OP-ED: Why Should We Support Ukraine?
Written by Ethan Tsai, Edited by Santiago Gaete
Kyiv — Feb. 23 — The potential funding of Ukraine in its war against Russia has become a major topic of controversy in the United States, as critics of the policy pose the argument that the support would be better used to benefit the American people rather than a far-away foreign country. Many of these objections fail to recognize the benefits of supporting Ukraine, and, more importantly, the true root sources that lead to problems such as homelessness, mental health, and lack of education in the first place.
First and foremost, the funding sent to Ukraine in the early stages of the war was, contrary to many people’s beliefs, saving America money. Much of the material sent to Ukraine at the time had been sitting idly in storage centers, serving no purpose other than costing America maintenance operations. Unless the United States were to enter a major conflict requiring ground forces soon, these resources would stay there until their eventual abandonment by the military. The decision to send these older and/or unused vehicles and weapons to Ukraine justified their cost of creation, for essentially no extra trouble to the United States government.
Additionally, the amount of actual money sent to Ukraine is about 26.4 billion, which represents only 35% of the total aid (the rest mostly being training and weapons). While this may appear to be a lot, it is only 2.5% of the total budget for the Department of Defense, which I would argue makes it well worth the expense. While it is certainly still a considerable chunk, from a strategic point of view, it is well worth spending in exchange for severely diminishing Russia’s international power, maintaining other allies’ faith in US partnership, and sending a message to China over its issues with Taiwan.
Many critics have continued arguing, however, that the money is going to waste. Arguments such as “Ukraine will lose anyways” and “it is better used for domestic problems” are the most common, especially among isolationist-nationalist circles in America. And to be fair, they aren’t entirely without merit. A Ukrainian victory over Russia appears to be far in the future, if even possible, and America certainly has dozens of problems to deal with on its own. The former argument has already been addressed in the paragraphs above, but the latter has become a rallying cry for many Americans, who point to the disrepair of their cities as a vital issue to address.
However, Ukrainian aid is the wrong target to blame for this issue. Corporate monopolies, political corruption, and ineffective government spending are far more impactful on homelessness, mental health, and lack of education. The true ways to fix these problems are through bipartisan legislation, consistent policies, and the de-radicalization of the American political system, but unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to be going anywhere for now; therefore it falls upon the younger generations to enter politics, and make the change our current politicians are unwilling to do themselves.
