Analysis | Financial aid to Ukraine will be scrutinized by the US Congress | War in Ukraine
Since the start of the invasion, Congress has approved an envelope of 112 billion dollars for Ukraine, including 67 billion in military aid. (File photo)
No blank check to Ukraine, hammer more and more Republicans. Since the start of the invasion, Congress has approved sums totaling $112 billion to support Ukraine, including $67 billion in military aid.
We will help Ukraine for as long as it takes, repeats Joe Biden. A sentence that is starting to irritate some, like Ron de Santis, the governor of Florida and favorite of the Republican camp in the presidential elections of 2024.
According to him, Joe Biden does not have a real strategy in Ukraine, we should not give a blank check ad vitam aeternam. The surprise visit of the American president to Kiev on Monday has also been repeatedly criticized.
“Joe Biden is more concerned about the border in Ukraine than the security of our own border which thousands of migrants cross illegally every day.
—Ron DeSantis, Governor of Florida
For his part, the leader of the Republican minority in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, assured that the Republicans will continue to support Ukraine militarily and economically on the eve of the conference on world security in Munich.
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But every dollar sent to Ukraine will be scrutinized by the Department of Defense's Inspectorate General. The elected officials want to show caution and demand full transparency of spending in Ukraine. Reports will be more frequent. After all, it is American taxpayers money. According to the latest Associated Press-NORC poll, at the start of the war, 60% of Americans favored military support for Ukraine.
Today, this proportion dropped to 48%.
Even though 141 countries voted in favor of the United Nations resolution for an immediate withdrawal of Russian troops, 32 abstained, including the x27;India and South Africa.
“Neutrality is not an option in the conflict in Ukraine.
— Ned Price, US State Department
Ned Price says US and NATO countries want to uphold charter of the United Nations, which defends, among other things, the territorial integrity of each country. No question, according to him, for certain countries to claim neutrality, when there has been a violation of the charter.
Russia has forged economic alliances with India, in particular. Since the start of the invasion, trade between India and Russia has increased by 400%. Russia has become India's fifth largest trading partner.
South Africa also does not hide its alliance with Moscow. On Friday, the South African Navy will continue these military exercises with China and Russia in the Indian Ocean.
“We see the end of American hegemony with the arrival of new emerging countries, such as India. We are witnessing an increasingly multipolar world”
—Ted Galen Carpenter, Cato Institute
According to defense expert Ted Gallen Carpenter, there is a greater power sharing in the world and that a diplomatic way is needed to end the conflict.
China wants to play the role of moderator in a multipolar world, proposing a 12-point peace plan for a ceasefire in Ukraine. China claims to be neutral, while denouncing American hegemony which it blames for global insecurity.
“Dialogue, negotiation, are the only lasting means to resolve the Ukrainian crisis.
— Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Fine words according to the White House, which does not hide its concern about the unlimited partnership of Beijing and Moscow. Incidentally, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken warned his counterpart Wang Yi at the Munich Security Conference that if China supported Russia militarily, the consequences would be disastrous.
“The United States has the right approach in Ukraine. We wouldn't have a stable world with flourishing democracies since 1945 if a number of countries didn't take responsibility for standing up to aggressor countries”
—Michael O' Hanlon, Brookings Institute
However, many experts fear a proxy war between China, Russia and the United States on Ukrainian territory without any prospect of peace.
For the moment the watchword in Washington is to continue to support Ukraine militarily so that it can regain control of its borders. Joe Biden claims that all democracy in the world is at stake in this war. As for China, the Biden administration reiterates the same message: the United States is in competition with China, not in conflict…for now.
