AMAC Exclusive – By Herald Boas
The surprise visit of Ukrainian President Vlodomyr Zelenskyy to Washington, D.C. to meet with President Joe Biden and address a joint session of Congress was an event full of drama, tension, and ceremony befitting both the circumstances and the individual who performed it.
Like Ronald Reagan before him, Mr. Zelenskyy had a previous and considerable career as an actor. As Mr. Reagan did so many times, the Ukrainian president demonstrated the skill and value of his professional career, and created a short but powerful international moment in political public relations.
Wearing his iconic military-green sweatshirt, speaking excellent if heavily accented English, quoting the words of past statesmen, and citing a canny choice of past events in world and U.S. history, Mr. Zelenskyy brought the otherwise warring legislators of the two major U.S. political parties together in repeated standing ovations.
That is not to say that there was unanimity in support for Mr. Zelenskyy and his presentation. Some members of Congress and several pundits have questioned his record in Kiev and his expectations of financial and weaponry aid from the U.S. Some commentators have said Mr. Zelenskyy’s stated aims to recover all territories seized by Russian President Vladimir Putin and his armed forces are unrealistic, asserting that Ukraine cannot ultimately prevail in a drawn-out war with its much larger neighbor. Other commentators have criticized Mr. Zelenskyy’s government for its apparent suppression of the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine, and alleged continued corruption, which had been rampant before he took office in 2019. Still other critics acknowledge Mr. Zelenskyy’s personal courage and leadership, but say his endless appeals for U.S. aid are an unacceptable blank check.
Mr. Zelenskyy’s supporters have rebutted the criticisms by noting that the Ukrainian armed forces have repulsed the larger Russian army for many months, that Russian Orthodox clerics in Ukraine are often sympathetic to Russia in the conflict and pose a security threat in wartime, and that Zelenskyy has made serious efforts to remove corruption in his country.
The seemingly endless requests for financial aid and weapons, however, appear to be the primary argument against President Zelenskyy and his visit — which featured, in addition to his expressions of gratitude for assistance already given, an aggressive request for more money.
It is on this latter issue which reveals the largest perspective, not only of Mr. Zelenskyy’s dramatic U.S. visit, but of the deeper meaning of his and his nation’s current struggle.
In 1939, Nazi Germany made a deal with Soviet Russia that led to the invasion of Poland — and directly to World War II. Having divided the spoils of that aggression, Germany proceeded to conquer most of the rest of Europe while the Soviet Union invaded neighboring Finland. Prior to 1939, Nazi Germany had overtaken considerable neighboring territory by mere threat while the European democracies stood by. The Rhineland, Austria, and Czechoslovakia each were overtaken without a fight. Finland, however, fought back against the much larger Soviet army, and heroically succeeded for several months. At the same time, the island nation of Great Britain held out against Nazi conquest until Germany’s Axis ally Japan attacked the U.S. at Pearl Harbor, bringing the U.S. into the world war on Great Britain’s side. Germany next made a surprise invasion of its erstwhile Soviet Union ally, suddenly making Russia part of the Allied effort, an alliance which the Russians promptly ended soon after the war’s end.
The continent of Europe has seen armed conflict, invasion, and subjugation for more than a thousand years. World War II was only the latest and one of the most brutal examples — and when the war ended, a historic effort was made, under the leadership of the U.S. and its Marshall Plan, to halt the cycle of hostilities by rebuilding the battered European democracies and enabling the defeated enemy nations of Germany, Italy, and Japan to reconstitute themselves as free capitalist democracies. The Soviet Union, a Marxist dictatorship, chose to oppose this effort, leading to a prolonged Cold War that only ended with the demise of the Soviet Union in 1990-91.
But initial efforts to establish a democratic Russia failed, and by the second decade of the 21st century, Russian leaders began to implement the goal of reassembling the old Soviet Union. The centerpiece of that ambition was the recovery of what had been the Ukrainian communist part of the U.S.S.R., but the Ukrainians, now restored to their historic independent identity, chose to resist.
As Anne Applebaum recently and persuasively wrote, if Mr. Zelenskyy, his populace, and its army had not fought back in February 2022, the Russians would have crushed Ukrainian independence, killed or imprisoned many of them, and massed its army on the eastern European borders with intention of further invasions to subjugate neighboring countries. Not only would Russia have interpreted a quick successful invasion as proof the NATO countries would not oppose them, but the two other global ambitious totalitarian powers, China and Iran, would have also assumed they would not be opposed in their quests in Asia and the Middle East.
To be fair, Mr. Zelenskyy’s critics have some valid points. U.S. aid, financial and military, is not an endless resource for Ukraine. Already, some of our own supplies of ammunition, missiles, and other weaponry are getting low — and the U.S budget, deeply in the red, cannot provide unlimited billions of dollars in foreign aid with so many critical domestic needs. Calls for an audit of what the U.S. does send to Ukraine are also reasonable, given past histories of such aid to other countries when aid, principally food and money, never reached the people that it was intended to help.
In short, the current conflict in Ukraine cannot go on indefinitely, neither for the much-suffering Ukrainian people, nor the rest of Europe, nor for Russia, also depleted in war materiel and suffering from the impact of a global embargo from much of the western world.
Beyond the drama of Mr. Zelenskyy’s short visit to the American capital, and its public relations success, remain the uncertainties of this unfortunate conflict, the misery and hardship it is causing on all sides, and the ability of its perpetrators to sustain its human and economic costs.
Something has to give.
Very well reasoned and written article. Thank you for educating me.
Ukraine is backing crime
I’m completely over this blackmail “war”! We should investigate the crime regime of these 2 countries’ leadership, prosecute,
Reagan family will never have to worry about them getting unexpectedly larger, Biden and Harris estate planning a plan parenthood administration. Florida the new planned parenthood destination. Text Trump to 880022
Show US what hes done with our funds Id help some
It should be noted that Putin has chosen to invade Ukraine twice in less than a decade, as part of his ongoing dream to reconstitute the former territories of the old Soviet Union back into Russia. In both instances, a weak and feckless Democrat has been in the White House as POTUS. This is NOT coincidence. Weakness tends to attract aggression from bad actors on the world stage and both Obama and Biden are the epitome of what it means to be a weak and feckless leader. Elections in the United States do tend to have consequences that ripple around the world. The current situation in Ukraine would have likely never happened under a second term of President Trump, because Putin did NOT view President Trump as being either weak or an appeaser. Unfortunately, we now have to live with who is the current occupant of the White House for at least another 2 years.
Putin correctly sized up both Obama and Biden as leaders who would likely seek to appease an aggressor such as him, rather than try to proactively deter him from taking action. Thus Putin felt free to move a second time into Ukraine under Biden. Biden all but said he “wouldn’t mind a small or limited incursion into Ukraine”, which his staff had to hastily try to take back. What Putin didn’t count on was the will of the Ukrainian people to actually stand up for themselves and fight back. Thus turning Putin’s dream of a 3 to 5 day quick military campaign to seize most or all of Ukraine into what will soon be the start of year 2 of his supposedly invincible forces being bogged down.
Now if Biden was an actual world leader that he claims to be, he would be on the phone almost daily with the various leaders of Europe demanding that they actually do their share to support the Ukrainian war effort. The United States is currently shouldering 75 to 80 percent of the military and humanitarian costs related to Ukraine. Sounds an awful lot like how we propped up NATO in terms of weapons, manpower and financial aid before President Trump shamed a number of European leaders to actually pay what they were obligated to provide under the terms of the NATO alliance. Now we seem to be back to the old “business as usual” with Biden in office, with the United States being the almost sole financial and military provider for everything and everyone around the world. That is obviously NOT a situation we can shoulder indefinitely, especially with the Biden administration and the Democrats so successfully trashing our economy and exploding our national debt.
One Fox News commentator who is known for his pomposity even busted Zelenskyy for not wearing a suit.
Fox is really scraping the bottom of the barrel with this commentator (but on the other hand, he does get good ratings).
It’s always good to look at different perspectives I suggest an article in the September edition of Imprimus, a publication from Hillsdale college volume 51 number 9 by Christopher Caldwell.
proxy war:
A war instigated by a major power that does not itself participate.
Who in government decided that the United States be so magnanimous with American tax payers money? Despite dismal conditions at home, politicians have truly forgotten who they represent.
Very good. Russia has a horrible history as a bad actor. Support Ukraine push EU to do more.
I thought this guy’s background was in comedy….
Zelenskyy had the leftists and RINOs and neocons fawning and drooling all over themselves. While the American people foot the bill for this debacle, Ukrainian and Russians are suffering and dying, the people of Europe and America are watching our economies further crumble, Europeans and Ukrainians, and here, too, at home, it’s getting just a might chilly, and the globalists and military industrial complex as well as “certain members of congress,” are getting rich beyond their wildest dreams, our war stocks and energy stocks are being depleted, the grip of the WEF and EU tighten, and one of the European nation’s government’s under the orders of the WEF are confiscating 3000 of the most efficient farms in all of Europe “to save the plantet!” and what the heck else?? … all in the two years since the brain dead tool Biden, and he’s somebody’s tool, stole the White House. Zelenskyy must cut the globalist leash from around his neck, get his corrupt bought and paid for ass to the table with Putin, do what needs doing, and then he can run away to one of his mansions and disappear forever. All this in just two years. How stupid do people have to be not to see this, to allow things to get this far? Well! that the left’s staged “January 6” and farting cows is really THE “important national issue?”
I have been saying this point as well. We must continue to enforce the Ukrainian Army and should have given better fighting equipment from the start but a better job much be done to get the whole of Europe and so on the help with the money and arms. This will be what will hold China and others back from pushing their goals forward. We need to stay together as free nations.
CUI BONO? Who benefits from this proxy war with Russia? Besides being a cornucopia for tax money flowing to the Military Industrial Complex, it is a conveyor belt for money to be laundered by governments and other organized crime entities. Lord Have Mercy on the Ukrainian civilians, extras and props in this flourishing nightmare. Lord, Forbid deeper American participation.
Well
This political stunt cooked up by our US Congressional House and Senate members to have Ukraine president speaking on Our US Floor is at best Sickening!
We The People are concerned about our own borders and citizens along with The US Inflation and cost of living with a corrupt federal government, Both the Republicans and Democrats stink it up in WASHINGTON DC Swamp…
We The People need a complete federal government over haul, but in the meantime We The People should push for our state Governor’s to stop send our Federal income taxes and sales tax to The Swamp People until we could get necessary changes for a responsible federal government officials and Federal Law officials!
How much pollution did he release on the flight over here when could have done a conference from Ukraine? Don’t do as I do but as I say.
Dog and pony show! Congress looked like a bunch of clapping seals! Sad!
Give Ukraine the means and weapons to defend itself and strike back at Russia deep in Russian territory. Open US energy spigots and focus on crippling Russian energy income. Put China on notice too. Push the the communists to change their regimes into a peaceful and productive cultures that respect their neighbors’ sovereignty..
Turn off the fricken news and start reading and researching….you may then find the region of Ukraine is technically part of Russia, that Russia is not the USSR, and that George Sorors Victoria Neuland, NoName McCaine, Lady G from SC, and the failed presidential candidate from MN Amy K, worked with the Killarney State Dept and Opem Societies to overthrow an elected leader in 2014….the region of the Ukraine is a human trafficking, biomass, money laundering failed state. Hunter, Kerry’s kid, and Rodney’s relations are deep into that nazieqsque regime…stop being programmed and start thinking.
hes a grifter just like the people in gov and congress dont forget these are the people who paid hunter biden 86000$ a month
A very disappointing article by Amac who seems to have been taken in like a schoolgirl over Zelenski whose ONLY comparison to Reagan is that they were both former actors. Zelenski has taken over the media in Ukraine, suspended civil liberties, and closed Russian-speaking churches. He is a little tyrant who loves the limelight. Ukraine has long been known as the most corrupt country in Europe. There is no telling where all the US money has gone as there is zero accounting in place, but one may be sure that it has been laundered into the pockets of some bad actors. Ukraine failed to adhere to the Minsk agreement with Russia of 2015 in which Ukraine vowed to never join NATO and to give the Russian speaking provinces of Eastern Ukraine that were once part of Russia, an opportunity to vote on whether to rejoin Russia or stay with Ukraine. The vote never happened and with Zelenski’s stated desire to join NATO, he precipitated Putin’s response. Russia’s security depends on Ukraine remaining neutral, a buffer between Russia and Europe. Russia has been invaded more than once through the plains of Ukraine. There are 14 wars raging in the world at this moment, but the media has us focused on Ukraine and that is where all the money goes. One wonders why..
Hmm. Appreciate the quick summary, but you gave very short shrift to the corruption and money laundering going on with Ukraine. Additionally, USA is basically fighting a proxy war with Russia using Ukrainians as cannon fodder. USA needs to get out of this situation and turn its attention to domestic problems which are about to become overwhelming. All those members of Congress can be moved and swayed by Zelenskyy’s acting chops all they want, but they represent us, not Ukraine, certainly not NATO, and certainly not the world. US, the people of USA.
And he couldn’t even be respectful enough to put on a suit when he begs for his millions.
This guy’s a sham. To see them slobbering over him like he was a rock star was disgusting.
IF XY country gave me 5 bill8on dollars, i would be on my way over to thank them as soon as i could. Kyle l.
Biden has to come clean to the American people that this is a proxy war.
So disappointed in this article.
DIMMs are praising Zelensky as “Churchillian.” How ridiculous can they be? Besides, Churchill was half-American (mother a US citizen). When whoever “wins” the war, who do you suppose will be expected to pay the billions (trillions?) to rebuild everything in Ukraine? And will the $$$ actually get there to do the job or be funneled into someone’s Swiss bank account or rebated back to Biden?
When my eyes first scanned the article- It showed Zelenskyy in prison! Here is the real kicker- as we await the outcome of this war- WAIT to Z begins demanding that the USA pay for reconstruction of Ukraine. We can’t pay OUR National Guard troops in a timely fashion, BUT we have billions to send to Ukraine. As long as the BIG MAN gets his cut, this will not stop!
And he leaves with $40 Billion more than he came with!
Defending U.S. borders from invasion should be the priority.
Where in Blue Blazes is the U.N.? How do we commit ourselves to finance an open-ended war without control over how it is fought without a clearly stated objective or a coordinated procedure for achieving an objective? How do we achieve a military ending without actively fighting Russia?
It’s about time for the USA to RECEIVE some foreign aid. We have GIVEN so much, for years. that we find ourselves $32,000,000,000,000 in debt. How many other countries owe this much? Doesn’t that make us the poorest country in the world? And the Treasury money printers are running 24/7. How much longer can we survive at this rate? And the DC dummies are unconcerned about our dilemma.
Why don’t you mention the millions he has earned himself?
I’m sorry, but why isn’t the primary conversation the fact that our President, and most likely many others, are compromised by the Hunter Biden connection? This is so simple a caveman can see what is going on, and yet everybody argues the pros and cons of a war with no legitimate purpose for the US! The only purpose for our country is we needed a new source for our war machine and all the industry behind it. After a prosperous 20-year free for all war the machine was faced with a problem! A very big problem, a 50-billion-a-year problem! What can we do to maintain that kind of spending? The answer was clear, create a new war, and worse, our President had no choice but to support them or be exposed by Ukraine for the traitor he and those like him are.
Just my opinion.
I think it would be a mistake to abandon Ukraine. We need to put more pressure on Germany and France to provide more assistance. Their continued reliance on Russian energy is funding the war. They were warned over and over, and clearly their green energy plan has failed. Too bad the US is not paying attention to the energy failure. Poland and other former Soviet Satellite countries have provide more than their fair share. Yes, China is watching, and given that China failed to comply with it’s agreements with Hong Kong, Taiwan will fall before the end of Biden’s term, because the US and Asian allies will do little to stop them.
I totally agree with Paul E. The entire free world should be helping the Ukraine to win against Putin. My nephew who was born in Russia said that the Ukraine people, including the Russians that live there don’t want to be part of Russia, and that Putin needs to be stopped. Who else would send out a van full of thugs to assassinate his election opponent? The Chinese also need to be stopped. They have sent police who are operating illegally to force Chinese who emigrated here to return to China which would be a death sentence or slavery until they die in one of their factories. Biden playing footy with them and the Iranians sickens me.
Since Zelensky is buddy buddy with China….let him go to China for help. We can’t afford to keep giving him support. Biden isn’t even paying our own National Guard but sending money to this jerk.
I tend to believe Putin and, more importantly, the Russian people, that the take over of parts of Ukraine was necessary to protect oppressed ethnic Russians in those areas. Russia now is fighting to hold them. It is my belief, if Ukraine stops attacking, the conflict will end.
I think we’ve been a bit two-faced on this issue. When Russia invaded Ukraine early in 2022, we were all about supporting the “little guy” against Monster Russia. I said it myself–“Send them what they need to defeat Putin.”
A few months later, many Americans were growing tired of sending money and munitions to Ukraine in this dragged-out conflict. Of course, we wanted to see Ukraine and Zelenskyy victorious and Putin humiliated, but how much longer can we continue to support the effort knowing the dismal state of our own economy? I was impressed by Ukrainian resolve not to fold in the face of this bully from the east.
The problem was we did not demand any sort of accountability for all the support we Americans sent to Zelenskyy. With his country’s checkered past, could we trust the money going to good use? I still maintain that helping Ukraine defeat Russia is a wise decision. After all, Zelenskyy didn’t collect the funds and then high-tail it to some secret destination; no, he stayed and fought alongside his countrymen. Who wants a bigger, more powerful Russia?
Biden could bring a quicker end to the war if he managed our resources in a smarter fashion. But we’re talking about biden, here… By essentially closing access to sources of inexpensive energy, he is helping prop up Putin’s efforts from the sale of Russian energy to the EU. High profits fuel Putin’s efforts in the war. That’s why he has lasted all these months. If biden were smart, he would have competed in the energy sector (i.e., weaponized our plentiful resources) by undercutting Putin’s price. Drying up sales of Russian energy would cause a winding down of their involvement. They’re teetering on the edge of insolvency as it is. But biden’s profligate spending habits and the open border consume hundreds of billions in funds that are better used elsewhere.
Not knowing where $45 billion is going is worrisome. We should demand in a pact of some sort that our continued support is contingent upon their promise not to squander the money (although I don’t think their desperation allows them to do that), approval from our military for specific appropriations, and incorporating certain principles into this pact that are fair to their people and to us. Maybe we’re not sending the right kind of support. We might as well include Ukraine in NATO, since we’re already participating in the war and that would obligate other nations to contribute. Everyone benefits if Russia loses.
I feel that what Russia is doing to Ukraine is very, very wrong but, it’s very wrong for the Biden Administration to ‘look the other way’ regarding our Southern Border and (freely) give Ukraine billions of dollars that could be used in our own backyard. Good work Joe…..:-(
A lot of commentators here seem to have forgotten the US and NATO doctrine of Containment. The question they should ask themselves is if Russia takes Ukraine, where will it stop?
There’s room for debate about US Ukraine policy in the details. But some of the strongly contrary opinion on the right seems to be just “whatever the Democrats and ‘GOPe’ say, we say the opposite”. There’s no real burden on the US from the money we’ve spent, less than $100-some per capita so far. Sure it could be ‘spent on better things’ but anyone can have that opinion about any of the whole multi-$tril in annual government spending. Risk of escalation is a real thing but I believe it’s sometimes overstated. There’s been some negative impact on us from Russia-produced commodity prices and a much bigger one on the Europeans, which could eventually undermine their support for Ukraine (they are paying less in $’s for weapons than we are but much more when you count the energy price impact). But for the US itself, we’ve substantially weakened Russia, a generally malign player on the world stage, at quite low cost. That’s what you get when your proxy is actually willing to fight and good at it, unlike previous proxies in Afghanistan, Iraq, Vietnam where we spent vastly greater amounts to achieve nothing. Of course the war is highly likely to end in a political compromise that maximalist/moralistic pro-Ukraine people won’t like. But there’s no evidence Putin seriously wants to negotiate now so no point in pressuring Ukraine to give in now. Putin’s convinced the West’s support for Ukraine will buckle. That has to be proved wrong at least over this winter before negotiation becomes realistic.
I think this little man is done! The US of A has had enough already. Let’s start sending ALL this cash and weaponry to us now..period. Because WE are going to need it!!! #AmericaFirst
Ukraine is a European country. The issue seems to me to be Europe is not Stepping up to the plate. Why do we as Americans have to fund the effort. I believe we should help The Ukrainian people but so should Germany, France, Italy, and all the other members of their union. My $0.02
Zelensky is criminal and Ukrain is NOT a Democracy. The US is being conned.
I am a conservative Republican who spent 7 years in military intelligence long ago (Soviet military capabilities and government) and speak a little Russian, have been to Kiev several times on business. I say this to point out i am generally well informed on this subject. Here is what I think:
It is legit to question overseas spending when we struggle at home. But on its own merits, the Ukraine spend is consistent with long term defense policy in Europe, relatively cheap, and without sacrificing our military. And it is the right thing to do. We wasted several trillion dollars losing the peace in the mid-East and Afghanistan. We are winning it on the cheap in Eastern Europe.
The history of the Ukraine and their sometimes comrades, the Russians, does not lend itself to support from the Western Nations. We are diverse cultures and we do not have the resources to support the self destructive objectives of either the Ukraine nor Russia. Nor The CCP, nor Taiwan, not the EU and all their self destructive bad choices.
Supporting Ukraine in it’s with Russia is the only thing Biden has done right. Of course had the 2020 election not been stolen, a President Trump would never have let Ukraine occur. America is done for anyway; democracy? Its not for everyone.
We are directly responsible for this war and it’s consequences. we are prolonging a war that will not end in Ukrainian victory only Ukrainian destruction. From Libya, to Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syria, in the last 30 years we have created nothing but misery and death and destabilized north Africa, the middle and near east and now Eastern Europe. Ukraine is not in our national interest and our continued support will further destabilize and risk a global war. Europe has the resources and absent our support would be more inclined to seek a peaceful solution. Expansion of NATO has only created war and not security. The united States needs to protect it’s true national interests and avoid another world war created in Europe.