Joe Biden gave his pitch to the UN General Assembly yesterday, hoping to keep support for his endless proxy war in Ukraine alive amid declining support for this quagmire. Erosion for more Ukraine aid started in February. By August, a majority of Americans opposed sending more aid to the country that’s been fighting a stalemated war with Russia (via Reuters):
U.S. President Joe Biden appealed to world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday to stand with Ukraine against Russian invaders, hoping Republicans in Congress will also take notice.
“Russia believes that the world will grow weary and allow it to brutalize Ukraine without consequence,” Biden said in his speech to UNGA. “If we allow Ukraine to be carved up, is the independence of any nation secure?”
Biden drew applause when saying that the United States and its allies would stand with Ukraine’s fight for freedom. “Russia alone bears responsibility for this war,” the president said. “Russia alone has the power to end this war immediately.”
Biden’s address at the annual gathering was the centerpiece event of his three-day visit to New York, which will include meetings with the heads of five Central Asian nations, and the leaders of Israel and Brazil.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also warned that Russian aggression will not stop at Ukraine’s borders. It could expand, which is not likely since Moscow isn’t going to risk nuclear war. They’re brazen, for sure, but not that crazy. Putin is not risking war with NATO. It’s classic fearmongering, and most of us are sick of it (via The Hill):
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged United Nations members to join his country in pushing back against Russian President Vladimir Putin’s aggression, warning they could be next and that the Kremlin’s war may not end with Ukraine’s borders.
Zelensky, wearing his army-green crew shirt and speaking from the podium of the general assembly, also warned of the threat of nuclear weapons in the war, saying the U.N. needed to stand up against Putin and Russia to protect the world from “the final war… after which no one would gather in the General Assembly Hall again.”
“While nukes remain in place, the mass destruction is gaining momentum,” said Zelensky. “The aggressor is weaponizing many other things and those things are used not only against our country, but against all of yours as well.
Zelensky will be in Washington this week to shore up support for more aid, but some House Republicans, including Speaker Kevin McCarthy, are not signing off on a blank check again. Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) was more direct, noting that it’s not a good time for Zelensky to be here, the vote for a new aid package might not be there and that this forever war we’re engaged in might be going differently if we had a real commander-in-chief. He later savaged Biden, saying if the president knew how to lead instead of taking naps, the situation in Ukraine might be different.
