Friday, July 29, 2022

American Cash, Ukrainian Con?


Jim Thompson reporting for RedState 

Vlad Putin is a thug. Vlad is a bad, bad man. The war in Ukraine is bad. Okay, now that that’s out of the way.

The war in Ukraine has been a boon for virtue-signaling. Celebrities have made the trip to Ukraine to kiss Volodymyr Zelensky’s ring. Zelensky is ground zero for the virtuous to signal their virtue, George Washington in a green t-shirt. Ben Stiller called Zelensky his “hero.”  Stephen King was so anxious to kiss Zelensky’s cheeks that he got punked by a prankster. Malcolm Nance, the left’s favorite LARPing clown played dress-up in a combat kit, and after he had his fill of “I’m done talking” photos and screaming “STANDBY! STANDBY!” he came home–to sell his book. U.S., European, and UN politicians have made the trek to seek a photo-op with Zelensky.

The U.S. Congress has turned on the money spigot, blasting cash into Ukraine – currently at $40 billion. This fact might come as a shock, but America isn’t located in Europe. Yet, America is pouring cash into Ukraine and the Europeans are not. Germany? Nah. It’s done a lot of posturing, but not a lot of paying. The Germans have “committed” to a 1 billion euro grant. Meaning, Germany has sent nothing — to my knowledge, not even sauerkraut. The French aren’t listed in the “tracker” as having sent anything. Maybe some baugettes and berets? America is super interested in securing Ukraine’s border. Not so much our own. Why is America treating Europe like it’s 1946, cash-strapped and in rubble?

In any event, where is all our cash going? I don’t know. Do you? The “Big Guy” might know. The Big Guy probably knows. Just make a call to Hunter. We do know that no one is keeping track of where the firehose of cash is being sprayed. There is no accountant standing next to Zelensky, as pallets of ordnance and cash are off-loaded; no ledger is marking where that cash is being spent, or where the weapons are going.

We do know a couple of things. Zelensky banned opposition parties, and suppressed media he doesn’t like. He’s placed former US Representative Tulsi Gabbard and sitting US Senator Rand Paul on his black-list as “propagandists”–because they dared question where the untraceable money to Zelensky has gone. The nerve.

The wife of a former member of Parliament was caught with 28 million in US dollars and 1.3 million in euros at the Hungarian border.  A Ukrainian cargo plane crashed in Greece carrying a plane-load of weapons. The official line is that the arms were Serbian and they were headed to Bangladesh. Uh huh. In a Ukrainian cargo plane. Okay.

We’re now graced with Vogue magazine cover and story featuring Mr. President and Madam Zelensky. For the story, Madam Zelensky was photographed wearing a lovely ensemble of designer clothes, standing in the midst of plane wreckage. It looks like the Vogue photographer brought a portable wind machine to blow back her lovely coiffure. Is the Vogue spread a letter home? “Dear Lindsay Graham, send us more cash — we are starving for money.”

Congressional stooges like Adam Kinzinger have the Ukraine flag in their Twitter bios… in front of the US flag. Kinzinger changed his bio this week, removing both flags. He must be running for dog-catcher. Social media is still awash in Ukrainian flags, virtue signaling for the blue and yellow.

I’m not calling this a giant con. Brave men are dying to defend Ukraine. But I want to know – where’s the money? Is it like welfare money here at home, where they insist it’s all accounted for, with not a cent in fraud?

Just so my position is clear, Putin is a thug. But, where did all the cash go?