Lend-lease was one of the pivotal factors in the second world war. It was a mechanism by which the United States shipped tremendous quantities of everything from boots to bullets in order to keep Britain, the USSR, and the other allies in the fight. On May 9th, President Biden signed an Act bearing the lend-lease name into law, taking on the authority to loan defence articles (that’s a fancy way of saying militarily useful stuff) to Ukraine. Journalists across the internet have been quick to herald the Act as a game changer, one which will fundamentally transforms the flow of assistance to Kyiv. I’m not so sure. In this video, I look at what the modern lend-lease Act actually does, assess its significance, and then focus on some of the lesser known, and altogether less dramatic mechanisms that are being used to authorise the ever growing flow of US money and weapons supporting Ukraine. I’m also rather proud I managed to get the video under 30 minutes. The side effect of that is that I do not have time to delve into each of the individual pieces of legislation discussed. My descriptions of how foreign military financing work for example are necessarily simplistic, but I’ve tried to make sure the basics of what you need to know are here.