian Zelenskyj recently demanded US$7 billion per month.
Since there is almost nothing in the world for free, arms suppliers insist on paying for their goods. European taxpayers will have to dig deep into their pockets at the end of the day. Even more over-indebtedness and inflation are to be expected.
Since Europe will almost certainly have to bear the bulk of the Ukrainian war costs, especially if one follows the statements of Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, EU states should note with great dismay that de facto they are already a participant in the war.
Only here, it is not true that he who pays commands. It is the USA that commands and the EU that pays.