Birds fly near the US Capitol at sunrise, on Capitol Hill in Washington, US, in this Feb 8, 2022 file photo. [Photo/Agencies]
By Zhang Zhouxiang
What does $500 million mean? A lot to 40 percent of families in the United States who, according to a 2018 Fed report, cannot raise $400 during an emergency. At least 1.25 million families can benefit from the money.
Norfolk Southern is reportedly planning to pay $1,000 in compensation to every victim of the Ohio derailment incident. The above amount is enough to cover half a million of such victims.
Should the White House think international, the money can also help recruit teams to carry out quake relief work in Turkiye and Syria.
However, the United States did none of the above. Instead, almost a year after the Russia-Ukraine conflict started, US President Joe Biden visited Kyiv and announced another $500 million in military aid, which means the money will be spent on manufacturing tanks and missiles to make life worse for the young people in Russia and Ukraine many of whom are dying on the battlefield.
The US knows that the two sides need a round table for talks but it still sends them arms. It claims it wants to help Ukraine win, but actually it just wants to fight Russia by proxy, in the process saving US soldiers' lives.
However, it is not all win-win for the US either. The money the White House is doling out comes from taxpayers, and this will push up inflation in the US.
Ironically, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken baselessly claimed that China was planning to provide arms to Russia. Which means Blinken, at least, knows it is not a good thing to fuel the war by sending arms. On Friday, China will release a document on finding a political solution to the crisis in Ukraine by calling for peace. If the White House loves Ukrainians so much, as it claims, it too can help create a platform for both sides to talk.
