Of Course Supporting Ukraine Is in America’s Interests

By Dan Crenshaw

Wednesday, April 24, 2024

 

Supporting Ukraine’s fight against Russia has become a contentious issue. There are many reasons for this, but one stands out: This important matter has never been properly explained within the context of America’s self-interest. Why does this war in Europe matter to Americans?

 

The answer is one our president should have given from the beginning: We have two choices; we can either keep the aggressive Russian Army where it is, or we can let it murder tens of thousands more Ukrainians and position itself on the borders of four NATO countries.

 

There are no other choices. There is no magical third option in which we get “peace” or Europeans can support Ukraine without American help. Putin won’t agree to peace as long as he thinks he can keep advancing.

 

The ultimate question, then, is this: Which one of those scenarios is more likely to draw American forces into war?

 

It is the scenario in which Putin takes Ukraine, realizes the West has given up, and continues his aggression against our NATO allies in the Baltic states. This is the scenario that brings us to the brink of a shooting war. It may not happen this year or next, but surely our children will one day have to be in Europe fighting for our allies. Don’t take my word for it; listen to Putin himself, whose own words over the years have indicated his imperialist ambitions.

 

So, despite the critics’ claim that “we are perpetuating a war” by assisting Ukraine, the truth is that their preferred option — leaving Ukraine to be conquered and subjugated — actually brings us closer to war.

 

Unfortunately, President Biden has never made this very simple argument about why backing Ukraine matters to American interests. This isn’t about lofty claims to be “defending democracy” or “standing up to dictators.” This is about stone-cold American self-interest.

 

The modern American way of life is dependent on a stable world and the global economy that we have effectively led since WWII. The world before WWII was always in relative chaos, and it’s not a world we want to return to. If we allow it to come back — if dictators can invade other countries to seize their territory and resources — what happens to global commodity prices, supply chains, and the availability of basic necessities? They all come under threat.

 

Even if Putin did stop at Ukraine, the economic consequences would still be large, considering Ukraine’s abundance of grain exports and critical materials like nitrogen, neon, and iron. And that’s to say nothing of the invitation Putin’s success would constitute for other would-be aggressors. Imagine China claiming control of Taiwan, which produces 90 percent of the world’s advanced semiconductors, or Iran going to war to control oil exports in the Middle East. All these enemies are testing America’s resolve to remain the leader of the free world and defend the global economy that we benefit from the most. Giving up on Ukraine sends a clear message that we are abdicating that role, creating a domino effect of invade-and-conquer politics that would send us right back to the pre-WWII era — except this time with China calling the shots. That is not a world in which our children would remain prosperous, and it sure isn’t putting America First.

 

This is the simplest reason why stopping Russian aggression matters to every American: Our way of life depends upon a free, stable world. But there are also other reasons that this is a good deal for America. First off, about 80 percent of the money appropriated doesn’t go directly to Ukraine but to our defense–industrial base and our military. We are giving the Ukrainians old weapons and buying new ones. We are “reawakening” our dormant and decaying supply chains and production lines, which will help us be better prepared for a potential conflict against China. In the end, we have spent only about 5–10 percent of our annual defense budget to support Ukraine, and we have gotten massive strategic benefits from it. The Russian Army has been stopped and badly damaged, and we have not lost one American soldier.

 

Should we have also passed meaningful border-security measures? Of course. We tried to make that happen, but the same politics that always deny progress on border security prevailed again.

 

In the end, each member gets to vote on the legislation in front of us. We can always find excuses to vote against something. It’s the easy way out. But when the future of American security and global dominance is at stake, we must put politics aside and do the hard work of actually explaining these issues to our constituents.