Fulfill American Assurances in Funding Ukraine

Vladimir Putin is exploiting American electioneering to advance his war on Ukraine. The surge of hundreds of missiles and glide bombs per week, recently taking out power stations in major cities, including Kyiv, has been devastating. These heightened attacks are largely enabled by the lack of funding promised for sustaining and expanding air defenses and ammunitions for Ukraine forces. Currently, there has been a six-month delay in the US supporting arms for Ukraine.

Blame is most often focused on a dysfunctional US House of Representatives, as the Republican Speaker appears to be delaying votes at the behest of the presumptive Republican candidate for President, Donald Trump, and with the support of MAGA (Make America Great Again) Republicans in the House. Even if the MAGA Republicans in the House of Representatives are at the heart of the problem, it does not erase or excuse Congressional dysfunction, or the government of the USA, in failing to live up to our promises and responsibilities. Ironically, MAGA is making America look like a chaotic, dysfunctional state and all Americans will pay a price for this perception, as it is well deserved.

By some MAGA logic, Donald Trump is claimed to believe that by holding up key legislation, including Ukraine funding, it will help his campaign for President. To me, this delay is so patently irresponsible that I can’t imagine that it will not undermine his credibility as a candidate, far less as a statesman – a leader respected for making good judgements, regardless of its short-term political consequences.

The actual implications and longer-term risks of withholding Ukraine funding are great. They include: an already increasing number of causalities among Ukrainian solders and civilians; advancing Russia’s territorial control of a sovereign nation; potential expansion of the Russian War in Ukraine to other nations of Europe, including NATO countries; and the further decline in respect for the US, which will further scatter trust in the word of American representatives. As I live in Europe, it may be more obvious to me than to some of my fellow Americans that liberal democratic states of the Western world, including the UK and EU, and of East Asia, such as Japan, are rapidly losing faith in US leadership. As liberal democracies collaborate to overcome the chaos in Washington DC, you need to decide where you stand. In my opinion, it is irresponsible and dangerous for Americans to turn their back on the unprovoked and full-scale invasion of the sovereign nation of Ukraine. Time is seriously running out for the US to restore its leadership.