Tag: ukraine

Biden greets Zelensky at White House

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived at the White House on Wednesday afternoon, greeted by President Biden and first lady Jill Biden for the start of an unprecedented first trip to Washington since the Russia war began.

Zelensky pulled up in a black SUV, featuring an American flag and a Ukrainian flag, that let him out on the South Lawn entrance.

The Ukrainian president, who was wearing his signature green long-sleeve sweater, shook hands with the Bidens, and the three stood for a photograph for a few seconds in front of the South Lawn entrance. They then turned and entered the White House, where the president put his arm on Zelensky’s shoulder. 

Upon entrance to the Oval Office, President Biden told Zelensky, “I’m delighted you could make the trip.”

During remarks at the top of a bilateral meeting between the two leaders, President Biden addressed Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying he was “escalating his assault on civilians” and that he was trying to “use winter as a weapon.”

Zelensky, who said he wanted to come to the U.S. sooner, said he offered “all my appreciations from my heart and from the heart of all Ukrainians.” He also thanked the president, Congress and “ordinary people” for the support from the U.S. toward Ukraine. 

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Will Ukraine Become Another Ceaseless War?

I have reported on at least a dozen wars in the Middle East and North Africa in the last 30 or more years and they have several features in common. First of all, modern day wars seldom terminate and consequently people in these war-ravaged countries, who see no end to the conflict, choose to leave the country and become refugees, most of them heading for central and western Europe.

Refugees who are at first warmly accepted as victims of tyranny may outstay their welcome and become resented and even hated. This is what happened to the five million Syrians who fled to Turkey and one million to Lebanon after 2011. The wars in Somalia and Yemen are not only endless, but are escalating.

Will the Ukraine conflict become another of these ceaseless wars? It is difficult to see why it should not, since neither Moscow nor Kyiv is likely to win a decisive victory but they still hope to improve their political and diplomatic position on the battlefield. The Russians are using precision-guided missiles and drones to destroy the Ukrainian infrastructure and the Ukrainians are beginning to fire missiles back at ostensibly military targets. It may not be long before they decide that if they are going to sit in the dark, so too will the Russians.

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Not a Party to Conflict?… U.S. Government Media Outlet Directs Air Strikes on Crimea

Surely a negotiated settlement to the conflict in Ukraine and the wider security concerns of Russia should be a priority. But regrettably, Washington and its European and Kiev minions are incapable of such diplomacy.

The Radio Free Europe outlet this week blatantly published satellite images of Russian military bases in Crimea and openly advocated for the Kiev regime to launch strikes. The reality is even more sobering and grim. It would not be the Kiev regime carrying out such strikes, but rather U.S., British and other NATO special forces acting as the brains and stealthy hands of the regime.

Moscow has already inveighed against NATO as being a direct participant in hostilities in Ukraine. The RFE report corroborates Russia’s claims. It is self-admission by the United States of being a party to the conflict.

The satellite images were provided by a private U.S. company called Planet Labs which has a history of working closely with the Pentagon. The images included an airbase at Dzhankoy which is described as a main logistics hub. Naval sites at Sevastopol were also listed in detail as well as purported ammunition tunnels in the surrounding mountains. Other targets included anti-aircraft positions near Feodosia on the Crimean Peninsula. From Moscow’s viewpoint, the peninsula is the sovereign territory of the Russian Federation. Yet here we have the U.S. government’s media mouthpiece giving out the coordinates and calling for air strikes on “prime targets”.

RFE is wholly owned by the U.S. government and it has a long and tawdry history of acting as a CIA conduit in Eastern Europe during the height of the Cold War. For the publication to publish targets for military attack and to advocate for such action is tantamount to Washington openly declaring itself to be director of war operations by the Kiev regime.

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U.S. Defense Contractors Sponsor D.C. Party for Ukrainian Forces Amid Ongoing War

Four major U.S. defense contractors sponsored a Washington, D.C., party for the 31st anniversary of the Ukrainian armed forces as they stand to gain billions from the ongoing war in Ukraine, according to a report.

Vox reported Saturday that the celebration, hosted by the Ukrainian Embassy last week, took place in downtown D.C. at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, located less than a mile from the White House, and that Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley was in attendance.

The invitation said the event was “supported by” Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, Pratty & Whitney, and Lockheed Martin — their logos emblazoned on the invite, reportedly prompting some observers to “laugh out loud.”

“It’s really bizarre to me that they would put that on an invitation,” a think-tank expert told Vox’s Jonathan Guyer. An academic also told Guyer, “The fact that they don’t feel sheepish about it, that’s interesting.”

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Visualizing The Amount Of US Taxpayer Dollars Flowing To Ukraine In 2022

The below graphic illustrates in a two-minute video the total amount of US aid enacted or proposed for Ukraine in the year 2022, after the Russian invasion has surpassed ten months.

In the visual which over the last several days has been shared widely – each dot represents $100,000 in US taxpayer dollars, and is broken up according to type of support, with military aid (in red) being the largest expenditure by far…

Visualizing U.S. Aid to Ukraine from Will Geary on Vimeo.

Last Friday the Biden administration unveiled another $275 million in weapons and defense equipment for Ukraine, notably including more anti-air missile systems, which crucially will come via the presidential drawdown authority, meaning the Pentagon will pull arms from its own stockpiles to fulfill the package.

To understand some of the above figures which enter the tens of billions range in each category, it’s important to remember that the way in which the White House almost routinely at this point announces aid packages can be confusing. These announcements have more to with with describing how specifically the administration intends to use the money which has already been appropriated by Congress. 

As seen in the below chart, there’s also the key distinction between what has been proposed vs. already enacted…

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US Set To Send Ukraine Patriot Missiles In Major Escalation 

CNN’s chief Pentagon correspondent is reporting the breaking news based on multiple anonymous US defense officials – including a senor Biden administration official – that the White House is currently finalizing plans to send Patriot missile defense systems to Ukraine.

“The Biden administration is finalizing plans to send the Patriot missile defense system to Ukraine that could be announced as soon as this week, according to two US officials and a senior administration official,” CNN writes. “The three officials told CNN that approval is expected.”

If approved, this could be a tipping point in the conflict leading to direct confrontation between nuclear-armed powers given transfer of Patriots would mark the longest-range missiles sent to Ukraine thus far.

Washington has so far been reluctant, despite Kiev officials since nearly the start of the invasion making repeat pleas for the US to help “close the sky” – as President Zelensky many months ago urged Congress.

As The Guardian reviewed of the dangers involved in sending the Patriot: 

“Long sought by the Ukrainians, the missiles have a range of up to 300km, but so far the US and its allies, including the UK, have declined to supply them because they could be used to hit targets inside Russia. Supplying them would help “bring the war to an end as soon as possible”, Johnson said.

Patriots have long been deployed in neighboring Poland, but Ukrainian leaders have been persistent in requesting them on their own soil amid a major uptick in recent Russian aerial attacks. Former UK prime minister Boris Johnson this week urged in a Wall Street Journal op-ed for the West to get serious about supplying Patriots and other anti-air systems, even including military aircraft.

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NATO Chief Voices Fear Of War With Russia While US Greenlights Drone Strikes On Russian Territory

In what Antiwar’s Dave DeCamp describes as “a rare acknowledgment of the dangers of backing Ukraine,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg acknowledged a fear of something going “horribly wrong” and leading to a hot war between the nuclear-armed alliance and Russia.

In an article titled “‘I fear a full-blown war between the West and Russia’, Nato chief warns,” The Telegraph writes the following:

“I fear that the war in Ukraine will get out of control, and spread into a major war between Nato and Russia,” said Nato secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg, responding to a question about his greatest fears for the winter in an interview.

He told Norwegian broadcaster NRK on Friday that he was confident such a scenario could be avoided but that the threat was there.

“If things go wrong, they can go horribly wrong,” he added.

And things absolutely can go horribly wrong when dealing with an increasingly aggressive standoff between nuclear superpowers, as we have seen from history. The last cold war saw many nuclear close calls as a result of technical malfunctions and misunderstandings, including an incident during the Cuban Missile Crisis when the only thing which prevented a nuclear-armed Soviet submarine from deploying its weapon on the US military was one officer refusing to go along with two others who were giving the orders to fire.

We got a taste of this horror once again last month in the long minutes following erroneous reports that Russia had launched missiles at NATO member Poland. The fact that cooler heads have prevailed up until this point does not mean that nuclear brinkmanship is safe, anymore than a game of Russian roulette not ending after the first couple of trigger pulls would mean that Russian roulette is safe to play.

So Stoltenberg is correct to be afraid. There absolutely are too many things that can go horribly wrong in such a standoff, and there are simply too many unpredictable moving parts for anyone to feel confident that this will not happen.

And it’s pretty crazy to hear Stoltenberg voice these concerns even while the Pentagon gives the go-ahead for Ukraine to begin launching long-range attacks on targets inside Russia in its war that is being backed by the United States, because those two positions would seem to be pretty strongly at odds with each other.

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Incoming House Foreign Affairs Chairman Michael McCaul Calls for More Arms to Ukraine to Destroy Russian Military

Incoming House Foreign Affairs Chairman Michael McCaul (R-TX) called for arms to Ukraine to help destroy the Russian military as public officials have increasingly warned about the prospect of a “major war” between the West and Russia.

CBS News asked McCaul about House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy’s (R-CA) claim that a House Republican majority would not send a “blank check” to Ukraine.

McCaul did not speak to any limitations on aid to Ukraine; instead, the Texas Republican spoke about how arming Ukraine is doing well to destroy the Russian military.

“I support Ukraine. I think going with the amount of investment we’ve had is very small relative to destroying the Russian military. And that’s what we’ve done without one American soldier being attacked, killed, or in country. To me, that’s a pretty good investment,” McCaul said in a Friday interview with CBS News.

McCaul then said that more aid to help Ukraine’s conflict with Russia will come with “oversight,” “transparency,” and “accountability.”

Asked if he favors sending heavier arms to Ukraine in its protracted war with Russia, he said, “One hundred percent because the longer you drag this out, the more bloodshed. And the will of the American people and the Congress will dwindle until we can get this thing over with.”

McCaul spoke after NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg warned on Friday that a full-blown “major war” between Russia and the West could possibly break out over Ukraine.

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The “Nation Rebuilding Industry” Salivates Over Ukraine

The powerful military-industrial complex, with generous campaign contributions funneled via K-Street lobbyists to both parties, celebrated a huge victory yesterday. By getting overwhelming majorities in both chambers to approve a whopping, unprecedented $856 billion Pentagon bill, America’s defense industries are assured of continued prosperity for years to come. Pentagon budgets are rarely cut year after year and generally only rise with time.

The amount was $45 billion more than what President Biden, a huge spendthrift who loves deficit expenditures, requested. The war in Ukraine and tensions in the Taiwan Strait were used as justification for the massive bill. Never mind that neither issue was on Congressional minds a year ago or need have been today had the State Department resorted to diplomacy rather than promoting war.

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US to unveil new military aid package for Ukraine

Washington is about to send another security assistance package to Kiev, which will include anti-drone and air defense systems, Reuters reported, citing sources. The $275 million measure is expected to be officially announced on Friday.

According to officials and documents cited by the news agency, the security aid will also include rockets for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), 155mm ammunition, Humvee vehicles, and generators. At the same time, there are no details on the air defense equipment, the report says. In addition to this, the contents and the size of the aid package may change before it is approved by US President Joe Biden.

The new measure is expected to be covered by the Presidential Drawdown Authority, which allows Washington to dispatch military equipment quickly and without congressional approval.

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