At this point in the Ukraine war, like we're watching a bizarre international version of The Bachelorette, where countries are throwing everything they can at the star in hopes for a chance to get down on one knee.
Joe Biden, who has screwed up foreign policy decisions for his entire career, seems determined to win this battle for Ukraine's hand, even if it means making further war more likely.
News broke Thursday that U.S. President Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (who apparently still hasn't found time to buy a suit) signed a 10-year bilateral agreement at the G7 summit in Italy, which will expand intelligence sharing, train Ukrainian troops, provide U.S. shipments of F-16 fighter jets, and invest in Ukraine's industrial base.
Because, of course, hard-earned taxpayer funds should go to ... Ukraine's industrial base instead of, you know, anything in the United States.
(It's not like our economy is on the rocks!)
But here's the worst part if you, like me and so few others, actually care about reducing tensions with Putin's Russia and working towards an end to this war:
Not only is this an obvious precursor to Ukraine joining NATO — which would be an idiotic decision that benefits Ukraine and Ukraine alone — Ukraine will be getting $50 billion annually from frozen Russian assets.
It's like an episode of The Sopranos.
Here's how the BBC reported on this part of the agreement:
As Presidents Volodymyr Zelensky and Joe Biden just discussed during their press conference, G7 leaders in Italy have agreed to use frozen Russian assets to raise $50bn (£39bn) a year for Ukraine aid.
But how does this actually work?
Legally, countries cannot confiscate assets directly from Russia and give them to Ukraine.
They can, however, use the interest from the $300bn-plus in Russian assets that G7 members currently have frozen, which is accruing about $3bn a year.
The plan is to take out a loan on the international markets and to give $50bn to the Ukrainians each year.
Then, they will use the $3bn generated by the frozen assets to pay off the interest on the loan given to Ukraine.
Look, if your only goal is to get one over on Russia and its crowd of billionaire oligarchs, sure, this is a great move.
If you actually want to reduce tensions in Europe? Not so much.
Agreeing to a 10-year agreement of support for a deeply corrupt (and increasingly anti-democratic and anti-freedom) nation is bad enough. Using Russian cash to pay for it crosses a line.
And all while sending them F-16 jets, with no demands in return.
What could possibly go wrong?
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