Dear Editor,
As the temperature of political engagement heats up with the next presidential election less than 14 months from now, Republicans and Democrats are identifying bedrock issues and policies, both domestic and foreign, that will translate into votes for their party’s nominee.
Eight contenders for the Republican Party presidential nomination took the stage Aug., 23 at the first GOP debate in Milwaukee. While they agreed on many topics, one major point of disagreement was Russia’s war on Ukraine, a most significant foreign policy issue.
Vivek Ramaswamy, identifying as an “American First” candidate, seemed to echo former President Trump’s position that the war is not of vital U.S. interest and that Europe should assume greater responsibility in aiding Ukraine. He suggested Ukraine should make territorial concessions to end the conflict. Ron DeSantis agreed that Europeans should do more and said the conflict was a distraction from greater security concerns in Asia.
Asa Hutchinson, Doug Burgum, and Tim Scott want to continue providing military aid to Ukraine, with Scott emphasizing that degrading Russia’s military would reduce any likelihood of a subsequent attack on contiguous NATO territories.
Nikki Haley, Mike Pence, and Chris Christie advocate supporting Ukraine until the war is resolved and believe this has the added effect of sending a circumspect message to China regarding any potential plans to invade Taiwan. Both Haley and Pence were most critical of the Biden administration for not sending military aid and advanced weaponry fast enough to prevent unnecessary death and destruction.
In the past year and a half since Russia’s invasion, most recent casualty estimates have Ukrainian military deaths at 70,000 with 120,000 wounded. Civilian deaths are estimated at approximately 10,000.
Nearly six million refugees fleeing Ukraine are now scattered across Europe while eight million others have been displaced within the country. Three months after the invasion, the U.S. Department of State estimates at least 900,000 Ukrainian citizens have been forcibly removed from Russia. Recent World Bank estimates suggest the reconstruction and recovery costs to be $411 billion.
Both Pence and Haley recall that in 2014, when they were governors of Indiana and South Carolina, respectively, former Defense Secretary Robert Gates wrote in his memoir that then Vice President Biden had been wrong about “nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades.”
A related commentary from the late Arizona Senator John McCain was offered during a CNN interview when he said Biden had been wrong on a lot of issues and blamed the Obama administration’s “feckless” foreign policy for inviting the Russian invasion of Crimea that same year.
When Ukrainian President Zelensky asked for weapons to win the war, the Biden administration’s reply has effectively been, “Not yet, maybe later.” This response has been given to requests for F-16 fighter jets and long-range tactical missile systems. Biden recently pledged Abrams tanks, yet the reality is they will likely not arrive until 2025.
The president may hold a view that providing weapons would be regarded as an escalation that might provoke Russia and bring the U.S. into direct conflict. In an attempt to minimize political pressure and controversy, the plan seems to be to send weapon systems once a broad consensus thinks they are overdue.
Haley, Pence, and others to varying degrees, see Ukraine’s defense from further Russian aggression as an economic and security win for the U.S. and other Western nations. The sending of military aid to Ukraine not only curtails the embodiment of Russia, but it also serves as an essential counter to the probable munitions for food and technologies trade that likely will emerge from the meeting between North Korea’s Kim Jong Un and Russia’s Vladimir Putin later this month.
Recent polling suggests a significant share of Americans see a Ukrainian victory over Russia as being in our best interest. President Biden needs to get out front on this issue. As for the people of Ukraine, I hope it is not more of too little, too late.
Peter Wibell, Rutledge