WASHINGTON – 81 years after the original version that led to World War II, when President Biden signed into law the modern-day debt-lease law on Monday, he has effectively pushed the United States deeper into another war in Europe. Despite his attempts to define the limits of Russia, the epic struggle.
Recent days have underscored how involved the United States is in the conflict in Ukraine. In addition to the new loan program that will eliminate the time-consuming requirements for accelerating arms for Ukraine, Mr. Biden has proposed an additional $ 33 billion in military and humanitarian aid, which Congress Democrats plan to raise another $ 7 billion. He sent the first lady Secret visit to the war zone. He provided intelligence assistance to Ukraine Kill a dozen commanders And Sank the flag of Russia.
But two and a half months later, Russian President Vladimir V. Mr Biden is still worried about the US war being waged by Putin. Mr. Biden publicly sent aid and signed the loan lease bill on camera, angered by leaks about US intelligence aid to Ukraine, which led to the death of Russian generals and the sinking of the ship Moscow. This is Mr. Will provoke Putin. Mr. Biden tried hard to avoid.
After reports of intelligence in The New York Times and NBC News, Mr. Biden Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin called III; Avril D. Hines, director of National Intelligence; And William J. Burns, the CIA director, to punish them, according to a senior executive. That’s where Mr. Biden seemed to be drawing a line – whether it was providing Ukraine with guns to shoot Russian soldiers or providing specific information to Ukraine to shoot Russians was highly secretive and not disclosed to the public.
“There is a continuing balance between supporting Ukraine and ensuring that it can defend itself militarily,” said Alina Balyakova, head of the European Policy Analysis Center. Expert in Russian policy.
“Maintaining this kind of handle is increasingly unacceptable,” he added. “It would be very useful to say that this is our policy, and we will deal with the possible expansionist responses we see from the Kremlin.”
From the very beginning of the war, the administration tried to analyze its response, which weapons could be called defensive, so sending to Ukraine was acceptable and which could be called offensive, and therefore should not be provided.
But the line has changed in recent weeks with management Sending more sophisticated military equipment Not only to help the Ukrainians, but also to defeat it openly expresses its ambitions Even weak Russia. Two weeks ago, after visiting the war-torn capital of Kiev, Mr. Austin declared, “We want to see Russia weakened to the point of not being able to do all sorts of things.” Speaker Nancy Pelosi, during her own visit, said that “the United States will stand with Ukraine until it wins.”
Some senior government officials said Mr. Biden, Mr. He said it was right to be wary of openly punching Putin because the effects of the expansion with nuclear-armed Russia would be catastrophic beyond chance.
“Putin wants us to turn it into a proxy war,” said Fiona Hill, a former Russian adviser to the two presidents now at Brookings. “It simply came to our notice then that we were not out of Europe,” he said.
Michael A., now former ambassador to Russia at Stanford University. McFall said there was a difference between secretly aiding and abetting Ukrainian forces to target Russian forces. “Yes, Putin knows that we are providing intelligence to Ukraine,” he said. “But saying it out loud helps not only the Ukrainians, but his general story that Russia is fighting with the US and NATO in Ukraine. It is not in our interests.
Russia’s former national intelligence officer, Mr. Angela Stent, author of a book on US relations with Putin, said being too outspoken about what the US was doing in Ukraine would undermine efforts to turn China, India and other countries against Russia. . “For the global public opinion, this is not a good idea,” he said. “Whatever they do they have to do, but don’t talk about it.”
He believes this is an understatement of the Ukrainians and that he believes they are dependent on the Americans. Biden was said to be sharing his phone calls with security officials. Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman said.
But others said the administration was too cautious in allowing Russia to set the rules of the conflict – or Washington’s speculation about pushing Russia into expansion. To anyone in Washington really, Mr. I do not know the line that should not be crossed with Putin, but the United States is simply making assumptions. “Are we talking to ourselves about red lines?” Said Frederick W., a military scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. Kagan asked. “Because I think we are.”
As a result, he said, Ukraine has been too slow to deliver what it really needs. “They have done wonderfully in doing things relatively at the right time,” Mr. Kagan Biden spoke about the administration. “But there is a definite break in the timing of our support driven by this kind of discrimination and self-negotiation, and that is a problem.”
On Monday, Mr. The law signed by Biden reflects the historical echoes and reversals of the current war. To help the British prevent the Nazi occupiers in World War II, President Franklin D. Roosevelt enacted the original Debt-Lease Act of 1941. Roosevelt signed it, which was later expanded to help other allies, including the Soviet Union.
Moscow is now on the other side of the arsenal, as the modern version of Ukraine’s democratic security loan-lease law sends weapons and equipment not to Russian soldiers but to their opponents.
“Every day, Ukrainians give their lives,” he said. In the Biden Oval office he approved the law. “And the atrocities committed by the Russians are far from pale.
On the same day that Russia celebrated the 77th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany, Mr. Biden signed into law, which was facilitated in part by the original Credit-Lease Act.
“This day is seen as a celebration of peace and unity in Europe and the defeat of the Nazis in World War II,” said White House spokeswoman Jen Zaki. Instead, Putin is flipping history, changing history or trying to change it, to justify his unprovoked and unjust war. “
Democrats in Congress The lending plan came as a quick move to consider the $ 33 billion aid package proposed by Pita. As Republicans sought to add more military spending, Democrats insisted on an equivalent incentive for humanitarian aid, raising its price to $ 39.8 billion, according to two people familiar with the proposal, who anonymously proposed it.
Ms. Pelosi and New York Senate Chuck Schumer, the Democratic majority leader, met with Mr. One of the people spoke to Piton on the phone and said they had finalized the details of the proposal. House leaders want to bring this move from Tuesday.
This increase reflects the consensus of both sides to pay large sums of money in the war against Russia, even if lawmakers are deeply divided over domestic spending. In March, Congress approved $ 13.6 billion in emergency aid to Ukraine, and said those resources would soon be depleted without new legislation. Biden warned.
However, it is unclear whether Republican support will be needed in the Senate. A Republican spokesman on the Senate Appropriations Committee said no agreement had been reached, but discussions were ongoing.
Democrats plan to separate the package from the administration’s emergency corona virus relief operation, which has been embroiled in an election-year controversy over immigration restrictions.
“This important war effort cannot be delayed,” he said. Biden said in a statement. “Therefore, I am prepared to accept that these two measures are moving separately so that the Ukrainian aid bill is immediately available to my desk.”
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