And I’m asking if CSPAN agrees with making the promise in the first place.
Yes I think we should help defend NATO. But Ukraine’s not in it and Russia really doesn’t want it to be. NATO should also be more self-reliant for defense.
Could you clarify this a bit? Do you mean that each member should do more for their own defense than simply rely on funding/personnel of a (larger) member state?
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Can you say why? I’d like to get past “Because we have a treaty” and ask why we should have a treaty in 2022.
I can’t speak for CSPAN, of course. But I believe that part of the treaty is that member nations will spend 2% of GDP on national defense.
Last I read, and it’s been a few years, the US and UK were both way over, the Baltics and maybe one or two other countries (I think Greece?) were in compliance and most nations are non-compliant.
Because we’ve historically been allies with NATO members. That’s why we sign defense pacts and treaties. That’s what allies do.
We can still point out some of those allies’ long term failure to meet target investments in their defense. And given that, why should we tend to be generous for defense of some NATO non-member whose capital used to be capital of Russia?
In June 2011, in the midst of NATO’s operation in Libya, Robert Gates, then US Defense Secretary, stated that Europe faced the prospect of “collective military irrelevance” and that unless the continent stemmed the deterioration of its armed forces, NATO faced a “dim, if not dismal future”
Because we don’t want Putin to start picking off former Soviet republics one by one? Which is essentially what he’s been saying he wants to do for well over two decades.
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We fought two big wars against Germany in the 20th century. Our “historic” alignment didn’t begin until half way through the century.
But, more to my question, why did we agree to an alliance with any of them, and does this reason (or some new reason) justify an alliance in 2022?
(I’ll note that Biden is not treating Ukraine as a NATO ally. He drew a firm line early in the Russian invasion. He is willing to provide weapons, but he doesn’t have US troops shooting at Russians. The Ukranians would love US air cover and close air support, not happening. And, Biden doesn’t want Ukraine using US weapons to attack across the border. If U were a NATO country, I’m sure we would be doing both.)
Okay. Did I say something incorrect?
Just pointing out that if our interests arise from history, we’ve got a lot less history with Germany than with England.
That was relevant to the extent that you pointed to history.
I still don’t know why you think we should maintain this expense and risk in 2022.
This is just not true. Historians say Kievan Rus ceased to exist in 1242 and Russia did not exist as a country until the 1500’s. At that time Kiev was part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
Futility of sanctions illustrated by Canada agreeing to return repaired Russian-owned turbines to Germany to enable natural gas flows from Russia to Germany to increase. Canada claims it is not breaching its own stand on Russian sanctions as the turbines are being returned to Germany instead of Russia (but Germany will forward them on to Russia). How disappointing.
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Now that the aura of wartime propaganda has worn off (which it appears many of you subscribed to), mainstream sources are beginning to question the infusion of billions in aid to the most corrupt country in Europe. This is the same country where renowned legal expert Hunter Biden, his business partner Devon Archer, and former W Bush CIA guy Cofer Black were curiously employed as board members of Burisma. Also, Joe Biden wanted a Ukrainian prosecutor who was investigating Burisma fired, using a large loan as leverage. All on the up-and-up, of course.
Is rampant energy inflation associated with sanctions the price constituents must pay to protect the piggybank of the political class? Shame on anyone who previously refused to ask this question.
I’m not seeing anything in the article where JB or HB did anything wrong or supports any of the conspiracy theories you mentioned. Did you read the article or did it just have the right words in the title to trigger you?
Transparency International has Ukraine as the second most corrupt country in Europe. Guess what country ranks first.
I have to wonder if Ukraine’s status as the most corrupt country in Europe is aided by the legitimization of corruption on Russia, by virtue of Putin being at the top of the food chain there.
Having oversight to ensure that too much aid isn’t misdirected is a good thing. Avoiding further destabilization of Europe by keeping a check on Putin’s ambitions is also a good thing.
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Transnistria?
How often have you posted this and had someone knock it down?
“Biden wanted Shokin fired because he was investigating Burisma” is false.
“Everyone in Western governments that were supporting Ukraine wanted Shokin fired because he wasn’t investigating anybody. Biden got the job of delivering the message in clear language.” is correct.
Western leaders and institutions were largely united in seeking Shokin’s removal, arguing that he was not pursuing corruption cases aggressively.
For instance, in early 2016, International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde said that “it’s hard to see how the I.M.F.-supported program can continue” unless corruption prosecutions accelerate.
Steven Pifer is a career foreign service officer who was ambassador to Ukraine under President Bill Clinton and deputy assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian Affairs under President George W. Bush. Pifer told PolitiFact that “virtually everyone” he knew in the U.S. government and virtually all non-governmental experts on Ukraine “felt that Shokin was not doing his job and should be fired. As far as I can recall, they all concurred with the vice president telling Poroshenko that the U.S. government would not extend the $1 billion loan guarantee to Ukraine until Shokin was removed from office.”
PolitiFact | Fact-checking Joe Biden, Hunter Biden, and Ukraine
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That’s not what I said. Moreover, you can’t prove Biden’s actual intention which is why I didn’t claim it. I said Biden wanted the prosecutor fired, who was investigating Burisma. That’s all true. Stop with your silly liberal misinformation. Thanks!
I would guess it’s the country trying to take its corrupt piggybank back from Western control.