Robin E. Horsfall

Oct 10

In the coming days and weeks a media campaign, funded by Russia will claim that weapons from the west have illegally turned up in the hands of Hamas and other terrorist groups in the middle east. The inference will be that Ukrainian leaders have sold these weapons for personal gain.

Some journalists will question why supplies from the west cannot be traced once they have crossed the border into the war zone. They will produce photographs of (untraceable) military items sent to Ukraine in the hands of terrorists. They will not accuse they will simply suggest and put propaganda ammunition into the hands of the enemies of Ukraine and those who would cut financial support from the USA.

Corruption is endemic everywhere, especially when large quantities of materiel are being shipped. Some will always be skimmed from the top. The driver will steal a few gallons of fuel, a truck will lose some food, a box of ammo, some uniforms. It is an impossible task to eradicate theft in war. Convoys get ambushed and the detritus is gathered and tucked away for a rainy day. Some farmers have damaged T72s in their barns.

The best that can be achieved is sufficient control to keep the losses within limits that do not affect the war effort. In so doing the big players, the crime lords will struggle to gain a foothold. Some will claim ‘losses are huge’ but compared to what? Compared to the tens of billions being donated every month?

Hamas don’t need stolen supplies from Ukraine when it comes free from Iran and Russia.

We can all see our money being used. We see and read reports of ammunition use, fuel supplies and manpower losses. On top of all that, there are embedded journalists, wives, soldiers and policemen on the ground who will not take kindly to the redirection of the life blood of Ukraine.

President Zelensky took office on an anti-corruption platform and he has proved true to his word. He has fired anyone within his government and army suspected of such acts and continues to do so. He knows his own people, he knows the culture they inherited from the Soviet Union. He has continued to stamp down hard at every opportunity. No one has been saved, no general, oligarch or minister can hope for sympathy if they steal from the Ukrainian people.

Watch out for this upcoming nonsense, a rocket here and a rifle there is not institutional corruption, it’s drivel!

Slava Ukraini!

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Robin Horsfall