Vote Scheduled for Ukraine Aid in the House
Speaker Mike Johnson has scheduled a vote in the House for April 20. That’s a Saturday, in case you wonder. The package for Ukraine includes plenty of ATACMs. The bill for Israel includes a lot of humanitarian aid for Gaza. They will also vote separately for Taiwan.
Now, let me get this out of the way. I am not counting those chickens until they hatch. However, these are urgently needed, so I hope the far right and far left don’t sink any of these bills.
They are all a national security priority. Regarding the Ukraine bill, the Institute for the Study of War has been transparent about how this is costing Ukraine terrain and lives.
While citing the actual site is important, looking at it from another set of eyes is also valuable. So here is Yigal Levin’s take on this:
The Russian Armed Forces continue their onslaught on the battlefield due to delays in providing US military assistance to Ukraine. Now Ukraine cannot maintain its current position without the rapid restoration of American assistance. This is stated in a new report dated April 16 from the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
The lack of ammunition for air defense systems in the Ukrainian Armed Forces has led to the fact that Ukrainian forward units are constantly attacked by Russian aircraft, and the Russian Federation takes advantage of this for regular attempts to advance with its armored columns.
“The Russians are taking advantage and are advancing slowly but steadily on several sectors of the front. Since the beginning of this year, the Russian Armed Forces have captured more than 360 square kilometers — an area the size of Detroit. “U.S. policymakers must wake up to the reality that further delay or withdrawal of U.S. military assistance will lead to dramatic Russian gains later in 2024 and 2025 and, ultimately, to Russian victory,” the analysts wrote.
Shortages of everything are forcing Ukraine to make difficult decisions about the distribution of its air defense systems between rear and front-line units, leaving front-line troops more vulnerable to air attacks.
ISW believes that the United States has only two options for further action — providing Ukraine with assistance to stabilize the front line, or allowing the Russian Armed Forces to win and advance to NATO borders from the Black Sea to central Poland. That is, if Moscow wins, responsibility for Kyiv’s defeat will fall entirely on Washington’s shoulders.
“American interests now and in the future would be much better off by resuming aid to Ukraine now than by allowing Russia to win,” American analysts concluded.
Now, let me concentrate on a Russian advance towards the Baltics. I have been singing from this sheet of music for some time. I wonder if Speaker Johnson was shown specific intelligence regarding this. His appearances on CNN were more serious, after all. As the speaker, he has a right to the same level of Intel as the president because he is third in line to the presidency. This is the quote from ISW referring to this:
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