Blocking aid to Ukraine could have critical global consequences

2023-12-08 08:18:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Blocking aid to Ukraine could have critical global consequences

Panorama of Avdiivka, Ukraine

The aid crash in Ukraine is so critical because US weaponry has been essential to Kiev's success in repelling Putin's brutal invasion. The country's survival may depend on the material flow continuing amid a bloody stalemate, according to a CNN analysis.

But the situation has ramifications that go beyond the existence of a single nation.

If the United States allows a country to be crushed into an illegal occupation, it will raise serious questions about the credibility of the defense and strategic agreements that underpin the entire Western world. Such an outcome would increase the possibility that Putin will not stop at Ukraine and look at other states once in the orbit of the former Soviet Union such as Latvia, Lithuania or Estonia. Since this trio is in NATO, a Russian incursion would plunge the US into direct war with nuclear-armed Russia and risk World War III.

Moreover, abandoning Ukraine would send a message to authoritarians like Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping that smaller opponents can be crushed with impunity and that there are rewards for geopolitical gangsterism. This would confirm the belief of US adversaries, including Russia and China, that poisoned domestic politics will make it impossible for the US to wield superpower power and protect global democracy.

But supporters of giving billions of dollars more in aid to Ukraine also have an obligation to explain why it is in every American's interest to continue. This is especially the case as many voters struggle with high food prices and interest rates, feel their country is headed in the wrong direction and wonder why a war on the edge of Europe is their business.

At the most basic level, the end of American support for Ukraine would mean that the United States would abandon the people victimized by an unprovoked invasion, who have endured two years of carnage and cruelty, all because they want the right to choose their own destiny. and the leaders of their nation.

If Washington turns its back, it will tarnish American leadership for decades, as Biden acknowledged in an impassioned speech at the White House./ CNA