Yep, they're non-lethal, alright.
Flipping the Ukrainians the bird with one hand while jacking off Czar Vlad with the other. Who says Red Barry can't multi-task?:
More than $260 million in U.S-supplied non-lethal equipment to Ukraine to help it battle Russia[n invader]s is reportedly "second-hand stuff" that's decaying and obsolete.
The Washington Post, citing mechanics and interviews with front-line troops in eastern Ukraine, identified Humvees that were more than twenty years old, some with plastic doors and windows, and others with blown-out tires — and an infantry unit of some 120 men relying on just one bulletproof vest of the kind that U.S. troops stopped using ten years ago.
You thought I was hyperbolizing on that headline, didn't you? What O sent Kiev literally would have ended up in a landfill otherwise. The Russians wouldn't bother shooting at it because they'd think they'd already blown it up. He couldn't have done a better job if he had set out to deliberately and contemptuously insult the Ukrainians. And I think he did.
They certainly seem convinced of it:
"If the Americans are going to send us equipment, don't send us secondhand stuff," one unnamed Ukrainian special forces commander tells the Post.
"Despite what people think, this is still a war," another Ukrainian special forces soldier tells the newspaper.
And despite our recipients' displeasure and the ridicule-inducing negative publicity, the Obamagon is still sending them broken-down junk:
But the old equipment still keeps coming: another batch of outdated Humvees has been authorized — "the stuff that's sitting around somewhere that no service can use," according to one unnamed [Obam]agon official.
"In some cases Humvees might be provided … for spare parts. They're not good enough to drive, but you can tear them apart and cannibalize [them]," the official said.
Lieutenant-Colonel Andrei, the operations chief of the unit that received the vehicles in Ukraine, tells the Post they were supposed to be sent in working order — not stripped for parts. The cost to purchase a Humvee tire in Ukraine is roughly $1,000.
"Why would I pay to keep replacing tires when I could just buy a car?" he asked the newspaper. [emphasis added]
Why, indeed.
And as to the other side of that word picture above....:
The administration's "overriding concern here is to avoid aggravating [Russian President Vladimir] Putin," [House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac] Thornberry tells the Post. "And it has a broader effect in limiting the Ukrainians' ability to defend their country." [emphasis added]
In other words, pretend to aid Ukraine without actually aiding them or slowing down the Russian invasion.
You thought I was hyperbolizing that word picture above, didn't you?
UPDATE: How did I miss connecting these two dots? Good thing Jim Geraghty was covering for me in today's Morning Jolt:
Ukraine gets junk, and Iran gets about $100 billion in unfrozen assets. Considering how badly we treat our friends and how well we treat our enemies, it’s amazing that anyone remains our ally.
And mark my words, peeps, we're actually going to need allies in the not too distant future.
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