Trust but verify are famous words from an excellent president but in recent days not often followed by those in government. Now as many of you know I spent a goodly amount of time doing spy work and in that line of business the mantra was “Don’t trust anybody or anything,” and I didn’t. I still don’t trust anybody or anything preferring to do my own verification work. So, when someone says there’s no fraud or mismanagement in a program I know they’re lying because there is no repeat no program that manages large sums of money where there isn’t fraud and mismanagement. If you look closely enough you can find it in any of these large programs. The question is are your procedures good enough to limit the damage to within acceptable loss parameters. The reason there is fraud and mismanagement is simple, the programs are run by humans and the human condition is such that people can rationalize stealing for any number of reasons.
I have lived and worked in a number of third world countries and I can tell you that foreign aid, if it does reach the poor, is seldom anything like what went out the door of the U.S. Treasury. It is siphoned off by corrupt government officials in the receiving country and sometimes by corrupt contractors hired by USAID, State, the UN or the Nongovernmental Organization administering the program. Then there are the providers who will favor this tribe over that or take a “taste” for themselves which is sold on the black market for personal gain.
As for as hearts and minds being changed by the provision of foreign aid; I don’t think so. My personal experience has been “Why isn’t there more? You have so much why don’t you give us more?” That was said to me on my first outing into the jungles when I was a Third Secretary and Vice Consul and I was out visiting an orphanage in the hinterlands. I got around a lot and I was never thanked for what the U.S. taxpayer provided. My answer to the question was, “You aren’t the only poor country in the world.” But, nonetheless there is no big Thank You and oh yes we would prefer your democracy kind of answer out there.
Now the reason for this blog: Ukraine: This country has been one of the most corrupt countries in Europe for pretty much as long as it has existed separate from the Soviet Union. It is like Belarus or Kazakstan. If you will remember the second impeachment was a result of Trump asking for an investigation of corruption in the country and threatening to hold up foreign aid if such an investigation was not started. We are faced now with a failure to account for the $113 Billion (that’s Billion with a B) in aid the U.S. has provided Ukraine since the Russian invasion. Even President Zelensky says he isn’t sure where the aid has gone. The Senate has a current bill under consideration which would provide Ukraine another $61 Billion dollars in aid.
That’s a lot of money and we have no idea where it has gone. We know we gave it to a government which has a corrupt bureaucracy so how much was siphoned off by bureaucrats? How much by contractors providing aid and equipment? How much for overcharges for services and equipment like the USAF spending 100,000 times the cost for a bag of spacers.
Until and unless there is an accounting for the taxpayers money why should we continue to pour money into a deep dark well that seems bottomless. You may think me heartless, the poor Ukrainians have been invaded why won’t we do everything to help them? As you will have discovered reading my blog, I am a realist. The only reason I would support the Ukrainians to begin with is they are contending with an even more corrupt government in Russia and Putin is a would be Czar or Tsar if you prefer. If our intention is to drain the Russian government until it overthrows Putin then we should be getting a bang for our buck and not lining the pockets of corrupt Ukrainians.
Note that when President Trump suggested Ukraine buy the equipment from us with mineral rights in the country Zelinsky declined. He wants the U.S. and Europe to fund his war with Putin but he is not willing to pay for his defense. Even the British paid off their lend-lease debts after WWII. The proposed election in Ukraine last year never happened and Zelensky moves and speaks now as if he were, himself, an autocrat.
So, if the majority of the U.S. population wants to continue to support Ukraine then it is the responsibility of the current administration to determine where the previous aid has gone before we tax the American Public for more money. That there was no audit initiative set up by the former administration is pretty much indicative of their poor management practices in being stewards of the public’s money. Let’s act now so we’ll know what to do in the short term. Before we trust, let’s verify.