The Senate unanimously passed key legislation to revive a World War II-era program that would allow President Joe Biden to send weapons and other supplies more efficiently to Ukraine in the face of a Russian attack.
According to Politico, the program was seen as a game-changer in the conflict decades ago, allowing the United States to quickly resupply allies without time-consuming procedural hurdles.
Most recently, Congress approved nearly $14 billion in military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine and its neighbors in the face of Russia. Some of them have already been distributed.
Last Tuesday, the State Department announced an additional $100 million in funding for Javelin missiles and other items, bringing the total security assistance to $1.7 billion since the start of Russia’s attack on Ukraine on Feb. 24.
The “lend-and-lease” program played an important role in defeating Nazism led by Adolf Hitler in World War II, as the United States worked to supply its allies, including the Soviet Union, with weapons and strategic materials, and it has not been used since.
3 reasons
Commenting on this, Irina Zuckerman, an American expert on strategic affairs, said that the law is important, especially since many initiatives to help Ukraine have arisen in Congress, and as such, it took time to obtain approval and reach the point that it can be presented to the president to be completed. Its signature in law.
Zuckerman added, in an interview with “Sky News Arabia”, that the Biden administration, from the point where it became clear that Russian President Vladimir Putin threatens to attack Ukraine, was very reluctant to provide any form of assistance to Ukraine to prevent this threat from emerging.
There were several reasons for this; first, that Biden already believed that Ukraine would be lost regardless of his unwillingness to expand resources, and second, that he needed Russia’s help in advancing the Iran nuclear deal and did not want to be seen as inconsistent with Putin”.
She pointed out that the third reason is the general unwillingness to make any important military commitments due to the isolationist path of the United States as a whole, and the ideological administration’s opposition to strong measures against authoritarian regimes in general, which prompted Ukrainian President Zelensky to embarrass the White House, NATO and European Union allies to provide aid Additional measures include imposing various sanctions on Russia and increasingly providing military support.
However, it is now clear that Ukraine can not only win, but is in fact victorious on several fronts, the United States will be seen as siding with Russia if it does not provide extensive assistance of the same kind, especially after the photos appalling massacres in Bucha and other communities around Kyiv.”
midterm elections
She explained that, “During World War II, the United States also did not provide immediate assistance to the Allies. In fact, it waited until after France fell to the Nazis to begin the lend-lease program. During World War II, the United States was officially neutral for two years due to the passage of the Neutrality Act. of 1939. The situation differs markedly from the current conditions in which the United States formally opposed the invasion and considered Russia a hostile power.
She noted that “there are broad economic repercussions from the war, and Biden needs a quick way before the midterm elections to resolve the crisis that he has allowed to happen around the clock, and he now needs to get Russia out of there quickly before the repercussions get worse. Biden has no choice.” only to be seen as a repetition of the measures once introduced by Roosevelt to defeat Putin, if not out of moral considerations about war crimes and destabilization for his sake, then for domestic economic and political reasons.”
This bill was submitted to the Senate last January, and was considered in early April by the House Committee on International Relations.
After the Senate approves the legislation, it will be referred to the House of Representatives, and then, if adopted, to President Biden for entry into force.
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