this post was submitted on 25 Feb 2023
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[–] redtea@lemmygrad.ml 6 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Doesn't include weapons and equipment. It's like Parenti joked: turns out military budgets don't cover war.

[–] yogthos@lemmy.ml 3 points 2 years ago

haha yeah that was an amazing asterisk they squirrelled away there

[–] Shrike502@lemmygrad.ml 2 points 2 years ago (3 children)

So what does it cover? I am confused

[–] redtea@lemmygrad.ml 3 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

The article says:

financial aid for military purposes

In addition to the military aid detailed in this infographic, the U.S. has also supplied weapons and equipment worth over $5 billion.

No idea what this all means. $46bn worth of weapons that never make it to the front and instead enter the European black markets? Middle managers and administrative costs? Maybe it subtly recognises that the US overpays by 10:1 for it's weapons, with the $46bn being what the shareholders make above the profit made on $5bn worth of actual weapons? Or it's just playing with the numbers to make it seem like the US is doing loads to 'help'. We could ask the same auditors who lost between $2tn and $22tn or more in the last couple of decades.

But if the real cost is closer to $51bn, including weapons, it makes me wonder how expensive Afghanistan really was.

Edit: added missing words.

[–] Flavourful@lemmy.ml 2 points 2 years ago

Probably financial aid to keep the state functioning. Paying out pensions, wages for the government workers, keeping hospitals running, buying food and arms for the army and such. The regular costs to keep a country going. Last numbers I saw Ukraines economy shrank by 20% after a year since Russias invasion. Most of the aid from the EU is financial and not arms.

[–] PolandIsAStateOfMind@lemmy.ml 2 points 2 years ago

Nazi paraphernalia? They seem to have awful lot of them.

[–] PolandIsAStateOfMind@lemmy.ml 4 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Fun fact: the tank used in that infographic is nazi Panzer IV.

[–] yogthos@lemmy.ml 2 points 2 years ago

very appropriate

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