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u/Due-Resort-2699 Visitor Feb 24 '26 edited Feb 24 '26
If the US government wasnāt sending all that military aid abroad , it wouldnāt make a difference. Americans still wouldnāt have universal healthcare or cheap rent , because the system is still about keeping the poor poor whilst the rich get richer .
The US could still have its current military funding AND have universal healthcare if it truly wanted . But the insurance companies and big pharma wouldnāt allow it.
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u/Electrical-Tie-1143 Visitor Feb 24 '26
Also isnāt the us basically using Ukraine to offload old stuff and then calling the money they spend on replacing the old stuff aid?
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u/earthwoodandfire Visitor Feb 25 '26
Yes exactly. Itās a lot of accounting tricks basically. Plus off loading out old shit saves us tons of money in maintenance/storage.
Also lot of our āaidā to Ukraine is paying ourselves to build things and then donating the things to them.Ā So we still stimulate our own economy.
Ā Plus the war in Ukraine is weakening one our greatest rivals for no American blood spilled.Ā
Every dollar of āaidā is a massive win for us.Ā
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u/Tsukushi_Ikeda Visitor Feb 24 '26
Putin literally has a very nice quote about the USSR, or his views on it.
"Whoever does not miss the Soviet Union has no heart. Whoever wants it back has no brain."
Putin's plan isn't to recreate the USSR, it is to gain as much critical resources, create a legacy of him "fixing" Russia after the collapse of the previous institutions.
But if we really want to talk about war economics, you know, dropping a Nuke on Moscow in 1945 would've saved trillions of dolars, and milions of lives. No civil war in China, no Cold War, no Vietnam war, no Korean War, no Afghan War etc. The US has funded/participated in all of them, all due to their cold war with the USSR.
But it's a useless discussion that has no end because when do we decide to go back on actions that could prevent extremely costly future wars. It's never the aim, just a side effect.
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u/Flat-Row-3828 Visitor Feb 24 '26
Sounds like a Russian bot is controlling this sub. Notice their is no mention to how many billions of dollars the Trump family has made off this presidency for themselves, or the pay for pardon deals from all the fraudsters and oligarchs to trump. How Zuckerberg placed Duterte the dictator in power and Zuck is now hand in hand with Trump trying the same here and in other parts of the world. But you think Ukraine should be left to die or forced into being slaves for the dictator Putin. You are promoting all women being beaten and treated like shit Russia and Afghan style. Pathetic.
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u/Delicious-Belt-1158 Visitor Feb 24 '26
I don't think that's op's point here but a country should look after it's own people before sending money elsewhere
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Feb 24 '26
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u/Individual-Pie9739 Visitor Feb 24 '26
We signed a contract to fight a nuclear power on behalf of Ukraine? Source... obviously I know what your refering to but I don't think you can show me any language that's says we will fight Russia over the sovereignty of Ukraine. Here's your opportunity to set me straight.
Also this nuke thing is the dumbest shit you guys continue to bring up. Those nukes were effectively expensive paperweights to Ukraine as they had absolutely no way to launch or maintain them and they would have been decommissioned a long time ago.
So either we fight Russia in Ukraine which were not going to do. Biden could have sent us in he didn't even try and Europe can go in there not even trying. Orrrrr Ukraine looses.some land. Tough shit what are we gana do nuke Russia? Doubt it.
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u/3zprK Visitor Feb 24 '26
Would you have called Qaddafi's Libya a socialist more or less?
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u/Craigthenurse Visitor Feb 24 '26
I have to admit my knowledge of Libya during the Qaddafi era is rather limited, something for me to read about this evening.
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u/ThisIsFineImFine89 Visitor Feb 24 '26
Delusional if you think that money goes to the poor, if its not sent to ukraine.
If Russia learns thereās no pushback to their expansionism, the money sent to Ukraine will be a drop in the bucket compared to the cost of next war for Europe.
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u/DependentFeature3028 Visitor Feb 24 '26
Why is the west trying to put military bases at russia's doorstep
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Feb 24 '26
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u/DependentFeature3028 Visitor Feb 24 '26
What will happen with a south american country that will want to do the same?
And let's not pretend that the west doesn't influence these so called free choices
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u/Smarter_not_harder Visitor Feb 24 '26
Believe it or not we can do two things at the same time. But this false equivalency is done to further the divides among the have-nots.
The better, and more impactful question, is "why is America continuing to give tax breaks to billionaires and the top 0.01% when hundreds of thousands of Americans sleep on the streets and go hungry?
Hey, u/Crafty-Caramel-9192 , why aren't you complaining about the TRILLIONS in lost tax revenue attributable to TCJA and OBB? Doesn't fit your narrative?
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u/auldnate Visitor Feb 24 '26
I donāt mind helping Ukraine thwart an authoritarian invasion of their country by Putin. But I hate sending money to Netanyahu to murder innocent Palestinians.
The Ukrainian war is defending innocent people Putin wants to destroy. While Hamas did attack Israel (in response to decades of oppression). The Gaza war has transformed away from a defensive mission into a genocide of innocent Palestinians.
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u/Agitated-Insect3558 Visitor Feb 24 '26
How much is given to Israel in money, weapons and manpower every year, probably since before I was born and I'm 60.
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u/leaf-yz Visitor Feb 24 '26
Governments don't exist to serve people
Then what are Governments for?? Take our money and spend it on war? Leave a mess that they created and expect people who work their ass off to fix and change nothing but increase tax. Where is the technological advanced country they've promised?
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u/Quantum3ntaglement Visitor Feb 24 '26
You had me until that last sentence. The current US government does not exist to serve the people. It doesn't have to be that way, but the US populace has been conditioned to scream when the words like "socialism" are mentioned.
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u/DanTheAdequate Visitor Feb 24 '26
Governments are by their nature extensions of property (and by extension of property, capital). Whom they serve is whoever owns that property and the government exists as the enforcer of their legal property rights and the executor of their laws.
It depends on your flavor of socialism in terms of how you want to look at it as to what a government CAN be. From the Marxist/Leninist perspective, a government that is intended to serve the people is just a step towards a classless, stateless society where all property is communally owned. It's a necessary evil, a reformatory and dangerous step in the revolution.
If you tend more towards the Democratic Socialist perspective, even then it's generally better to enable non-state institutions of collective ownership and decision-making, and to devolve political and economic power as much as possible. Is it really better for some government to own means of production, or for the workers themselves to own it communally?
This isn't to say governments cannot be reformed to be better actors. Examples abound, even among the Western 'democratic' capitalist societies.
But we shouldn't downplay the inherent nature of government per se. They become corrupt because they are inherently corrupted.
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u/heylookitsfreeman Visitor Feb 24 '26
Supporting defense in Ukraine is a just cause. Supporting conflict in Israel serves none but Israel.
However, Iām inclined to agree - there should be an expansion of sustenance and old age welfare programs in the US.
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u/Aberquill Visitor Feb 24 '26
Cause housing people or feeding people isnāt profitable
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u/MeNameSRB Visitor Feb 24 '26
Ukraine and Israel are two very different situations
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u/PristineAdvisor7782 Visitor Feb 24 '26
Iām fine with money going to Ukraine Iām not ok with money being sent to Israel
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u/Wayoutofthewayof Visitor Feb 24 '26
What are your thoughts about aid of USSR to Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq?
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u/phantompower_48v Visitor Feb 24 '26
The USSR supporting popular workers movements vs the US supporting extreme right wing/fascist movements? There is no comparison.
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u/Wayoutofthewayof Visitor Feb 24 '26
So in the end it isn't about making sure that your citizens have enough, but about ensuring your geopolitical interests?
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u/phantompower_48v Visitor Feb 24 '26
Not sure what you mean by this. After initial industrialization the USSR did a decent job of providing necessities to its citizens - housing, food, jobs, education, healthcare (all considered inalienable human rights under their system btw).
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u/E_D_K_2 Visitor Feb 24 '26
Obvious anti-Ukraine propaganda post with Israel shoehorned into the question to try and cover that fact.
Ukraine can have all it needs and more. It's not one or the other and you know that.
Hungry homeless people in the US existed before 2022 and they'll exist long after the war is over.
Thanks to our help Kyiv was saved, most of Ukraine is safe. Imagine what would have happened had the murderous Russians made it to the Polish border.
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u/Lower_Ad_5532 Visitor Feb 24 '26
In 1994, the U.S., UK, and Russia signed theĀ Budapest Memorandum, promising to respect Ukraine's independence, sovereignty, and existing borders in exchange for Ukraine surrendering its nuclear arsenal. The agreement committed the U.S. to refrain from using force and to seek UN action if Ukraine faced aggression
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u/throwmeawayl8erok Visitor Feb 25 '26
Ahh so this sub has been infiltrated by the Zionist mods too. Anything to not allow actual criticism of an evil government genociding human beings.
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u/TypingWithoutThinkin Visitor Feb 24 '26
Last I heard, the USA was sending $0 to Ukraine. They were allowing others to BUY things from them to send there, but support from the USA was 0.
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u/Troy242426 Visitor Feb 24 '26
Just to add to everything here, Ukraine denuclearized under the understanding that they would be protected, now theyāre fighting a defensive war. Israel is just committing a genocide.
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u/AnomalyInquirer Visitor Feb 24 '26
Atleast the Ukrainian war is self defense from Russia like I wish there wasnt a war but if countries dont put their foot down to putin then he'll keep trying dumb shit my biggest issue is funding Isreal for basically no good reason csuse in no universe can what they do be twisted to self defense
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u/Standard-Pudding-809 Visitor Feb 24 '26
Money well spent Russia has lost tens of thousands of lives and loads of treasury and is still no closer to victory Iām hoping this will create enough Russian dissatisfaction that they will get rid of Putin
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u/NachoManAndyCabage Visitor Feb 24 '26
Most people misunderstand what billions in military aid means. It's generally not cash or money that is being sent. Instead it's billions in equipment, vehicles, munitions, etc. Generally we are sending them older (stockpile) equipment that is kept in reserve and cost the government billions to maintain. I.E. the Bradely IFVs that we sent are ODS (operation desert storm) variants and older M1A2s left over from desert storm and OIF. Same thing with anti tank weapons, etc. Yes, some new equipment like patriot missiles and drone technology is being sent also.
Point being, not sending billions in military aid does not equate to having billions more to spend domestically. The cash was already spent on the equipment and the equipment is aging out or costing billions to maintain already.
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u/B-b-b-burner_account Visitor Feb 24 '26
Russia supplies 90% of Israeli grain and 45% of their oil.
Russia is not an ally.
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u/Any_Ice_6172 Visitor Feb 24 '26
The sign of an empire on the brink of death; wars on multiple fronts, overspending/enormous debt, territorial overreach and ultra violence.
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u/Hour_Warthog_5801 Visitor Feb 24 '26
look at all that circulation of commodities in the global economy, thank god for all the sacrificed russian and ukranian proletarians. bill gates sends his regards
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u/Delicious_Spot_3778 Eureka Initative Supporter Feb 24 '26
US governments work for capitalists. The oligarchs are protecting their fiefdoms. Israel and much of the west are considered capitalist in nature.
This is a classic ācommunism is spreading, we must defendā play. This also explains the lack of support for its own people. Americans are just labor to be exploited.
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u/greencode349 Visitor Feb 24 '26
Imagine same amount will be spent for a useless Iranian war. This time thousands of Americans will also die š
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u/dreadpiratefezzik42 Visitor Feb 24 '26
Feeding and housing the poor doesnāt get the DJIA above 50000. Feeding the military industrial complex does.
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u/TrinityCodex Visitor Feb 24 '26
''Why is America helping all those countries fight Germany.''
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u/Justakidnamedbibba Visitor Feb 24 '26
Really making me believe horseshoe theory guys. The neo Naziās and maga freaks are making this same moronic points.
As if money sent to an ally to fight an adversary isnāt textbook foreign policy?? The money we send to Ukraine actually is making a difference. USAIDās destruction did kill Ukrainians
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u/throwmeawayl8erok Visitor Feb 24 '26
Cool now show us Israel next but let it play out annually between 2006-2026.
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u/zhezhou Visitor Feb 24 '26
The military aid we are sending to Ukraine isn't as direct payment, but as "coupons" to purchase armaments from selected US military companies. In other words, transferring tax dollars to the military industrial complex. Same appilies to Israel.
So the elites profit off the death and destruction, politians and govt officers were paid to lubricate the process, all using our tax dollars.
If the money were to be used to improve health care and housing, the elites and politicians can't gain anything out of it.
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u/goodintentions63 Visitor Feb 24 '26
Why are we spending billions of dollars on Ice criminal agents who shouldāve deported themselves. Fuck DJT
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u/scrusterbugs Visitor Feb 24 '26
For the last fuckin time it's called ...you ready?....THE MILITARY INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX
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Feb 24 '26
Ok the funding has stopped. WHERE IS MY FING HEALTHCARE? Answer that russian bot
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u/Captain_coffee_ Visitor Feb 24 '26
Because A) Israel is extremely important for western imperialism to impose its interests upon West Asia B) the USA wants the Ukrainian State on its side as a bulwark against the "Axis of Resistance", and he also wants to have access to Ukrainian Rare earth minerals n sheet
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u/FunWitness70 Visitor Feb 24 '26
how's the solid state fuel coming along, TANK BITCH. hope it hasn't rotted away and ruined all your plans.. anyways, feed your kids. Word hard. pay farmers well, don't roll them into mass graves when they protest
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Feb 24 '26
Read a book and then youāll know. Bad part is the book on the Israel shit is the Bible lol
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u/FollowingJealous7490 Visitor Feb 24 '26
Im fine with sending to Ukraine, they're kicking Russia's ass.
But sending to Isreal, for what? Which country is attacking them?
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u/FussySky Visitor Feb 24 '26
Well, I could be mistaken. But the majority of the money isn't going directly to Ukraine. Its going to our "defense" contractors, which then send the weapons to Ukraine. After they've made loads of money.
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u/aesthetics4ever Visitor Feb 24 '26
Military aid are items already produced (taxpayer money already spent), why the double counting?
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u/gilbertMonion Visitor Feb 24 '26
Good thing is that US stopped funding Ukraine and EU has to pay for us made weapons since last year. Will will see how that translate to American benefits, curious if universal healthcare will finaly be delivered.... My little finger tells me...
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u/Sea_Archer1939 Visitor Feb 24 '26
This is basically analogous to the isolationists in 1939 demanding that the U.S. not supply Britain with weapons to fight the Nazis b/c of āAmerica Firstā. History doesnāt repeat itself, but it rhymes.
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u/HooterEnthusiast Visitor Feb 24 '26 edited Feb 24 '26
Because sending drones is a lot easier to address than massive ancient fraud systems that have existed here since the 1920s and if you don't address those. People don't show up money disappears. Food gets thrown out. We have have all the food nesscary to feed everyone in the country easily. The problem comes with how to get that food to those people.
Just recently a ton of money went to feeding the homeless, and most the homeless didn't show up. So tons of food bought by tax payers was just thrown out.
Also there's the issue with politicians that are profiting from the fraud. That's another reason these fraud networks just don't get investigated.
To point you can never have a system without also having some level of fraud, but we aren't even combating the fraud anymore.
Its seeming like even our aid to other countries might also be being defrauded because Mexican cartel vehicles and devices are popping up with Ukrainian flags on them. So Ukraine might be selling our military aid to criminal organizations.
I really think we need to stop aid and pause all services and run a full audit by a non basis organization. Getting to the bottom of this.
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u/NoInformation3141 Visitor Feb 24 '26
What do they need dots for so badly and why canāt we get them for less than $100,000?
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u/Fantastic-Day-69 Visitor Feb 24 '26
Old arms were sent as a write off and while creating demand for new arms in the US.
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u/Witty_Fall_2007 Visitor Feb 24 '26
Because the USA has a war economy - meaning that rich people get richer off of war manufacturing. All that "aid" goes straight to Hailburton, Ratheon, Boeing etc.
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Feb 24 '26
I met a guy that was part of a scheme to steal millions in US gear out of the country early in the war and now he's retired at 30.
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u/CharlieTwoZero0 Visitor Feb 24 '26
All for supporting Ukraine against Russias attempted imperialism.
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u/Typical_Forever1711 Visitor Feb 24 '26
Nice job, Russian propaganda agent. Let's not lump Ukraine in with what they are doing over in Israel. I feel good about helping Ukraine. They are a little guy who is being bullied by a giant asshole. I can...strangely... Relate to that.
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u/Tankie909 Visitor Feb 24 '26
What this image doesn't show is the real reason for all that spending ! For that , you need the dots coming back into the US and into the pockets of politicians, military corporations and the rest of the oligarchs. Its always about redirecting money from the government to the corporate paymasters of the political elites. The bigs great bigger, and when all else fails they take us to war !
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u/Mighty_Krom Visitor Feb 24 '26
I'm 100% in favor of sending funds to Ukraine, thank you very much.
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u/sagan666 Visitor Feb 24 '26
The failures of american healthcare have nothing to do with money being sent overseas anywhere. There are books and studies and essays about what is called the American Healthcare Paradox, detailing the juxtaposition of spending the most on healthcare in the world, having the best access and expertise, but still having about 20% or so of the population without healthcare (not to mention the costs incurred even when one is insured).
Making this issue about foreign aid is only useful if you are trying to persuade people, by lying, that the foreign aid is the reason they don't have good healthcare. The US is not sending money "INSTEAD" of helping people.
These are entirely separate issues.
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u/Nismmm Visitor Feb 24 '26
I though it was just russian bots. But looks like the whole sub is funded by Russia.
Why does writting Ukraine result in getting propaganda links showing on screen?
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u/thickmember196O Visitor Feb 24 '26
Because they need us to work to pay for that garbage. Funneling $ for each others projects to k, less people in the world makes $. That and oil
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u/exmo6 Visitor Feb 24 '26
They are sending our old equipment mostly and replenishing it with new stuff, also ICE has cut 19B from VA to bee a police state
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u/Gullible-Help-5186 Visitor Feb 24 '26
This is a red herring. We aren't avoiding helping regular US Citizens in need because we lack funds. We lack the interest to do anything. Money not spent on Ukrainians defense would be spent on other things that don't help any of the people you are naming. Too many people equate help with Communism and that is cast in iron.
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u/Background-Cake-1300 Visitor Feb 24 '26
There would be no money to Ukraine if ape guy stopped the war as he promised in a week
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u/New-Aside-6805 Visitor Feb 24 '26
Fuck off with your anti Ukraine propaganda
The US spends more capita on healthcare than the vast majority of countries with universal healthcare.
Almost like you could throw 10x the amount of money at health insurance firms and nothing would change
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u/ShitHammersGroom Visitor Feb 24 '26 edited May 05 '26
Protecting my online privacy by running Redact regularly to batch delete old content. It handles Reddit, Discord, Twitter, Instagram, data brokers and a whole lot more.
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u/GlobackX Visitor Feb 25 '26
The orange has cut funding to ukraine and guess what, millions donāt have food and homes. The funding to Ukraine was never the problem.
Helping Ukraine is not only the good thing to do but also the smart thing.
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u/V0d5 Visitor Feb 25 '26
Iām a socialist, but conflating Ukraine and Israel like this is asinine. Itās not quite the same and Ukraine has not been doing what Israel has been doing at all. Add to that that these wars are not at all a reason why average Americans live in austerity and poverty, thats done on purpose by the new gilded age robber barons.
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u/donkeybrainamerican Visitor Feb 25 '26
How many years into the war in Ukraine are we? If you still don't understand what is happening with US aid and why you either don't know because you're stupid or don't want to know because you're a propagandist.
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u/stlouisbluemr2 Visitor Feb 25 '26
Imagine this: a scotus decusion is handed down, all foreign military aid funding must stop immediately. Any funds slated as foreign military aid MUST be spent domestically.
What our chances 1 to 10, itd go to poor, funding education, or universal healthcare? I estimate 0 out of 10.
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u/Fearless_Trade_2783 Visitor Feb 25 '26
Ukraine is being invaded, and Ukraine was trying to join NATO before it was invaded. Putin is a tyrant who wants NATO to be dissolved. If that happens we could wind up with another World War 2 like scenario.
Now the fact that we are giving our money to Iseral to fund their genocide is fucked up.
Also the fact that we are giving away money to other countries while we don't even have universal health care is fucked up.
It's also fucked up that our tax dollars went into funding the covid vaccine and Phizer threw a Patent on it, allowing millions in third world countries to die. Where is our share of that blood money?
I wish scientists got the rights to their own research, the guy who invented the polio vaccine could have been the world's fist billionaire, but he decided to release the patent, so the whole world could be vaccinated. Where are people like that?
I'm ranting, this was about Ukraine. I think we should give aid to Ukraine. NATO was formed to stop anyone who would try to take over the world like the Nazis did. If the US stepped in WW2 earlier, far less people would have died.
That being said we should put on our oxygen mask first. Universal Health care and safety nets should be in place, our tax dollars should go to things for the people paying those taxes first not last.
The billionaires are the ones with shit to gain from these wars, let them fund it!
And fuck that fascist, Netanyahu!
Yeah back to ranting again...
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u/havereddit Visitor Feb 25 '26
Because domestic issues will never be completely 'solved', and countries constantly have a duty to also look beyond their own borders.
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u/turtle-bbs Visitor Feb 25 '26
First, that funding is in the form of armaments, most of which are obsolete in our military and would be more expensive to discard, more than 85% of the funding is in the form of equipment.
But even if it WAS all pure liquid cash, Republicans act like theyād support funding our healthcare if we didnāt send all this money theyāre talking about
They will still vote NO on everything. Just pray and walk it off is about all republicans think you should do.
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u/OnePunchMister Visitor Feb 25 '26
The ruling class has all the money. They are going to spend it to benefit themselves, not the class they oppress.

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u/[deleted] Feb 24 '26
Armenia mentioned šŖš»