Washington’s emerging Ukraine policy
There is an evident paradigm shift in the thinking of American elites.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy recently spoke on the phone with Joseph Biden, and it was not only about gratitude for the ATACMS already being used by Ukraine, but also about coordinating positions for the future.
Shortly after this conversation, the U.S. President addressed his own citizens. This address is significant, but you can understand it if you understand the subtle aspects of American politics.
In short, it was about a request to Congress to allocate $100 billion a year to help Ukraine ($60 billion), Israel, Taiwan, and protect the border with Mexico. Biden went on to explain that this is in the interests of the United States.
He called it a turning point for the world. First of all, for the confrontation between democracies and autocracies worldwide. In this context, the U.S. president compared the Russian regime and Hamas for the first time at this level, noting that they are fighting to destroy neighboring democratic states. Significantly, he did not say anything about China, although he will also be asking for funds for Taiwan. No one will compare the Chinese government to Hamas, except for the Kremlin. This is a very serious paradigm shift in the globalist vein.
If we recall the previous rhetoric, the U.S. government carefully avoided direct references to the terrorist nature of the Russian state, and the goal of confrontation with it was instead called "understanding the Kremlin's unprofitable continuation of the war."
It was no longer just a "particular situation" but a global confrontation.
It is no longer just a "separate situation," but a global confrontation
This gave rise to all the things we really did not like. The buzzword was "escalation management," when every step to support Ukraine was "checked" against the possibility of Russian authorities' retaliatory measures. After all, the Russian-Ukrainian war itself was not being placed in the global context, but instead was being singled out as a separate situation, as something "abnormal" in terms of international relations.
Now, it's the other way around. The war against Ukraine is not just being "fit" into the global context; it is being proclaimed as part of a series of international plans to counter autocracy, with key U.S. partners in each region alongside Ukraine.
This is important. It is no longer just a "separate situation," but a global confrontation where everyone is connected to everyone – from North Korea, Iran, Hamas, to Russia – and therefore, it is critically important (and necessary) for the United States to support its partners, among whom Ukraine is a leading one.
Clearly, these are words that need to be put into practice, and we immediately see the problem: Congress, blocked by squabbles between Republicans. But it's also clear that Biden's speech is a programmatic election speech, which indicates that the U.S. presidential election campaign will be based on the concept of global challenges.
This position looks strong since global challenges and dangers cannot but spread in the United States in ways they have elsewhere. American isolationists also have to admit this, but they try to present everything through attempts to "break" the global field into "segments," only some of which are "significant" for the United States. For example, fighting for Israel and Taiwan may be necessary, but not for Ukraine. In response, Biden argues this is not logical, because all U.S. enemies are connected, and "Hamas and Putin are fighting against democracy." This creates one of the political and technological splits of the upcoming elections – limited isolationism versus globalism, and here, the issue of Ukraine becomes critical.
Financial issues are a matter for Congress, so we are waiting for the vote, but there is an evident paradigm shift in the thinking of American elites. Not all of them will immediately rush to support Biden's concept, but behind the concept is not just a vision of the world but also a reality where an "Axis of Evil" is emerging, where autocrats are uniting and preparing for global wars. It is pointless to reject this, and it is also foolish to think that it will be possible to "localize" every "conflict." The point here is not the U.S. elections, but something much more serious.
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