Bullets:

• The war in Ukraine consumes vast quantities of arms and ammunition, supplied almost entirely by the US and the EU.
• Battlefield demands in Ukraine far outstrip the combined production of the entire Western bloc.
• Arsenals across the EU are empty, and the United States is far more reluctant today to supply the Ukraine war effort.
• But Europe faces severe problems in their efforts to rearm, and to make good their public support and promises to Ukraine.
• Despite having a far smaller economy than either the US or the EU, Russia easily produces more ammunition and war materiel than the NATO countries, combined.
• Meanwhile, Russia’s close ally China has the world’s most productive industrial sector, and monopolies on the supply chains necessary to build armaments.
• Last year, China cut off exports of antimony, a critical component of explosives, and antimony prices have more than quadrupled in less than a year.