Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will arrive on Capitol Hill to a darker mood than when he swooped in last winter for a hero’s welcome, as the Russian invasion is grinding into a third year and U.S. funding hangs in balance.
Zelenskyy’s visit Tuesday comes as President Joe Biden’s request for an additional $110 billion U.S. aid package for Ukraine, Israel and other national security needs is at serious risk of collapse in Congress. Republicans are insisting on strict U.S.-Mexico border security changes that Democrats decry as draconian in exchange for the overseas aid.
“It is maddening,” said Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., a close ally of Biden, of the stalemate. “A very bad message to the world, to the Ukrainian people.”
Military support for Ukraine has been a huge job creator in the USA. More than 80% of the investments never left the States. The biggest winners are states like Pennsylvania, Texas, Arizona, Wisconsin and many more.
Everyone asking to stop military aid for Ukraine basically asks to stop funding those states, and on top helps all adversaries of the US, effectively weakening the US in the long run. The costs would be immeasurably high. Plus, the US reputation on the world stage will suffer for a generation or more when we give eastern Europe to Russia.
On the flip side, helping Ukraine will boost US economy, strengthen the Western alliances and deter anyone who dares to wage war against us or our allies. It has only benefits and can be easily achieved.,
Here in Alabama we make javelins. It has ben a pretty big boost to our economy. At least that’s what the papers tell me.
Have you heard of Saint Javelin?
I have, and from what I’ve heard she brings a pretty clear message to those in need of her teachings.
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Hey smart guy, how much have you personally benefited from your tax dollars making other people richer?
Stop fooling yourself into thinking your ruler’s success is your success. They are not the same.
Reputation? Really? I mean, they can keep sending support for Ukraine all they want but to act like this has anything to do with reputation is pretty funny especially in the wake of the US blocking the Gaza ceasefire vote.
This country has shown time and time again they don’t really give a shit what it’s reputation is on the world stage, regardless of administration…
Since WWII and even before allies, the EU, Japan, Australia etc have had confidence of the support of the US. That is essential as we work on our own geopolitical needs. To abandon a country in the middle of a fight will only decrease that confidence.
Sure I’m not talking about abandoning Ukraine or even criticizing the aid the US is sending here, I’m just saying I think it’s pretty naive of us in 2023 to pretend this has anything to do with global reputation.
They didn’t care in 04 going into Iraq, they didn’t care the other day voting against a cease fire. Reputation with key allies they might need, sure, but not globally.
We had allies fight with us in Afghanistan and Iraq. UN votes have been like that for a long time. They are allied with the US, not Israel…
Reputation with key allies rather than the world stage then. I don’t know why it has to be for anything else than quid pro quo with selected allies. That’s a different sentiment than global reputation on the world stage.
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Sorry, once the downvote avalanche has started it does not stop.
People will assume you’re wrong before even reading your comment.
Anything but unwavering support for Ukraine means you’re a Russian bot. Those profiting off the MIC have deemed it necessary.
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Evidence of what? One thing that’s clear, those always quick to ask for evidence are those that have not read much and have no other response to the point. So they make the OP do their research work for them.
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Where do you think all those weapons come from?
Workers that could be doing something else.
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burden of proof is on you and offer evidence for your claims
source?
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Republicans are insisting on linking it [the aid package] to strict U.S.-Mexico border security changes
I’m confused here. Trump ran on a platform of building the wall. They promoted all these stories about the wall being built and how it was the greatest wall ever. Steve Bannon raised a bunch of money privately for his We Build the Wall plan to build more wall.
So why are Republicans now claiming there’s a crisis at the border with migrants pouring in unchecked? Are they saying that Trump is incompetent and didn’t actually solve a problem he campaigned on? Are they suggesting Bannon is a grifter and scam artist? Or is this just a made up problem that they want to campaign on indefinitely?
Are they saying that Trump is incompetent and didn’t actually solve a problem he campaigned on? Are they suggesting Bannon is a grifter and scam artist? Or is this just a made up problem that they want to campaign on indefinitely?
Woah woah, expecting any of them to have two consecutive thoughts that are consistent with each other is way too high a bar for this crowd.
A new reality begins with each sentence in the modern GOP.
Remember: “Alternate reality”
An election is coming up and they want to whip the racist members of their base into a panic.
“You don’t need healthcare, you need a big stupid wall that does nothing because Mexicans.”
Because walls don’t fucking work. Lol
Crazy how we fast-track support for Israel who doesn’t even need it and has been receiving billions of dollars annually from the US.
The industrial military complex is built on funding for proxy wars with Russia. I wonder if the issue this time is that they are worried that with Russia directly involved instead of by proxy, this war may end up breaking Russia if they lose. Dismantling the perpetual antagonist that motivates further funding of the war machine is not in the interest of those who make money on wars.
There will always be a boogeyman. They are more worried about quarterly profits than anything long term.
I mean, China will still exist and is way better Boogeyman.
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Since this bill also contains a ton of free genocide money for israel let’s hope the Republicans keep blocking it.
Shame on Biden for combining defense money with genocide money.
If they weren’t combined republicans would approve Israel and vote against Ukraine.
When you want to shame someone think about the consequences of the other options, and/or put yourself in their shoes.
Why don’t Americans elect politicians who campaign on ending ‘combining’ bills?
We likely would, if given the option. Our choices are: Meh and WTF. Any other party has about a snowballs chance (on the sun) of winning
Any other party has about a snowballs chance (on the sun) of winning
And that’s why these problems never get solved.
Tougher times for sure, but a particularly good leader can rally a mood just themselves, with words, nothing more.
He’s been compared to some truly titanic wartime leaders. But it’s time to see what you’ve really got Zelensky.
For the record, I’ll be perfectly content if he just doesn’t make anything worse. Historical superheroics isn’t genuinely necessary, just a proud, hardworking man doing what he must for his country. That would probably go over fine here in America. People remember he’s just some dude, a comedian no less, we would understand that.
But if he’s got it in him, he could give some sort of Gettysburg Address type thing. Short, sweet, and hard-hitting.
edit because copy/pasting the whole thing was probably a little ostentatious.
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He did great. But this point is more of a nadir, when allied interest is flagging and he could start to feel betrayed. And he’s not fresh, he’s been beaten down and hammered by all the constant challenges.
You can just see it in his face. This is when he could really rise to the occasion, though.
In this media environment, speeches do not seem to ring out anymore based on how good an orator a person is. I’m afraid that he might need to sound more like Trump than one of the great speakers to get people’s attention.
Good oration requires an emotional approach and some poetry. The analytical skills necessary to thrive in the modern world have largely replaced these, and very rational people don’t overly care for emotional arguments. Honestly, we just don’t get good oration anymore, Trump’s hyper-nationalistic approach is just the closest we get. Because he’s not a particularly analytical guy.
Zelensky has the skillset to pull it off though, where 99% of them simply lack the skills.
Y’know, Lincoln could’ve said “87”, but he went with “four score and seven” because it sounds cool. Today most would just say “87”. The poetry is lacking.
And also today if someone started a speech with “four score and seven years”, the soundbite driven meme culture would inundate the internet with “I scored a foursome seven years ago” or some such bullshit. Most people wouldn’t know what the hell a score is and rather than half a second of googling, would spend hours crafting their “witty” response for social media.
Right, you would definitely want to use a more modern form of more emotive speech than one from a couple centuries ago.
My example was less that “people should say score instead of 20” and more “speeches needs to sound good too”. Where today people usually focus more on content than delivery, so they often don’t care if they sound stuffy.
Have you ever heard trump speak? Half the time it’s unintelligible. All his supporters care for are soundbites. And they ignore the ones that they don’t like (eg “take the guns first, then comes due process”) in favor of vague and inane platitudes they can chant like the brainwashed cultists they are (eg “lock her up” or “drain the swamp”).
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Excessive cocaine consumption? You’re 30 years out of date. We’ve all moved onto opiates and meth.
Also, not sure where you’re sourcing that 20% but OP has posted sources that put that number far higher
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If you say so
Tell me you’re a juvenile without telling me you’re a juvenile
Sounds more like a bot to me, day old account.
It’s literally the opposite of what the top comment said. Very likely ChatGPT.
Sent a message calling me a retard previous. Not as smart as a bot.
At best I read their post as a person using some sort of LLM to rebut your post and comment. Every other one of their comments reads as standard troll fodder while this one reads like the kind of robotic summary you get out of an LLM
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