LOS ANGELES.–President Joe Biden, 82, barely able to stay awake at economic meetings in Angola, ordered his 47-eyar-old National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan to scrape together every penny in military aid to Ukraine before he leaves office. Biden is well aware that 78-year-old President-elect Donald Trump seeks to end the conflict at the earliest possible time through peace talks with Russia, even if Ukraine’s 46-year-old President Volodymyr Zelensky refuses to attend. Zelensky and Biden have been joined at the hip in a failed three-year war that’s decimated Ukraine’s infrastructure, causing nothing but death-and-destruction, losing Ukraine some 20-25% of its choice sovereign territory on the Black Sea Coast. Zelensky can’t admit defeat because he’d be chased out of Kiev by his own people, furious about how the war’s gone for the last three years.
Sullivan told ABC’s “This Week” Jonathan Carl that Biden ordered him to advance the White House Ukraine policy until the last day in office. “We are going to do everything in our power for these 50 days to get Ukraine all the tools we possibly can to strengthen their position on the battlefield so that they’ll be stronger at the negotiating table,” Sullivan said, repeating the same worn-out talking points that continuing to supply Ukraine arms improves its bargaining position. All things point the exact opposite that the more weapons received by Ukraine and used against Russia hardens the Kremlin’s position of giving up any land-for-peace. “And President Biden directed me to oversee a massive surge in the military equipment that we are delivering to Ukraine so that we have spent every dollar that Congress has appropriated to use by the time that President Biden leaves office,” Sullivan said.
Biden and Sullivan know that Trump plans to deescalate the war and move it from the battlefield to the peace table. Biden and Zelensky operate under the misguided belief that Putin will make more concessions if Ukraine has more lethal weapons. Putin isn’t afraid to Ukraine or U.S. weapons and will fight until the end of time to defend Russian national security. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) confirmed that he would not move forward with Biden’s request for $24 billion in additional aid. “I’m not planning to do that,” Johnson said, in response to Biden’s $24 billion military aid request for Ukraine. “As we predicted and as I said to all of you, weeks before the election, if Donald Trump is elected it will change the dynamic of the Russian war on Ukraine, and we’re seeing that happen,” Johnson said. Johnson has no plans to accommodate Biden’s request for more Ukraine cash.
Ukraine’s 46-year-old President Volodymyr Zelensky wants as much cash and weapons as he can get thinking that somehow gets him closer to driving Russia out of Ukraine. Most military experts see Russia as gaining more territory along the 600 mile front, not retreating. Biden and Zelensky keep saying the more weapons given to Ukraine, the more it will improve its bargaining position at any peace talks. But Putin isn’t going to yield any territory to Ukraine until its sees a lasting peace that guarantees that Ukraine would not join NATO in the foreseeable future. Zelensky keeps pushing for Ukraine membership knowing how it provokes Putin, but, more importantly, hurts his bargaining position. Zelensky is deathly afraid of admitting to the Ukrainian people that he’s lost the war with Moscow. Zelensky fears losing power, getting chased out of Kiev.
Biden will end his presidency with a complete failure in Ukraine, funding a proxy war that destroyed U.S.-Russian relations, after decades of diplomacy, detente and arms control. Biden wants the Democrat House to pass legislation that would guarantee Ukraine cash-and-arms into the foreseeable future. Trump wants to end the conflict, seeing it as destabilizing European and world peace but also draining the U.S. treasury when the endless billions robs the American public from shoring up Medicare, Social Security and other entitlements, including deal with the nationwide homeless situation. When Trump talks about American First, he’s not kidding that funding the bankrupt Ukraine government and war is not in the cards. Trump wants the war settled on the peace table, regardless of how much land Ukraine has to surrender to stop the bloodshed and destruction.
Sullivan knows that he’s out of a job come Jan. 20, 2025 with Trump coming into office. “I’ve encouraged the Ukraine team to engage the incoming team as well as to engage all of our allies and partners, because, again, on Jan. 21, the war in Ukraine just doesn’t go away,” Sullivan told Carl, not admitting the White House failure to get any results. Zelensky continues to destroy Ukraine’s infrastructure and lose more sovereign territory by the day. Why would more cash-and-weapons change anything? “Obviously, the new team will have its own policy, its own approach, and I can’t speak for that, but what I can do is make sure that we put Ukraine in the best possible position when we hand off the baton,” Sullivan said, knowing that he’s done nothing over the last three years other that destroy Ukraine and lose sovereign territory. Trump’s going to change that ASAP.
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.
