Tag: foreign aid

U.S. MILITARY IS SECRETLY SUPPLYING WEAPONS TO ISRAEL USING UK BASE ON CYPRUS

Respected Israeli newspaper Haaretz has reported that over 40 US transport aircraft, 20 British transport aircraft and seven heavy transport helicopters have flown to RAF Akrotiri, Britain’s vast base on Cyprus, carrying equipment, arms and forces.

RAF Akrotiri has long been the staging post for British military operations and bombing campaigns in the Middle East. It sits 180 miles from Tel Aviv with a flight time of 40 minutes. 

The planes have been loaded with cargo from strategic depots belonging to the US and NATO in Europe, Haaretz reported. Around half the US flights are said to be “delivering military aid”. 

Declassified has found these US weapons and equipment are likely being delivered to RAF Akrotiri from US bases in Turkey, Spain and Germany.

On October 18 and 24, the US flew two huge C-17A Globemaster military transport vehicles to RAF Akrotiri from its air base at Rota in southern Spain. On October 25, the US flew another C-17 to Akrotiri from Ramstein air base in Germany, the site of NATO’s air command. 

The C-17 is capable of transporting 134 personnel and many types of military equipment, including Abrams tanks and Black Hawk helicopters. The US military notes that the C-17’s role is to “rapidly project and sustain an effective combat force close to a potential battle area”.

On November 5, a US C-130J Hercules military transport aircraft flew from Adana in southern Turkey to RAF Akrotiri. Adana is home to the Incirlik air base, a major US facility with 5,000 American personnel. The Hercules can carry 128 combat troops and 19,600kg of cargo.

Declassified could find no US Air Force (USAF) planes arriving from these bases in the two months before the Gaza bombing campaign began. 

US planes landing at Nevatim Air Force Base – located in southern Israel near the Negev desert – have delivered arms for the Israel’s military, Haaretz also reported. In addition, US aircraft landing at Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv have carried, among other things, armoured vehicles.

Keep reading

Watchdog: Afghanistan Has Received $11 Billion In Aid From US Since Withdrawal

A new watchdog report reveals that the country of Afghanistan has received a staggering $11 billion in foreign aid from the United States since the country’s collapse in August of 2021.

As Breitbart reports, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), John Sopko, issued his report on Monday.

Sopko says that the U.S. and its allies have been sending “cash shipments” of about $80 million to Afghanistan “every 10-14 days” since the Taliban took over the country shortly before the withdrawal of all American forces.

Sopko said that the United Nations has assured him that all of the money has been “placed in designated U.N. accounts in a private bank,” and is not being “deposited in the central bank or provided to the Taliban.”

The U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) similarly claimed that all of the cash shipments are being “carefully monitored, audited, inspected, and vetted in accordance with U.N. financial rules and processes.”

Despite these claims, Sopko’s report noted that the Taliban has stolen foreign aid before, and has also been able to prevent the poorest elements of a foreign population from receiving aid that has been designated for them; some of the Taliban’s methods for stealing foreign aid include “siphoning cash from U.N. shipments, or collecting royalties, or charging fees on cash shipments.”

Keep reading

US Announces $2 Billion Loan for Poland to Spend on Military

The Biden administration on Monday announced a $2 billion loan for Poland that will go toward modernizing Warsaw’s military.

“Today, the United States is proud to announce the signing of a milestone $2 billion Foreign Military Financing (FMF) direct loan agreement to support Poland’s defense modernization,” the State Department said in a press release.

The State Department said the US would also provide $60 million in FMF funds to cover the cost of the loan. The press release described Warsaw as a “stalwart US ally” as Poland has become a major hub for arms shipments to Ukraine and spends more on its military than most European NATO members.

“In addition to its central support role in facilitating international assistance to neighboring Ukraine, Poland has demonstrated its ironclad commitment to strengthening regional security through its robust investments in defense spending,” the State Department said.

Poland has been unloading its old Soviet-made equipment into Ukraine and is purchasing lots of US and other NATO military equipment, a policy that’s been a boon for Western arms makers. The US has also significantly expanded its military presence in Poland since Russia invaded Ukraine, with about 10,000 US troops now stationed there.

Keep reading

Congressional Republicans Urge Biden to Provide More Military Funding to Taiwan

The authors of the new letter to Biden reasoned that arming and equipping Taiwan “to make it a stronger and more capable partner” would be an improvement for the “national and economic security” of the United States.

Republican members of the US Congress’ foreign relations and defense committees have penned a letter to US President Joe Biden asking him to ramp up military aid to Taiwan, according to a US media outlet familiar with the contents of the missive.

The letter was reportedly authored by Senate Foreign Relations Committee ranking member Jim Risch and House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Mike McCaul, as well as Senator Roger Wicker and Rep. Mike Rogers, Republican leaders of the Senate and House armed service committees, respectively.

“Using every authority, we must arm and equip Taiwan to make it a stronger and more capable partner — which will only help the United States’ national and economic security,” the politicians declared in their letter.

They also argued that the United States “must be willing to accept the tension that comes with supporting Taiwan.”

As the media outlet points out, in December the US Congress did authorize foreign military aid financing for Taiwan – $2 billion per year – but that money comes in the form of “US-backed loans,” and the letter’s authors claim that “without FMF grants, loans are not enough to address the scale of this challenge.”

Keep reading

USAID Has Given $110,000 to Non-Profit With Alleged Links to Terror Groups

American taxpayer money might have been given to terrorist groups through a non-profit, according to a letter released on Friday from Congressman and Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee Michael McCaul (R-Texas).

The House Foreign Affairs Committee’s (HFAC) Chairman wrote a letter (pdf) to the U.S. Agency for International Development’s (USAID) administrator, Samantha Power, expressing his concerns about the latter awarding a grant of $110,000 to a non-profit with alleged ties to terrorism.

McCaul expressed concerns over “credible” and “longstanding, detailed allegations” that the non-profit Helping Hand for Relief and Development (HHRD) was not properly reviewed for its alleged ties to terrorist groups, terror financiers, and extremist groups.

The Foreign Affairs Committee had given information on the matter to USAID from May 2022, but USAID’s response at that time was not addressing the allegations against the grantee, according to McCaul.

The Epoch Times reached out to USAID for comments.

Keep reading

Shameful: National Guard informs troops last paycheck before Christmas will be late as Biden admin sends billions to Ukraine

The National Guard Bureau “is currently working the issue with DFAS time now,” the letter read, “we would hope the issue is rectified today or tomorrow.”

On Friday it was revealed that the Biden administration failed to pay numerous National Guard troops their final year end pay on time during the week of Christmas. The failure came after approving a contoversial additional $45 billion aid package to Ukraine, and the House passing a $1.7 trillion spending plan.

“Hello gents,” began a letter sent to members of the National Guard, obtained by The Post Millennial, “if you have been tracking, the pay issue that has been plaguing the unit and the division as well.” Reports came in from Pennsylvania, Georgia, and South Carolina from troops angered and upset that their pay hadn’t yet come through.

“You are probably already tracking there are pay issues. Many soldiers were due pay today. They received LES but did not receive funds.” An LES, or a Leave and Earning Statement, is simply a pay stub, but it was not accompanied by funds.

The letter revealed that this is a “nation wide” issue, and that this issue “seems to be at DFAS [Defense Finance and Accounting Service] and is related to the CR.”

“NGB [National Guard Bureau] is currently working the issue with DFAS time now,” the letter added, stating that “we would hope the issue is rectified today or tomorrow.”

“This is unfortunate and can cause serious issues and aggravation across the formation which are understandable. Especially 2 days before Christmas,” the letter stated. “I think the messaging is important that it’s understood the issues are at the highest levels and that everyone in the Division and State are pushing for immediate resolution.”

Keep reading

Visualizing The Amount Of US Taxpayer Dollars Flowing To Ukraine In 2022

The below graphic illustrates in a two-minute video the total amount of US aid enacted or proposed for Ukraine in the year 2022, after the Russian invasion has surpassed ten months.

In the visual which over the last several days has been shared widely – each dot represents $100,000 in US taxpayer dollars, and is broken up according to type of support, with military aid (in red) being the largest expenditure by far…

Visualizing U.S. Aid to Ukraine from Will Geary on Vimeo.

Last Friday the Biden administration unveiled another $275 million in weapons and defense equipment for Ukraine, notably including more anti-air missile systems, which crucially will come via the presidential drawdown authority, meaning the Pentagon will pull arms from its own stockpiles to fulfill the package.

To understand some of the above figures which enter the tens of billions range in each category, it’s important to remember that the way in which the White House almost routinely at this point announces aid packages can be confusing. These announcements have more to with with describing how specifically the administration intends to use the money which has already been appropriated by Congress. 

As seen in the below chart, there’s also the key distinction between what has been proposed vs. already enacted…

Keep reading

The US Is Now Propping Up Tiny Moldova’s Energy Sector Too

This week US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced the US is prepping more aid to the Ukrainian government, particularly focusing on propping up its devastated energy infrastructure, but also for the first time unveiling that the tiny country of Moldova will be receiving significant aid for its failing energy grid.

“We know that standing up for Ukraine means accepting difficult costs, particularly for our European allies, but the cost of inaction would be far higher,” Blinken began in Wednesday comments. “Caving to Russia’s aggression, accepting its brazen attempts to redraw borders by force, to tear up the rulebook that has made all of us more secure – that would have repercussions not only in Europe but quite literally around the world.”

That’s when he announced decisions made at a NATO meeting of ministers in Romania: “When we convened that group yesterday here in Bucharest, I announced that the United States will commit over $53 million to send equipment to help stabilize Ukraine’s energy grid and keep Ukraine’s power and electricity running.”

He specified $1.1 billion going to both Ukraine and Moldova:

We’ve also submitted a request to Congress for $1.1 billion to secure Ukraine and Moldova’s energy sector and restore their energy supply.  And we will take strong, coordinated action to ensure that President Putin cannot hold the rest of the world hostage to weaponized energy.

Starting last month, Moldovan authorities began informing Western allies it is suffering “massive” blackouts in relations to stepped of Russian airstrikes in neighboring Ukraine.

Keep reading