We Need to Give Ukraine More. Now.

Joe Biden is doing a pretty decent job in Ukraine, but he could be doing better.  In fact, if we want Ukraine to prevail, we need to be doing better.  Americans are still supporting Ukraine – so far.  But how long will that last?  Americans lose interest.  We get tired, our attention lags, and we abandon our commitments.  So those of us who want Ukraine to prevail need to push to get it done now.

This is especially true with Donald Trump lurking in the background.  Who knows what he would do if he were elected again.  Or if some Republican gets nominated who tries to appeal to what he/she sees at the populism/isolationism of the Trumpian base.¹  Not to mention, how long will progressive Democrats support aid to Ukraine if we have a Republican president, instead of a Democrat?

In other words, we need to increase our aid to Ukraine, both in terms of quantity and quality, so they can win now, while we still care.  I don’t know what this means in terms of specific types of weapons.  But I do know it means lots of weapons.  And we have to stop putting limits on how Ukraine uses them.  If Russia is attacking Ukraine from Russia, maybe Ukraine needs to be able to attack those places, too.  Not only will that help Ukraine win, it will make the war shorter.   And shorter wars mean fewer people dying. 

I don’t know if President Biden can do this.  I hope so.  Giving Ukraine enough aid to not lose, but not enough to win, is wrong, both for the United States – and for the people of Ukraine.
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¹ You can see this in the knots Ron DeSantis tied himself into when he tried to talk about Ukraine.