Desperate to restore billions in Ukraine funding, 80-year-old President Joe Biden seeks anyway possible to get Ukraine’s 45-year-old President Voldymyr Zelensky more cash. Zelensky says he can’t win the war with the Kremlin without billions in U.S. tax dollars. Ukraine is currently bankrupt, unable to generate its own revenue to fund its government let alone the war with the Kremlin. Passing the Sept. 30 stopgap spending bill, it excluded another $6 billion in Ukraine funding, something that rankled Ukraine’s authorities. Biden promised Zelensky a blank check to fight the Kremlin, something now questioned by growing numbers on Capitol Hill, but, more importantly, by the American public. Biden and Zelensky have sold the war as protection against Russian President Vladimirj Putin’s intent to take over Europe. Biden and Zelensky make any excuse to get the Kiev government more cash.
Biden can’t be honest with Congress or the American people about Ukraine because he wants to justify the proxy war against the Kremlin saying Putin wants to take over Europe. There are enough anti-Kremlin war hawks to buy Biden’s rubbish. Before Putin invaded Ukraine Feb. 24, 2022, he asked Biden for months to discuss new security arrangement for Ukraine. Biden ignored Putin’s requests prompting Putin to say he would implement a “special military operation” to neutralize a growing threat to Russian national security. Biden said the Ukraine was “unprovoked and unjustified,” something that was clearly false. Now Biden says that Putin wants to take over Europe. There’s zero evidence that Putin would attack a NATO country. So, when Biden says Putin would start attacking NATO countries there’s just no facts that the Ukraine War stops Putin from anything.
Biden said today that he’s looking for ways to pay Ukraine the $6 billion left out of the Sept. 30 stopgap bill. “I’m going to be announcing very shortly a major speech I’m going to make on this issue and why it’s critically important to the United States and our allies that we keep our commitment” to Ukraine, Biden said, saying he would find other ways to come up with the cash if Congress fails to act. With McCarthy out, it’s possible the government could go into shutdown mode again Nov. 17, if Democrats and Republicans can’t agree on a 2024 budget. Biden plans to tell the American people the same rubbish about how the Ukraine War protects European Democracy. Zelensky told Congress when he attended the U.N. General Assembly that if Ukraine loses the war, WW III would start quickly. Biden and Zelenky know that NATO, not bankrupt Ukraine, defends European security.
Biden got the U.S. into a quagmire funding an endless proxy war against the Russian Federation in Ukraine. Without admitting it, Biden trashed decades, since the end of WW II, of diplomacy, détente and arms control with the Russian Federation joining Ukraine War against the Kremlin. Biden and Zelensky can’t say how they’re going to oust Russia from Ukraine, only asking for more cash-and-arms. Biden has already stretched the U.S. budget to the breaking point funding billions to pay for the bankrupt Kiev government and war against the Kremlin. Biden and Zelensky have no idea how the war will end, other that paying billions to fund the Kiev government and war. “There is another means by which we may be able to find funding, but I’m no going to get into that right now,” Biden said, realizing the Congress is more divided than ever on funding the Ukraine War.
Zelensky spent much of his time in New York and Washington asking U.S. law makers to back in war with the Kremlin. Saying if Ukraine loses, WW III would start, was supposed to influence U.S; public opinion to spend unlimited cash on Ukraine. Biden has given Zelensky a blank check, not realizing it’s taking a toll on the economy, including current budget talks that could shut down the U.S. government Nov. 17. Biden thinks he can continue relying on Democrat and GOP war hawks to buy his phony sales pitch that the Ukraine war prevents Putin from taking over other NATO countries. Biden and Zelensky have been using the Hitler-Putin comparison to whip up support on Capitol Hill. But with the latest stopgap measure barely keeping government open, Biden has a short leash to start negotiating a new budget with Republicans before the government shuts down for real after Nov. 17.
Biden’s old sales pitch of how the Ukraine War saves European democracy no longer carries the same weight with U.S. lawmakers. Growing numbers of Democrats, Republicans and the public oppose continued Ukraine War spending. Biden thinks he still has sway with war hawks in Congress to continue the Ukraine War. With the U.S. dealing with so many priority problems, like homelessness, heath care and inflation, the public doesn’t want to hear about Biden’s obsession with Ukraine. Fewer people believe that the Ukraine War is critically important to U.S. national security. More billions spent on Ukraine sends the exact opposite mesage: That the Ukraine War harms the U.S. economy and national security. Biden finds himself selling an old message about Ukraine not longer carrying the same clout with the public. No one in Democrats’ Black Caucus thinks Ukraine is a top priority.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
