The United States aid to Ukraine is part of a “virtuous circle,” says retired Admiral James Stavridis, which “is enriching the U.S. economy.” Stavridis, who has parlayed a decorated military career into a career with the famed financial industry titan the Carlyle Group, knows intimately how these funds are being spent with American defense contractors — he is the vice chair, global affairs and managing director of the global investment firm.
“Facts [are] stubborn things,” Stavridis says, noting that the lion’s share of the aid –“the number is 90%,” he says — is spent on weapons that Ukraine buys from American companies “because ours are the best.”
Stavridis says “those dollars go to the Ukrainians who then purchase weapons from, largely, the United States.”
"90% of those dollars are part of this virtuous circle that is enriching the US economy"@stavridisj breaks down what happens when billions from the U.S. get sent to Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/TWdNpe8E8V
— 11th Hour (@11thHour) December 13, 2023
Stavridis’s narrative correction is intended to rebut the notion that corruption in Ukraine siphons off large portions of the American aid money, which then ends up in the hands of foreign oligarchs.
American defense giants Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman (and their employees and shareholders), Stavridis implies, are much more likely than rogue actors to benefit directly from American aid to Ukraine. (That’s not to say there is no grift — history reveals no wars unmarked by corruption, theft and profiteering.)
In addition to the Ukraine aid’s impact on the American economy, there is the matter of what it has accomplished against Russia. CNN reported last week that “Russia has lost 87% of the ground troops it had before its war on Ukraine, and two thirds of its tanks” — losses which Russia incurred without American boots on the ground.
Stavridis is a longstanding Russia hawk whose official bio includes mention of his pride at having been “sanctioned by the Kremlin on November 11, 2022 — in recognition of his enormous contempt for Vladimir Putin’s regime.”
