Senate votes to shove $40 billion more down bottomless pit of perpetual war

Forty-seven Democratic senators (including the 2 independents), joined by 39 Republicans, voted Thursday to extend America’s proxy war against Russia with a $40 billion giveaway to the broken state of Ukraine.

U.S. aid to Ukraine, ensuring their war with Russia will go on indefinitely, now tops $54 billion. Without that U.S. treasure prolonging a war that is destroying Ukraine as a functioning state, the war would have ended in a negotiated settlement early on.

The U.S. appears unconcerned how its policy is adding to Ukrainian deaths and devastated country. Instead, Its focus is on preventing any settlement that might provide Russia with some measure of security against approaching NATO militarism on its borders.

There is no ‘win-win’ from the U.S. and NATO perspective as both have framed the war as black v. white, good v. evil, total victory v. total defeat. That precludes any negotiated settlement whatsoever. In 21st century America, the Ukraine war is now a perpetual proxy war against Russia, the Ukrainians be damned.

To conduct this perpetual war, the U.S. along with its NATO allies and no one else, have taken on the entire cost of the war as Ukraine is essentially broke.

How broke? Nearly a quarter of its population have fled Ukraine or have been displaced within. Upwards of half its businesses are shuttered, precipitating economic freefall. Ukraine now relies on the U.S. to pay its dwindling military forces. There will be no satisfactory ending for Ukraine unless and until America and its NATO allies engage in war ending diplomacy.

On the challenging, indeed overwhelming American domestic issues of crime, health care, environment, infrastructure, voting integrity, education, women’s choice, immigration, among others, Republicans and Democrats are at total war with each other. But when it comes to squandering tens of billions on perpetual war overseas, even one that could go nuclear, they are the best of bedfellows