Posobiec addressed the stockpile issue after raising questions about Russian President Vladimir Putin's dealings with Wagner group leader Yevgeny Progozhin. It is currently unknown what the relationship is between Putin and Prigozhin, and whether Prigozhin held talks with Ukraine or Western powers leading up to his march against Moscow that ultimately fizzled. However, it has been reported that Prigozhin met with Putin only days after his troops marched within 200 miles of Moscow.
The host mentioned that the Biden administration has now started sending cluster munitions to Ukraine "to replace their artillery shells" after it was discovered that Ukraine was "completely out" of regular artillery. Biden attested to this himself when he was asked by the bombs were being sent, he said it was because Ukraine was "out of ammunition." Use of cluster munitions is considered a war crime by the Biden administration, as then-White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said in February 2022, and some have raised questions why Biden is now in support of using them in the conflict.
Cluster bombs release bomblets that are then detonated on impact, unless they're not. When they bomblets don't detonate, they remain behind on the ground where they will likely be eventually found by an unsuspecting civilian. They essentially act like land mines, which are banned by treaties. Cluster bombs are also banned by 108 nations, as well as America's allies in Europe.
Posobiec said that the White House has gone back on its initial stance on cluster munitions, with "Jack Kirby up there saying, 'Oh, it's okay because they [Russia] did it first.'" The host drew out the contradiction, with the US claiming it's a war crime if Russia does it, but it's apparently okay if the US does it.
Shaffer chimed in: "First off, there's been 31 acknowledged draws" of US stocks of ammunition.
"Jack, those are both supposed to be there for the purposes of our military forces showing up at a location, being able to draw rapidly and have at least 30 days of weapons available to go fully into combat. Forty-one draws is not a good thing, because when, in fact, I think it's closer to 50. They've only acknowledged 31. I think they've drawn to the point where we basically have no war time stock left, and that's a dangerous position for us to be in when we, if we're actually thinking about trying to challenge the Chinese if something happens in Taiwan, there's other things that could happen in the Middle East."
"I think we're at a very dangerous time, and my concern, our concern, should be always can we provide the men and women of the American military sufficient military force and ammunition to prevail. And I'm skeptical at this point."
Shaffer mentioned that Biden himself has also confirmed that the US military is critically low on ammunication backstock, which could represent an issue if the US engages in military conflict with a major power. US defense contractor Raytheon has said that in order to meet Biden's promise of delivering some 2,000 Stinger missiles to Ukraine, the company has had to bring engineers back out of retirement.
