No President Biden, The Recent Aid To Ukraine Will Not Bring Peace

No, President Biden, the recently approved $95 billion aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan will not bring peace to the world, but rather more war.

US President Biden signed the aid package into law this Wednesday (24 April), following its passage in the Senate by a large majority. The aid package allocates substantial resources, to the tune of $60 billion, to Ukraine, aiming to bolster its defences against war with Russia.

This came after the military package was stuck for months in the US House of Representatives dominated by the Republicans. The Republicans, spearheaded by former US president Donald Trump, were against supplying Ukraine with more aid (read weapons) to sustain its war with Russia.

This delay in approving the package has deprived the Ukrainian military of vital ammunition supplies, particularly the 155mm artillery shells, air defence missiles like Stinger and Patriot, among other equipment.

This has forced the Ukrainians to ration weapons delivery on the frontlines.

Consequently, with an artillery ammunition advantage of sometimes 5-to-1 in favour of the Russians, Ukraine was forced to fall back and lose ground gradually. This saw the Russians taking the city of Avdiivka in February this year.

Russia slowly and gradually creeped forward, capturing one village after another along the entire frontline.

It is now increasing pressure on another Ukrainian city, Chasiv Yar, west of Bakhmut, which was captured last year and was referred to as the meat grinder in Western media due to the heavy casualties on both sides.

Last week, on Saturday (20 April), the Republicans removed their blockage, paving the way for the bill to be passed by the Democrat-dominated Senate. The bill was passed two days ago (23 April) in Senate and was signed into law, a day after, by President Biden.

The first tranche of a $1 billion has already been shipped and will reach Ukraine very shortly.

This includes Stinger shoulder-mounted air defence missiles, TOW and Javelin anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs), additional rounds of Himars rocket ammunition, and 155mm artillery rounds.

After signing, Biden made remarks in the White House claiming that this package “is going to make the world safer.”

However, this is far from the truth.

With the delivery of the package, Russia will be forced to use even more force.

Under the package, a substantial number of longer-range versions (up to 300km) of Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMs) will be supplied to Ukraine. Although Ukraine is instructed not to use ATACMs missiles inside Russian territory, this cannot be guaranteed.

Its usage inside Russian territory has the potential to spark a wider war and even direct confrontation with NATO and the US.

This gives the impression that the US is determined to fight with Russia to the last Ukrainians.

The aid extends beyond Ukraine, with significant allocations for both Israel ($26.4 billion) and Taiwan ($8.1 billion). These funds are intended to strengthen their positions against regional threats. For Israel, this means more military hardware to continue its operations in Gaza.

For Taiwan, it provides critical systems to deter Chinese aggression.

The Israelis have indicated that they will resume with their plans to assault Rafah, a city in southern Gaza to which more than 2 million Palestinian refugees fled, when Israel commenced its military campaign in Gaza.

All the warnings by US to Israel not to assault Rafah are just fancy talk with no teeth. Instead, this package looks more like tacit approval for Israel to continue with its plans for Rafah, rather than to halt its campaign.

Therefore, this package is not for promoting world peace but instead will lead to greater conflict, as evidenced by the use of supplied weapons in active conflict zones.

Moreover, this will fuel the development of US' own military-industrial complex, beautifully gift-wrapped in the name of world peace, justice, and freedom.

Over 75 per cent of this package is meant to go to the American economy for increasing the production capacity of its weapons manufacturing plants. It will fund the increase in production of 155mm artillery rounds from the current 30,000 shells per month to 100,000 per month, by the end of 2025.

Ultimately, while the aid package is presented as a necessary step for peace, its real-world implications could be far more complex. The international community must carefully assess whether these actions truly serve the cause of peace or whether they merely advance a strategic agenda that could lead to more global instability.

Bottomline is, this package will not serve the cause of peace but of war, at least for the foreseeable future.