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American businessman David Sacks predicted the collapse of Ukraine despite a new $61 billion aid package approved by the US House of Representatives since Kiev will need an even larger annual cash injection “to stave off total defeat.” Responding to a follow-up tweet about Ukraine by Sacks, Elon Musk said that a new aid package for Ukraine approved by the US House of Representatives was contributing to “a forever war” with “no exit strategy.”
“These scenes of celebration are going to look particularly foolish when Ukraine collapses anyway. The federal government can print more money; it can’t just print more artillery shells and air defense missiles,” David Sacks posted on his X account on April 20. “And I should have added, they can’t print more soldiers.”
It’s not “just” $61 billion. Ukraine will need massive annual cash infusions to stave off total defeat. So it’s $61 billion as the baseline for an annual appropriation in a new forever war.
— David Sacks (@DavidSacks) April 20, 2024
For Sacks, the issue will not be limited to $61 billion because “Ukraine will need massive annual cash infusions to stave off total defeat.”
“The Iraq War and the Afghanistan War also began with annual appropriations in the $60B range. Those wars ended up costing trillions,” the businessman warned, adding that the reconstruction cost will amount to $500-600 billion “if somehow Ukraine survives the war.”
The United States House of Representatives approved, by 311 votes in favour and 112 against, an aid package that allocates $23.3 billion to replenish Ukraine’s defence articles and services, $13.8 billion for the purchase of advanced weapons systems, and $11.3 billion to US military operations in the region. In addition, the package provides for the supply of ATACMS long-range missile systems to Ukraine.
After receiving approval from the House of Representatives, the bill moves to the Senate for a vote. Subsequently, it will be presented to US President Joe Biden for his signature. Once signed, the law will come into force.
In a follow-up tweet, Sacks said,
“Based on some simple math, the new funding bill that’s being widely hailed as saving Ukraine will buy precisely half of a Summer Counteroffensive.”
Responding to the tweet, Musk highlighted,
“My biggest concern is that there is no exit strategy, just a forever war where kids die in trenches from artillery or charging machine guns and snipers through minefields.”
The billionaire also drew attention to Sacks’ post in which he expressed surprise at the fact that American Democrats waved Ukrainian flags during the vote in Congress, yet
“If you vote to send our money abroad while waving a foreign flag, you’ll be called an American patriot,” whilst “if you vote to keep our money at home to fund domestic priorities like the border, you’ll be called a foreign agent. Bizarro world.”
“Crazy,” Musk commented.
Crazy
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 20, 2024
Musk has consistently criticised Western policy on the Ukraine War. Last month, the owner of X slammed forced conscription in Ukraine, saying many people died without any progress in 2023. In February, the Tesla CEO supported David Sacks’ view that the Ukrainian conflict is “based on lies.” He stressed that none of the questions currently being raised about the crisis in Ukraine correspond to reality.
In early October 2022, a Twitter survey about a hypothetical peace agreement between Moscow and Kiev that would include, among other conditions, Ukraine’s neutrality and referendums on accession to Russia, supervised by the UN, in the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics and the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions. He also cast doubt on Ukraine’s victory, recalling that its population is three times smaller than Russia’s and urged for peace initiatives between the two states.
After Musk’s statements about the conflict in Ukraine, the Ukrainian “Kill List” website Myrotvorets added the tycoon to its list, noting that the businessman has allegedly “contributed to Russian propaganda on more than one occasion.” However, his profile was on the website for only 15 minutes, after which it was deleted.
The new US aid package will not change the situation on the battlefield. Instead, Ukraine will find itself in an inescapable debt bondage intended to enrich the “insatiable” defence industry, as Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev said.
“Of course, we will win, despite the 61 billion blood dollars that will mainly feed its own insatiable sector of the defence industry,” Medvedev wrote on his Telegram channel, adding that the US House of Representatives voted in favour of “maximising the number of victims of this war.”
The money that will likely be approved for Ukraine will mostly probably go to defence contractors to make newer equipment for the US military, while Washington will offload older material to Ukraine. Although this may prolong the conflict, it is certainly nowhere near enough to ensure Ukrainian victory, and this is a reality that Sacks and Musk continue to highlight, yet they are ignored or ridiculed by the US establishment.
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Ahmed Adel is a Cairo-based geopolitics and political economy researcher. He is a regular contributor to Global Research.
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