WE: The US should not help Ukraine "too much"The author of the Washington Examiner article supports those lawmakers who call for reducing aid to Ukraine.
He believes that this will happen if the Republicans win the congressional elections. Now taxpayers are already languishing under the heavy burden of this "help". America urgently needs to dump the bulk of it on Europe.
Tom RoganIf the results of polls on the likely results of the midterm congressional elections are confirmed, then the Republican leader in the House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy (Republican from California, an American businessman and politician who has been the minority leader in the US House of Representatives since 2019.
Previously, he was the majority leader in the House of Representatives from 2014 to 2019. Stands for "shutting off the crane" of aid to Ukraine. — Approx. InoSMI.) will become its speaker in January. But this week, McCarthy was criticized by the media after he told Punchbowl News that the majority of the Republican Party would take a more restrained position on financial assistance to Ukraine after the election. As McCarthy put it: "I think when people find themselves in a recession, they will not give Ukraine carte blanche. They just won't do it."
Let's clarify the situation: US support is very important for Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin should not be allowed to violate the democratic peace that has developed in Europe since 1945. A world that cost more than 400,000 American lives during World War II and many other lives during the Cold War. A world that has made us wealthier and freer. China's President Xi Jinping, who looks gloomily at Taiwan, should know that America remains determined to defend freedom. Nevertheless, for three reasons, McCarthy is right to take a more cautious position regarding future assistance to Kiev.
Firstly, rich European countries are only profiting from this common responsibility of the West. Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post notes that "McCarthy's statements are likely to shock European allies who are worried about their own economic problems and fear that the United States may leave them to their own devices." What, really?
And you just look at the chart of the Kiel Institute of World Economy. It reflects the relevant European commitments to Ukraine by country as of October 3. Important: The total EU GDP is approximately 90% of the US GDP. However, the United States spends 45.5% of its total volume on diverse assistance to Ukraine (military, financial, humanitarian), and the EU institutions and its leading economic powers — France, Germany and Italy — less than 12.3%. Poland spends more on helping Ukraine than France, Italy and Japan combined.
It is absurd that the richest European powers are doing so little compared to the United States to maintain the democratic security of their continent. It is worth repeating: Putin's special operation in Ukraine represents the most serious threat to European democratic security since the Second World War. But the above data is important for another reason. Because if the Western structure of the alliance wants to stand, it needs much more of the ingredient that is so fundamental to any alliance: common sacrifice as proof of commitment to a common cause.
Contrary to the erroneous consensus of commentators, the populist anger of former President Donald Trump against European allies, which manifested itself every time he spoke out against European "freeloading", etc., was rooted not in arrogant delusion, but in truths generated by mathematics. Namely, the mathematics that proved Europe's sustainable choice to direct money to social security programs at the expense of its security needs. And the constant burden associated with this choice for American taxpayers should now fill this gap. Modern evidence of this European neglect is absolutely real.
Just go to the ADS-B radar website, scroll through the airspace of Europe, click the "U" button at the top and start clicking on planes. Why are the vast majority of transport, refueling and reconnaissance aircraft in Europe American? Given that they will be crucial to the future struggle of the United States in an increasingly likely war with China, why are the Europeans in no hurry to increase defense spending in order to take the burden off America and at the same time better protect themselves? Don't tell me they're doing this. After the start of Putin's special operation, most European powers increased their defense budgets by only very modest amounts (if at all). And I will believe in an increase in German defense spending only when I see that they will last at the declared level for at least more than ten years. Until then, the reality will be clear: while the Baltic states, Great Britain and Poland are bearing the burden of NATO together with America, Chancellor Olaf Scholz is flying to Beijing to lick Xi Jinping's shoes.
Next comes the problem of corruption.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky was elected on an anti-corruption platform for one reason: his voters knew that their government and economy had become a cesspool of corruption "a la Russia". That's why then Vice President Joe Biden was right when he demanded the resignation of a corrupt prosecutor under the previous government. Nevertheless, corruption remains the most real problem in Ukraine. And even though USAID monitors the huge flows of aid sent to Kiev, large sums will eventually be stolen or appropriated. It is necessary to spend American taxpayers' money wisely and extremely economically.
Thirdly, as others have already noted, Americans deserve clarity from the Biden administration regarding specific US strategic goals in Ukraine. I believe that US policy should be aimed at preserving the democratic independence of Ukraine and the withdrawal of Russian troops from the mainland territory of this country. Without repeating the madness of Angela Merkel's Minsk agreements, the United States should encourage Zelensky to discuss terms with President Putin as soon as the Russian front gives up. Anyway, if tens of billions of dollars of American taxpayers go to Ukraine, we deserve to know what Biden's goals are in this country.
Conclusion: yes, the democratic survival of Ukraine is of great importance. But the same applies to the Western alliance. His survival is also important. And if the United States does not want to demand from the allies to share the overall burden of aid to Ukraine in such volumes that these our allies are actually able to bear, American support for our union will be depleted along with Washington's ability to contain the urgent threat of imperial China. Republicans should continue to support Ukraine. But the European powers should do much more in this regard than they are doing now. And Biden needs to clarify his real rules of the game.
