Despite Media Cheerleading, $61 Billion Won’t Beat Russia

The United States continues to be the world’s banker for war. Last week, the U.S. invested $95 billion more in war. $61 billion of that is headed to Ukraine. While Congress waved Ukrainian flags, the American mainstream media abandoned its responsibility as investigative journalists and dutifully and enthusiastically acted as cheerleaders, celebrated the continuation of war and led the call for more.

What the mainstream media did not do is tell the American public that, while $61 billion is a lot of money, it is not enough to change the inevitable long-term outcome of the war. The current package of lethal aid will change the situation. It will prolong the war, and it will prolong Ukraine’s suffering. But it will not alter Ukraine’s inevitable defeat.

Few, if any, of the large American mainstream media bothered to investigate the aid package or report that, after money is allocated to keeping the Ukrainian government solvent, funding current military operations in the region and replenishing the U.S. stockpile of weapons, only about $14 billion is left for actually procuring new weapons for Ukraine.

Instead, mainstream media headlines proclaim a fresh beginning and celebrate the potential for the new package of lethal aid to push Ukraine to victory over Russia and prevent Russia from marching through Ukraine into Europe. But neither is true.

If the American public has any chance of knowing the truth, they need to turn to the alternative media. That means that now, more than ever, alternative media like Antiwar.com is a lifeline for information and a lifeline for peace.

It is the most valuable daily collection on the web of the most important news. Dave DeCamp, the news editor of Antiwar.com, is unparalleled in his ability to write the most important stories fast, so that you can read clear summaries of the most important news.

The late Daniel Ellsberg, the elder statesman of whistleblowers, once told me that Antiwar.com was his “go-to site every morning!” It’s mine too. Every morning the first button I push after turning off my alarm is Antiwar.com.

It is an invaluable source of analysis. Antiwar.com has the rare courage to let the experts speak without censoring or editing them. It is an antidote to the way the stories are told in the mainstream media. Each day, Antiwar.com features valuable stories from its own writers as well as the most fascinating features from across the media.

At a time when the mainstream media has stopped investigating stories and holding government to account to serve instead as cheerleaders who help mold public opinion in support of war, alternatives, like Antiwar.com, have become more essential than ever.

Please support Antiwar.com in its mission to analyze the stories in a way that they are no longer being analyzed in the mainstream media and to tell the stories that are no longer being told. Please support Antiwar.com by making a tax-deductible donation. And right now, every dollar you give will be matched by our angels.

Ted Snider is a regular columnist on U.S. foreign policy and history at Antiwar.com and The Libertarian Institute. He is also a frequent contributor to Responsible Statecraft and The American Conservative as well as other outlets. To support his work or for media or virtual presentation requests, contact him at tedsnider@bell.net.