In an overwhelming 348-48 vote, the House of Representatives passed a resolution calling for President Obama to immediately begin providing weaponry to the Ukrainian government.
The resolution claims Russia is plotting to take over eastern Ukraine, and cites Pentagon officials supporting arms shipments to the Ukrainian military. The resolution is non-binding.
The preamble to the resolution includes several factual errors about the Ukrainian conflict, including the bizarre claim that Russia’s annexation of Crimea undermined an international order established after World War 2. At the end of WW2, Crimea was still part of Russia’s Soviet Socialist Republic, and it had been Russian from the early 19th century.
Conspicuously absent in the incredibly wordy resolution is a single mention of the ongoing ceasefire, which has brought Ukraine’s Civil War to a virtual halt in recent weeks. The Obama Administration had sent only non-lethal aid, saying they didn’t want to imperil the ceasefire.
Hmmm …. presents from Uncle Sam. No strings attached. Just pull on this ring.
Well, for President Poro and friends, the ring's attached to a golden parachute.
For the rest of the nation, the parachute has a rather large hole in it…
In international law, aid of any kind, including non-lethal equipment, is in the same category, because any aid, obviously, frees up resources for the group to get lethal aid elsewhere.
evil idiots.
348 hopeless morons. 48 folks who actually have active neurons. And that's our house of representatives… pathetic.
This is potentially a very dangerous situation Putin is likely to react aggressively if this resolution actually results in sending arms to the fascists who have control of the government in Ukraine.
Perhaps not 48 but 56.
If you look at the Nays together with the NVs, it is 30 Dems and 54 Republicans, a pretty meager antiwar base. But it is a minority with a clear base now in each party. Under the right circumstances and with the right pressure and, it can grow and have influence.
There is a ray of hope, dim but it is there.
Start with a base of false assumptions and patent lies, add a dash of erroneous information supplied by perennial war mongers at the Pentagon, mix with 348 half-baked Congressmen, and voila: US foreign policy.
Another glaring demonstration that there is no difference between Republicans and Democrats when it comes to warring.
This is 70 years after the end of WW2. Russia has invited leaders from around the world to participate in a memorial. Staying away is an insult to the millions of Soviet soldiers and citizens who have died to keep me alive.
More proof that AIPAC owns both houses of congress.
Thank you for supplying links to the roll call and to the text of the resolution.
And the whores of the coup being financed by pig, Israel-firster, Sheldon Adelson, identify themselves! These Quislings almost succeed in giving the Protocols of the Elders of Zion a good name. Who now seriously believes that the path to the recovery of our democracy consists in the exercise of the franchise?
This is all part of the well coordinated policy to put pressure on Putin. The EU leaders speak softly, Obama carries the big stick. Obama himself says nothing himself and sends non-lethal aid. Breedlove calls for more than that. The House urges Obama to arm Ukraine. The British are training the Ukrainian military. Poland and Lithuania are setting up joint units with them. If the cease fire lasts, Putin suffers a humiliating defeat. If the cease fire fails, Putin suffers a humiliating defeat. If open war breaks out, Putin suffers a humiliating defeat. Marine Le Pen didn't do terribly well in the French election Sunday. Once the second round is over next Sunday, Putin has to choose which humiliating defeat he wants to have. He's such a vain little man, I could even envisage him resigning rather than having to accept a peace deal. Now, that would be good news!
No, if the cease fire lasts, Putin does NOT suffer a humiliating defeat. Putin supported the cease fire, and obviously the continuation of a cease-fire Putin supported is a vindication of his policy on that issue. But from the standpoint of the welfare of the people living in the war-torn area in question — a standpoint in which you apparently have no interest — a continued cease-fire is vital to a political solution which will ultimately have to occur, regardless of how long warfare might last. Perhaps you are ignorant of WWII, but I am old enough to have lived through that war (as well as the preceding Great Depression) and well recall that approximately 25 million people in the USSR lost their lives as a result of the attack and invasion by Nazi Germany. Many of the current Ukrainian government officials proudly proclaim their support of Nazi Germany in WWII. The USSR was our ally in WWII. You are welcome to your support of neo-Nazis in the Ukraine. I will never support Nazis anywhere, "neo" or otherwise.
perhaps you are ignorant about what the russians did to the ukrainians in the years before, during, and after WW2. perhaps you are also ignorant that the ceasefire is not holding, around mariupol or in donetsk.
loon.
Michael Kenny you are delusional. Russia and Eastern Ukraine utterly defeated the poorly trained and organized fascist forces from Kiev. Do really you believe Russia will allow a fascist horde to operate on its lengthy border? Obama plays along but he is a realist.
I notice Alan Grayson in the aye votes. We now have yet another phony "antiwar" democrat exposed as a sniveling, warmongering sack of s**t for his corporate string pullers.
I was very surprised by it, because several months ago he was one of only a handful of House members to vote against Russia sanctions. At least people like Barbara Lee and Walter Jones are still on our side. Too bad they are vastly outnumbered.
Yet again Antiwar covers only one side of the story on this issue. Ignores ceasefire breaches by the Russians, ignores Russia's casualties being reporting on within Russia, ignores breach of INF treaty by deployment of ICBMs in Kaliningrad. If you want to make the case the U.S. should stay away from the issue that's fine, but to omit half of the facts is rather misleading.
The fascists from Kiev initiated this insane war. Yes Russia will do everything in its power to crush any effort by the neo Nazi forces directly on its border. And Obama and Merkel know there is nothing ultra right wing think tanks can do to stop them.
Is Obama going to be another Hitler?