The World Blog by humble servant.

Republican lawmakers are feeling vindicated for opposing a $40 billion Ukraine aid package after a CBS News report showed that only 30% of the Western weapons flooding into the country are actually making it to the front lines in Kiev’s conflict with Russia. “This [is] one of the reasons I voted ‘no,’” US Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia) said on Twitter in a retweet of the CBS News post. Greene was among 57 House Republicans who voted against the massive aid bill, which passed overwhelmingly in May with the support of all Democrats and most GOP lawmakers. Eleven Republicans opposed the bill in the Senate, where it passed by an 86-11 margin. The CBS story noted that with nearly $60 billion in US and Western European aid approved for Ukraine since Russia’s military offensive began in February, most of the weaponry has failed to get through to Ukrainian fighters. Getting weapons to the troops involves navigating a complex network of “power lords, oligarchs [and] politi...

Americans see bleak economic outlook – poll President Joe Biden is shown speaking last week at a White House event. © Getty Images / Jim Watson Americans are more pessimistic about the US economy than at any time since the global financial crisis of 2008, suggesting that President Joe Biden has failed to convince voters that conditions are improving under his leadership, a new poll has revealed. Just 12% of Americans believe the nation’s economy is ‘getting better’, compared with 69% who see it ‘getting worse’, according to an ABC News/Ipsos poll released on Sunday. Although the survey is weighted toward Democrats, only 37% of respondents approve of Biden’s handling of the economy, while just 29% give him a thumbs-up on dealing with inflation, which is at a 40-year high. In fact, just three months away from the US midterm elections, Biden got negative marks in every category other than his response to the Covid-19 pandemic. The president has tried to convince Americans that he has...

Report suggests US appears to be repeating the mistakes of Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria. With the US and its allies pledging unprecedented levels of military support to Ukraine, a recent CBS News report suggested that only around 30% of the weapons sent by the West actually make it to the front lines. The report adds to ongoing rumors of waste, corruption, and black market profiteering. The US has approved more than $54 billion of economic and military aid to Ukraine since February, while the UK has committed nearly $3 billion in military aid alone, and the EU has spent another $2.5 billion on arms for Kiev. An entire spectrum of equipment, from rifles and grenades to anti-tank missiles and multiple launch rocket systems have left the West’s armories for Ukraine, with most entering the country through Poland. However, this rarely goes smoothly, CBS News revealed this week. “All of this stuff goes across the border, and then something happens, kind of like 30% of it reaches its fin...