What Is Preventing Peace in Ukraine? It’s the Money!

Nov. 9, 2022: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wanted “genuine peace talks” with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin. The West nudged Zelensky’s initiation of peace discussions, because U.S. public support for Ukraine’s war could dwindle if no potential end were in sight.

Nov. 16, 2022: Joe Biden’s White House asked Congress for another $37 billion for the war in Ukraine on top of the $54–68 billion already given.

Dec. 2, 2022: Joe Biden continued his idiotic stance of not speaking to President Putin because, “We’re just not at a point where talks seem to be a fruitful avenue to approach right now.” This sort of irrational foreign policy shows a callus disregard for human life and supports the statement of Robert Gates, defense secretary in the Obama administration when he stated, “[Biden has] been wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades.” If there is a chance to stop the killing in a war, why wouldn’t you take that chance?

Dec. 23, 2022: The just-voted-out Democrat-controlled House and Democrat-led Senate, while in “lame-duck” session, ignoring the will of the people of the United States after the November 2022 election where the House flipped from Democrat to Republican, decided to pass a 4,100 page $1.7 trillion omnibus spending bill, including $45 billion in additional funding for Ukraine. On Nov. 16, 2022 (above), the Biden White House had asked Congress for only $37 billion, but Congress, being generous with taxpayer money, gave an additional $8 billion more than requested. This brings the total sent to Ukraine to somewhere between $99 and $113 billion.

Examining the breakdown of what we know about the moneys sent to Ukraine, only 5% of the total was designated for humanitarian needs. Of course, 61% of the money has been in military assistance, but a whopping 34% of the money is designated for financial assistance, including budgetary aid and economic support. This sounds shady when you consider that Zelensky’s inner circle is buying multi-million dollar mansions in Switzerland, beachfront property in Montenegro, U.S. factories and U.S. commercial real estate. Then there are Zelensky’s friends like Mykola Zlochevsky, whom Ukrainian authorities suspect of “theft of government funds on an especially large scale.”

Dec. 25, 2022: On Christmas Day President Putin stated, “We are ready to negotiate with everyone involved about acceptable solutions, but that is up to them – we are not the ones refusing to negotiate; they are.” Continuing, Putin said, “I believe that we are acting in the right direction. We are defending our national interests, the interests of our citizens, our people. And we have no other choice but to protect our citizens.”

One article further stated, “Putin equates his ‘special military operation’ in Ukraine to a watershed moment – in that it was when Moscow finally stood up to a Western bloc that has been looking to destroy Russia since the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union.” Putin also blamed the West for actually starting present conflict and claimed that in 2014 the West toppled the pro-Russian Ukrainian president in the Maiden Revolution protests.

It seems that with the olive branch extended last Christmas someone would want to talk with Putin and ask questions. For example, what are your “national interests?” What are “the interests of your citizens?” And how do you explain your view that the West is trying to “destroy Russia?”

Perhaps Putin’s interests include eliminating U.S. funded Ukrainian bio-labs, or immoral stances the West has taken on marriage and gender. Who knows what his points are, if you refuse to talk with him.

Instead of speaking with Putin, CIA Director William Burns stated that while most conflicts end in negotiation, Russia was not serious about real talks. An adviser to Zelensky stated Putin needed to return to reality and acknowledge it was Russia that did not want talks.

So, by Dec. 25, 2022, Putin said he wanted to talk, but the West and Ukraine said Putin does not want to have peace talks. It seems like if you can stop the killing, everyone would jump at the idea.

Dec. 29, 2022: Joe Biden signed into law the $1.7 trillion omnibus spending bill, including $45 billion in additional funding for Ukraine.

It should be mentioned that Biden would not speak with Putin in December of 2021 either, because Putin wanted guarantees that Ukraine would not join NATO, something the U.S. president said was a “nonstarter.” This contributed to Putin initiating his military operation in February 2022. On July 10, 2023, Biden said that Ukraine is not ready to join NATO. That was the conversation Putin wanted to have before the war began.

My question is, if in November of 2022 Zelensky, at the nudging of the West, stated he wanted peace negotiations, and then on Dec. 25, 2022, Putin extended the olive branch for peace negotiations, but no one would talk with him, what could have happened that changed everyone’s mind concerning the peace negotiations? You don’t think Congress giving $45 billion to Ukraine by Dec. 23, 2022, and signed into law by Biden December 29, 2022, could have had anything to do with halting the idea of peace negotiations, do you?

Now there is talk of sending more money and controversial civilian-killing cluster bombs against the opinion of 123 countries who signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions pact prohibiting these munitions. In fact, Biden is bypassing U.S. law prohibiting the production, use, or transfer of cluster munitions with a failure rate of more than 1%. The U.S. munitions failure rate is 2.5%. These “duds” just blow up arbitrarily at any time in the future, often killing civilians. Does this sound like a deescalation, or an escalation? Does Ukraine really need more of Americans’ money?

Well, I guess it is true that the 2024 elections are fast approaching, and the Democrats will need more funds – for their political coffers.

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