Daily Times

Strange things happening around the unfortunate Russia-Ukraine war. More miseries are in the offing to some larger extent to win more membership to NATO. President Joe Biden shocked the world on Monday by reviving the World War II arms act for Ukraine. He signed the Lend-Lease Act of 2022 into law to allow the White House to send unlimited weapons to Ukraine against Russia. The signing of the Act signals a new world war is likely to happen soon. The new law is the final ‘Red Alert’ for the sane nations to take measures and play their role to avert the would-be global disaster.

The US has already dispatched some arms shipments to Ukraine on the Finland border. It has given back life to the prolonged war and a smile to the crying Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Perhaps you remember his first press conference. The new law will allow the Biden administration to expeditiously supply large and countless shipments not only to Ukraine but to those supporting Ukraine and other fronts against Russia.

After the new law, Kyiv is very happy but many of the EU countries. They fear another severe economic crunch while the European Union is planning to fund the operating expenses of the government in Kyiv for at least three months. Politico Europe reported on Monday, citing diplomatic sources. The €15 billion would be raised through a new debt emission, using the template established for Covid-19 relief. This is likely to happen when the Taliban government in Afghanistan has been denied their rightful funds frozen in the US banks and humanitarian aid.

President Biden’s choice of May 9 to sign the Act of World War II-era is being considered deliberate.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has told the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that he needed $7 billion per month ($1 = €0.95) to pay salaries, pensions and other government expenditures. The US has pledged to provide a third of that sum for the next three months. The EU intends to make up the difference with special bonds, according to Politico Europe.

The European Commission (EC) briefed ambassadors of the member countries about the plan on Friday, according to the outlet. It involves issuing debt using guarantees from EU member countries. The scheme is structured along the lines of SURE, the program used to raise €100 billion in aid for EU citizens who lost their jobs due to the Covid-19 lockdowns. That debt was then securitized as bonds ranging from five to 30 years.

Why the US and EU are so kind to Kyiv is reflected in the statement of President Biden that he delivered at the White House on Monday. He vowed to continue arming the Ukrainians “in their fight to defend their country and their democracy. The cost of the fight is not cheap but caving to aggression is even more costly.”

The US Congress passed the Act last month with 417-10 votes and no dissent in the Senate. Very strange and insane too though democratic to push arming Ukraine over Covid-19 aid to its own citizens in the US.

Suspending limitations on the number of weapons and other military supplies Biden can send to Ukraine or “other Eastern European countries” has raised many questions, fears and doubts about the Biden administration’s future plans for the world. The US law categorically stipulates that Kyiv must subsequently pay for whatever it receives.

Weapons sent under this act are separate from the nearly $4 billion in military aid that the US has already sent to Ukraine since the start of Russia’s military operation in February, and from the $33 billion worth of military aid that the president recently asked Congress to approve.

The US and EU have all set to nailing the Ukraine coffin. Economic slavery in the US and EU will be the worst for Ukraine than living as an independent state peacefully in the friendly neighbourhood of the Russian Federation. Having seen Pakistan a victim of economic slavery for more than seven decades, every Pakistani will endorse my opinion.

Staying poor in a friendly neighbourhood is much better than living in economic slavery. It’s too late for Pakistan. Ukraine still has time to avert the economic slavery of the US, EU and IMF. Kyiv’s ability to repay the US is currently questionable, considering Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky recently asked the US and EU for $7 billion per month just to keep his country afloat.

I had already mentioned in one of my previously published pieces that Ukraine is likely to become another Afghanistan. Now, I am sure about it. The recent US law and EU schemes of financial support to Kyiv will lead Ukraine to severe debt, and compromised integrity and sovereignty. Wake up President Zelenskyy before it’s too late.

President Biden’s choice of May 9 to sign the Act of World War II-era is being considered deliberate. This date is celebrated as ‘Victory Day’ annually in Russia and a number of former Soviet countries, commemorating the defeat of fascism at the end of the Second World War. Biden referred to the defeat of Nazi Germany during the signing ceremony on Monday but did not mention Victory Day. Instead, he noted that the European Coal and Steel Community, which would expand into the European Union, was formed on May 9, 1950. Strange and insane reflections are seen again.

The writer is a freelance journalist and broadcaster, and Director Devcom-Pakistan. He can be reached at devcom.pakistan@gmail.com and tweets @EmmayeSyed