The greatest absurdity consists in talking about red lines in a war, which is the great scene of the absurd.
But those lines exist if only for spiritual comfort in aggression and to prevent human calamity from reaching a level of extreme degradation. Another thing is that all limits can be crossed.
The cluster bombs that the United States has provided to the Ukrainian army, bypassing all the prohibitions of its allies and the supplier itself, begin to be used on the battlefield. Analysts warn that its effects will be devastating. They will turn that territory into a gigantic minefield that will threaten civilians for a long time.
Although this cruel munition was approved, to counteract the fact that Russia has always used it, according to the Pentagon, the president of the United States, Joe Biden, remains firm for now in his refusal to provide Kyiv with long-range missiles, ignoring pressure from US legislators and repeated requests from the Ukrainian government.
Disappointment over the slowness of the counteroffensive launched against entrenched Russian forces and a new tone in Biden’s language prompted speculation that the missiles would soon follow the same path taken with other US weapons systems, which were first denied but finally approved throughout this almost year and a half of conflict.
It was last May when the president of the stars and stripes showed signs of undermining his refusal to send army tactical missile systems (ATACMS) and for the first time suggested that this weaponry was on the table.
A few days ago, President Volodimir Zelensky said that he had discussed the missiles with Biden at the NATO meeting held in Vilnius (Lithuania) earlier this month, who had told him that the decision had not yet been made.
However, Defense administration sources told The Washington Post that despite the growing public perception of “some kind of slow gravitational pull toward approval,” there has been no change in US policy or substantive discussion of the issue in recent months.
The Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, implicitly ratified this Sunday that it was not the time to consider a measure of this type as the war progresses. He assured that Ukraine has recovered 50% of the territory that Russia initially conquered.
“In terms of what Vladimir Putin was trying to achieve, he has been a failure, he has already lost,” he said. “His objective of him was to wipe Ukraine off the map, end its independence, its sovereignty and take over that country within Russia. In this they have long failed, ”he continued.
“Now Ukraine is in the middle of a battle to recover more land that Russia occupied, once they have obtained more than half of what they took possession of” the invader. “They are in a tough fight, but” we are still in the early days of the counteroffensive, “he said.
The head of White House diplomacy was optimistic about this progress, even though progress has slowed down. “The Russians have established strong defenses, but I am convinced that with the equipment and support that Ukraine has received from more than 50 countries to train its forces, taking into account many of these forces have not yet been deployed, and, more than anything and unlike Russia, it fights for its land and its freedom, all these are decisive elements that are going to play its trump card,” he stressed.
“But this is not going to happen in the next week or in a couple of weeks, this will take a few months,” he warned.
Blinken thus showed the unconditional encouragement of the Washington executive to Kyiv, which has expressed its generosity, which has led to criticism from his predecessor, Donald Trump, and his supporters in Congress, who on more than one occasion have lashed out against the shipment of arms and economic endowments while expressing sympathy for Putin.
Politics, however, is a sleight of hand. As demonstrated this Sunday when Mike Pence, vice president with Trump, affirmed without blush that Biden has done a terrible job with Ukraine for his slowness, “dragging his feet in the provision of military support from the beginning.” He even had the nerve to say that this administration cut the military contribution that the Trump/Pence administration made. The former president put that support on hold when Kyiv did not provide him with “crap” to attack then-electoral rival Joe Biden.
The fact that the current White House has turned to Ukraine does not prevent information from leaking into the press about some discontent towards Zelinski, who is accused of asking for more and more without a gesture of gratitude for his effort. Various sources commented to the US media that, in a telephone conversation, Biden lost his temper, which is saying a lot, because Zelenski never expressed gratitude and continued to press.
This criticism surfaced again at the Vilnius summit. Jack Sullivan, National Security Adviser, threw a dart at the Ukrainian president. Zelensky had criticized the United States for opposing his country’s entry into NATO. Sullivan countered that “we deserve a degree of gratitude” for the billions received from US taxpayers. “A degree? Some will say that we deserve the whole thermometer, since our contribution equals or exceeds that of the whole of Europe”, he remarked.
The latest Gallup poll shows that Americans stand firm in their support for Ukraine with 43%. This does not mean that those who believe that it does not do enough go down to 26% and those who think that it is too much go up to 29%.
