Republican resistance to aid for Ukraine targets Biden, claims national security expert

Evelyn Farkas, a former U.S. defense official and current executive director of the U.S.-based think tank, the McCain Institute, discussed the reluctance of Republican congress members Matt Gaetz and Marjorie Taylor Greene in supporting Ukraine, in an interview with NV on Oct. 6.

"I don't think it has anything to do with anything strategic or any well thought out logical argument about Ukraine, the war in Ukraine, or Ukraine's role in the world,” Farkas said.

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“I think it's an effort on their part to target President Biden."

Farkas claimed that Ukraine's success in the war with Russia has been largely due to the foreign policy of US. .President Joe Biden.

"So the fact that his foreign policy has been successful so far may be the reason why they don't want to support aid to Ukraine,” she speculated.

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“But I'm speculating here because I don't really know why. I think it also has to do with the fact that they see bipartisan support for this decision and they don't like that bipartisan unity. They seem to prefer to block anything that is a bipartisan decision. So maybe they're more interested in weakening the government, in not having a strong, unified economic policy in the United States."

Farkas noted that if the United States does not help Ukraine, there is a high risk that it will be forced to send American troops to fight in defense of NATO countries.

"Nobody wants that,” Farkas concluded.

“Obviously, these members of Congress do not fully understand the context in which they are acting. If they did, I can't imagine them acting in this way.”

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On Sept. 30, the then-U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy removed $6 billion in support to Ukraine from a temporary funding bill intended to avoid a U.S. government shutdown. McCarthy justified the move by claiming that this was an issue that should be considered separately, at a later time.

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