This is a bit dated, but it needs to be mentioned -- the ties with Joe and Ukraine. IMHO something provoked Putin. So ....how did Joe know that Russia was on the edge of invading Ukraine -- oh -- that's right -- Joe rec'd intel.
Perhaps there's a reason this is happening now -- conveniently dodging the COVID issue (where's Fauci?), creating further havoc on our economy and the push for electric vehicles, going green, etc., not to mention distracting us from our very open Southern border.
Inside Biden’s secretive weapons shipment to UkraineCNN successfully raised NatSec Daily’s collective eyebrow with this tidbit buried deep in a Monday evening story: The United States secretly greenlit weapons transfers to Ukraine in the middle of a tense standoff with Russia.
“In late December, the Biden administration quietly authorized an additional $200 million in security assistance to Ukraine,” the story’s five reporters wrote. “The security package authorized the shipment of much of the same defensive equipment the US has provided in the past, including small arms and ammunition, secure radios, medical equipment, spare parts and other equipment.”
The $200 million was approved as part of President JOE BIDEN’s drawdown authority, which empowers him to have the secretary of State ask the secretary of Defense to deliver items from existing Pentagon stock to a country in peril. The president’s team is then required to tell Congress “that an unforeseen emergency required immediate military assistance,” per the Defense Security Cooperation Agency’s website.
Multiple congressional staffers said they first heard of this drawdown authorization during a recent classified briefing. Furthermore, they said, none of the $200 million in weaponry has gone to Ukraine yet, as the drawdown process was just completed.
An adviser to Ukrainian President VOLODYMYR ZELENSKY, who talked to NatSec Daily, and a person familiar with the package who spoke with our own PAUL MCLEARY, said the United States will send radar systems and some maritime equipment, though it’s unclear when the first deliveries will be made.
The Zelensky adviser added that the Ukrainians were informed of the forthcoming aid last month “at the senior level.”
“Given that U.S. intelligence consistently suggests that Russia may launch a full-blown invasion using all its military might, this aid would allow Ukraine to inflict additional damage on Russia but would not significantly alter the outcome,” the adviser said.
This isn’t the first time Biden has used his drawdown authority: In August, he committed the United States to send $60 million in military aid to Kyiv shortly ahead of a meeting with Zelensky. Part of that tranche, including small arms and ammo, were delivered to Ukraine last month............
https://www.politico.com/newsletters/national-security-daily/2022/01/11/inside-bidens-secretive-weapons-shipment-to-ukraine-495686
