INCONGRUITY OF AMERICAN ARMS SALES TO EAST EUROPEAN NATIONS

VAISHALI BASU SHARMA explains how massive American arms sales to East European countries, including Ukraine, outweigh any security or economic benefits they produce

- VAISHALI BASU SHARMA

The ongoing war in Ukraine, which is now in its fourth week, has highlighted the rapid speed at which the United States and NATO are shipping weapons into Ukraine, despite the fact that it is not a member of NATO and not subject to its collective defence agreement. This orchestrated supply of deadly weapons should in fact provoke discussion about the American policy of supplying vast quantities of weapons to Ukraine and other East European nations. Douglas Lute, a former Lieutenant General and American ambassador to NATO, told the New York Times, "On NATO territory, we should be the Pakistan, supplying the Ukrainians as Pakistan supplied the Taliban in Afghanistan, stockpiling material in Poland and organising supply lines."

2014 onwards, when fighting began in the Donbas and Crimea regions, weapons started pouring into Ukraine from the NATO states. Donald Trump's administration approved the largest commercial sale of American weapons to Ukraine. The comprehensive package included about $620.7 million in aid for Ukraine, including $420.7 million in State Department and foreign operations funds and $200 million in Pentagon funds. On March 8, the US congress cleared a $1.5 trillion federal spending measure with substantial increases for domestic and national security programmes, along with $13.6 billion in emergency aid for Ukraine. Weapons sales to bolster NATO's eastern flank against Russia are being expedited at an unprecedented haste. Ranking Member on the House Armed Services Committee, Rep. Mike Rogers said in a statement, "It is critical that the United States do all we can to reinforce NATO's eastern front as Russia's threats to further invade Ukraine grow more troubling by the day.”