Who is profiting from unwinnable conflicts while the taxpayer foots the bill?

 

While out walking with Solskinn at Conroy Pit Dog Park this morning I ran into my friends Jim and his Great Pyrenees, Finnigan. If ever there was proof of the incredible elasticity of the dog genome it is demonstrated by the differences between those two friends, one being my tiny Chihuahua and Jim’s Great Pyrenees.

Jim and I got chatting about ongoing armed conflicts that seem to have no end in sight where the sole winner appears to be the “Marxofascist Military Industrial Regime” that profits obscenely while arming both sides. These are conflicts that our leaders do not have diplomatic solutions capable of ending them yet they throw taxpayers’ money to fund these conflicts as though mayhem and murder in lieu of reasoned discourse were the logical solutions to war. Here is the thing though, Jim flatly denied that Canada was funding the conflict in the Donbas Region of Ukraine where a significant portion of its population are Russian ethnics. Then came the inevitable question from Jim the answer to which he ought to have know better than to have asked, “Do you support Putin?”. That question if ridiculous since it demands I ought to pick between two sides who both are at least in part to blame. Putin is a tyrannical oligarch; of this I have no doubt. His invasion was yet another typical act of someone who’s zeitgeist was forged by the KGB in the Soviet Union. But the Ukraine is corrupt and a product of post Soviet lawlessness too.

The question I asked Jim that he refused to address is what evidence do we have that Ukraine can win a war that has dragged on at enormous cost of human suffering and lives with no signs of abating or any real indicators that progress has been made on the diplomatic front? And the same goes for Gaza where no diplomatic solution appears even possible while combatants on both sides are being supplied with weapons at rate that permits ongoing untold cost to human lives. As for diplomacy the oft repeated suggestion of a two-state solution neither side appears even willing to consider, even though Israel in the past has suggested it.

But back to Ukraine and Jim’s assertion that we do not fund the war. So how much has Canada given the Ukraine and what are our ongoing commitments to fund a conflict that is leaving countless thousands dead and injured with no diplomatic solution or military victory in sight? This is a disaster for Ukrainians hearkening back to the Holodomor where the Ukrainian economy will be destroyed, and its workforce decimated.

Canada has provided significant financial support to Ukraine. Here are some key details:

- Canada's aid for Ukraine is set to surpass **$800 million** in the current budget year¹.

- Since last year, Canada has committed over **$8 billion** in funding assistance to Ukraine, including over **$1 billion** in military aid³⁴.

- The economic statement says Canada is expected to spend **$318 million** on military aid to Ukraine next year and **$197 million** in the 2025-26 fiscal year¹.

- Canada is contributing another **$35 million** worth of military equipment to Ukraine².

- Canada has largely funded its military support for Ukraine on an as-requested, ad-hoc basis¹².

Source: Conversation with Bing, 2024-01-26

(1) Canada's aid for Ukraine set to surpass $800 million this year. https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-aid-for-ukraine-800-million-1.7035135.

(2) Trudeau commits $500M more in military aid during surprise visit to .... https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/trudeau-ukraine-visit-counteroffensive-russia-1.6871411.

(3) Canada has promised more than $1.5B in military aid to Ukraine. Here's .... https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/canada-ukraine-military-hardware-1.6895534.

(4) Canada sending more equipment to Ukraine as full-scale war with Russia .... https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/ukraine-russia-canada-1.7092366.

The total number of deaths in the Ukraine war is difficult to determine due to the ongoing conflict and varying reports. Here are some key details:

- The overall number of estimated deaths in the war in Donbas from 6 April 2014 to 31 December 2021 was **14,200–14,400**⁴.

- The U.K. Ministry of Defence estimated around **320,000 Russian casualties** between late February 2022 and November 2023⁵.

- A Ukrainian civic group confirmed **24,500 combat and non-combat deaths** using open sources. However, if many of the 15,000 troops listed as missing are also dead, the figure could be much higher⁵.

- The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) reported **26,015 civilian casualties** in Ukraine, including **9,369 deaths** and **16,646 injured**⁶.

Please note that these figures are estimates and the actual numbers may vary. The situation is fluid and the numbers can change as more information becomes available. It's also important to remember that every casualty represents a human life lost or affected by this conflict.

Source: Conversation with Bing, 2024-01-26

(1) Casualties of the Russo-Ukrainian War - Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casualties_of_the_Russo-Ukrainian_War.

(2) Hundreds of thousands wounded and dead in Ukraine as war grinds on .... https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/russia-ukraine-1.7053035.

(3) Ukraine death toll: how many lives have been lost in the war? - MSN. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/ukraine-death-toll-how-many-people-have-died-in-the-war/ar-AA13rkGY.

(4) ‘No More Tears,’ as Air Strike Deaths Hit 18 – War in Ukraine Update for Jan 24. https://www.kyivpost.com/post/27100.

(5) War update: Ukraine’s Air Force hits eight Russian clusters in past day. https://www.ukrinform.net/rubric-ato/3816973-war-update-ukraines-air-force-hits-eight-russian-clusters-in-past-day.html.

(6) Russia-Ukraine war live: At least 25 killed in shelling at a market in Donetsk; fire at Russian liquefied natural gas producer. https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/russia-ukraine-war-live-fire-at-russia-s-largest-liquefied-natural-gas-producer-north-korea-says-putin-keen-to-visit/ar-BB1h15op.

 

My summating thoughts:

And so, who is the perpetual winner in this hellish nightmare which has left foreign affairs departments throughout the West with no option but to continue to fund conflicts with no diplomatic solutions in sight? Why the Marxofascist Military Industrial Complex whose primary reason for existence is to perpetrate ongoing unwinnable conflicts for profit! On January 17, 1961, Dwight D. Eisenhower ended his presidential term by warning the nation about the increasing power of the military-industrial complex. Before and during the Second World War, American industries had successfully converted to defense production as the crisis demanded, but out of the war, what Eisenhower called a permanent armaments industry of vast proportions emerged. This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience Eisenhower warned, "[while] we recognize the imperative need for this development...We must not fail to comprehend its grave implications we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence…The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist." Eisenhower cautioned that the federal government’s collaboration with an alliance of military and industrial leaders, though necessary, was vulnerable to abuse of power. Ike then counseled American citizens to be vigilant in monitoring the military-industrial complex. One can only wonder why the Republicans in particular refused to heed the warning of the man who had been the Supreme Allied Commander on the Western Front in WWII, after all, if anyone understood the danger posed by the Military-Industrial Regime it was Eisenhower. The failure to take his warnings at their face value as an insider who knew the real dangers has led to countless conflicts where the goal wasn’t to win but to rather simply to propagate unending conflicts where human lives are being exchanged for profit!