USAID and Ukraine

Since most of us are following the war in Ukraine, this should be relevant to most of my readers. It’s not just a surrender of soft power. It’s also putting US personnel in war zones, like Ukraine, at risk.

Overnight, 1500 employees at the Washington headquarters were fired. Never mind, this breaks all kinds of US laws, but at this point, this is another day ending in Y. There are serious geopolitical consequences, but let’s start with more local news. Here is the full press release on how US farmers benefit from USAID. That market is now closed for US farmers:

WASHINGTON, April 18, 2024 — The U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Agency for International Development will deploy $1 billion in Commodity Credit Corporation funding to purchase U.S.-grown commodities to provide emergency food assistance to people in need throughout the world, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and USAID Administrator Samantha Power announced today.

“America’s farmers are the most productive and efficient in the world, and we rely on them to supply safe and nutritious food not only to our nation, but to the global community,” Secretary Vilsack said. “With many millions of people in dire need worldwide, the U.S. agricultural sector is well positioned to provide lifesaving food assistance. The United States produces more commodities than are consumed, and therefore has the…