Secretary of State Tony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin appeared before the Senate Appropriations Committee yesterday to make the Administration’s pitch for the $105 billion that Biden demanded a couple of weeks ago, as an omnibus war spending bill. They not only called on the Congress to pass the entire package in one piece of legislation, they postulated that the wars in Ukraine and Israel are fronts in the war for Western civilization in which the U.S. and its proxies must prevail.
They warned Russia would prevail without continued U.S. assistance and would have implications outside of Europe. “I think it would do both terrible harm to our values, but also to our core interests,” Blinken said of the consequences of leaving out Ukraine aid, reported Politico. “We are much better sustaining our effort now, seeing this to success, than having to pay a much higher price later when we have to deal with a world full of aggression,” he said.
Austin also claimed that not sending aid to Ukraine increases the likelihood that American troops might one day face combat against Putin’s forces in defense of a NATO ally in Europe. “If Putin is successful, he will not stop at Ukraine,” Austin charged. “If you’re a Baltic state, you’re thinking you’re next, and there’s no question in my mind that sooner or later, he will challenge NATO and we’ll find ourselves in a shooting war.”
There seemed to be little to no opposition from members of the Committee, who spoke like puppets. “We must recognize that our national security interests are being aggressively challenged by all these authoritarian actors,” said Senate Appropriations ranking Republican Susan Collins of Maine. “We need to support Israel, they’re fighting for their very existence. … I believe we also need to support Ukraine,” said Sen. John Hoeven (R-ND). “If you look at history, you understand that tyrants, like Putin, don’t stop. They have to be stopped.”
However, the proceedings were repeatedly interrupted by anti-war protesters who had painted their hands red to represent the blood of Israel’s Palestinian victims. “Ceasefire now!” they yelled. “Save the children of Gaza!” One man wore a shirt reading “Stop backing genocide.” Videos of Blinken being shouted down were posted on the X social platform.
