CNN —
The Biden administration is moving toward lifting a de facto ban on American military contractors deploying to Ukraine, four US officials familiar with the matter told CNN, to help the country’s military maintain and repair US-provided weapons systems.
The change would mark another significant shift in the Biden administration’s Ukraine policy, as the US looks for ways to give Ukraine’s military an upper hand against Russia.
The policy is still being worked on by administration officials and has not received final sign-off yet from President Joe Biden, officials said.
Not giving a hostile power control of 20% of the world’s grain supply is a good one.
Demonstration of American commitment to stopping its enemies worldwide is always handy.
Weakening of a major geopolitical enemy’s military capabilities for a fraction of the cost of a conventional war.
That’s just off the top of my head, though.
Also Neon gas is a big thing in eastern Ukraine. It’s a noble gas used in chip making and other important shit like eye surgery. It’s halted like half of the worlds supply.
Ukraine is among the top 10 global producers of titanium, kaolin, manganese, iron ore, graphite, zirconium, uranium, as well as raw materials essential for modern technologies such as beryllium, aluminum, nickel, and cobalt.
The US has keen, critical national security interests in supporting Ukraine
You just scratched the surface. There are plenty more reasons.
Demonstration of American commitment to stopping its enemies worldwide is always handy.
I had a coworker use this to support our war efforts after 9/11 a week ago.
I don’t know if I have a non-dogmatic opinion of the current shit, but looking big is a bad reason to kill peeps.
As much as I feel I shouldn’t support interference, I’ve only bought Ukrainian vodka for a while.
To be clear, I didn’t necessarily state I advocated for those things, but the prompt was for what interests the US has in being involved in Ukraine.
Whether it is right or justified is another matter, but it is undeniably of significant importance for a state to be able to show it can project force/inflict harm on those it deems a problem.
As for US involvement in the Middle East…yeah…not great. US involvement in Ukraine? I’d say it’s a different story since we are actually wanted there by the Ukrainian people, and it is reasonably likely that Russia would be involved in Ukraine whether or not it wished to be involved with the West, as it is valuable land in an area of historical Russian influence, and the crackpot ideology of Putin’s Russia all but demands its subjugation (no, really, shit’s wild).
I don’t find those arguments very compelling. I think you’re conflating “national security” with “maintaining a global hegemonic order.”
I’m not advocating for Russian hegemony, I’m arguing against hegemony all together. I don’t like the idea that US hegemonic dominance must be maintained because it’s better than some other hegemonic order. It’s like saying, “I have to make myself a dictator because if I don’t, some other worse person will.”
I think you’re conflating “maintaining a global hegemonic order” with “fucking up a nation that has actively tried to harm the United States AND is provably committing war crimes.”
Is American hegemony all sunshine and roses? Fuck no lol
At least it is built more on consensus of member states than a hegemony built up by dictatorships like Russia (which, let’s be real, isn’t ever gonna be a global hegemon) or China?
I don’t think there’s such a thing as a moral or ethical hegemony. They’re all immoral, even if some are less immoral than others. But that doesn’t mean that I want to end all hegemony in favor of international lawlessness. I believe in democracy and the rule of law, but that is not the same as a single nation achieving military supremacy to such a degree as to allow them to declare themselves the globe’s judge, jury, and executioner. If we believe in democracy based on consent of the governed and the rule of law, we must support it not only within nations but between nations, as well.
