Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen delivered a $20 billion loan to Ukraine on Tuesday using what she termed "creative policymaking".
The backstory: the Biden administration, along with G7 counterparts, froze Russian sovereign assets in Western banks after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. Yellen and her peers have since sought ways to use those assets to provide aid to Ukraine that is "Trump-proof".
The received wisdom among Yellen and her globalist peers is that president-elect Donald Trump will seek to negotiate a peaceful resolution to the Russia-Ukraine war. Such an outcome doesn't suit the geopolitical goals of Yellen and her ilk, so the effort to prolong the staus quo in the name of defending democracy in Ukraine (and perhaps finding a place in NATO for Ukraine) continues.
Put simply, the G7 seized Russian assets in Western banks. They then sent $20 billion--in G7 taxpayer funds--to Ukraine. Their plan is to use profits on the seized Russian assets to refill their coffers to the extent that taxpayers don't end up on the hook for this tranche of war funding.
The Art of Stealing
— Zlatti71 (@Zlatti_71) December 11, 2024
🇺🇸🇺🇦 The U.S. is providing a $20 billion loan to Ukraine using proceeds from frozen Russian assets, according to the U.S. Treasury Department.
"These funds, sourced from Russia's frozen assets, will offer essential support to Ukraine,"
— stated U.S.… pic.twitter.com/J5gbKFUlM5
In order to make it harder for Trump to claw back the funding, if indeed that was his wont, the entire $20 billion was delivered not directly to Ukraine, but to a World Bank intermediary, as reported by Politico Morning Money:
The White House in October had initially said it planned to seek congressional approval to use half the money — $10 billion — for military assistance to Ukraine. But the administration ultimately opted to send the entire $20 billion as economic assistance, which will support things like sustaining emergency services and hospitals.
Instead, Treasury said the U.S. was transferring the full $20 billion to a World Bank financial intermediary fund, which would, in turn, make it available to Ukraine. That would significantly complicate Trump’s ability to claw back the money without putting U.S. taxpayers on the hook.
Notice that first part? The package will fund "economic assistance". Never mind the examples such "emergency services and hospitals", this is another $20 billion sent to one of the most notoriously corrupt money laundering countries on the planet, and it isn't even for military use, but the much murkier "economic assistance".
In any case, Yellen's move opens up a can of precedent worms for future conflicts. Unwittingly, she may have given Trump a new tool to use in a future conflict while attempting to foil him in the miasma of Ukraine.
Fast forward to a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. Don't skip too far ahead, it might be sooner than you think. A raft of pennywise but pound-foolish decisions around the Israel-Palestine and Russia-Ukraine wars have left the US and Israel depleted militarily.
What a pregnant moment for China. With its enemies distracted and overcommitted, the time to officially claim Taiwan couldn't be better.
Recall we asked Israel to send 300,000 U.S. artillery shells to Ukraine, which leaves Israel short. We’re on track to deplete our munitions & other stockpiles with dual conflicts in Ukraine & now in Israel. It’s zero-sum which paves the way for China to invade Taiwan as the U.S.… pic.twitter.com/PgMAhA1XVt
— Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) October 10, 2023
It's unclear what the Biden administration might do in its final weeks were China to invade Taiwan, but for Trump, it would define in large part the beginning of his second term.
The new weapon on the table? Seizure of Chinese assets held in Western banks. Yellen might have just provided Trump with a powerful new tool to wield in the arena of Chinese expansionism.
