US Converts Funding to Encompass Deadly Weapons in Places Like Ukraine

Hello all!

Something I want to talk about today would be the actions taken by the US gov't to convert US military grants awarded to other countries. Some countries that currently receive US military grants are helped by receiving equipment such as radio equipment, surveillance gear, Hummers and binoculars. But these grants do not fund the supply of deadly weapons.

Now, the government plans on converting some military grants into smaller number loan guarantees. This conversion is said to be done as an effort to decrease US spending on diplomacy, aid and programs abroad by 29%. So the plan is to give loans with a lower dollar amount and expect to be paid back, rather than just taking the $100 million dollar loss on the investment that you wanted to make. Oh, and the money that is being saved, that's going back into military spending.

But don't worry, it's not a lose-lose situation for the countries that are getting the grant funding converted into loans. Mick Mulvaney, the director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, said(I have to quote this)"Our argument was instead of ... giving somebody $100 million, we could give them a smaller number worth of loan guarantees and they could actually buy more stuff." Feel free to read that last statement again. I know what you are thinking, how can I buy more stuff with less money and interest that will be produced by the loans? I know, I know the math doesn't add up, but...the countries with the loans, instead of grants, will now be supplied with military training, the supply of deadly weapons, along with radio equipment, surveillance gear, and Hummers. So technically Mulvaney was right when he said they could "actually buy more stuff"

Although the UN does not support the US supplying the Ukraine with deadly weapons, the US will continue to push the government's agenda. The UN believes that supplying deadly weapons to the area of the Ukraine will only lead to the suffering of more people. The US says that they are trying to stop Russian aggression and help keep the territorial integrity of the Ukraine. While Russia says that it will only intensify the violence in the area.

Questions:
What do you think about the conversion of grants to loans and the new types of supplies that can be bought with them?

Should the US be training forces and sending deadly weapons to an area like the Ukraine?

Are the actions of the US hurting our ties with the UN?

If Russia says that they want to back the rebels in the Ukraine with deadly weapons would they be wrong?

Will countries be able to pay back the loans they are given?