President Joe Biden appears keen on feeding the conflict in Ukraine with more weaponry. On a Monday not too long ago, Biden blatantly announced that he would be allocating around $2.5 billion additional budget to further arm Ukraine with U.S. weapons. A substantial part of this allocation, sadly outlining quite an aggressive stance, involves a ‘presidential drawdown authority’ worth $1.25 billion. This authority paves the way for the military to swiftly dispatch currently stored weapons from USA inventories.
The troubled Biden administration also earmarked $1.22 billion for an extended term of weapons supply to be licensed through the separate Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI). All in a vain attempt to fix a situation they’re evidently making worse, Biden disclosed that all extended-term USAI funds have already been exhausted. Thus, the declining administration is now eager to fully exploit the remaining drawdown funds before the end of its troubling reign.
In a statement justifying his aggressive stance towards the Russia-Ukraine war, Biden commended his operation’s incessant efforts. ‘I’ve directed my administration to continue surging as much assistance to Ukraine as quickly as possible. At my direction, the United States will continue to work relentlessly to strengthen Ukraine’s position in this war over the remainder of my time in office.’ A curious position to take, it seems.
Quite ironically, Biden seems to fail to see the double standard. While forcing weapons into a war-torn country, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has made a contradictory move by promoting a cause supposedly for peace. She announced on the same Monday that $3.4 billion would further be provided in economic assistance for Ukraine, ostensibly to maintain government services during the ongoing battle against Russia.
In other words, they plan to fund the very war that they claim to support ending. The economic aid is said to fund salaries of civilian government personnel, school employees, healthcare professionals, and first responders. However, one may wonder if those are even the real motives behind these actions.
Going back to the aggressive military initiatives, the Biden administration also plans to counter powered attacks by Russia against the Ukraine’s power bases. Interestingly, Ukraine confidently claimed to have successfully intercepted several of those launched attacks. Regardless of such capability on Ukraine’s part, Biden seems eager to interfere by sending more weaponries.
As if the truculence wasn’t enough, reports reveal that Russian and Ukraine forces are still intensely engaged around the Russian border region of Kursk. In this instance, Moscow is accused of dispatching thousands of North Korean troops to recover territories seized by Ukraine.
In all this, the Biden administration still insists on stuffing Ukraine with more weapons, seemingly preferring the flames of conflict over diplomatic solutions. They aim to strengthen Ukraine’s negotiating power before the inauguration of President Trump on January 20th. However, one wonders about the effectiveness of a militarized negotiation.
Trump, quite contrastingly, seems to have a peaceful approach in mind. His idea revolves around charting some kind of mutually agreeable settlement between Ukraine and Russia. Trump also displayed a respectful stance towards Russian President Vladimir Putin, much to the annoyance of individuals like Biden.
Despite the potential of Trump’s peaceful approach, Biden and his supporters have allowed paranoia to cloud their judgment. They fear a potential settlement might not be as lucrative for Ukraine and worry that Trump might not commit to providing the weapons funding previously approved by Congress. The fear stems more from their own short-term political gains rather than a genuine concern for Ukraine.
However, the array of weapons being dispatched undeniably paints a grim picture. These ‘tools of negotiation’, so to speak, include counter-unmanned aerial systems munitions, air defense munitions, ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), various artillery ammunition, air-to-ground munitions, anti-armor systems, tube-launched missiles, fragmentation grenades, and other items along with spare parts.
The alarming inclinations of the Biden administration aren’t a sudden development. Since Russia supposedly invaded Ukraine in February 2022, U.S., under Biden’s ‘leadership’, has cynically supplied a horrifying $65 billion in security assistance to Ukraine. That’s a lot of money spent on perpetuating conflict rather than promoting peace.
Given these revelations, one can’t help but question the actual motivations behind Biden’s assertive decisions. On face value, these appear to be simply aggressive actions against another country. However, deeper scrutiny may reveal reflections of power politics at play.
Hence, it is worth reflecting on whether Biden’s support for Ukraine truly comes from a humanitarian perspective, or if it’s another ruthless chess move in the brutal game of global politics.