This is the best summary I could come up with:
The report from the Pentagon Inspector General says that while the Defense Department has improved its ability to track military aid sent to Ukraine, it “did not fully comply” with requirements and much of the equipment sent is “delinquent,” meaning it’s not possible to complete an inventory of everything sent.
A failure to provide a new package could be damaging to Ukraine’s chances of winning the war after its counteroffensive against Russian forces stalled last year.
Since December 2022, revisions to the inventory process for the Defense Department and Ukrainian Armed Forces resulted in an improvement to the Pentagon’s ability to track the weapons, the report says.
“Until the DoD resolves these challenges, it will be unable to fully comply with the EEUM program requirements to account for all of the more than $1.699 billion in EEUM‑designated defense articles provided to Ukraine,” the inspector general said in its report.
Pentagon spokesman Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said later on Thursday that there is “no credible evidence of illicit diversion of US-provided advanced conventional weapons from Ukraine.”
“We do see some instances of Russia continuing to spread disinformation to the contrary, but the fact is, we observe the Ukrainians employing these capabilities on the battlefield,” Ryder said.
The original article contains 488 words, the summary contains 195 words. Saved 60%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
Is this the same Pentagon that can’t pass an audit of their own? That Pentagon?
It’s as if it’s just a giant scheme to divert taxes from being used for what they’re meant for and put them back in the hands of the oligarchs.
As Marxists, I think we need to be very careful about how we talk about taxes.
- All value is produced by labor
- All value produced by labor is stolen by owners through private property law
- Of the value stolen by owners through private property law, some of it is provided back to labor to reproduce that labor
- Of the portion of the value provided back to labor for reproduction, a portion is stolen by the owners through tax law
- Of the portion stolen from labor by tax law, a portion is provided to both labor and lumpen.
It’s a ridiculous system of exploitation. Owners should be paying all of the taxes, but they control the tax law.
Oh I completely agree with all that. I just mean that even within the context of a capitalist system, taxes are mean to be used for public needs. To me, this is an illustration of how the dictatorship of bourgeoisie is not an inherently unstable system. The ruling class eventually finds ways to siphon all the wealth out of the system leaving nothing for the working majority.
