Guest Editorial: United States: Fighting to the last Ukrainian
By Lim Teck Ghee
When Joe Biden leaves office, he will leave as the president with a record that places him amongst the most militaristic of American leaders with responsibility for inflicting suffering and bringing death to possibly the largest number of innocent civilian casualties in this modern era. This is as a result of the wars taking place during his watch in Ukraine, Gaza and elsewhere. This record will become worse if the bleak outcome of his latest foreign policy decision becomes reality.
In what independent observers view as a further attempt by Biden to continue and escalate the war in Ukraine, the lame duck president has authorised Ukraine to use American long-range missiles to strike deeper inside Russia.
In the US, the following response by Congress representative Marjorie Greene has received 2 million views on X and 47,000 likes
On his way out of office, Joe Biden is dangerously trying to start WW III by authorizing Ukraine the use of U.S. long range missiles into Russia.
The American people gave a mandate on Nov 5th against these exact America last decisions and do NOT want to fund or fight foreign wars. We want to fix our own problems
Marjorie Taylor Green, Congress representative for Georgia, X post, 14 Nov 2024
This decision, allowing Kyiv to use the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMs) with their superior range of up to four times more than the current missiles supplied to Ukraine for attacks inside Russia, has been justified with the most flimsy of excuses.
Quoting American officials reported to be ‘knowledgeable’ about the matter but obviously designated by the White House to provide justification propaganda, the major policy change is being pitched by western media to the world as a response to North Korean troops reported to be positioned along Ukraine’s northern border.
The explanation rings hollow.
Since the war began, Russia has not called upon or relied on any non-Russian troops to fight its war. At this late stage when victory appears to be in sight, Putin will want for it to enter into the history books as an exclusive and singlehanded Russian victory against the combined forces of the US, Britain, Canada, Australia, the European Union, Japan and other allies of the West. It will be foolish and extremely unlikely for Putin to welcome any participation from Russia’s allies in the current battlefield and military endgame in Ukraine.
As to the presence of North Koreans in Ukraine, it is possible that there is a small number of them at the frontline. However, South Korea, which has the best intelligence on North Korea, has not been able to confirm that North Korean troops are now engaged in combat as reported by some US and Ukraine officials.
Explaining Biden's Last War Hurrah
What explains Biden’s last hurrah in US foreign policy is not difficult to understand. Firstly, he is giving way to the late ditch effort by the military-industrial (MIC) and deep state complexes that are key players of US domestic and foreign policy to obstruct the incoming president, Donald Trump, in his plan to end the war. Such a move which Trump has promised to take place within 24 hours after his assumption of office, would obviously adversely impact the windfall profits that the war in Ukraine has generated for the MIC complex.
Biden had earlier resisted pressure from Zelensky and Western supporters to allow Ukraine to strike military targets deeper inside Russia for fear that this escalation could draw the US and NATO into direct conflict with nuclear-armed Russia.
His change of mind at this late hour can also be interpreted in other ways besides his finally giving in to the military and industrial forces working behind the political scene in Washington and Kyiv.
Foremost appears to be his personal animosity towards Trump who he condemned in a recent election campaign rally as a threat to democracy and someone that needed to “be locked up”. Related to that animosity may also be a quest for retaliation against his nemesis fuelled by Kamala Harris’s election loss which many Democrat leaders attribute to Biden’s late withdrawal from the presidential race.
Failure by Trump as the new president to stop the war as promised would put Biden’s foreign policy legacy of support for Ukraine in a better light and make Trump the loser in the American history books which Biden is now focused on influencing and rewriting.
Earlier in his youth, Biden had shown promise of being anti-war in his sentiment. Like earlier presidents - George W. Bush and Bill Clinton - he was successful in avoiding the draft. According to a report by the US Army Times newspaper which serves active, reserve, national guard and retired US army personne, and analysed the draft dodging strategies of various presidents:
Biden not only received deferments for his undergraduate days at the University of Delaware, but for three years of law school at Syracuse University. When his education deferments expired in 1968, Biden requested a deferment based on the fact he had asthma as a teenager. He did this in spite of the fact that, according to his own book, he was a star athlete in high school and in college played intramural sports and was a lifeguard in the summer.
The report also noted that as soon as he received his asthma deferment, Biden ran for local office and within two years after he would have been discharged from the Army, assuming he was not wounded or killed, he was elected to the Senate.
As an outgoing president, Biden clearly has embellished his war record with this latest variant of US foreign policy - that is, of fighting to the last Ukrainian. This recalibration of US foreign policy is also being applied to hotspots such as Gaza and Lebanon in the Middle East and Korea and Taiwan in Asia.
Fighting to the last Palestinian, Korean or Taiwanese can be expected as the US continues with its efforts to maintain geo-political dominance.
Lim Teck Ghee
Lim Teck Ghee, ANU PhD graduate, is a Malaysian economic historian and policy analyst. He has a regular column, Another Take, in The Sun, a Malaysian daily and Oriental Daily; and is the author of Challenging the Status Quo in Malaysia, and Dark Forces Changing Malaysia (with Murray Hunter).
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A brilliant analysis of the situation. Russia will respond with a limited though punishing attack on Kiev A nuclear strike which will paralyse the communication and power networks in Ukraine and Poland (the shadow belligerent in this war).
The impact of such an action by Moscow will force a rethink by former Soviet states in the NATO orbit about their membership of NATO.
The Military Industrial Complex (MIC) in the US, threatened by president elect Trump's stated objective of distancing the US from European and Middle Eastern theaters of war are likely to act through direct interference in the election results in the US through a declaration of martial law by a proclamation of the President or a State governor, but such a formal proclamation is not necessary.
Trump is fighting a civil war against the MIC and its minions in the US. If such a scenario (which is likely if Moscow does fire a nuclear device on Kiev in its defence) will plunge the US into civil war which it is on the precipice of right now anyway.
The MIC cannot expect to enjoy any support from Americans including those who are Democrats (mainly woke and young) because the one thing that unites republican and democrat is their desire to not become involved in any unjust unproductive foreign wars anymore.
This is no longer a game theory proposition. Zelensky is bent on playing the bum boy of the West in a situation he got himself into driven by his vanity and his political immaturity.
You seem to be overlooking the point that it was Russia that started this war. Surely you can't really be promoting a line that Ukraine is not permitted to meet the resources available to Russia on an equal footing. Are you really accepting the fact that the unfairness between the combatants at the point that Russia commenced its invasion is somehow normal and that Ukraine has to fight with one hand tied behind its back? Which side are you on?