“A Plan B for Ukraine?” “…the situation is not hopeless…REPO for Ukrainians offers a way out of the bind. A way to support our ally amid congressional inaction. A way to give Ukraine the space to fight while we Americans come to our senses.”
by themimeofthemollies
6 comments
Encouraging news here, and a hope for substantive, positive action:
“This is an election year, after all.”
“Republicans will spend the next nine months saying Biden opened the border and unleashed disaster.”
“And Biden will say that a minority of Republicans betrayed Ukraine.”
“And they both will be right.”
“Yet the situation is not hopeless.”
“Another bipartisan coalition has emerged in Congress: Republicans and Democrats in the House Foreign Affairs Committee and Senate Foreign Relations Committee support a different mechanism to aid Ukraine.”
“Not with weapons—those still depend on overcoming the immigration stonewall.”
“Rep. Michael McCaul (R., Texas), the House committee’s chairman, and Sen. Jim Risch (R., Idaho), the Senate committee’s ranking member, are behind the Rebuilding Economic Prosperity and Opportunity (REPO) for Ukrainians Act.”
“It will permit the State Department to seize Russian state assets in U.S. financial institutions and transfer the funds to economic relief and reconstruction projects in Ukraine.”
“Unlike Biden’s $61 billion proposal, REPO for Ukrainians has not polarized Congress.”
“Only one senator on Risch’s committee voted against it—Rand Paul, of course.”
“The legislation is significant. It deserves to be debated.”
“If enacted, it would be the first time the United States has seized and repurposed frozen assets from a nation we are not fighting directly.”
“This is intended to be a big hammer,” Risch said on Wednesday.”
“A big hammer is what you need when Russia launches the largest ground war in Europe since 1945, when the world is on fire and American global leadership is singed, and when a few GOP congressmen won’t let you near the rest of the toolbox.”
The good news here for Ukraine and for freedom everywhere from OP article:
“Failure to resupply Ukraine won’t lead to a swift and total Russian victory in 2024.”
“If America takes a year off from sending weapons—which it most certainly should not do—Europe and the United Kingdom, and others, will remain in Ukraine’s corner.”
“And Ukraine won’t be helpless.”
“The new era of warfare privileges defense over offense.”
“Ballistic missiles and low-cost, highly disruptive drone technology help neutralize Russian advantages in manpower and close-air support.”
“Most important, the courage and will of the Ukrainian people haven’t been broken. Far from it.”
Read more:
https://www.reddit.com/r/UkrainianConflict/s/AB6xWMJjWH
I think the quote goes something like “You can always rely on the Americans to do the right thing but only after they expend every other option first”
A couple problems I see here:
First, I think the odds of these funds being released is vanishingly low. And even in the unlikely event the US decides to do it with the very small percentage of the total amount sitting in US banks, the rest of the world is unlikely to follow.
Second, what good is it actually going to do? You can rail all day about the US funds being held up but let’s face it: that sixty billion is a tiny fraction of what it would actually cost to oust Russia from the Donbas. Those funds are NOT the reason things have gone badly the past few weeks. There is no place to source more artillery shells regardless of funding, and it’s all going to be for nothing anyway if Ukraine can’t get the mobilization situation sorted out.
Ukraine has no viable path towards regaining territory, except for a forever war eventually leading to a Vietnam-style withdrawal. And Western support will not hold out long enough for that.
So with all that money would that mean they can buy directly from the US? If only Biden could be able to lower the price tags.
The current plan seems to be to develop and produce long-range kamikaze drones to hit Russian military infrastructure, with the primary target being oil refineries. Hitting oil refineries will cripple Russia’s war economy faster than any sanction, blockade, or embargo.
Russia’s biggest weakness is that their economy is mostly about oil. They do not have a robust economy. They are just a bunch of idiots in charge of a gas station. Burning Russian oil refineries to the ground is the quickest way to burn Russia to the ground.