The U.S. Should Give Unlimited Support to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. Here's Why.
The World Will Be Safer For Americans and Western Democracies
I have to admit that, as a fiscal conservative, I have been concerned about the amount of American funding that has been going to support Ukraine. My thinking was that we should not be sending our treasure to support foreign wars. I have always felt that our First President was right when, in his Farewell Address in 1796, he advised the country to avoid foreign entanglements. I thought we should be conserving those funds for domestic use and that the outcome of the Russian-Ukraine conflict had little bearing on the U.S.
After much thought, after reading the writings of foreign policy experts whom I respect, and after giving measured consideration to what the world would look like if Russia were to succeed in annexing Ukraine, if Iran, through its proxies, were to defeat Israel, and if China were to take over Taiwan, I concluded that it is clearly in America’s interest to see that neither Russia nor Iran nor China succeed in their aggressive goals.
I am now of the mind that the US should provide unlimited support and funding to Ukraine and provide whatever war material Israel needs to eliminate Iranian-backed terrorists from Gaza, Syria, and Lebanon. Further, I believe it would also be in America’s interest to destroy the capability of the Iranian-backed Houthi terrorists to disrupt shipping in the Red Sea. We would have the support of much of the Middle East and the rest of the world by doing so, and we might once again earn the respect of our enemies for our resolve.
The following is an explanation of what caused me to make such a radical change of mind. Let me preface that by saying that lest I be attacked as a “warmonger” neocon” or "profiteer,” I am none of those. I abhor war and violence. It is not the way to resolve differences. I am a man who cherishes peace and harmony. But above all, I love my country, and my thoughts are always, unequivocally, about what is best for my country, its people, and especially my children and grandchildren.
The Russia-Ukraine Conflict
As Matthew Continetti writes in Commentary Magazine, if America withdraws or reduces its support of Ukraine and Russia succeeds in the takeover of Ukraine, no one should have any illusions about what will happen next.
A lapse in aid would be a coup for Russian propaganda. Vladimir Putin would pocket another chess piece and scan the board for other targets. America’s partners would recognize the arrival of the post-American world. China’s Xi Jinping, Iran’s Ali Khamenei, North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro, and countless other murderers, thugs, and genocidaires would be emboldened. Cutting off aid to Ukraine will not reduce violence or lessen the threat to America. It will amplify the carnage. It will enhance the risk.
Let us say that the Ukrainians would lay down their arms and call for a cease-fire and negotiations.
Would Putin lay down his arms? There is no reason to think so. And yet, out of ignorance, indifference, or malice, a great number of Americans seem to believe that our assistance to Ukraine is what fuels the conflict. They foolishly believe that Putin would like nothing more than for the war in Ukraine to end. He does not.
To the contrary, Putin has given every indication that he is mobilizing for years of aggression against not only Ukraine but also America and the West.
Shortly after October 7th, Russian officials welcomed Hamas leaders to the Kremlin. Russia’s latest budget allocates 30% of spending to its military (the U.S. budget allocates 12% to the military). As part of this military buildup, the Russians are adding 170,000 soldiers, bringing their armed forces to 2.2 million personnel. Also, in November, Russia tested a submarine-launched intercontinental ballistic missile. Putin has been working to strengthen his alliances with China, Iran, and North Korea. In early December, he traveled to Saudi Arabia and the UAE, presenting himself as the anti-American axis of resistance.
The strategic price of leaving Ukraine to fend for itself is too high. America can’t afford it.
Abandoning Ukraine to the Russians would be a catastrophe of greater magnitude than our ignominious retreat from Afghanistan in 2021. Abandoning Afghanistan damaged America’s credibility. A defeat in Ukraine would shake the foundations of the transatlantic alliance and NATO and greenlight a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. Opponents of aid to Ukraine evade the reality of Putin’s intent. He is seeking to resurrect the former Soviet empire. As Continetti concludes…
If America abandons the fight for freedom in Ukraine, Putin won’t change. He won’t falter. He won’t stop. And the danger in which we will soon find ourselves will be matched only by our dishonor.
The Israel-Iran Conflict
Make no mistake about it. Hamas is not just some home-grown local terrorist group. Hamas is Iran. Hamas is one of the proxies that Iran has created surrounding Israel. Other Iranian proxies are Hizballah, ISIS, the Azzam Brigades, Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the Yemenite Houthis, and many more.
“Relations with Iran are excellent, and Iran is the largest supporter of the Izz ad-Din al Qassam Brigades [Hamas’s military wing] with money and arms,” Yahya Sinwar, a senior Hamas military leader, said in 2017. In 2020, the U.S. State Department reported that Iran had provided more than $100 million annually to Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
According to a report from the Department of State's Bureau of Counterterrorism:
Since the end of the 2006 Israeli-Hizballah conflict, Iran has supplied Hizballah in Lebanon with thousands of rockets, missiles, and small arms in violation of UNSCR 1701. Israeli security officials and politicians expressed concerns that Iran was supplying Hizballah with advanced weapons systems and technologies, as well as assisting the group in creating infrastructure that would permit it to indigenously produce rockets and missiles to threaten Israel from Lebanon and Syria. Iran has provided hundreds of millions of dollars in support of Hizballah and trained thousands of its fighters at camps in Iran. Hizballah fighters have been used extensively in Syria to support the Assad regime.
In 2021, Iran provided support to Hamas and other designated Palestinian terrorist groups, including Palestine Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command. These Palestinian terrorist groups were behind numerous deadly attacks originating in Gaza and the West Bank.
Iran has as its declared mission the destruction of Israel and the US. Iran, led by radical Islamist Mullahs, seeks nothing less than world dominance. It does not care who has to die to achieve its mission. We can weaken Iran by damaging or destroying its proxies, i.e., Hamas, Hizballah, and the Houthis, or we can let Iran destroy Israel and then move to commit terrorist acts against the EU, the UK, and the US. Iran’s first goal is to become the leading power in the Middle East before it seeks world hegemony. Israel is the bulwark against an aggressive Iran in the Middle East. The destruction of Israel by Iran through its Middle East proxies, Hizballah, Hamas, and the Islamic Jihad, would result in Iran succeeding in controlling the Middle East through its support by the US, China, North Korea, and Russia. Iran receives billions of dollars from those countries, including the United States, which has freed up billions of Iranian funds previously frozen. It is the opinion of the Biden Administration that by appeasing Iran by lifting sanctions, reinstating the JCPOA, and funding them with billions, Iran will remain peaceful and not attack the US or its allies. If one understands the mindset of radical Islamists, he would have to conclude that this is a very naive outlook. You can also be certain that Iranian-backed terrorists are already in the US through our open-border policy and that they will ultimately commit acts of terror on US soil.
Without going into a longer exposition about why Iran is a danger to our way of life and Western civilization since I think most people understand that, I will state the obvious. We must protect Israel and destroy the Iranian proxies. Forcing Israel to enact a cease-fire without completing its goal of destroying Hamas and weakening Hizballah would be a terrible policy for the US. If we don’t take a stand against Iran now, we will be facing them when they are a nuclear power.
China and Taiwan.
The perception of the US by the world, and particularly by our greatest adversary, China, is that we are weak and indecisive. Taiwan’s independence is a thorn in the side of China. It would like nothing more than to control the waterways of the South China Sea and take over Taiwan. It hasn't because the US has prevented it from doing so up to this point. If after our ignominious abandonment of Afghanistan, after pledging to support Ukraine and not doing so, and if we don’t fully support our closest ally, Israel, China will rightly assume that we are not willing to defend Taiwan, despite our pledge to do so, and will see no reason to be deterred from moving on Taiwan.
It is clearly in our interest to support democratic countries like Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan. To do otherwise would be political and cultural suicide for the United States.