War in Ukraine: United States cannot lose to Russia & China but cannot win with Biden in charge

By VICTORIA SPARTZ
Representing You

According to the media and the failed foreign policy establishment, you either support giving Ukraine an unlimited blank check written by American taxpayers while America’s borders are overrun, or you are pro-Putin.

Nothing could be further from the truth. It’s not a binary choice. It’s just another false choice given to us by the same book-smart “intellectuals” who gave us Vietnam and Iraq, and who handed Afghanistan back to the Taliban in disgrace.

As someone who spent over a decade in business and finance, I ran for Congress to fix our destructive national debt, broken health care system, and burdensome regulations. I guess my plate was not full enough, and I had to become directly involved with major national security crises abroad – dealing with evacuating Americans in Afghanistan and a major war in Europe. I probably could write a book about all the things I have learned being on the ground in Europe, the Middle East, and the frontlines of a war-torn Ukraine, but now is not the time for writing books. We already have too many book writers.

It reminds me of what Cicero said when the Roman Republic was falling: “Times are bad. Children no longer obey their parents, and everyone is writing a book.”

The situation in Ukraine is difficult and dangerous. Unfortunately, my appeals to Congress and the Biden Administration to implement proper oversight and a clear strategy for Ukraine in July 2022 were not implemented by and large, and I was right when I said at the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine that if we do not deal with Russia decisively, we will have a further escalation of conflicts.

Now, the world is on fire.

Russia is again advancing in Ukraine; Israel, our key ally in the Middle East, was attacked by Hamas terrorists; Iran is on the brink of obtaining nuclear weapons; Iranian-backed Houthis, who were taken off the terrorist list by the Biden Administration and given $1 billion from the Ukrainian aid, are attacking our ships; and Iranian-backed terrorists attacked our base in Syria, killing Americans. Meanwhile, China continues to flex its growing military muscle on the world stage and threatens Taiwan.

Unfortunately, our foreign policy has been run by book writers in the Washington bubble, 25-year-old college graduates, and naive political creatures with little understanding of the real situation on the ground and the aggressive efforts of our adversaries to redefine the world order. Perhaps they missed the joint statement issued by Putin and Xi on Feb. 4, 2022, outlining plans for “transformation of the global governance architecture and world order.”

Obviously, we can tell who the statement was addressed to. Ukraine just became one of the obstacles to Russian and Chinese ambitions, with the Ukrainian people’s pro-American and pro-Western sentiment being dangerous to Putin’s regime, and Trump’s efforts to push Ukraine to prohibit Chinese takeover of critical resources. We know which countries will be next on the list, but we do little in the way of deterrence as evidenced by Biden’s recent decision to suspend liquid natural gas exports.

With this backdrop, two years into war, brave young Ukrainians die in the trenches while incompetence, political games, Russian infiltration, and corruption abound within Ukraine’s bureaucracy and governing elites. Widespread corruption among Russian governing elites hurts the Russian people, too, as does the brutal KGB tyrant running the country, still brooding on the collapse of the Soviet Union, something he has called “the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century.” He also forgot to mention in his recent interview that the ninth century Rus he yearns for was actually Kievan Rus, and Mongolia would have claims to Siberia if we go back that far.

In 1993, Ukraine, the third largest nuclear country by its arsenal, was pressured into giving up its nuclear weapons in exchange for assurances of its territorial integrity by Russia, the U.K., and the U.S. The implications of Ukraine losing this war would be significant for the west, but also for nuclear nonproliferation. Unfortunately, I do not believe that Ukraine can win this war with President Biden in charge and his administration’s strategy “not to lose.” You can never win with this strategy, but actually might lose. We also should resolve conflicts not with “as long as it takes,” but with “as fast as we can” strategies.

No one knows what President Trump would do in Ukraine, but we know what he has done, and what Presidents Obama and Biden did not do. President Trump provided Ukraine with lethal aid, pushed China out, demanded Germany decrease its dependency on Russian gas, pressed NATO to increase military spending, and unleashed domestic energy production to reduce dependence on Russian energy. We also know that President Trump does not like for America to lose, and we can expect a return to Trump’s peace through strength policies.

The next election in the United States will probably determine the result of this war, but in the meantime, Ukraine needs to survive.

Congress needs to loan, not give, lethal aid to Ukraine with proper accountability (Biden never invoked lend-lease passed by Congress almost two years ago), put pressure on the Ukrainian government to transition its economy into military mode, as Russia has already done, enhance oil sanctions on Russia, and put pressure on Europeans to step up military aid, and start confiscation of Russian sovereign assets.

Americans have every right to demand their leaders put their needs and defense of our borders first, but we are also generous people and understand the need to defend our allies and the free world from tyrants like Putin and Xi.

We don’t need to write blank checks. We can be smart and loan Ukraine what it needs to win the war while protecting American interests first.

Republican Congresswoman Victoria Spartz represents Indiana’s Fifth District, which includes all of Hamilton County.