It’s a cynical calculus for many in the West: Keep pumping money into the conflict as long as Ukrainians are the ones dying.
by Branko Marcetic, Responsible Statecraft
For a conflict discussed in starkly moralistic terms, the ways the Ukraine war is talked about by its most enthusiastic Western supporters can be remarkably cynical about the human carnage involved.
“Aiding Ukraine, giving the money to Ukraine is the cheapest possible way for the U.S. to enhance its security,” Zanny Minton Beddoes, editor-in-chief of the Economist, recently told the Daily Show’s Jon Stewart. “The fighting is being done by the Ukrainians, they’re the people who are being killed.”
This view is not unique to Beddoes. It’s been widely expressed by those most in favor of an open-ended, prolonged war and most against the kind of peace negotiations that would shorten it.
“Four months into this thing, I like the structural path we’re on here. As long as we help Ukraine with the weapons they need and the economic support, they will fight to the last person,” said Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-S.C.) early into the war, accidentally voicing what the war’s critics have often said about the war — that the U.S. will fight it “to the last Ukrainian.” Later, Graham called it the “best money we’ve ever spent.”
Recent Posts
The World is Getting Too Hot to Feed Itself
Take Action Now A new U.N. report maps how extreme heat is tearing through every layer of the global food system — and mostly overlooks the people at…
Cuba’s Fate Should Not Be in U.S. Hands
Take Action Now U.S. officials are relying on Trump’s executive order of January 29 which, without evidence, accused Cuba of being an “extraordinary…
As Opposition Grows, Oklahoma Organizers Share How They Halted an ICE Warehouse
Take Action Now Organizers also channeled mass outrage into long-haul organizing for immigration justice in Oklahoma and beyond.By Lydia…
Meet the Four Democrats Who’ll Decide If Trump Gets His Domestic Spying Law
Take Action Now “It all comes down to those four,” said an advocate, “and if they are going to continue to try to hand Trump warrantless…