Republican Senators are using a military aid bill to Ukraine and Israel as bargaining chips to pass extensive immigration and border reform. In his latest comments to the press, Republican Senator Mitch McConnell has claimed that Republicans are agreeing with the aid but won’t pass the bill without their comprehensive reforms.
Republican Senators are playing very dangerous games because military aid to Ukraine is needed urgently and as part of its role in global security, it should not be used as a domestic and political bargaining chip. This precedent would lead to other Republicans repeating the same behaviour in an even more damaging manner.
Russia has recently passed a $110 billion war budget for next year while Ukraine’s budget hovers around $10 billion. Most of the military aid by the US to Ukraine is spent in the US so there shouldn’t be a lot of controversy about it. While Russia is going all-in on Ukraine, the West is still helping Ukraine by spoon-feeding it the minimum at the great risk of having Russia consolidate its territorial gains on an extended basis. Russia still holds air and naval superiority over Ukraine preventing Ukrainians from advancing further into occupied territory. If the US fails to help aid Ukraine to win the war against Russia, the international precedent against international law would be catastrophic.
War fatigue shouldn’t have come in just one year and Russia is being granted a very easy victory. Already, France and Germany have capitulated and Biden has shown signs of such a position as well. If the US abdicates from its international role as the guarantor to the rules-based order, we will be seeing more imperialism and not less.
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