And let me guess, there is a clause saying they have to buy from US weapons companies?
That’s kinda how it works. It’s not like I, as an American tax payer, would want them with a 2 billion US funded loan going out and buying Chinese or Russian weapons. Even Turkish weapons would be one of those thing where I’d want Turkey to give their own loans for weapons. It’s American Money, I want it to go into the American economy if we’re providing the loan. Plus based on the performance it’s not like they’re going to buy better weapons anywhere else.
Even before this they’ve been buying almost entirely from the US and I think some from the UK.
Poland isn’t exactly on good terms with Russia or, by extension, China.
Well they are a NATO country and need to buy NATO standard equipment. So their options for who to buy from if they aren’t producing it is limited to any country producing them that is in NATO, and potentially South Korea. ¯_(ツ)_/¯
Poland’s reason to decide for Korean tanks is because of technology transfers promised. They want to build up their industry to compete with the existing ones. So it’s really just Korea and the US. Everything else is European, so what they consider their competition.
Pretty bog standard to buy weapons from the country giving you the money to buy weapons.
Who cares? It’s Poland. Their government hates Europe and dreams about reaching a level where they can compete with all those evil other countries’ industries (the sole reason to buy Korean tanks is that those promised some tech transfers). They will of course only buy from the US and happily so… also in completely rediculous numbers they can’t actually afford, because like any shitty right-wing government running purely on their own superiority and blaming other countries, it’s important to have a strong military.
presumably at a high discount - $2 billion is nothing when it comes to weapon systems
Pretty sure they’d buy US arms in any case.
Lemmy users learning about politics be like.
Debt based military industrial complex
What kind of interest and fees are we charging them? If it’s a good deal can I get a loan to pay off my private student loans and medical bills?
You gotta pay the US defense industry with your loan, not the education industry.
Instead of seeing it as a loan you can see it as money indirectly given to the US military industry.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration announced Monday that it is offering a $2 billion loan to Poland, which has been a hub for weapons going into Ukraine, to support the ally’s defense modernization.
The U.S. government is also providing Warsaw up to $60 million for the cost of the loan in Foreign Military Financing (FMF) which would support “urgent procurements of defense articles and services from the United States,” the State Department said.
Poland has been a staunch supporter of Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion of the country, handing over large numbers of its own tanks, fighter jets and other equipment.
It has been undergoing a process of modernization to replace what it gave away, much of which was based on old Soviet technology, putting in orders with U.S. and South Korean defense companies.
Amid the spat Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said his country was no longer sending any more weapons to Ukraine.
Analysts noted that Poland has already in fact given Ukraine most of what it has to give, and the statement was made ahead of a Polish election and did not mean much.
The original article contains 339 words, the summary contains 187 words. Saved 45%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
“Anglerfish offers bright glowing morsel”
Gotta make sure everyone’s prepared for WW3.
Poland stops giving weapons to Ukraine
The US gives a rare multibillion loan to Poland
Hmmmmmmm
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Seems like Russia just wants to fight actual wars these days.
