I really don’t understand how anyone (American or European) can justify $40B in US deficit spending on a European problem. Russia vs. Ukraine is a European problem. Not a US problem. I know the leadership in US wants to make it a US/NATO problem. But coming off a twenty-year war in Afghaniraq to dive into a European war (leaving all the other problems we must deal with aside) not a year later doesn’t inspire my confidence in US leadership. I’m whole-heartedly against it. We would be adding to our troubles and hurtful distractions. Not relieving them.
I really don’t understand how anyone (American or European) can justify $40B in US deficit spending on a European problem. Russia vs. Ukraine is a European problem. Not a US problem. I know the leadership in US wants to make it a US/NATO problem. But coming off a twenty-year war in Afghaniraq to dive into a European war (leaving all the other problems we must deal with aside) not a year later doesn’t inspire my confidence in US leadership.
***Standard a priori reasoning. We shouldn’t be in these overseas conflicts, therefore you can’t understand why we’re there. We are there because the Ukrainians gave up their nukes in exchange for sovereignty and border agreements, 7 years before we went into Afghanistan.
A lot will depend on how this $40 billion is designed to be spent. A lot of money spent in the US on armaments will provide jobs, taxes, and spending in the US. Money for humanitarian supplies may also be spent in the US with the same benefits. Money spent in Europe will enhance the economies over there which can result in an increase in trade with the US. Money spent in Ukraine will no doubt result in a lot of contracts to buy US goods to rebuild that country. Can anyone take a closer look at that bill and do a cost/benefit analysis on who will profit from this investment. Maybe a think tank will do that very thing. At the very least a statement of how much will be spent where will give us a baseline to determine cost/benefits.
I frame it differently: It's a Russia problem.
The world's Russia problem.
And the Ukrainians are solving it for us.
E.g.: Every time the Russians aim a rocket at a Ukrainian residential area, school, or orphanage, and possibly suffer a misfire - there's one less rocket the Russians have in their arsenal.
Every Russian tank that gets bogged down in the rasputitsa and has to be abandoned - that's one less Russian tank that we, the Free World, have to worry about.
The Russians are currently undergoing the biggest unilateral disarmament program since WW II. Their armies are being eviscerated. Their tank divisions are being emasculated. Their stockpiles of high-tech weaponry are being depleted. Their capital ships are being sunk. Their soldiers and sailors are being demoralized. The Russian leadership is being humiliated on the world stage.
The aid we're giving the Ukrainians to keep that process of disarmament and demilitarization going is money well spent. It is costing us chump change. And it would be madness for us to interrupt that process prematurely.
Do you dispute that?
Regards,