At a time when the nation needs strength, resolve, and a united front against tyranny in other countries across the globe, many of the Democrats in Congress are afraid to stand up and do what is right. They refuse to be part of the fight or to even support it. Instead, they want to send a message of being weak and willing to give up on the globe.
With Representatives Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), Ilhan Omar (D-WI), and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) at the helm of this movement, they have convinced 27 other liberal members of Congress to join them in urging the president to bring Russia to the table.
They want him to negotiate a settlement, and a cease-fire directly. While they admit that it’s not an American right to meddle in their politics, their feeling is that “tens of billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars in military assistance” permits the US to “seriously explore all possible avenues” in avoiding another “boots on the ground” or nuclear war.
In their letter, they gave Biden suggestions and their feelings about the conflict. “We urge you to make vigorous diplomatic efforts in support of a negotiated settlement and ceasefire, engage in direct talks with Russia, explore prospects for a new European security arrangement acceptable to all parties that will allow for a sovereign and independent Ukraine, and, in coordination with our Ukrainian partners, seek a rapid end to the conflict and reiterate this goal as America’s chief priority.”
While they make it sound very pretty and ready for the cover story, the fact of the matter is, this isn’t such a simple task, nor is it our place. Rather we should be encouraging Ukraine to find a solution or having another country that has good diplomatic ties with both nations intervene. As it stands, the US-Russia relations are icy anyway.
They also feel that this cease-fire could get oil prices to go down, as well as help address the global food crisis caused by the conflict. With their estimates that 20% of Ukraine is currently under Russian control, they make a solid argument about the situation. Given the heavy Republican opposition to Biden essentially handing Ukraine a blank check and the keys to our arms rooms, they could have many pieces of right-side support.
As Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) previously pointed out, we have had numerous problems with money being misspent before. “Sending $40 billion to another country without having someone look and make sure no one is stealing the money is a recipe for disaster. We were in Afghanistan for 20 years, sending $50 billion a year, and we would discover that they were building luxury hotels with our money, halfway building them, contractors were running off with the money.”
By asking Russia to the table, the US sets precedence for negotiating with terrorists. Just like we did in Afghanistan and Iraq. If we can free Ukraine then perhaps, we can free the average Joes in prisons in Russia, Saudi Arabia, Iran, North Korea, and other places. At least then the bargaining and losing face as being the roughest nation on the planet will at least achieve something good.
Should an agreement be reached, Russia would demand to have economic sanctions lifted. Given the current oil price being set by Saudi Arabia and OPEC+, Russia could get back in the oil sales and not have lost a step in regards to their money. The country would be flooded with income because they could sell at or slightly below the OPEC+ money line. Given the Russian relationship with Saudi Arabia, they would allow Russia to win that simply to upset the American economy further – thus only impacting us more than it is now.
