Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy completed his visit to Washington, DC, yesterday after meeting with Members of Congress and President Biden to urge passage of the supplemental aid package for Ukraine. The importance of doing so in the immediate future was stressed once again by the President at a joint news conference with Zelenskyy:
...You know, we stand at a real inflection point in history — I know you and I have talked about this — where the decisions we make now are going to determine the future for decades to come, particularly in Europe. And this is one of those moments.
Congress needs to pass the supplemental funding for Ukraine before they break for the holiday recess — before they give Putin the greatest Christmas gift they could possibly give him. And so — because we’ve seen what happens when dictators don’t pay the price for the damage and the death and the destruction they cause, and they keep going when no price is paid...
The problem Zelenskyy faces is with the isolationist Republican Putin caucus, who see an advantage in tying aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan to their idea of "border security," as well as not giving a "win" to Biden. Some of these Republican Putinists had things to say after meeting with Zelenskyy that should be to their everlasting shame, if they were capable of it. Here's "Dixie Dolt" Tommy Tuberville's closest rival for "Dumbest Person in the Senate," Wisconsin's Ron Johnson:
...As senators emerged from their private discussion with Zelensky, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) said the Ukrainian leader had invoked the term “guerrilla warfare,” alluding to the bloody, unconventional tactics employed by insurgents against occupying U.S. forces in Afghanistan and Iraq, and suggested that that is where the conflict could be headed if Ukraine loses U.S. military assistance. Johnson called that “a lose-lose proposition for everybody.”
“So the sooner this thing ends, the better,” he said, though he quickly added that he remains troubled about “adding fuel to the flame.”...
So, Johnson's response would seem to be to hold up the funding package, so as to not add "fuel to the fire." They don't call them cheeseheads for nothing.
How about second- in- line for the presidency, Speaker of the House "MAGA Mike" Johnson. What are his priorities?
...Johnson characterized the meeting as “good,” telling reporters that he reiterated to Zelensky “that we stand with him and against Putin’s brutal invasion” but that the speaker also has made clear to the White House “that our first condition on any national security supplemental spending package is about our own national security.” No Ukraine aid without border reforms, he said...
But, perhaps worst of all (not counting House gadflies like Matt Gaetz and Marjorie Traitor Greene) is Oprah protégé Ohio MAGA seditionist Sen. J.D. Vance, toeing the defeatist line:
“No one can explain to me how this ends without some territorial concessions relative to the 1991 boundaries,” he added.
A day earlier, Vance said on CNN's "State of the Union" that it was in "America's best interest ... to accept Ukraine is going to have to cede some territory to the Russians.”
And,
...“The idea of flying this guy in last-minute, effectively to badger and guilt-trip us, I just find grotesque,” Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) told reporters on Monday.
“This is purely designed to apply pressure on Republicans to give up their fight on the border and write another blank check to Ukraine,” Vance later said on Fox News. “I’m not doing it. I don’t think Republicans should go for it at all.”...
President Biden correctly noted that this is all music to Putin's ears:
... “It’s stunning that we’ve got to this point” with funding held up by Republicans seeking immigration reform.
“Russia and loyalists in Moscow celebrated when Republicans voted to block Ukraine to aid last week,” Biden says. “The host of a Kremlin-run show literally said, and I quote, ‘Well done, Republicans. That’s good for us.’”
Biden repeats the line, adding: “If you’re being celebrated by Russia propagandists, it might be time to rethink what you’re doing. History … will judge harshly.”...
It's stunning, particularly at a time when Russia's military capability has been greatly diminished, even though Ukraine hasn't received all of the U.S. / Western military equipment it's asked for since the beginning of the war:
...One person familiar with a recently declassified assessment said Tuesday that the U.S. intelligence community believes Russia has lost about 87 percent of the forces and 63 percent of the tanks it had at the outset of the invasion in February 2022. The Ukraine war has set back by 15 years Moscow’s ability to modernize its ground forces, the person said, noting that the assessment was declassified at the request of Congress. The loss of so many tanks — some 2,200 by U.S. estimates — has forced the Russians to draw on old Soviet stocks, increasingly deploying 1970s-era models, the person said.
Adrienne Watson, a spokesperson for the National Security Council, said that, in the past few months alone, Russia’s military has lost more than 13,000 troops and more than 220 combat vehicles along its offensive lines. The Kremlin, she said, “seems to believe that a military deadlock through the winter will drain Western support for Ukraine and ultimately give Russia the advantage despite Russian losses and persistent shortages of trained personnel, munitions and equipment.”...
Putin is counting on his Republican allies to deliver a victory for him ahead of his Potemkin election in March 2024. Keep an eye on those treasonous Republicans who do his (and, by extension, the Malignant Loser's) bidding.
(Photo: Zelenskyy and Biden at the White House, December 12, 2023/ Evan Vucci, AP)
