The Biden administration is sending Congress an urgent warning about the need to approve tens of billions of dollars in military and economic assistance to Ukraine, saying Kyiv’s effort to defend itself from Russia’s invasion may grind to a halt without it.
The Biden administration on Monday sent Congress an urgent warning about the need to approve tens of billions of dollars in military and economic assistance to Ukraine, saying Kyiv’s war effort to defend itself from Russia’s invasion may grind to a halt without it.
In a letter to House and Senate leaders and also released publicly, Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young warned the U.S. will run out of funding to send weapons and assistance to Ukraine by the end of the year, saying that would “kneecap” Ukraine on the battlefield.
She added that the U.S. already has run out of money that it has used to prop up Ukraine’s economy, and “if Ukraine’s economy collapses, they will not be able to keep fighting, full stop.”
The GOP will, of course, stand with Putin. The GOP has always famously stood by the USSR/Russia. I believe it was Ronald Reagen who bravely said "Mr. Gorbachev, build me a fucking wall."
If you are an ally of US or NATO in general, the conflict in Ukraine is probably a rude awakening as to what you can expect if you get into a conflict.
What? Had Ukraine been in NATO this would've been a full blown war with boots on the ground from the entirety of NATO, not just weapon deliveries. And Russia would've been completely unable to advance. NATO would have complete air superiority inside the first month, any visible Russian base within or near Ukraine would be decimated and their only course of action would be fortifying positions in cities among the civilian population. Trying to fight a regular war would just end up in a decisive defeat within months. It would be very similar to Desert Storm. Advancing to and clearing fortified cities would of course prove a challenge even with NATO fully involved, and I fully expect that Russia would go all in on guerilla tactics in that case.
That's absolutely great for NATO members, but not for allies which I outlined above. Being a reliable ally is paramount to maintain soft power... given how Ukraine is turning out, if I were say the Philippines, I'd be really concerned about the US support in a potential conflict with China.
If Ukraine had already been part of NATO, Russia would never have attacked as that would have immediately triggered article 5 and there would be B-2 bombers circling the Kremlin.
A mutiny force almost took Moscow just a while ago. NATO would be making jokes about reuniting Ukraine with Raspberry Ukraine, Grey Ukraine, Yellow Ukraine, and Green Ukraine just to let China worry about a NATO state on its borders to make its problems with the First Island Chain even worse
You mean that even them just providing aid will be enough for you to stalemate a self proclaimed superpower and then push back against them and launch direct attacks against them?
I agree, this war is a big signpost for smaller nations who share borders with large neighbors known for considering themselves superpowers while also boo-hooing themselves as le-opressed global south for internet privs to stan for because Lebensraum and Irredentism are cool when something something colonialism.
When Ethiopia invades Eritrea or Eastern Somalia, these types will flock to defend them against any accusation of wrongdoing because "but self governance and sovereignty over your own ports is colonialism!"
Classic US. Overspends and forces a debt they will not end up paying. Instead, the US will probably end up with several land/mining rights from Ukraine and maybe Russia, since they won't be able to pay either.
The money spent on Ukraine has been essentially pennies relative to any significant domestic program.
If you instead redistributed all the $113 billion spent since the invasion began in 2022, you could give each American a grand total of $340. A nice chunk of change, to be sure, but spread out over the course of the war, this is literally $15 a month.
Personally, I'm okay having $340 less over the course of nearly two years if the alternative is tens of thousands of dead Ukrainians and Russia successfully re-asserting that violent conquest will not be resisted. Moldova would almost certainly be invaded next as well, since they're not in NATO. $15 a month is a pretty damn cheap price to pay to protect a democracy and save countless lives (not to mention, the torture and rape the Russian army has been committing as well)
Do you feel the same way about every other conflict in this world or just the one in Europe? What about spending money to prevent the conflict in Africa (Ethiopia) or in Asia (Myanmar)? Will you be willing to pay higher taxes to fight off the drug cartels in Central and South America?
We got all these issues here in the US. Homelessness, gun violence, drug overdoses, overcrowded prisons, massive personal debt (student loans, car, credit card), etc. I don't care to arm another nation and play proxy war.
By any capitalist measure, the economy is doing great. If you're struggling, maybe reconsider supporting a system that doesn't care about how well you're doing as long as profits are up.
Hey I've got an idea, let's drag the Ukraine war out another 2 decades and see how much death and destruction that can continue to fester.
I'm sure it won't lead to millions of angry, broken men who will never be able to feel integrate with society and cause a spiraling of violence and crime throughout Europe and the world reverberating for decades into the future.
Oh, and drug use and homelessness. Almost forgot about that, silly me.
Well, we could end this horror-show tomorrow by turning Moscow into a sheet of glass.
Let's call Vlad Puta's bluff and see how many of his 50 year old ICBM's even make it out of their silos, much less to a target. They are widely thought to be ill-maintained, looted by a very active military black market, and old as shit. Add to that our space and air defense spending, and I'm betting the only country that would experience any Russian radiation would be Russia.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration on Monday sent Congress an urgent warning about the need to approve tens of billions of dollars in military and economic assistance to Ukraine, saying Kyiv’s war effort to defend itself from Russia’s invasion may grind to a halt without it.
In a letter to House and Senate leaders and also released publicly, Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young warned the U.S. will run out of funding to send weapons and assistance to Ukraine by the end of the year, saying that would “kneecap” Ukraine on the battlefield.
Biden has sought a nearly $106 billion aid package for Ukraine, Israel and other needs, but it has faced a difficult reception on Capitol Hill, where there is growing skepticism about the magnitude of assistance for Ukraine and where even Republicans supportive of the funding are insisting on U.S.-Mexico border policy changes to halt the flow of migrants as a condition for the assistance.
The Biden administration has said it has slowed the pace of some military assistance to Kyiv in recent weeks to try to stretch supplies until Congress approves more funding.
The letter followed a classified Capitol Hill briefing on Nov. 29 for the top House and Senate leaders on the need for the assistance.
Defense and other national security officials briefed the “big four” congressional leaders as Congress is debating President Joe Biden’s nearly $106 billion funding package, which includes $61 billion for Ukraine but has become snared by Republican demands for U.S.-Mexico border security changes.
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