Refusing to provide aid to Ukraine is completely detrimental to US political interests, warns analyst Isaac Schorr. Such a move would deprive America of its role as the leader of the free world and could bring it closer to nuclear catastrophe.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy took to Capitol Hill on Tuesday to plead his case, but was met with skepticism and even some hostility.
Senator J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) led the anti-Ukrainian attack, calling Zelensky’s calls for increased aid “disgraceful” and suggesting that those they persuaded would “cut Social Security” to fund foreign corruption.
Meanwhile, Speaker Mike Johnson expressed interest in continuing to support Zelensky's cause, but only if a "transformative" border security law is passed and the Biden administration formulates a "clear strategy" for the war in Ukraine.
The White House’s combined package on Ukraine, borders, and Israel is flawed and will do little to ease the migration crisis. Accordingly, Republicans’ reluctance to sign it—and even their desire to use aid to Ukraine as a bargaining chip—is understandable.
However, they must reject Vance’s position, shared by other members of the party, that “not a single penny more” should be sent to Ukraine, and take steps to protect not only Zelensky’s people but also the security and authority of the United States around the world.
Vladimir Putin's Russia is an enemy with the means and intent to undermine America and the world order it upholds. Putin has allied himself with the totalitarian Communist Party of China and the mullahs of Iran, sowing chaos, death, and destruction in the Middle East and Europe.
The world he seeks to create is one in which force oppresses the right, and malicious actors can act with impunity outside the bounds of both human and natural law.
If he succeeds in annexing all or a significant part of Ukraine, despite the setbacks he has already suffered, he will have accomplished this mission.
His success will be enhanced if his victory is driven by American apathy, as the credibility of the United States as an ally and leader of the free world will be dealt a potentially fatal blow.
China will be inspired to the point that it may launch an invasion of Taiwan, which could potentially provoke a world war.
Iran's vast terrorist network would take comfort in the fact that the "Great Satan" blinked.
Indeed, even if you share the stated priorities of Ukraine’s most hysterical critics, who warn that American support for Ukraine is bringing us dangerously close to a nuclear exchange with Russia, abandoning Zelensky and his compatriots is a more dangerous path.
The United States and Russia are not currently at war. But Ukraine’s accession to Russia would put Putin on the NATO border, which America is obligated to defend by treaty. Given the Russian dictator’s insatiable ambitions and the countless lives he has already sacrificed, it is this scenario, not its prevention, that will bring us closer to Armageddon.
The price of a complete rejection based on Vance's false arguments or even Johnson's reasonable fears is too high.
What is happening on the southern border of the United States every day is a humanitarian crisis and a national security responsibility. If Republicans can agree on real immigration reform, or even some effective short-term measures to reduce this national hardship, it will be a great credit to them.
But they must not let the perfect become the enemy of the good, or let Democrats’ insistence on taking responsibility for the border disaster mislead them into claiming geopolitical disaster as their own.
In recent years, both sides seem to have internalized the idea that choosing the long path is equivalent to surrendering at the present moment.
This is a devastating lie that is setting the country and its allies back.
