Zelensky is going to make a surprise visit to Washington to urge the US to back Ukrainian defense

PRESIDENT BIDDEN’S PENALTICAL REMINDER: NUCLEAR INTERACTIONS AND THE RADIATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE COSMIC ANGLE

There simply isn’t much – if any – precedent in the last six decades of a president so bluntly warning of looming catastrophe. The divergence in tone between Biden and his top national security officials is striking, with the President moving sharply away from the coordinated effort to calmly warn against saber rattling, but not rhetorically escalate anything.

Biden’s blunt assessment caught several senior US officials by surprise, largely due to that lack of any new intelligence to drive them and the grim language Biden deployed.

One senior administration official said Biden was speaking “frankly” in his remarks at a Democratic fundraiser in New York, reflecting heightened concern based on Putin’s recent nuclear threats.

According to three sources briefed on the latest intelligence, CNN reported last week that the US is considering ways to respond to a range of scenarios, including fears that Russians could use nuclear weapons. The US has since the start of the conflict been developing contingency plans to respond, including to the possibility that Putin could escalate via a step just short of a nuclear attack on Ukraine, through what one source described as a “nuclear display,” such as a potential military strike on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, or the detonation of a nuclear device at high-altitude or away from populated areas.

Biden’s remarks serve as a window into a very real, very ongoing discussion inside his administration as the seek to calibrate the response to that environment.

His remarks are usually only slotted for 10 minutes but in the past he has stretched to half an hour or more, expounding on various topics. After the remarks, the reporters were ushered out while Biden took a few questions.

U.S. Response to the Kennedy-Krushchev War on Nuclear Security and its Implications for the United States and the War on Intermediate Scales

The risks pose by a critical difference were mentioned in Biden’s comments. President Kennedy and his team weighed a number of off- ramps and back channel proposals to head off the crisis. The Soviet leader at the time – Nikita Khrushchev, who had seen the horrors of World War II – always made clear he understood the stakes of a nuclear standoff, even if his strategic calculation in Cuba was woefully off-base. Mutually assured destruction was the baseline, and even at their worst moments and most bellicose threats, the dealings between Kennedy and Khrushchev reflected that reality.

The President’s use of Armageddon served to illustrate that point – there’s no escalation ladder when it comes to nuclear weapons, tactical or otherwise. A cascading response only has one outcome if any move in that direction is made.

One official characterized the speech as “insane,” and while that bolstered the US view of Russian weakness and isolation, it also further increased concern about Putin’s willingness to escalate beyond the level of a rational actor.

White House officials decided not to say anything publicly Thursday night, and there are no plans to address the remarks in isolation so far on Friday morning. When Biden leaves for his Maryland speech later in the morning, it will be obvious he wants to address it himself, one official said.

The most important element is that the US has seen no change in posture or specific intelligence to raise the threat level above where it has been.

There have been direct communications to Moscow in the last several weeks detailing the scale of the US response should Putin decide to go down that path. Those details remain closely held, and officials say that won’t change any time soon.

The US has provided more than 1,400 anti-air systems to the country, as well as air surveillance and multi-mission radars. We allowed our Allies to transfer their air defense systems to Ukranian. Slovakia transferred their critical S system in April. President Biden announced in August that there were orders for eight new NASAMS, National Advanced Surface to Air Missile Systems. We will keep providing Ukraine with what it needs.

The massive influx of weapons to Ukraine, which include new vehicles and longer-range missiles, may help the country prevail on the battlefield and hopefully put Zelensky in a better position to negotiate an end to the war.

In late September, the US had yet to deliver NASAMS to Ukraine. At the time, Brig. The first two systems will be delivered in the next two months and the rest will be arriving at a later date, said Gen. Patrick Ryder.

Zelensky said in an interview that he thought he was the leader of the United States. As recently as last week, Zelensky said his invitation for Biden to visit Ukraine remained open, even as he acknowledged there were other means for them to speak.

The Ukraine Crisis: What Putin’s Predictions Tell Us About War and What He Meant About Its Implications on the Security and Security of the United States

According to a Facebook post by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukrainian, 84 cruise missiles were launched against targets in Ukranian on Monday.

Putin said the strikes were in response to terrorism that had taken place in Kyiv. He blamed the blast on Ukraine’s “special services” and a list of other crimes for Saturday’s explosion on the Kerch Bridge linking Russia and Crimea.

The war is an existential threat to Ukraine and a grievous security challenge for Europe, the United States and our allies and partners around the world. But it is more than that. Putin’s war threatens to put a stake through the heart of the international system created after World War II, which so far has prevented another world war, and should be opposed by any nation that rejects archaic notions of empire and wars of conquest.

Gaining clarity on Zelensky’s position on ending the war is one way that he was brought to the White House. The Ukrainian leader had previously expressed a desire for a “just peace” that would end the conflict – a point that US officials said would be at the center of their talks Wednesday.

Yes. There is an enormous $45 billion aid package in the works, and while not all military, it is part of a consistent drumbeat from the Biden administration. The message is simple: Ukraine is receiving as much aid as Washington can provide, short of boots on the ground, and that aid will not stop.

The United States in a Crucial Spot on Foreign Policy and Foreign Policy Challenges: Insights from the new U.S. President Biden

“It’s clear that he’s feeling the pressure both at home and overseas, and how he reacts to that only he can say,” Kirby told CNN’s Kate Bolduan on “Erin Burnett OutFront.”

But this moment finds the United States negotiating worsening foreign policy crises at the same time – with its former Cold War adversaries in the Kremlin and its belligerent new superpower rival led by Xi Jinping. The international rule of law is being openly challenged by both the rivals and they are rejecting the rules that have underpinned the system for decades.

The document came into Biden’s term 21 months ago. The broad contours of the strategy have been in evidence over the course of the President’s tenure, including a focus on rebuilding global partnerships and countering China and Russia.

Americans regardless of their political background decided that they would step up. The American people know it matters. Biden told Zelensky that aggression is a threat.

“You remind us that freedom is priceless; it’s worth fighting for for as long as it takes. And that’s how long we’re going to be with you, Mr. President: for as long as it takes.”

The Corrupt Crimes of Crime against Ukraine Revisited: A Republican-Leading Attorney-Aligned Call for End to US Assistance

“Russia poses an immediate threat to the free and open international system, recklessly flouting the basic laws of the international order today, as its brutal war of aggression against Ukraine has shown,” the document reads. China is the only competitor that has both an intent to change the international order and a power to do so.

“This decisive decade is critical both for defining the terms of competition, particular with the (People’s Republic of China), and for getting ahead of massive challenges that if we lose the time this decade we will not be able to keep pace with,” he said.

A former attorney and host of a radio show and a columnist, Dean Obeidallah is also a writer for The Daily Beast. Follow him @DeanObeidallah. The opinions expressed in this commentary are his own. There are more opinions on CNN.

Kevin McCarthy’s comments were even more alarming than Vance’s initial reaction, as they were callous and inflammatory. McCarthy said that if Republicans win the House in November, Ukraine can no longer expect that US assistance would be a “blank check.”

The Republican Senate candidate in Ohio later said that he wanted the Ukrainians to be successful. Ukrainian Americans who are lifelong Republicans are supporting Tim Ryan because he is the Democratic candidate in the Senate race.

The two Republicans who had been against McCarthy were called on Friday to change their minds. McCarthy had been opposed by otherUkraine aid skeptics.

Meanwhile, GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene — who recently declared that if Republicans win the House in next month’s elections that she expects McCarthy “to give me a lot of power and a lot of leeway” — blamed Ukraine for the war shortly after Russia’s attack, saying that “Ukraine just kept poking the bear and poking the bear, which is Russia, and Russia invaded.”

Conservative Fox News stars, including Laura Ingraham and especially Tucker Carlson, have been laying the groundwork with members of the Republican base, readying them for the possibility of an end to US assistance for Ukraine.

Carlson — who declared on his show in 2019 when there was a potential conflict between the neighboring countries that he was “root(ing) for Russia” — did his best in the months before Putin’s attack to paint Ukraine in a negative light. Carlson made a false claim that Ukraine was not a democracy, and called Zelensky a puppet of the Biden administration.

Last week, Ingraham questioned if the military is sufficient to help other countries such as Ukraine, after he derided Vice President Mike Pence for referring to the United States as the “arsenal of democracy”. During that same episode, Ingraham welcomed GOP Rep. Jim Banks of Indiana, who echoed McCarthy’s comments about aid for Ukraine, saying, “We can’t put America first by giving blank checks to those around the world to solve their problems.”

As Biden suggested, McCarthy and some of his fellow Republicans may or may not get it. There is one person who fully understands it and that’s Vladmir Putin. Few people will have a better reason for celebration if the GOP wins back control of the House.

While Biden may be talking at cross purposes with the electorate on these issues, they are linked, in a fateful way, that he did not mention in his speech at Union Station on Wednesday evening. The president’s failure – whether it is all his fault or not – to quell inflation and the worries of a nation already demoralized by a once-in-a-century pandemic created the electoral conditions that look likely to restore Trumpism to power, in the form of a volatile, extreme GOP majority in the House of Representatives at least, with the Senate still on a knife’s edge.

Biden’s speech was deeply personal, reflecting his own view of the mission handed him by history. It was also highly political given that the midterm elections, which feature scores of pro-Trump candidates spouting his stolen election nonsense, are only five days away. And it came days after the latest shocking example of political violence – the attack on the 82-year-old husband of Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. And since Biden launched his 2020 campaign as a quest to save America’s soul from what he sees as the aspiring autocracy of Trump, it was a statement of a mission unaccomplished – as well as a potential opening volley of a possible 2024 showdown for the White House between the 45th and 46th presidents.

But the essence of the Trump message exists in direct contradiction to Biden’s logic. When the Republicans win they can only love their country because Democrats lose so much that they’re antipathy to America itself. These dueling understandings of what America actually means are at the core of the current, great political struggle that will not just play out next Tuesday, but in the 2024 election and beyond.

Biden told the voters that they have the power, it is their decision, and the fate of America is always with the people.

The elections need to be more than one thing. Voters can chew gum while walking. The threat to democracy feels real in Washington, where politicians watch the Capitol dome as a reminder of January 6.

But in the heartlands of Pennsylvania, the suburbs of Arizona and cities everywhere, the gut check issue is less the somewhat abstract and age-old concept of self-government. It is the more basic part of feeding a family. This is an election more about the cost of a cart full of groceries or the price of a gallon of gasoline than America’s founding truths.

The Future of Democracy as a Factor in Your Decision to Vote: Patricia Strong, President Trump, and the Fed’s Strategy to Rebuild the Economy

Retiree Patricia Strong told CNN that the price of everything was better under Trump, and she was looking forward to retirement.

Americans with credit card debt and their retirement accounts have taken a big hit because of the falling stock markets, which is why the Federal Reserve raised its short term borrowing rate on Wednesday. The low unemployment rate has been one of the best parts of the Biden economy and it is feared that the Fed’s strategy could ruin it.

The current election will cause political damage if it goes ahead because it will cause inflation, and economic damage that can be repaired.

The midterm elections, in which Democrats held the Senate and Republicans won a tiny House majority, help explain the poll’s findings. Voters were hoping for a return to normal, but they weren’t enthusiastic about the president, who didn’t go on the campaign trail because of his low approval numbers. They didn’t think the GOP would fix things.

This year, I want you to remember the future of democracy as a factor in your decision to vote and how you vote. “Will that person accept the outcome of the election, win or lose?” He said that at the end of the campaign, a number of GOP nominees did not say they would accept voters’ will.

Biden’s Repudiation of Trump and the MAGA Pedestrians: The Cost of Living With High-Priced Healthcare

It’s not that Biden hasn’t been also talking about high prices. The billions of dollars of spending that he wants to put in his domestic agenda will be used to lower the cost of health care, lift up working families and create millions of jobs. That may be the case, but things that could happen in the future can’t ease the pain being felt now.

Throughout history, inflation has often been a pernicious political force that breeds desperation in an electorate and seeds extremism as a potential response. The Biden White House is so curious that they didn’t see the surge of prices as a problem because they said it was a “transitory” issue.

He put his own interests ahead of loyalty to the Constitution. Biden said that he didn’t want to insult every GOP voter as he did when he referred to “semi-fascists” earlier this year.

The president stated that Trump was far more threatening than he was in the election. “As I stand here today, there are candidates running for every level of office in America: for governor, Congress, for attorney general, for secretary of state who won’t commit – who will not commit to accepting the results of the elections they’re running in,” the president warned.

Biden also hinted at a lack of understanding of Trump’s MAGA supporters, who have embraced his anti-democratic, populist, nationalist appeal to mainly White voters, which grew out of a backlash to the first Black presidency of Barack Obama. The 44th president has been making his own searing defenses of democracy and repudiation of Trump on the midterm election campaign trail in recent days.

The aide gave the phone to the president as soon as the dinner had ended.

On the other end of the line was David Trone, the millionaire Maryland wine retailer who was thousands of miles and a time zone 12 hours away and had just clinched another term in the House.

The call was short, but it reflected the warmth and enthusiasm Biden had deployed Dozens of times in calls to winning candidates over the last week – each one further solidifying a midterm election that dramatically reshaped the prevailing view of his presidency.

Biden’s best answer to those Democrats who would prefer another candidate is that he’s already beaten Trump in 2020 and staved off the traditional first-term shellacking for first-term presidents in the midterms, partly by warning Trump’s ultra-MAGA forces were mustering for another assault on American democracy.

There was a direct effect of election results on Bidens standing in his first two years of office, if they didn’t match historical trends.

Jake Sullivan, a US national security adviser, said that the results of the elections were taken note of by a number of leaders who came up to the president to say that they were following them closely.

“I would say one theme that emerged over the course of the two days was the theme about the strength of American democracy and what this election said about American democracy,” Sullivan told reporters aboard Air Force One as Biden traveled from Phnom Penh to Bali, Indonesia, for the Group of 20 Summit.

The First Congressional Meeting Between US and China: Why the U.S. is Facing with the Inflationary Crisis? The Case of Xi and the White House

The White House officials who were braced for losses in the weeks leading up to election day have taken to their social media accounts to voice their disapproval of those who predicted otherwise.

The team that officials acknowledge feels constantly underestimated is a group that has long coveted the success it got after its first 21 months in office.

White House officials had been looking at the G-20 as the likely place to have a meeting with Xi. There were intensive preparations between the two sides in the lead up to announcing the engagement publicly. Domestic politics did not preclude a sit down regardless of the tenuous state of the relationship.

White House advisers downplayed the effect of the lost votes on Biden in the weeks leading up to the election, citing the same historical trends they would go against later.

But privately, multiple people familiar with the matter said, there was an awareness of the potential split screen of a US president grappling with his party’s political defeat at the same moment Xi would arrive in Bali at the peak of his power in the wake of the Community Party Congress, during which he secured a norm-breaking third term in power.

Political standing is affected by deceptive practices, a US official said. The election was watched by everyone around the world and it was never a central focus or driver of the dynamics.

Far from a liability, however, each of the congratulatory calls back home have underscored the driving wind at the back of a president who entered the meeting with Xi at a moment where US-China relations appear to be inching away from great power competition toward inevitable conflict.

“I know I’m stronger,” Biden said, before noting that given his long-standing relationship with Xi formed during their times as their nations’ vice president that the results weren’t a necessity for the meeting to achieve its goals. US officials are also careful not to overstate the effect on a trip – and in a region – where the layers of complexity and challenges far exceed what voters decide in a congressional district or swing state.

Biden frequently frames the battle between democracy and autocracy as a “inflection point”, and it’s not surprising that he doesn’t hesitate about his view.

After the election, allies and foes were left in no doubt when Biden said yes to the questions.

Former President Donald Trump, whose election lies had driven the assault on the US Capitol, hadn’t faded away and he remained the most powerful figure inside the Republican Party.

Biden had managed to pass a sweeping domestic agenda on a bipartisan basis, making it the narrowest of congressional majorities. He had a somewhat low approval ratings due to high inflation and a population exhausted by years of crisis.

The possibility that Biden would face the same harsh judgment of his first two years in office as nearly all his recent predecessors wasn’t just likely. The thing was expected.

Biden would be doing more than reporting to the nation by striking the right balance between claiming credit and over-claiming progress and preaching constructive collaboration in contrast to the bellicose voices of the right.

Biden feels that he establishes a strong position for himself on the international stage and we saw that today, as the meeting with the Chinese began, Sullivan told reporters. “I think we’ll see that equally when we head into both the G20 and to his bilateral engagements in Bali.”

Biden had meetings with the leaders of Japan and South Korea in his final day in Cambodia and he also had a meeting with the Prime Minister of Australia.

Nevada Rep. Dina Titus, who faced a tough reelection battle in a redrawn district, had secured another term in office. Biden needed to pass along his congratulations.

Trump vs. Beijing: What has the world learned from the Xi-Biden summit in Indonesia and what has it to do with China?

The summit in Indonesia yielded two important outcomes, according to the US: A joint position that Russia must not use a nuclear weapon in Ukraine and an expected resumption of talks on climate between American and Chinese negotiators, a boost for the COP 27 global climate conference in Egypt.

The US statement that Xi and Biden “reiterated their agreement that a nuclear war should never be fought and can never be won and underscored their opposition to the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine” was also important.

The world has been badly affected by this because the world’s two most powerful leaders haven’t been addressing these issues together in recent months.

While Beijing has yet to confirm Xi’s side of the conversation, China’s consummation of a new friendship with Moscow just before the invasion of Ukraine caused alarm in the West. And as top US and Russian officials met in Turkey on Monday, partly about the nuclear issue, the signals coming out of the Xi-Biden talks could be an important indication of restraint from Beijing to Moscow and a diplomatic win for Washington.

Leon Panetta – a former White House chief of staff, defense secretary and CIA chief who dealt with US-China relations for decades – expressed cautious optimism after the talks on the sidelines of the G20 summit.

Panetta told CNN that the meeting could very well be “crucial” if it is to put the relationship back on a more diplomatic plane, instead of beating each other up.

While both sides want to avoid a fight, their goals remain fundamentally incompatible as shown at the summit in Indonesia.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry advised neither side to try to remold the other in their own image, or change their system.

A statesman should think about and know where to lead his country, as was said in public by Xi prior to the talks. It could be seen as an acknowledgment of the new responsibility with China now a major world power. But they could also be read as the kind of lecture that Washington once delivered to Chinese leaders that Xi is now taking the opportunity to throw back at the US.

Since part of Richard Nixon’s motivation to engage China in the 70s was to open strategic gaps between Beijing and Moscow, Washington’s foreign policy has come full circle.

Things aren’t so different now, though the dynamic between the Kremlin and Beijing has reversed, with China the global power and Russia the junior partner.

A Brief Review of the Russian War on Crime and Democracy after the U.S. Presidential Reconciling with Ukraine at the End of the Cold War

Frida Ghitis, a CNN producer and correspondent, is a world affairs columnist. She is a weekly opinion contributor to CNN, a contributing columnist to The Washington Post and a columnist for World Politics Review. The views expressed in this commentary are her own. CNN has more opinion on it.

A well- functioning democratic process in the US is likely to be disappointing to the autocrats who want deep divisions to continue to weaken the country from within and prove that democracy is not good for the country. The American President had a stronger hand after the Midterms.

This was the perfect moment for this meeting to occur, from the standpoint of the United States and for democracy, as well as from the perspective of the House of Representatives and Senate.

After years of turmoil and anxiety, there are signs that the democratic world may just be starting to reverse the tide of autocracy, or at least its most dangerous elements. It is too early to say how strong the global democratic push will be.

As Biden and Xi were meeting, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made an emotional, triumphant return to the devastated, now liberated city of Kherson, the one provincial capital that Russian invaders had conquered.

And while the pictures of Biden in Kyiv were remarkable, they cannot disguise real questions and uncertainties surrounding the US approach to the war and differences with the Ukrainians. The US is prepared to give a variety of weapons that can be used in different scenarios about the end of the war. The phrase “as long as it takes” can mean different things to different people and there is every sign that this war, which Putin cannot afford to lose, could grind on for many bloody more years, testing Western resolve.

The world’s leading autocrats looked unstoppable even as they were Putin and Xi. Violence was a feature of protests against Covid-19 restrictions. Putin was preparing for triumph in Ukraine. Xi was hosting the Olympics, basking in attention, and preparing to solidify his control of China.

Biden stood next to Ukrainian President Zelensky in the Ukrainian capital, taunting Putin for failing in his attempts to take over the country.

Tellingly, Putin chose not to attend the G20 summit in Bali, avoiding confrontations with world leaders as he increasingly becomes a pariah on the global stage.

The Biden-Trump Early Term: Predictions, Election Results, and the Prospects for the 2020 Presidential Reionization Race

There are some leaders who have a strong hand, and Biden is not the only one. The third term is an unprecedented one for China’s leader, and it means that he will be able to rule as long as he wants. He doesn’t have to worry about elections, about a critical press or a vociferous opposition party. He is essentially the absolute ruler of a mighty country for many years to come.

Xi faces a lot of difficult problems. The economy has slowed down so much that China is reluctant to reveal economic data. The Covid-19 vaccine, once a tool of global diplomacy, is a disappointment. And partly because of that, China is imposing draconian lockdowns as the rest of the world gradually returns to normalcy after the pandemic.

Also crucial in the epochal competition between the two systems is showing that democracy works, defeating efforts of autocratic countries such as China and Russia to discredit it and proving that unprovoked wars of aggression, aimed at suppressing democracy and conquering territory, will not succeed.

Many voters are looking for a break from the past and present because of the White House race of 2016 and the recent move by President Biden and Trump to rerun it.

A majority of Republicans and GOP- leaning independents want their party to pick someone other than Trump in 2024, according to a new poll. The other side hopes for a nominee other than Biden.

It is early. And the 2022 midterms offer a still fresh reminder that in a volatile, partisan age shadowed by crises at home and abroad, logic, history, polls and pre-race predictions months ahead of time often don’t count for much.

But the race is on, whether voters want it or not. The early perception of the contender’s strengths is important, since they shape the decisions of potential rivals and donors. Trump is already a declared candidate, although he could use a relaunch after a tepid start, and Biden is giving every sign he plans on running, suggesting he’ll let the country know for sure early in the new year.

The poll also hints at one of the emerging paradoxes in the nascent 2024 race. Despite being the most powerful figures in their own party, both Biden and Trump appear vulnerable at the start of the two-year campaign and could face complicated problems from aging or shifting political environments.

While DeSantis, for instance, has impressed conservative voters by seizing on hot button culture war issues like immigration, transgender rights, anti-Covid 19 measures and supposed voter fraud, he has not yet come face-to-face with Trump. The Florida governor, who won an easy reelection race last month, has not stated if he will run against Trump. A number of primary debates with Trump would test his ability to take a blow, as well as his willingness to counter-attack a president who benefits from a cult of personality among GOP base voters.

Still, any president is deeply vulnerable to unexpected outside events that could splinter his approval ratings and chances of reelection. Every day, the oldest president in US history will have to confront the age issue. Republicans will seize on any slackening of the campaign trail pace, or even a cold, as proof he’s unfit for a second term. Biden is doing well, but the chances of an adverse event increase for people in their 80s.

The president is in better shape than Trump is at the end of the year. This summer, only 25% of Democrat-aligned voters wanted him to be their nominee. Now that figure is 40%. And among those who want someone else, 72% say they’ve got no one particular in mind, further bolstering the advantage a sitting president usually has against a primary challenger.

Republican politics may, or may not, be at a moment of transition. How things shake out in the next few months will be critical to Trump’s prospects. On the one hand, more and more Republicans – prompted by the failure of many of the ex-president’s hand-picked candidates in the midterms – are saying it’s time to move on.

Their argument that the general election viability is damaged beyond repair was strengthened by Trumps dinner with extremists with a record of antisemitism. The lackluster campaign of Trump, which looks like it was designed to make it easier for him to portray criminal probes into his conduct as persecution, isn’t convincing anyone so far.

The new House majority will be greatly influenced by the former president’s allies. Even though Republicans failed to do better in the November elections, a thinner majority will be easier for extremists to use to damage Biden and help Trump in the long run.

GOP hopefuls will see that 38% – the lowest point of three CNN polls on the topic this year – as an opening for an anti-Trump candidate. But another big field could splinter opposition to the ex-president among untested potential foes.

Zelensky’s enduring support for Ukrainian resistance: a glimpse of the U.S. side in the running of the Ukrainian war

In weighing a visit, Zelensky suggested to advisers he did not want to travel to Washington had there not been a significant development in the bilateral relationship with the United States, according to a source familiar with the matter. Zelensky viewed the US decision to send a Patriot missile defense system to Ukraine as a major shift in the relationship between the two allies.

Biden’s historic visit came days before the one-year anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, providing a symbolic boost to Kyiv at a crucial juncture in the conflict.

The continued support of the United States will have a major impact on how the war progresses in the coming months. If his message was meant as a reassuring one for Ukrainians, it was also intended as a reminder to Americans that the stakes of the conflict extend well beyond Ukraine’s borders.

The final decision was made by Biden in an Oval Office meeting on Friday. Once the trip was on, US officials took steps to notify Moscow of their plans, an attempt at “deconfliction” meant to avoid unthinkable disaster while Biden was on the ground.

Zelensky has become the international symbol of Ukrainian resistance and has spent most of the year appealing to nations for support. He has remained inside his country for the duration of the war, a reflection both of his desire to rally alongside his besieged country and the precarious security situation he would face outside Ukraine.

That is an important perception for the US sinceUkraine isn’t an official member of NATO. The US doesn’t give more direct aid toUkraine because of the concern that Putin would be provoked against NATO.

The senior administration official said that the conflict would continue. We will continue providing critical support to the Ukranian people during the winter season.

There is a chance that the new deal will include the supply of guidance kits, which can be used to hit unguided missiles or bombs. The rate at which they burn through ammunition will be increased by this. Money is expected to be spent on replacements and stocks.

A 81-Year-Old Senator from Virginia Visited the US and Other Middle East Wartime Spotlight for a Nation’s Defiance

Unlike smaller air defense systems, Patriot missile batteries need much larger crews, requiring dozens of personnel to properly operate them. The training for Patriot missile batteries normally takes multiple months, a process the United States will now carry out under the pressure of near-daily aerial attacks from Russia.

The official said the US would teach the Ukrainians how to use the system. CNN reported previously that training would take place at the US Army base in Germany.

The system is widely considered one of the most capable long-range weapons to defend airspace against incoming ballistic and cruise missiles, as well as some aircraft. Because of its long-range and high-altitude capability, it can potentially shoot down Russian missiles and aircraft far from their intended targets inside Ukraine.

During America’s Middle East wars of the last 20 years, Americans became accustomed to Presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump leaving Washington in the dead of night and popping up in Baghdad or Kabul to visit US troops and US-backed leaders. The trips had their risks, but Biden went to a foreign capital that was often under air attack, without the security of large garrisons of American troops and air assets. Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser to Vice President Biden, said that the US told Russia of the plans to visit.

Zelensky remembered an earlier visit to Washington that started 81 years ago by a leader of a dark and bomb ravaged nation who was desperate for US help to turn the tide toward victory. Pelosi, likely presiding over her final great congressional occasion, recalled how her father was in the House, as a Maryland congressman, when British Prime Minister Winston Churchill addressed Congress on December 26, 1941. Zelensky borrowed one of the great statesman’s greatest lines, as he also presented himself as the symbol of a nation’s defiance.

Zelensky’s appearance was supported by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as she prepared to hand the gavel to a new one. Earlier this year she took a surprise visit of her own to meet with Zelensky in Kyiv.

The War Between Russia and Ukraine: The ‘Decision on Patriotism’ and “I Have a Dream Speech” by Donald Zelensky

The US process of matching aid to the changing strategies of Russia and the Ukranian is what has led to the decision on ‘patriot’. In order to counter Russia’s missile attacks on cities and electricity installations, the system has been mounted in an effective attempt to weaponize bitter winter weather to break the will of Ukrainian civilians.

The war between Russia and Ukraine may be decided before Russia regroups if upgraded US support can be found, according to a former NATO Supreme Allied Commander.

His visit to Congress will play an important part in the debate on Capitol Hill over aid to the Ukranian government, with Republicans expected to take over the majority in the new year. Pro-Donald Trump members who will have significant leverage in the thin GOP majority, warn that the billions of dollars sent to Ukraine should instead be used to strengthen the US southern border with a surge of new migrants expected in the next few days.

Zelensky evoked Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I have a Dream Speech” during a virtual address to Congress in March. The fear of aerial bombardment was so bad in modern history that there were two days of infamy.

On December 7, 1941, when the sky was black from the planes attack you, remember Pearl Harbor. Zelensky said to just remember. “Remember September 11, a terrible day in 2001 when evil tried to turn your cities, independent territories, into battlefields. When innocent people were attacked, attacked from air, just like nobody else expected it, you could not stop it. Our country experiences the same every day.”

The wartime delivery of the Patriot missiles and the Ukrainian jets to the United States, where a Cold War thaw came to an end

After dodging several U-boats and flying in a plane from the coast of Virginia to Washington, the British leader was met by President Roosevelt in the morning of December 22, 1941.

The two leaders plotted the defeat of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan and laid the foundation of the Western after days of meetings and ideas, fueled by the rule of sherry with breakfast, Scotch and sodas, champagne in the evening, and a 90-year-old brandy before bed.

Churchill, who had pined for US involvement in World War II for months and knew it was the key to defeating Adolf Hitler, said during his visit, “I spend this anniversary and festival far from my country, far from my family, and yet I cannot truthfully say that I feel far from home.”

The Ukrainian leader is likely to appreciate the historical parallels. He paraphrased one of Churchill’s most famous wartime speeches in an emotional address to British members of parliament in March.

There are two key headline deliverables: first, the Patriot missile systems. Complex, accurate, and expensive, they have been described as the US’s “gold standard” of air defense. NATO preciously guards them, and they require the personnel who operate them – almost 100 in a battalion for each weapon – to be properly trained.

The second are for Ukrainian jets. Ukraine, and Russia, largely are equipped with munitions that are “dumb” – fired roughly towards a target. Ukraine has been provided with more and more Western standard precision artillery and missiles, like Howitzers and HIMARS respectively.

Given that its economy is struggling, and its conventional forces are under extreme pressure, Russia also lacks resources to ignite a new nuclear arms race with Washington. But the collapse of one of the last building blocks of a post-Cold War thaw between Russia and the US exemplifies the almost total lack of communication between the rivals.

Western analysts have noted Russia has grumbled consistently about these deliveries, but been relatively muted in its practical response to the crossing of what, as recently as January, might have been considered “red lines.”

Whatever the eventual truth of the matter – and military aid is opaque at the best of times – Biden wants Putin to hear nothing but headline figures in the billions, to sap Russian resolve, push European partners to help more, and make Ukraine’s resources seem limitless.

This is trickier. Congress’s likely new Speaker, Republican Kevin McCarthy, has warned the Biden administration cannot expect a “blank cheque” from the new GOP-led House of Representatives.

U.S. President Barack Obama vs. Putin: The United States Needs to Help the End of the Crime against Crime in Ukraine

The remnants of the Trumpist “America First” elements of that party have echoed doubts about how much aid the US should really be sending to the edges of eastern Europe.

The bill for Washington’s slow victory against Russia is relatively light because of the massive annual defense budget.

As a former reality TV star turned surprise president, he is the embodiment of howPutin’s war of choice turned ordinary Ukrainians into wartime heroes.

Clinton said no one is asking for a blank check. I believe that the Ukrainians have shown that they are a good investment in the United States. They’re not asking for us to be there to fight. They are fighting it on their own. They want us to win, so we are asking them for the means to do that.

The speech “connected the struggle of Ukrainian people to our own revolution, to our own feelings that we want to be warm in our homes to celebrate Christmas and to get us to think about all the families in Ukraine that will be huddled in the cold and to know that they are on the front lines of freedom right now,” Clinton said on CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360” Wednesday.

I hope that they send more than one. She noted there’s “been some reluctance in the past” by the US and NATO to provide advanced equipment, but added “We’ve seen with our own eyes how effective Ukrainian military is.”

Clinton, who previously met Russian President Vladimir Putin as US secretary of state, said the leader was “probably impossible to actually predict,” as the war turns in Ukraine’s favor and his popularity fades at home.

“I think around now, what [Putin] is considering is how to throw more bodies, and that’s what they will be – bodies of Russian conscripts – into the fight in Ukraine,” Clinton said.

The world was bracing for the fall of Kyiv at that dark night a year ago, Biden said at the news conference. The event itself carried its own symbolism – it did not feature two leaders cowering in a bunker, but went ahead in an ornate room like any other leaders’ press conference in any other capital.

Biden would have admitted that certain things Putin could prevent him from doing, in an attempt to show US weakness.

Emerging from their talks, both men made clear they see the war entering a new phase. As Russia sends more troops to the frontlines and wages a brutal air campaign against civilian targets, fears of a stalemate are growing.

But on Wednesday, Zelensky used bellicose rhetoric that suggested such a peace was not close, saying the road to ending the war would not involve making concessions to Russia.

“For me as a president, ‘just peace’ is no compromises,” he said, indicating he doesn’t see any road to peace that involves Ukraine giving up territory or sovereignty.

Zelensky asked the White House if the team could help develop the 10-point peace proposal that he first unveiled last year. Despite that work still being ongoing, peace talks were not discussed during Biden’s visit this week.

For his part, Biden said it was up to Zelensky to “decide how he wants to the war to end,” a long-held view that leaves plenty of questions unanswered.

Zelensky gave a lengthy address where he talked about the important battles of American history, starting with the Battle of the Confederacy during the American Revolutionary War to the Battle of the Bulge in World War II.

He delivered his address in English, a purposeful choice he telegraphed ahead of the speech. Even his attire – the now-familiar Army green shirt, cargo pants and boots – seemed designed to remind his audience they were in the presence of a wartime leader.

Looking Through Zelensky’s Eyes: What Do We Need to Know Before We Leave the Cold War? It Is All About Seeking Your Eyes

Zelensky has been able to appeal to his audience, whether they are national legislators or the audience of the grammys.

On Wednesday, he sought to harness Americans’ emotional response to his country’s suffering, evoking dark winter nights as Russia seeks to interrupt Ukraine’s power supply.

“We will celebrate Christmas, maybe candlelit. Not because it’s more romantic, no, but because there will be no electricity,” he said. “We’ll celebrate Christmas and even if there is no electricity, the light of our faith, in ourselves, will not be put out.”

But he was aware that Americans have asked why billions of US dollars are needed for a conflict thousands of miles away. He sought to make the cause about more than his own homeland.

Zelensky was candid about his request for morePatriots, and Biden was light-hearted about it.

On the surface, Biden and Zelensky have maintained a stalwart partnership. Zelensky heaped praise on Biden while he was in the East Room on his way to Capitol Hill.

That hasn’t always sat well with Biden or his team. As he has with many other foreign leaders, Biden appeared to be trying to translate physical proximity into a better understanding of his counterpart.

It is all about seeing someone’s eyes. I really mean it. I don’t believe there is a substitute for looking at a foe and facing them face to face.

The War Between Ukraine and the US: A Memorandum to the American President and His Oasis in the War on the Edge of the Cold War

This story was brought up in the December 22 edition of CNN’s Meanwhile in America, the email about US politics for global readers. Click here to read past editions and subscribe.

The fate of millions of Ukrainians has been placed in the hands of American lawmakers, taxpayers and families at a time when there is growing skepticism among the incoming Republican House majority about the cost of US involvement.

He handed Pelosi a Ukrainian flag that had been signed by the troops from Bkachmut, asking lawmakers to support his country. She handed him an American flag that had been flown over the US Capitol, which he carried out of the chamber.

He brought a flag to the congress and members of the house of representatives and senators who could save millions of people.

The signal of heroic resistance sent by Putin after he flew to Washington on an US Air Force jet was intended to show Russians are not done fighting a war that can never be won.

Zelensky gave a huge thank you to Americans for the billions of dollars in weapons and aid. Implicitly, he argued they couldn’t abandon this gritty, independence hero without also suppressing something of their own patriotic national identify.

— To the incoming House Republican majority, some of whose members want to halt aid, the Ukrainian leader’s hero’s welcome in the chamber suggested they would be shamed if they choose to forsake him.

As Russian attacks on their power plants weaponized the winter, he proved that Ukrainians are not alone.

But Zelensky’s inspirational rhetoric and heroic bearing couldn’t disguise the uncertainties and risks of a war in which the US is effectively now fighting a proxy battle with its nuclear superpower rival, Russia.

Zelensky said that his nation was still outgunned despite the largesse of the United States and the imminent arrival of high-tech weapons.

The president tried to maintain the strength of the weapons that were sent into the battle so that he wouldn’t cause a direct confrontation with Russia, but also to make sure he did not go too far by crossing invisible red lines.

There are already early signs of ebbing public support for Biden’s repeated aid and arms packages for Ukraine a year after Russia’s brutal and unprovoked invasion. And House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, a Trump ally, has warned against a “blank check” for Ukraine. The reaction of the ex-president’s proteges in the GOP-controlled House to Biden’s daring secret visit to Kyiv last month suggests that the 2024 Republican nominee will surely cater to a base that believes the US should spend its money securing its own borders instead of Ukraine’s and that Biden cares more for foreigners than Americans.

Zelensky made a reference to Kevin McCarthy who warned after the speech that he didn’t support a blank check for Ukraine.

Even though the bitter partisanship of Washington will mean there is no guarantee that America’s lawmakers will be able to fund their own government, there is still a chance they will do so.

Zelensky at the White House: Why are Americans here? Why are we in Ukraine now, and why are we doing so together?

The Republicans who expressed reservations about aid toUkraine did not applaud when Zelensky was introduced.

Fresh from a trip to the bloody front lines in Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky strode onto the ornate US House floor on Wednesday evening in his signature green military wear to shore up his supply line.

The speech was a strong plea to the Republicans to remain with Ukraine because they will now control the House in January.

The $45 billion in assistance for the Republic of Ukraine that Congress approved at the end of last year is not the only reason why Biden administration officials are concerned about the possibility of a reduction in aid.

Wednesday’s White House reception could not have been the one Zelensky envisioned years ago when he faced then-President Donald Trump’s call for him to investigate Biden in exchange for military aid. And now Zelensky was thanking Americans for their help against Russia in the very chamber where Trump was impeached three years ago for pressuring Zelensky.

He talked about a time when US troops were encircled in the snow after gaining a foothold in Europe during World War II.

He told the American people that they will do the fighting for them, but then also stated that they were in this together. That was what the man told CNN’s Anderson Cooper.

Are Russia and Ukraine’s Wars in Trouble? Secretary of State Mike McCarthy meets with the House Minority Whist and the House Foreign Affairs Committee

An address to Congress is the ultimate platform for a foreign president in the US and maybe around the world. It is different than what Putin did when he canceled his annual year-end press conference.

The money pledged to Ukraine by the White House and in a larger spending bill are significant because they will need to be passed before Friday.

In addition to the money directly for Ukraine, the larger year-end spending bill includes an increase in US defense spending that will help American weapons and ammunition stockpiles depleted by support sent to Ukraine.

Kevin McCarthy, the leader of the House GOP, met with Zelensky and the other congressional leaders to get the votes he needs to become House speaker.

The only Ukrainian-born member of Congress, Indiana GOP Rep. Victoria Spartz, has expressed skepticism about some of the aid to Ukraine and concerns about corruption in Zelensky’s administration.

The Biden administration on Friday announced its largest drawdown yet in US military assistance to Ukraine, but there are lurking concerns that Republicans wielding newfound power in Washington could stand in the way of future aid – especially as chaos brews in the House.

Several Republican members who switched their votes to support McCarthy on Friday said they are encouraged by a framework of an agreement, but provided no specifics about the deal and said talks are ongoing.

That number was higher than the president requested, as Democrats thought that additional funding would be harder to come by in a GOP-controlled House. In some ways, that number was an insurance policy against Republican resistance and the view inside the White House was that that figure would sustain US support for several months.

Rules changes to the budgetary process could significantly hamper Congress’ ability to pass new aid come September and certain conservative Republicans have vowed to oppose any new Ukraine funding.

A diplomat told CNN they believe the situation is likely to cause trouble for Ukraine aid, as many who fought McCarthy have in the past spoken out against additional assistance.

A diplomat said that the Freedom Caucus, which was not particularly pro-Ukrainian, had just shown its clout and that it was a sign of a long legislative paralysis.

Opinions on the CNN State of the Union: An Overview of a Senior Political Consultant to Barack Obama and the Secretary of State for the 2012 Elections

Others noted they were watching closely to see the kinds of maneuvers McCarthy would make to secure the role, which could potentially include cuts to aid.

Another diplomat told CNN they’re personally concerned about “the policy concessions McCarthy has to make, and if they are going to affect US role in the world.”

Volodymyr Zelensky said the latest drawdown was an awesome Christmas present for his country. And lawmakers in Ukraine told CNN they are not concerned that the future of assistance is at risk, noting the strong past bipartisan and public support for aiding their country.

Editor’s Note: David Axelrod, a CNN senior political commentator and host of “The Axe Files,” was a senior adviser to former President Barack Obama and chief strategist for the 2008 and 2012 Obama presidential campaigns. The opinions expressed in this commentary are his own. View more opinion on CNN.

The State of the Union speech isn’t a panacea for political ills. After a speech, the president generally gets a boost in polling, but that fades over time.

The annual report to Congress and the nation is still important because it almost guarantees a president the largest audience he will have all year to share his unfiltered message with the American people.

The president may get a chance to talk about the Philadelphia Eagles in the pre-Super Bowl interview, and it will be watched by a larger audience. The interviews are difficult for a president to control. People watch football, not politicians.

After a string of impressive legislative victories and a strong showing for the Democrats in the elections, Biden has been overshadowed by a classified documents imbroglio that has been a distraction.

His overall job approval rating is stuck in the low 40s, according to CNN’s Poll of Polls. Meanwhile, nearly three in four Americans say they feel things are headed in the wrong direction and only 36% approve of Biden’s handling of the economy, according to a recent NBC News poll.

The economy is in better shape than it was when Biden took office, as evidenced by the fact that 10 million jobs were created and steady growth despite eight Federal Reserve rate hikes.

The important steps he and Congress took during the worst of the Pandemic were very important. He signed an infrastructure bill, which is now being used for a lot of public works improvements. He has taken steps to make health care more affordable.

Yet Americans have weathered wrenching loss and jarring dislocations during the pandemic, many of which are still reverberating. Global supply chain shortages and increased energy costs have led to a sharp rise in inflation.

The rest of the world has been rocked by the same forces but, as Harry Truman said, when you’re President of the United States, “the buck stops here.” You can’t jawbone people into feeling better.

What Did President Biden Have Done Before Lyndon Johnson? During his 50th Birthday the United States Was a Muppet of Freedom

Biden should avoid grandiose claims like “Not since Lyndon Johnson!” even though he reports on the accomplishments. It was the biggest since FDR. Leave that stuff to historians.

Emphasize how you tried to help but don’t talk about how great things are. How great are you? You can’t persuade people of what they don’t feel — and will lose them if you try.

All presidents want to have such a vision. When you are eighty years old and you are the oldest president in American history, people don’t connect you with the word “future.”

Biden must tell a larger story about how these initiatives are laying the groundwork for something better if he wants to claim credit for what he has done.

The Florida governor didn’t mention the Ukraine in his book “The Courage to be Free.” He does not agree with President Bush that the survival of liberty in our land is dependent on liberty in other lands. There was a messianic impulse that the US had both the right and the obligation to promote democracy, by force, if necessary around the world, not in a clear-eyed sense of American interests.

Reply to the “Comment on ‘A Tale of Two Wild Things'” by S.T. Biden, M.C. Helson, J.R. Keane, R.D. Nichols

I bet the President will speak about gun violence and abortion rights and cry out for more steps to prevent such horrors as the savage beating of Tyre Nichols.

He must speak about the crisis at the border and what additional steps he plans to quell it but also the continued crisis faced by millions of undocumented workers who live in our country — crises that should be solved by rekindling proposals for comprehensive immigration reform.

The future in our country is related to these issues. And, as a political matter, Biden has the popular position on almost all of them — though the border looms as a vulnerability — while the new Republican House majority is on the losing side.

At key moments, Republicans heckled Mr. Biden with shouts of “liar” and angry shakes of their head. The goal was not to show his weakness, but to rattle him. Mr. Biden snapped back at the Republican shouters with sharp retorts and even a sense of humor in some moments. The president shouted out to the Republicans that they had converted to cutting Social Security, after they accused him of exaggerating their intentions.

We all have a choice, so to those of you in the new majority, let me say. We can spend the next two years trying to destroy each other for politics. Wherever we can work together to solve the problems facing families and communities across our country, we can. I am sure that the American people want to make a choice. I know which choice I’m prepared to make. I hope you’ll join me.”

What Will the Pentagon Tell Us About China? Donald J. Biden’s First State of the Union Address to the House of Representatives to the United States

Biden made statements that were direct and raise questions about how Beijing will respond to the US, even if his tone spoke to a charged domestic political context.

Even as it confronts Russia in Ukraine, the US is seeking to dampen its latest crisis with China – over what Washington says was a Chinese spy balloon that wafted over the continental US earlier this month. The two showdowns came closer to a linkage this week as the US warned China not to supply Russia with arms that it could use in the war in Ukraine and as Wang headed to Moscow.

After condemning autocracies and arguing for the superiority of democracies, Biden named the President of China, Xi.

The US has a long-held policy of strategic ambiguity on the issue of Taiwan and has not changed, despite repeated statements by President Biden that he would defend the island if attacked by China.

The scope of the Chinese balloon program won’t help the situation with Beijing. US intelligence officials think the Chinese military has conducted at least two dozen missions over five continents in the last five years and is based in the province of Hainan. Roughly half a dozen of those flights have been within US airspace – although not necessarily over US territory, according to one official familiar with the intelligence.

His comments on Russia immediately followed those on China, making it impossible to miss the symbolic synergy of his policies towards both nations as he laid out a Biden doctrine of standing with democracies against autocracies.

President Biden delivered a plea to Republicans on Tuesday for unity in his second State of the Union address, but vowed not to back off his economic agenda and offered no far-reaching, new ideas in a speech filled with a familiar litany of exhortations from more than four decades in political life.

Paul Biden and the State of the Union: How much do you care about the politician? Why are political opponents like Greene so easy to ruffle?

Bill McGowan is the founder and CEO of a global communications coaching firm based in New York. He is the author of “Pitch Perfect: How to Say It Right the First Time, Every Time.” Juliana Silva is a strategic communications adviser at Clarity. The views expressed in this commentary are solely those of the authors. View more opinion articles on CNN.

But Biden has made a career out of being underestimated. The state of the union’s political skills made one loud statement at the start of the election season: underestimate me at your own peril.

Perhaps more than any other politician, Biden is the king at eviscerating his political opponents with a high-beam smile. In the 2012 vice presidential debate, Paul Ryan experienced that firsthand.

That disarming tactic was again on full display during his State of the Union address when he sarcastically told Republicans who voted against the infrastructure bill he signed into law in 2021, yet claimed credit for the jobs it’s bringing to their home districts, “see you at the groundbreaking.”

The answer was yes because of a new breed of House Republicans willing to create chaos in the absence of Donald Trump.

Members of the GOP just can’t help themselves. It might be that they thought mocking Biden on the House floor would represent a surprise ambush.

The President turned the tables on his critics, swatting away the attacks and even getting rid of them. If the GOP had watched the Biden videos, they would have known that he isn’t easy to ruffling his feathers. You don’t spend decades in Washington, DC, and still sport a thin skin.

The puzzling question is why are political opponents like Greene creating the same stark contrast in personality that plays right into the President’s hands? It could cost them in the long run. Historically, voter turnout increases when the electorate is presented with a choice between the good and bad guys, and it favors Democrats.

John J. Sullivan: US Ambassador to Russia from December 2019 to October 2022 and what that might teach us about the outcome of the Cold War

Editor’s Note: John J. Sullivan was US Ambassador to Russia from December 2019 to October 2022. Prior to that, he was the US deputy Secretary of State. He is now a partner in the firm and a fellow in Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. His own views are expressed in this commentary. There is more opinion on CNN.

For weeks, I had been telling everyone I could reach that Russian President Vladimir Putin was going to launch a war on the continent of Europe, the scale of which had not been seen since World War II.

Although confident in my pre-war assessment, I was disconsolate. For two years, I had worked hard as US ambassador to make even modest progress in the few areas in which any dialogue was possible with the Russians.

I say this with a heavy heart, as a person who was an advocate for continued negotiations with the Russian government even as the downward spiral of our relationship accelerated. The Deputy Secretary State of the State Department gave up his perch on Mahogany Row to serve as the US ambassador in Moscow and take the lead in negotiations.

The war changed things great and small, from where I lived in Moscow to Russia’s standing in the world. I had to move onto the Embassy compound because the pace of teleconferences with Washington, combined with an eight-hour time difference, meant I had to be immediately available at all hours.

Grain markets and energy markets were affected by the invasion. Thousands of innocent people were slaughtered and millions of Ukrainians were devastated by a policy choice made by Putin in his quest for empire.

Yet the merciless Russian violence (which has forced almost 15 million Ukrainians to become refugees or internally displaced), the catastrophic missile strikes on civilian targets and the unlawful occupation of sovereign Ukrainian territory continue. Russia is a permanent member of the UN Security Council and it does its duty to promote and protect world peace.

This is a serious problem that will only get worse until it is stopped and reversed on terms acceptable to the Ukrainian government which will protect its sovereignty and security.

That could be the case. But Putin made clear in his speech that there was no prospect of the war ending soon. In telling Russians the conflict was critical to their own nation’s existence and part of an effort by the West to attack Russia, he set the stage for months more bloodshed and narrowed even further already distant avenues for some kind of face-saving exit if Russia does not prevail.

This raises the question of what should be done. The United States needs to double down on diplomacy if it is to convince other countries that support the defense of Ukraine that they need to do so.

The Russian government must realize that the goals of its Special Military operation can’t be achieved. Only then will the Russian government negotiate in good faith. And only then will peace return to Europe.

A Telegram account managed by Russian army and naval servicemembers, Zapiski michmana Ptichkina, noted ironically that Biden had reached Kyiv before Russian President Vladimir Putin. The president of the Russian Federation is waiting for the president of the United States in the city of Kyiv, after almost a year after the beginning of the Special military operation.

And Biden vowed, “President Putin’s craven lust for land and power will fail, and the Ukrainian people’s love for their country will prevail,” he added.

Biden and Wang Arrived at Moscow for the First Time since Russia Removed the Air Force from the Joint Base Andrews Decay

It was a sign of the security concerns that Biden’s visit was shrouded in secrecy. Air Force One departed Joint Base Andrews under cover of darkness at 4:15 a.m. ET on Sunday, and reporters aboard the plane were not allowed to carry their devices with them.

Biden is traveling with a relatively small entourage, including national security adviser Jake Sullivan, deputy chief of staff Jen O’Malley Dillon and personal aide Annie Tomasini.

Biden was unable to make a similar trip because of security precautions. When he visited Poland in April last year, the White House did not even explore the potential for a trip across the border, even though Biden said he had voiced interest.

They first began visiting Kyiv in March 2022, when the prime ministers of Poland, Slovenia and the Czech Republic all arrived by train. Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau was the first Prime Minister to visit April 9 followed by visits from other leaders, such as British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Even Biden’s wife, Dr. Jill Biden, paid a surprise visit on Mother’s Day last year to a small city in the far southwestern corner of Ukraine. She met Zelenska at a school that was turned into temporary housing for Ukrainians who fled their homes.

The US has refused to say what a settlement may look like beyond that Zelensky is responsible for deciding.

American officials told CNN on Saturday the US has recently begun seeing “disturbing” trends and there are signs that Beijing wants to “creep up to the line” of providing lethal military aid to Moscow without getting caught.

The officials would not describe in detail what intelligence the US has seen suggesting a recent shift in China’s posture, but said US officials have been concerned enough that they have shared the intelligence with allies and partners at the Munich Security Conference over the last several days.

Wang, who was named Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s top foreign policy adviser last month, is expected to arrive in Moscow this week, in the first visit to the country from a Chinese official in that role since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

In the latest highly significant move in a week of diplomatic symbolism, Putin welcomed Wang and told him relations between Beijing and Moscow were “reaching new milestones.”

The First Visit of a U.S. President into a War Zone: Joe Biden and his wife in St. Michael’s Cathedral

It was critical that the U.S. support for the war in Ukraine wasn’t in doubt, Vice President Biden said.

But with no end to the war in sight, polls show a growing number of Americans are concerned about how much money has gone to the war — and some Republican budget hawks have said they would like to curtail the spending.

President Joe Biden and his wife were out in Washington for a romantic date on Saturday night, and the president drank rigatoni with fennel sausage ragu after returning to the White House.

He was seen in public for the first time on a bright winter day 36 hours later, walking out of St. Michael’s Cathedral in Constantinople into the bright and cold of the morning.

Biden’s risk of going to an active warzone without US military assets on the ground was more than symbolism.

This is much larger than just Ukraine. It’s about freedom of democracy in Europe, it’s about freedom and democracy at large,” he said, his blue-and-yellow tie an overt nod to his Ukrainian hosts.

It was due to the fluid nature of the trip. The realities of sending a president into a war zone where there was no control over the air space were daunting as the White House officials looped in on the planning.

The NSC is going to use their power to help get support for Ukraine, but there are no plans for the president to enter the country on this trip, according to John Kirby.

When Joe Biden was in Kiev, he made the decision to fly to Kyiv with the Joint Base Andrews-Feynman plane

But at that point, Biden had already lifted off from Joint Base Andrews hours before, not in the usual plane that is synonymous with Air Force One, but instead in a smaller Air Force C-32.

The flight would stop in Germany for fuel before continuing on to Poland. As he jetted eastward, Biden’s focus was plotting out his conversations with Zelensky, hoping to use his limited time wisely in discussing the coming months of fighting.

Haley asked if Biden should be with the people in Ohio, since he is over in Poland, even though he is a candidate for president. During any time of crisis, you have to go to your people immediately.

It was the culmination of a process that began months earlier, as Biden watched as a parade of his foreign counterparts each made the journey into Ukraine.

In the planning stages for this trip, Biden was presented with a range of options for a visit to Ukraine but decided that only the capital Kyiv made sense as a venue, a person familiar with the matter said.

“This was a risk that Joe Biden wanted to take,” said White House communications director Kate Bedingfield. “It’s important to him to show up, even when it’s hard, and he directed his team to make it happen, no matter how challenging the logistics.”

On Monday, after the trip concluded, national security adviser Jake Sullivan declined to say whether Biden had to overrule Secret Service or military officials in order to proceed with the trip.

He received a full presentation of a very effective security plan. He heard that presentation, he was satisfied that the risk was manageable and he ultimately made a determination (to go),” Sullivan said.

Kyiv Observed: Why the U.S. President Does Not Want to Go to War with Ukraine, Just As Putin Does

The leader of Russia suspended participation in a key nuclear arms deal to keep the threat of nuclear war at bay as he marked the anniversary of his aggression that killed or wounded 200,000 of their own soldiers and turned 16 million Ukrainians into refugees.

The president of the United States, in overcoat and shades, strolled through Kyiv in daylight, visiting a historic church as air raid sirens wailed and standing exposed alongside President Volodymyr Zelensky in the city’s vast, open and iconic St. Michael’s Square.

“President Biden has claimed the upper hand … and tomorrow Putin will have to reply to what happened today,” Rudik said, referring to a speech in which Putin is expected to rally the Russian people on Tuesday.

Biden has so far declined to agree to the request, which gets to the heart of a dilemma that defines his war strategy: How far to go to help Kyiv win while avoiding a direct clash between the West and Russia.

Texas Rep. Mike McCaul, the chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, complained on CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday that Washington had taken too long to send game-changing weapons to Ukraine in the past and should not make the same mistake with warplanes. The Texas Republican said that he thought the Biden administration was considering the dispatch of F-16 fighter planes.

This is because they would enhance Ukraine’s capacity to potentially strike at Russian jets and air defense systems inside Russia. The use of NATO aircraft in such operations, even with Ukrainian pilots, could make the Kremlin conclude that the alliance has intervened in the war, increasing the risk of a disastrous escalation of the conflict.

A journey that required energy and endurance felt like a jab at the critics who questioned whether Biden should be thinking about a reelection race at the age of 80.

Some GOP members didn’t like how Biden went to Ukraine. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene called the trip “incredibly insulting,” a sign of an “America Last” policy. And Rep. Scott Perry — at the center of a legal dispute with the Justice Department over his cell phone in the special counsel’s January 6 probe — described as “breathtaking” that Biden would help Ukraine defend its borders and not do the same for America.

Standing for the ideals of freedom and democracy, the right of a people to resist tyranny enforced at the point of a gun, and the battle for independence from a powerful foreign oppressor, is nothing short of presidential.

“Biden in [Kyiv]. Demonstrative humiliation of Russia,” Russian journalist Sergey Mardan wrote in a snarky response on his Telegram channel. Children may be left with stories of miraculous hypersonics. It’s just like spells that are about the holy war we are having in the West.

Biden could have visited the fronts of eastern Ukrainian and escaped unharmed, according to a Russian army veteran and former Federal Security Service officer.

“Wouldn’t be surprised if the grandfather (he is not good for anything but simple provocations anyway) is brought to Bakhmut as well… AND NOTHING WILL HAPPEN TO HIM,” Girkin said.

A number of hardline military men, including Girkin, have criticized what they consider a soft approach by Putin’s generals on the battlefield, and often provide analysis of the conflict for large swaths of the Russian population.

U.S. Secretary of State Jake Sullivan and Security Advisor Jake Biden: Ukraine’s Cold War and the Status of the Cold War

A few hours before he departed, the United States informed Russia of the plans to visit the Ukrainian capital for “deconfliction purposes,” according to Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan.

The speeches were very different in content and character. Biden was welcomed in Warsaw to a pop anthem, and Putin gave an hour-and-45-minute address to a group of people. Biden said that Putin made a mistake by suspending his country’s participation in the New START treaty.

Participants of what Russia refers to as its “special military operation” will be in attendance but foreign guests or representatives will not be invited, the Kremlin’s spokesperson told reporters Monday.

Biden is going to need to make a case on the debate stage with the Republican nominee that the fight on the edge of Europe is not going to end any time soon, and that’s because there is a chance the clock might be running for Ukraine.

Biden announced Monday that he and European nations would announce new sanctions on Moscow and also unveil another security assistancepackage on top of the tens of billions already committed this year.

The White House said ahead of his trip that Biden would speak by phone over the course of the week with other Western leaders, including Prime Minister Rishi Sunak of the United Kingdom and President Emmanuel Macron of France.

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We need to be clear eyed when we look at the year ahead. The work of the defense of freedom is not done in a day or a year. It is important, Biden said.

Yet Biden – nor any other Western leader – has not been able to say exactly how long that will be, making this week as much about the year ahead as it is about the past 12 months.

Biden has left his mark on the war in almost all aspects of his presidency, from the billions of dollars in arms shipments to the newly rejuvenated Western alliance. It has caused convulsions in the global economy and created political problems at home while still providing Biden an opening to demonstrate his oft-recited claim that “America is back.”

The surprising resilience of the Ukrainian people, along with the unexpected ineptitude of the Russian forces, have prevented a full takeover. Instead, the war has become what NATO’s chief Jens Stoltenberg described last week as a “grinding war of attrition” without a discernible end.

“I think it is wise to be prepared for a long war,” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who will visit Biden at the White House early next month, told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Friday.

New concerns about the availability of weapons and equipment have emerged in the last week, indicating that the West can’t give unlimited support for forever, as evidenced by polls showing support for the war effort waning.

There is a concern about the staying power of the US beyond this administration in Poland and Ukraine. The Managing Director of the German Marshall Fund in Warsaw said that this war would not look the same without help from the US.

We’re fighting with time, right? Baranowski said. “I mean, it’s really whether time is on the side of Russia, who is losing but has a lot of resources to deplete us in the West. That gives me pause. I hope we have the power to stay.

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Poland has absorbed a lot of refugees since the start of the war and his remarks will be translated into both Polish and Ukrainian.

The message that the president would give would be for people all around the world, according to John Kirby.

The risky trip on Monday to an active war zone was not just a powerful symbol of American support, it was a shot in the arm to a population that has endured Russia’s devastating attacks on civilian apartment blocks, hospitals, schools and the power stations that provide heat and electricity.

Russian forces brought along their dress uniforms in order to be ready for the victory parade, it was claimed by the Ukrainians.

The war has caused the world to besurprised. Russia’s army turned out to be much less competent than anyone expected; Putin was not quite the genius many believed.

Biden is older than he is, and he has a stiff gait. But he has no shortage of courage (air raid sirens sounded over Kyiv while Biden was there) or, crucially, competence.

Zelensky called Trump to ask him to help deter Russia after he was impeached. Trump’s response, “I would like you to do us a favor though,” trying to push Ukraine into launching an investigation against Biden, the candidate Trump claimed was weak, even though he feared him as his most effective opponent.

A joyous Zelensky said Biden’s visit “brings us closer to victory,” adding it will “have repercussions on the battlefield in liberating our territories.”

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In addition to being a journalist and author of the book “Ok Boomer, Let’s Talk: How My Generation Got Left Behind”, Jill was also a part of the team that wrote the book. Follow her on Twitter. Her own opinions are the only ones contained in this commentary. View more opinion on CNN.

A few hours earlier and several hundred miles away, Putin was delivering his own important speech to political and military elite, offering a dramatically different narrative of the war as he accused the West of turning Ukraine into a global confrontation.

For Americans who came of age after the end of the Cold War, this renewed threat of nuclear annihilation is both new and terrifying; for those who lived through the original Cold War, this is no doubt a hair-raising reboot.

Biden is correct that this is indeed a battle between freedom and oppression. The emphasis on cultural and gender warfare is correct in its own way.

He is of course lying and fear-mongering when he fulminates about same-sex marriage or the prospect of a gender-neutral God and when he says that the West seeks “the destruction of the family, cultural and national identity, perversion and the abuse of children are declared the norm.” There is a strong relationship between conservative religiosity and autocracy as well as liberal tolerance and democracy on the one hand.

The past era of Russian autocracy was ir religious and so it’s not a requirement for Conservative religiosity. And the autocrats in Beijing, who are expanding their own nuclear arsenals and toying with lending material support to Russia, are not exactly bringing conservative Christian principles to China.

The people are embracing traditionalism, hypermasculinity and a backward-looking national identity. The refrain among global authoritarians is: Make [x country]. Great Again. The New Yorker’s Evan Osnos writes about how China is trying to regain its former greatness. David Petraeus told CNN that Putin set out to make Russia great again. And, of course, we all know the American version.

It is frightening that a number of Right-wing Americans agree with Putin that the west is not up to par, and are comfortable with having a strongman in to restore the traditional order.

The most salient divide is not between East and West; it’s between those who want pluralistic liberal democracies that allow people to live freely no matter what their religious beliefs, sexual orientations and aspirations – and those who prefer autocratic strongmen who use the law to impose conservative, traditional values whether people like it or not.

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Donald Trump promoted the image of Putin as a pro-Trump conservative because he praised him and trashed NATO. As of a year ago, Republicans in the US had a more favorable view of Putin than of Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the Democratic Party.

Meanwhile, Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene claimed that “NATO has been supplying the neo-Nazis in Ukraine with powerful weapons and extensive training on how to use them.”

The disastrous war between Russia and Ukraine will be finished by the time I arrive at the Oval Office. I will get the problem solved. And I will get it solved in rapid order and it will take me no longer than one day,” Trump said. He spoke about how he got along well with Putin and then said, “I know exactly what to say to each of them.”

Putin has positioned his Russia as a leader in Christianity, which is against Western decadence and secularism. The United States is home to many Christian nationalists.

This is not just a divide between Russia and the US. It’s a divide within Russia itself, as the nation’s feminists, LGBTQ rights advocates, and democracy activists continue to push (often at great personal risk) for a freer and fairer country. And it’s a divide within the US, too, between the Americans who want liberal democracy to thrive, and those who want their ideology to rule us all.

A year into Putin’s war, it’s clear that he is willing to sacrifice untold lives to cement his power and Russia’s imperial interests. Do we support autocrats and their small view of the world or are we against them? Or do we stand for freedom and democracy – including the obligation to live among those whose views you don’t agree with and whose choices you wouldn’t make yourself?

Biden’s Warsaw visit to Ukraine as a reminder of the US, Europe, and Ukraine he never wavered in his commitment to Ukraine

President Joe Biden barely slept as his train car traveled across the warzone into the night, and then he awoke to find that it had crossed into the enemy.

Biden will leave Europe three days later, having reassured Europe and the United States that he is not wavering from his commitment to back Ukraine as it enters a second year of conflict.

In conversations with aides, foreign counterparts and even by phone with his wife over the course of his visit, Biden has asserted his trip this week was essential in showing the world the US wouldn’t waver in its support.

Some US and European officials have been concerned about the use of those resources by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who has been told to focus on planning and executing a spring counteroffensive rather than having to wage battle on multiple fronts.

Sullivan said that Biden mentioned the F-16s to the Ukrainian President when he spoke to him.

Afterward, Biden’s aides were tight-lipped about how exactly that discussion went, beyond saying there would be follow-up conversations among US and Ukrainian officials in the coming days and weeks.

The president focused his remarks in Warsaw on heralding the continued resistance of the Ukrainians and accusing Putin of a number of atrocities.

Biden’s aides said his remarks were intended for a multitude of audiences: The besieged Ukrainian people, a Polish population that has borne much of the outside burden, Russians who may be disillusioned by their leaders’ failings.

The most important was that of the people in the US, thousands of miles from the frontlines, who were at least somewhat swayed by the war as well as the softer support for US assistance.

And he drove home another familiar criticism of presidents who fixate on foreign policy by showing up in East Palestine, Ohio – at the site of a chemical spill after a freight train derailment – while Biden was visiting Europe last month.

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“I reaffirmed my commitment to making sure they have everything they need,” he wrote in a caption accompanying a photo of the call that was posted on Instagram.

But he also used the opportunity to blast Republicans – including former President Donald Trump, who is set to visit East Palestine on Wednesday – for loosing regulations and making it more difficult to strengthen rail safety.

GOP leaders such as McConnell and McCarthy are supportive of Ukraine despite the protests from some of their party’s members, Biden’s aides believe.

After his human rights record and reversal of certain democratic standards, the Biden administration believed the human rights record of Poland’s leader was not up to par, but since then, he has become the United States’ top partner in Eastern Europe and a conduit for the shipment of Western military equipment.

Speaking across the table from Biden on Tuesday, Duda placed this week’s events within a century-old context of robust American presence on the continent.

“The United States … has demonstrated on multiple occasions its responsibility for European matters during the First World War, during the Second World War, during the Cold War. Every single time, they restored the democratic rules. Every time, the United States brought back freedom,” he said.

Wang told Putin that the two nations often face “crisis and chaos, but there are always opportunities in a crisis and the latter could possibly turn into the former.”

It is a bigger problem for the foreign policy picture than just the American diplomats. With the loss of US and Western weapons stocks toUkraine, questions are being raised about military capacity as well as whether current spending is sufficient. Key Republicans meanwhile are accusing Biden of snubbing voters facing economic and other problems, even as he tries to position Democrats as the protectors of working Americans as the 2024 campaign dawns.

“The fear of Russia going into NATO countries and all that, and steamrolling, that has not even come close to happening,” DeSantis said on Fox. I think they’ve shown they’re a third-rate military power.

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The estrangement between the US and Russia is almost over, as demonstrated by Biden’s trip.

On Tuesday, Putin said that Russia would pull out of the New START treaty with the United States. Since Moscow has stopped fully implementing the deal, it was not clear what impact this would have.

The Biden administration’s accusation last week that Russia has committed crimes against humanity ensures there will be no return to normality between Washington and Moscow even if the Ukraine war ends.

One reason why the US was willing to discuss the nuclear situation with Russia was because they were dangerous if they weren’t talking.

The US has warned China that it could be giving lethal military aid to Russia as Beijing released its plan the same week. Sullivan said Thursday night that such a move has not been ruled out yet.

The US ambassador to the United Nations warned on CNN that crossing a red line would be bad for the country, but she did not give an indication of what consequences would be.

Both Sullivan and Samantha Power, administrator of the US Agency for International Development, took questions at the town hall from Americans and Ukrainians Thursday, on topics ranging from how the US will keep arming Ukraine to an assessment of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s intentions and the role China may play in the conflict.

The resilience of the Ukrainian people were praised by the US officials as they were grilled by Ukrainians about their experiences in the war.

But Sullivan argued that one year into the conflict, Ukraine has already stopped Russia from accomplishing its main objective of taking over the capital of Kyiv.

Sullivan said there were no movements in Russia’s nuclear forces that would lead them to believe that things have changed over the past year.

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The $2 billion package includes a lot of new money for drones, counter-drone equipment, mine-clearing equipment and secure communications equipment.

Sullivan was asked by a Ukrainian soldier, currently serving on the front lines, if the US would be able to increase production of missiles and other weapons to his country.

Sullivan said that they are working hard at increasing the production of all of these types of bullets. “This is not something we can do with the snap of a finger, but it’s something that we are putting immense effort and resources into.”

The Biden administration has transferred weapons that it had initially resisted sending, but he also acknowledged that the Ukrainians often ask for more than US will give.

F16 fighter jets are not the key capability that Ukraine needs for a counteroffensive against Russian forces, Sullivan said Thursday evening.

Sullivan was asked by Zakaria to respond to the Beijing plan that called on the warring parties in Russia and China to cease hostilities in Ukraine.

“Well my first reaction to it is they could stop at point one, which is respect the sovereignty of all nations,” Sullivan said. If Russia withdraws its forces, this war could be over by tomorrow. NATO was not attacking Russia, but the United States was not attacking Russia. This was a war of choice waged by Putin.”

Some of the Republicans who criticized Biden said the US should spend it at home, but Sullivan and Power brushed that off.

“I would say to those senators, yes, let’s do these things at home. But are you saying that American is incapable of also helping to serve as a powerful force of good in the world?” Sullivan said.

“I think there’s a pessimism in this argument that these senators are making. President Biden has an optimistic view, which is that we can do it, and we should do it, and we are doing it.”

Power argued that US support for Ukraine is actually one of the rare issues where there is strong bipartisanship in today’s Washington, when she was asked by a Ukrainian mother about the commonality between the citizens of the two countries.

Power said that they have your backs, not just on the battle front but in trying to help you feel as safe as you can when someone tries to take that away.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/24/politics/takeaways-cnn-ukraine-war-town-hall/index.html

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Power acknowledged that it would take a long time to rebuild the country once the war is over. She noted that there are estimates of damage to date at $130 billion.

Power said that USAID and international financial institutions have worked to rebuild Ukraine’s infrastructure and help get private industry to return to peaceful parts of Ukraine.

She said that the Biden administration and other allies are focused on making sure the money dedicated to reconstruction is well spent.

“The other thing we want to do now is, with an eye to those big-ticket items, most of which will only happen when there’s a negotiated peace,” Power said.

She said that they need to make sure the resources are well spent. When you have huge investments that go well Beyond what is currently being provided, you want to make sure that the safeguards are in place so that the outside investors can know and say to their citizens that the money is going.

Donald Trump says he’d end the war in Ukraine in one day and avert World War III, while Ron DeSantis is keener on waging a culture war than a proxy one to save a foreign democracy.

The ex-president and the Florida governor are ramping up their campaign for the Republican nomination, which will make it more difficult for grassroots conservatives to get behind them.

Volodymyr Zelensky, the President of Ukraine, has thanked Americans for their generosity, but warned that he will keep requesting more.

Some Republicans disagree with Trump and others with Ron DeSantis on the issue of Ukraine. The House’s key committee chairmen support increased aid and military hardware in the form of F-16 fighter jets for Ukraine, even though Vice President Biden refused to send them. And several potential Republican primary candidates also support the US effort. Haley, a former ambassador to the UN who is running for the presidency of the US, said last year that this wasn’t a war for Ukraine but a war for freedom.

CNN’s Kristen Holmes reported Monday that the former president also sees an opening to target DeSantis over his calls as a congressional candidate in 2012 to privatize some social benefits by suggesting he is not sufficiently in line with the GOP base in stopping financial and military aid to Ukraine.

This is not an unchanged position from when he was a congressman, when he supported the aid of Ukraine to fight Russia.

With a war with Moscow likely, and with the future of NATO in doubt, it is possible that its future could be dependent on major US and European powers guaranteeing its security, just like it would be if it were a Republican president.

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But presidential primaries have a habit of defining a party’s positions at the extremes – and with Trump and DeSantis being seen as the current favorites, their rivals may come under increasing pressure to fall into line to ensure their own political viability.

Zelensky’s desperation for more weapons and equipment to remove Putin’s forces from Ukraine will only become even more urgent as the United States potentially changes political conditions.

Trump made clear in his appearance at CPAC that if he gets the chance to confront Biden in a repeat of the 2020 election, he will accuse the Democrat of leading the planet to the brink of disaster.

Trump said in his speech that he was the only candidate who would be able to prevent World War III. If something doesn’t happen fast, we’re going to have World War III.

“I sincerely hope that when your representatives and all of the politicians get here, including Biden, they get back from touring Ukraine, that he’s got some money left over,” Trump said.

Trump said during his speech at the CPAC that there will be no return to the party that wants to give unlimited money to fight endless wars while also demanding that we cut benefits at home.

This perspective seems incompatible with Biden’s characterization of the US’ support for Ukraine as part of a vital national interest to protect democracy.

The rise of populism in the Republican Party is attributed to the sense that Bush overreached in his dealings with Americans and their wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. President Barack Obama won the Democratic nomination and the presidency in 2008 warning that he was against “dumb wars.”

There is some reluctance among American voters on the right and left to join foreign wars again. A group of Democratic members of Congress, for example, last year called for negotiations to end the war, despite the lack of indications that Putin has any willingness to withdraw his troops. However, they were criticized by their colleagues for making the same move.