OPINION: A Rivalry for Leadership

On Feb. 13, one of the toughest days for Ukraine in Washington, DC, I made note of the following:

“I am most interested in the stances of three prominent members of the Republican party – Michael McCaul, Mike Rogers, and Mike Turner. Each of them chairs a powerful house committee: Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Intelligence, respectively.

“The authors of the outstanding document Proposed Plan for Victory in Ukraine cannot possibly vote against military aid to Ukraine; this would mean renouncing their convictions on camera in front of the entire world. For that very reason I believe the Ukraine aid package will eventually be passed by the US Congress.”

And that is exactly what has happened. McCaul, Rogers, and Turner all worked publicly and behind the scenes to score an ideological win for the Reagan wing of the Republican party over the pro-Putin, pro-Trump rabble in the House. They made good use of a classified Kremlin document published by Catherine Belton that describes Russia’s methods to subvert Western support for Ukraine and accused their colleagues in the House of falling for Russian propaganda.

“It’s absolutely true that some Republican members of Congress were repeating Russian propaganda about the invasion of Ukraine instigated by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“Russian propaganda had infected a good chunk of our party’s base.

Other Topics of Interest

US Military Bases in Europe Heighten Security Amid Terror Threat Concern

A US official based in Europe told CNN that this threat level hasn't been seen in at least a decade, suggesting an “active-reliable threat” has been identified.

“We see directly coming from Russia attempts to mask communications that are anti-Ukraine and pro-Russia messages – some of which we even hear being uttered on the House floor.”

The Chair of the House Intelligence Committee did not indicate names, but the scoundrels in the chamber got the message; the vast majority wisely shut their mouths. Even the group’s godfather, never at a loss for words, had nothing to say before the vote as he sat in court with his defense lawyers. Only the delusionally stupid Trumper Marjorie Taylor Greene continued to rant and rave.

The day of the vote – April 20 – resulted in a triumph for American-Ukrainian solidarity. One after another, lawmakers (both Republican and Democrat) came to the floor with comments that were spot-on; the same comments, by the way, that yours truly has been directing at them as best as could for almost 10 years:

To wit: 1) the Russo-Ukrainian war is but one critical battlefield within a global war unleashed by the forces of Absolute Evil on the Free World with the goal to annihilate it; 2) 30 million Ukrainian Spartans have borne the brunt of this horrendous war for over two years now, literally using their bodies to protect the prosperous golden billion from the barbarians at the gate; 3) delivering a large package of military aid to Ukraine is not only in the best interests of the United States from a security standpoint but also constitutes a debt of honor from a nation that still considers itself the Leader of the Free World.

We are witnessing a considerable restructuring of the American political space, which no longer has traditional Republican or Democratic parties.

As we approach a crucial, decisive moment in this global war, the two parties that remain in the US are: the Capitulation Party (the progressives and the Trumpers) and the Victory Party (the Reagan wing of the Republican Party and the Truman wing of the Democratic one).

It turns out a qualified majority (two-thirds of the votes) of both chambers is on the side of the Victory Party. You’d have to admit this is a curious turn of events. After all, the capitulators (of all stripes) had exerted their dominance for a shameful half of a year, blocking military aid to Ukraine or prohibiting it from conducting strikes on the aggressor’s territory even with domestically produced weapons.

I do need to point out, however, that the size of the Ukraine aid package agreed upon is not enough to ensure victory. Don’t get me wrong, it is absolutely needed at the moment. But it is also, in a way, a classic Biden aid package – simply enough to keep Ukraine from being defeated and to sustain its strategic defenses.

Nevertheless, I will still refer to the coalition that has materialized as the Victory Party. Its leaders, full of vigor and committed to the cause, have already proposed a Plan for Victory in Ukraine that sharply criticizes Biden for his insufficient support for the Ukraine.

In addition to the three chairmen factor that was in play, there is one other circumstance that favors a positive transformation of the American political arena. I am referring to Europe’s reaction to the US’s months of inaction. European leaders began to suspect that the US was either incapable or unwilling to fulfill its role as Leader of the Free World.

France and the UK (a Renewed Entente Cordiale) both declared their intention to defeat Russia in Ukraine and to refrain from drawing any sort of restrictive red lines when the West delivers military aid to the country. They also did not rule out putting troops on the ground in Ukraine and pointed out that French and British military specialists were already there to service the “Storm Shadow” and “SCALP” cruise missile systems the two nations had deployed.

What we are seeing emerge at this crucial moment in history is a healthy, productive rivalry between the US and Europe for the right to call itself the true Leader of the Free World. I wish both sides nothing but success in this most noble endeavor. 

The views expressed in this opinion article are the author’s and not necessarily those of Kyiv Post.