NEWSWATCH: On Military Aid to Ukraine, the Administration Zig-Zags

[“On Military Aid to Ukraine, the Administration Zig-Zags” – David J. Kramer – Wall Street Journal – February 4, 2015]

David J. Kramer comments on the Obama administration’s shifting public postures regarding its Ukraine policy.

… Wednesday, Ash Carter, the administration’s nominee for defense secretary, said that he is ‘very much inclined’ to send arms to Ukraine. One hopes that this is not another piece of the administration’s one-step-forward, one-step-backward rhetorical pattern regarding the Ukrainian government’s months-old requests for lethal military assistance …

… When asked … in November about providing such assistance to Ukraine, Deputy Secretary of State-nominee Tony Blinken responded: ‘That’s something we should be looking at.’ News reports … suggested … the Obama administration was rethinking its refusal to provide the military help Kiev has requested.

In Congress, there is strong bipartisan support for providing military aid…. The president, however, has rejected such entreaties – and the White House has not moved on its opposition.

Kramer argues that the administration has been contradictory in various remarks and that pronouncements by Obama himself will be necessary to think the administration is serious about assisting Ukraine’s military defense against Russian aggression.

One could get whiplash from such contradictory comments. Amid the conflicting statements, one thing is clear: Unless and until Mr. Obama says it himself, there is little point in believing that the administration is serious about helping Ukraine defend itself militarily against Russian aggression.

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