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Can we afford to support Ukraine? [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2023-11-01  

Paul Krugman says, “Yes”!

Our tepid support of the Ukrainian fight for the sovereignty of their country has kept them on life support for nearly two years. The two whines that we hear excusing this behavior are:

The Russians will nuclear and, We can’t afford it.

Let’s address them in order.

We have steadily upped the ante with more powerful weapons [albeit too little and too late] and have heard nothing but bleating from Putin; HIMARS, M1 tanks, ATACMS, F-16s. At each stage we quavered, then finally extruded a tiny bit of weapon. Crickets from Putin. BTW, we have to consider the ugly part of this calculation. What if Putin does go nuclear? He won’t hit NATO. He will shoot a tactical nuke at Ukraine. Ukraine knows this and still they are BEGGING for more weapons. It should be their decision. But Putin won’t go nuclear because he, and the people around him, only care about one thing, their own skin. Paul Krugman destroyed the affordability question in his recent article in the NYTimes. The US defense budget accounts for three (3) percent of the GDP. It’s a must read. 6% of the defense budget goes to Ukraine. (my supercomputer tells me that 0.06 x 0.03 = 0.0018 of GDP)

Now that the Ukrainian counter-offensive has ground to a halt, it’s time to reconsider the level of support we are giving to the Ukrainians. They are fighting for democracy. If we believe in democracy, we should give the Ukrainians the support that they want.

Negotiations or a stalemate along the current lines is no peace. That may have ‘worked’ with the 38th parallel, but it won’t work with Russia. They will simply recharge their batteries like they did in 2014-2022 then attack again. If we believe in democracy, we should give the Ukrainians the support that they want.

Dribbling out weapons to keep Ukraine on life support ‘…as long as it takes’ is no way to treat an ally. Innocent lives are being squandered by the thousand. If we believe in democracy, we should give the Ukrainians the support that they want.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/11/1/2203054/-Can-we-afford-to-support-Ukraine?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web

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