Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky inspired the world with his wartime leadership and delivered a memorable speech to Congress on Wednesday. The question is whether the US, and especially its commander in chief, will appropriately embrace this historic moment..
Without undue embarrassment, Zelensky spoke about Pearl Harbor, the September 11 attacks and quoted Martin Luther King, trying to unite America in the Ukrainian struggle against Putin's invasion and brutal bombing..
" Each of you knows these words. I can say this: I have a need. I need to shield our sky. I need your solution, your help,"
The publication writes that the speech of the Ukrainian president was filled with a moral and literal call to arms.. However, the bitter truth is that the US should have done more to arm the Ukrainians in their fierce resistance against the Russian army.. America has so far supplied small weapons such as Javelin anti-tank missiles and Stinger man-portable anti-aircraft missiles that can shoot down helicopters and planes at low altitude.. Ukraine took advantage of them very well.
But the Russian siege continues, in particular the bombardment of cities and other targets with rockets and aircraft at high altitude.. Ukraine needs help to stop this. Zelensky again asked to close the Ukrainian sky, although he knows very well that this is unlikely. He proposed an " These are Russian-made weapons, stocks of which are located in Eastern European NATO countries.. Ukrainian military know how to use it. The supply of these weapons is hampered by the unwillingness of the United States to provoke Putin. For the same reason, President Biden refused to transfer 28 Polish MiG-29s to Ukraine..
The Pentagon sent long-range Patriot missiles to Poland last week. Although the department emphasized that this was due solely to potential threats to NATO, and not to support offensive operations in Ukraine.
“We understand the unwillingness of a situation where American weapons shoot down a Russian plane.. But this should not interfere with the transfer of missile defense systems such as the S-300. Patriot systems have sophisticated long-range radars. And preparing Ukrainians to use such systems will take too long.. But deploying Patriot batteries along the Polish border would allow the US to closely monitor the situation in Ukraine and provide information about Russian movement across the sky, even if no missiles ever take off from NATO territory,” writes the Wall Street Journal..
It's not a closed sky. But the US admits to providing some intelligence to Ukraine. Why is this not data that would prevent Putin from bombing maternity hospitals and schools? In response to Zelensky, President Biden announced on Wednesday that the United States would send another $800 million in military aid to Ukraine.. It's good. But one might rightly ask why it took three weeks of bombing for such a solution to emerge.. As Nebraska Senator Ben Sass said ahead of Zelenskiy's speech: " And these are MiG-29, Su-25 aircraft, S-200, S-300 missiles, drones.
For example, Switchblade drones are portable and capable of destroying targets at a great distance.. This is an ideal weapon for attacking tanks and artillery units that hit cities and civilians.. 100 of these drones in the latest US aid package. But the Pentagon should have sent all the Switchblades in the US arsenal to Ukraine before the war even started, and then ordered more.
President Biden's moral condemnation of Russia was loud. He also achieved good coordination with the Allies. But throughout the crisis, Congress, public opinion, and allies have constantly been forced to press him to do more.. The United States failed to deter Putin with threats of sanctions alone. And then after the invasion, these same sanctions were introduced very gradually. President Biden did not want to ban the import of Russian oil, refused trade restrictions. It took pressure to get him to send more guns.
It looks like Biden is so worried about the possibility of provoking Putin that he is afraid of what might happen if Ukraine wins the war..
The consequences will be much worse for the US if Putin conquers Ukraine. His troops will then stand at the borders of NATO. And he will show the world that you can conquer other peoples as soon as you want, despite the global protest.. His ambitions will not stop in Ukraine. Zelensky with great respect, but still announced a very personal challenge to the President of the United States: You are the leader of the nation, your great nation. I would like you to be the leader of the world" Biden wanted to be Franklin Roosevelt. But the world needs him to be like Harry Truman at the start of the Cold War..