Comment on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Vice President Joe Vance, the Daily Beast, CNN, and CNN’s Dean Obeidallah Show’
Editor’s Note: Dean Obeidallah, a former attorney, is the host of SiriusXM radio’s daily program “The Dean Obeidallah Show” and a columnist for The Daily Beast. Don’t forget to follow him. The opinions expressed in this commentary are his own. CNN has more opinions on it.
Kevin McCarthy’s comments were even worse than the initial reaction of Vance, who was 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 GOP Senate candidate in Ohio later flip-flopped, saying that he wanted “the Ukrainians to be successful.” But as The Washington Post detailed on Sunday, Vance’s original remark is causing Ukrainian Americans who are lifelong Republicans to support his Democratic opponent, Tim Ryan, in that too-close-to-call Senate race.
In order to limit Russia’s invasion ofUkraine, the military help provided by the Biden administration helped as well as helped in the counteroffensives against Russia.
As Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Twitter last week after Russian missiles rained down on Ukrainian cities, “Another kind of Russian terrorist attacks: targeting energy & critical infrastructure. There have been massive power cuts in the country because of the destruction of 30% of the power stations.
President Joe Biden criticized McCarthy and other Republicans who want to end or reduce aid to Ukranian last week. It’s a lot bigger than Ukraine — it’s Eastern Europe. It is NATO. It’s real, serious, serious consequential outcomes.”
“He knows better, but the fact that he’s willing to go down the path of suggesting that America will no longer stand for freedom, I think, tells you he’s willing to sacrifice everything for his own political gain.”
The American War on Ukraine: Why we should not give it to the Ukrainians, or why we shouldn’t give them a blank check
GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene blamed Ukrainians for the war in Russia just before the elections last month, saying she expected McCarthy to give her lots of power.
Members of the Republican base have been laying the groundwork for the possibility of an end to assistance from the US for Ukraine, thanks to conservative Fox News stars, including Tucker Carlson.
Carlson did his best in the months before Putin launched his attack to paint Ukraine in a negative light, even though he claimed on his show that he wasrooting for Russia. Carlson called the Ukrainian leader a “puppet of the Biden administration”, while also claiming that Ukraine was not a democracy.
And just last week, Ingraham derided former Vice President Mike Pence for referring to the United States as the “arsenal of democracy” and suggested our massive military is too depleted to help other countries such as Ukraine. 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. But there’s one person who fully gets it: Vladmir Putin. If the GOP takes back control of the House, most people will have great reason to celebrate.
“I also think no one is asking for a blank check,” Clinton added. I think the Ukrainians are a really good investment for the United States. They aren’t asking us to fight their war. They’re fighting it themselves. They are asking us for the means to win in order to defend themselves.
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.
The US announced a new $1.8 billion aid package to Ukraine, which included the “first-ever transfer to Ukraine of the Patriot Air and Missile Defense System, capable of bringing down cruise missiles, short-range ballistic missiles, and aircraft at a significantly higher ceiling than previously provided air defense systems.”
U.S. war crimes against Russia: Putin, Zelensky, Peskov, Zakharova and the Kremlin
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 war in Ukraine is entering its 10 month mark and Moscow said that the war is set for a long confrontation with Russia.
The declaration marks the strongest accusation yet from the US as it seeks to punish Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine. The US government declared last March that the Russian armed forces had committed war crimes. President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken have said it was their personal opinion that war crimes have taken place and Biden has gone as far as saying that atrocities at the hands of Moscow’s troops qualify as “genocide.”
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said that no matter how much military support the West provides to the Ukrainian government, “they will achieve nothing.”
“As the leadership of our country has stated, the tasks set within the framework of the special military operation will be fulfilled, taking into account the situation on the ground and the actual realities,” Zakharova added, referring to Russia’s war in Ukraine.
The US Army system known as the ‘Patreon’ is one of the most capable long-range air defense systems on the market and has been asked for by the Ukrainian government many times.
“We see that, in fact, the United States and other countries are following the path of constantly expanding the range and raising the technical level of the weapons that they supply to Ukraine,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said during a conference call. This doesn’t help the situation, on the contrary.
There was no real call for peace according to Peskov. Zelensky emphasized during his address to the US congress that we need peace, repeating the 10-point plan devised by Ukraine.
The US is orchestrating a proxy war of indirect fighting against Russia, and it was demonstrated by Wednesday’s meeting, according to Peskov.
The U.S. has determined that the actions of the Russian military inUkraine are war crimes and that they should be held accountable according to the Vice President.
The recent crimes against humanity determination is not as significant as it could be. It doesn’t give the US the ability to prosecute the Russians who perpetrate crimes against humanity, and it isn’t immediately triggering any specific consequences. However, it could provide international bodies such as the International Criminal Court, which work to hold perpetrators accountable, with evidence to effectively try to prosecute those crimes.
Harris’ announcement Saturday comes days before the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The Biden administration is trying to show their support for the sovereignty ofUkraine by visiting Germany and other countries where Western allies have provided billions of dollars in aid, funding and weapons to fight Russia. Poland is one of the countries Biden will visit on Monday.
U.S. Action in Ukraine, Revisited: Indications of Crime, Punishment, Detention, and Deportation
Harris said Saturday that as a former prosecutor who began “as young lawyer in the court room and later running California’s Department of Justice,” she knew “firsthand the importance of gathering facts and holding them up against the law.”
Harris’ speech cited evidence of indiscriminate Russian attacks that deliberately targeted civilians, including the bombing of a maternity hospital that killed a pregnant mother and of a theater in Mariupol, where hundreds were killed. The vice president talked about the terrible pictures of men and women shot and left to rot in the streets, as well as the UN report on a girl who was sexually assault by a Russian soldier.
Russian forces have carried out a wide-ranging attack against a civilian population which has included murder, torture, rape, and deportation. Execution-style killings, beating and electrocution ” she added. “Russian authorities have forcibly deported hundreds of thousands of people from Ukraine to Russia, including children. They have cruelly separated children from their families.”
Since 2022, the US has provided $30 million to support the investigation of war crimes and other atrocities in Ukraine, according to a White House fact sheet. The Biden administration is seeking another nearly $30 million from Congress to bolster efforts on this issue.
Let’s Renew our commitment to accountability in the face of these facts, all of us here in Munich. She said to renew their commitment to the rule of law. “As for the United States, we will continue to support the judicial process in Ukraine and international investigations because justice must be served. Let us all agree, on behalf of all the victims, known and unknown: Justice must be served.”
Harris, in her speech Saturday, pledged that the US would “strongly support” Ukraine “for as long as it takes,” touting the Ukrainian people’s resolve and resilience.
When Republicans took over the US House of Representatives, questions were raised about how much more money the US would give to the war effort in Ukraine. Harris observed how many congressional leaders were at the conference. The people who were included were: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Minority LeaderMitch McConnell and Senator Lindsey Graham.
They understand the stakes, so they are here together. The leadership of these members has been vital to the support of America for Ukraine, according to the vice president.
“Any peace has to be consistent with the principles of the United Nations Charter. It’s against the interests of every other country to wind up with a result that shows the seizure by force of territory, according to Tony Blinken, who was speaking at a discussion panel in Munich with Annalena Baerbock and Dmytro Kuleba.
If they do that, they will conclude that if Russia got away with it, we can also get away with it. And that’s not in anyone’s interest because it’s a recipe for a world of conflict,” he added.
CIA director Bill Burns said Saturday that intelligence-sharing with NATO allies has been essential to support Ukraine against Russia.
“We have also seen nations like North Korea and Iran send weapons in support of Russia’s brutal war. We are also troubled that Beijing has deepened its relationship with Moscow since the war began,” Harris said.
She said that any Chinese steps to provide lethal support to Russia would only reward aggression and undermine a rules-based order.
CNN has reported that China’s top diplomat, Wang Yi, will visit Russia this month, according to its Foreign Ministry, in the first visit to the country from a Chinese official in that role since Moscow’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.
The tensions between the US and China after the February 4 security balloon event: Secretary of State Antony Blinken addressing the session on February 28, 2022
Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Saturday issued a supporting statement saying the U.S. will work to hold those responsible to account, while emphasizing the importance of this designation. Blinken is attending the meeting.
The international criminal court was established by treaty, but Ukraine is not one of them. The country had the right to accept the court’s jurisdiction over war crimes occurring within it’s borders. On February 28, 2022, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court announced that he would seek permission to open an investigation into alleged war crimes in Ukraine.
The tensions between the US and China will be brought up during the meeting between Blinken and Wang Yi. This will be the highest level of contact between the U.S. and China since the security balloon incident.
The US and China’s relationship has been on the rocks since February 4, when a Chinese balloon was shot down.
Beijing, however, insists that the balloon was a civilian craft used for scientific research, and that shooting it down was an overreaction and a violation of international practice.