This week, the Biden administration announced $800-million in additional aid to Ukraine, including artillery systems, artillery rounds, armored personnel carriers and unmanned coastal defense boats. This package broadens by a lot the scope of materiel being sent to Kyiv to include new types of heavy equipment. If this week's aid package is as large as expected, it would bring total U.S. military aid to Ukraine since Russia invaded in February to well over $3 billion.
Now there is no doubt that the Russian invasion of Ukraine has brought immense suffering to the people of Ukraine. The images of the bombing of cities, civilian deaths and refugees escaping the violence are heart wrenching and have led to calls for more assistance. But while the war may prove to be a tragedy for Ukraine and indeed the world, for U.S. arms contractors, these developments are like Christmas morning.

I spoke recently with two people who have been watching these developments closely, Julia Gledhill is an analyst at the Center for Defense Information at the Project on Government Oversight. 

William Hartung, is a regular contributor to TomDispatch, and is a senior research fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. Hartung is the author of Prophets of War: Lockheed Martin and the Making of the Military Industrial Complex. 

They co-authored a report for Tom Dispatch titled "The New Gold Rush
How Pentagon Contractors Are Cashing in on the Ukraine Crisis."

WIOX Rumba Therapy

William Hartung and Julia Gledhill, Ukraine and the Profits of War

Dropping Like Flies

PLEASE LISTEN WITH HEADPHONES/SPEAKER OTHERWISE NOP
Just having some fun on a Wednesday :)

Noise for Noise

T'es ma compote

Like a Gun

Tout Simplement

In an interview on WIOX Community Radio in the Catskill Mountains,(WIOXRadio.org), Puerto Rican cuatrista, singer and composer, Fabiola Mendez previews her historic NYC debut performance at the Hostos Center for the Performing Arts in the Bronx with host Mario A. Murillo. Mendez talks about her love for the beautiful traditional music of the Puerto Rican countryside, how she fell in love with the sweet sounds of the cuatro, and her passion for Puerto Rican art and culture. The concert featured many of the songs off her latest CD recording, "Flora Campesina," and in this conversation, she describes the origins of many of these wonderful songs.

Fabiola Mendez on her love for the Puerto Rican Cuatro

Trees

On the Bed

Attic

A feather

Interviews, commentaries and talk about current events, politics, social movements, culture and much more, from the world we live in! Featuring highlights from the Morning Show on WBAI Pacifica Radio in New York City, and other independent media outlets. Follow me on Twitter at @marioradio99 

Fabiola Mendez on her love for the Puerto Rican Cuatro

MAMARadio

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