Now That Aid Is Approved, Biden Admin Is Happy to Say Ukraine Will Win
Leaked talking points for Secretary of State Blinken's visit to Ukraine this week anticipate Ukraine will "operate independently following the war"; and warns against using the word "resilient"
The Biden administration believes that Ukraine will win in its war against Russia, internal talking points for Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s trip to the war ravaged country this week say. The document, obtained by a source close to the State Department and revealed here for the first time, lays out the “communications guidance” for Blinken’s trip to Ukraine beginning on Monday and going through Thursday.
The messaging, which says that Secretary Blinken will deliver a speech on how “the United States and Allies will help Ukraine to operate independently following the war,” contradicts public warnings from the administration about Ukraine losing the war — warnings that the administration used to pressure Congress into approving aid.
“Ukraine’s survival is in danger,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in March. “So I leave here today fully determined to keep U.S. security assistance and ammunition flowing, and that’s a matter of survival and sovereignty for Ukraine and it’s a matter of honor and security for America.”
CIA Director William Burns has gone even further, saying that the Ukrainians could lose the war by the end of the year if aid wasn’t passed.
“Without supplemental assistance, the picture is a lot more dire,” Burns said in April testimony to Congress “There is a very real risk that the Ukrainians could lose on the battlefield by the end of 2024, or at least put Putin in a position where he could dictate the terms of a political settlement.”
Last month, Congress passed a $61 billion aid package for Ukraine and Israel. With the funding secured, the administration’s alarmist rhetoric has disappeared, culminating in Secretary Blinken’s speech this week.
The trip objectives are to “reinforce confidence in Ukraine’s ability to prevail” and trumpet the passing of the Ukraine aid supplemental by Congress, the document says. The United States, the document further states, supports a “comprehensive, just, and lasting peace based on full respect for Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity, with its internationally recognized borders,” which includes both Crimea and the Donbas regions.
According to the State Department, the “target audiences” for Blinken’s three-day visit includes Ukrainians in the country and in the diaspora and “international and domestic journalists covering the trip,” but not the American people or Congress, not directly.
The document also says that Blinken should “encourage hope without downplaying the hardship Ukrainians face under Russian aggression.”
“Refrain from using the word ‘resilient’ when messaging to Ukrainians,” the talking points caution, “which can be interpreted as ‘Get used to it.’”
I’ve included a copy of the document in PDF form below.
— Edited by William M. Arkin
In the meantime over in the real world - found in the Moon of Alabama -
"U.S. media are emphasizing the $60 billion package passed by Congress for Ukraine. They neglect to explain that only $14.5 billion of that is actually going to Ukraine, half of it to keep the state solvent and the other half in form of weapons Ukraine might buy once they are build. The other money is designated to refill the U.S. military stockpile.
The real military help for Ukraine during the next months, in form of artillery and anti-air ammunition, will be minuscule."
And - "Currently the replacement rate through Ukrainian mobilization is said to be only 25% of the losses that are actually occurring."
The real war crime here is being perpetrated by the US.
This seems more like a "release" than a "leak".