The Aid is Flowing Again…
“I’m making sure the shipments start right away. In the next few hours — literally in a few hours — we are going to begin sending equipment to Ukraine for air defense munitions, artillery for rocket systems, and armored vehicles.”
Joe Biden
It’s been a long six months. I am sure it took far longer for Ukrainian troops than any of us just contacting our congressional delegations. We just did our jobs as citizens. Let’s be clear: that’s easier than hitting the trenches and counting ammo. While much of the aid is already prepositioned in Poland, they still need to get the orders to roll. Some are already on the way; for example, see the cargo plane, in the screencap I used above.
Yet, it will move, if not already moving.
What I want to show you is how this is seen abroad. The Russians were hardly pleased, and yes, Dmitry Medevev wishes us a nice civil war. Given the active measures exploiting our society's cracks, he is just being honest. But how did Yigal Levin see this? He is originally Israeli. So he is also looking at this as how it affects Israel, even if not directly:
And one last thing. There was a lot of talk about Speaker Johnson, and Leader McConnell played an important role.
⬆️But this man did the most to provide American aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.
Charles Ellis “Chuck” Schumer, Senate Democratic leader.
When Republican bees voted at the last minute on February 7 against the border reform honey that aid to Ukraine was tied to, Chuck Schumer actually pulled it out of the abyss with his own hands.
He decoupled aid to Ukraine from border reform, creating a separate bill that did not even get 60 votes on the first procedural vote ( only 8 Republicans supported it), but thereby bought the necessary time to try to convince Republican senators to still give aid to Ukraine a chance.
It worked. At the second procedural vote, there were already 17 Republicans. At the final vote, support was obtained from 22 Republicans.
And although the Senate bill was immediately rejected by House Speaker Mike Johnson, such support for Ukraine in the Senate became the basis of pressure on Johnson and the House. International pressure also came in, and the idea of a discharge petition emerged.
Johnson couldn’t resist under pressure, and that’s history. But it all started on February 7th, when Chuck Schumer grasped at the last straw to keep aid to Ukraine afloat.
Interesting fact. Chuck Schumer comes from a Jewish family, whose ancestors come from Chortkiv, Ternopil region :)
And also the American comedian Amy Schumer (do you know her?) is his direct relative
🐘This is the Ukrainian-Israeli-Hollywood elephant in the Senate as opposed to Victoria Spartz :)
That he goes into the role played by Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is astute. He is correct. The man masterfully played the system. In a way, he forced the hand of Speaker of the House Mike Johnson. He understood the demand of Johnson’s right flank. So he decoupled the bill into one each.
This is an incredibly sophisticated understanding of our, at times, dysfunctional politics. I have found this to be the case from multiple foreign interested observers.
That the Iranian attack on Israel was the last straw is also true. But this way of looking at our politics is instructive. I learned something as well. Where does the Majority Leader's family hail from? Does he know some family legends? Because I see a lot of the children of immigrants in the United States tend to forget them.
Levin’s reference to Congresswoman Spartz is a deep dig. She still has family in Chernihiv. She did her level best to stop this aid as a good member of the Make America Great faction of the House.
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