“USA: Republicans want to force arms to Kiev”
German Economic News | Published: 02/06/15 15:49 clock
[Translation by Eric Zuesse]
If Merkel and Hollande fail in Moscow, the Americans want to supply Ukraine with weapons, say sources in EU diplomatic circles. Obama is exploring all options. But even if the US president decides against arms sales [actually arms donations, since all new loans that are made to Ukraine will go to the back of the long line of creditors and be retroactively nullified in Ukraine’s ultimate bankruptcy], Republicans hold the majority in the House and Senate, they decide alone [that’s not true: the President alone possesses the requisite executive authority; Congress has none].
According to the newspaper Die Welt (Friday), which is usually respected in high EU diplomatic circles, the US government will probably supply weapons to Kiev if the initiative of Merkel and Hollande fails. US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Thursday in Kiev, that President Barack Obama will consider all options.
“We are convinced that there will be no military solution to this conflict. But we also know that it is completely unclear whether we are able to achieve a ceasefire by these talks,” Merkel said before their meeting with Putin. It is unclear whether there has already been progress on Friday or whether further discussions are needed – or, “if this is the final call,” Merkel anticipates that the economic and military collapse of Ukraine will follow. The civil service in Berlin obviously is working hard on a peace plan, and it grants the separatists territorial gains [due to the current military conditions].
But even if Obama should decide against arms sales, Republicans still want to enforce the arms shipments. John McCain, Chairman of the Armed Services Committee in the US Senate, said that the US Congress would adopt a law on its own. The Republicans hold both the Congress and the Senate majority. [But, again, only the President is Commander-in-Chief, and only he holds the requisite Executive authority; so, the Republicans cannot possibly do it without him.]
In addition, McCain has criticized in sharp tones the Ukrainian policy of Merkel. “One might think that she does not know or does not care that people are being slaughtered in Ukraine,” the chairman of the Armed Services Committee said bluntly, in an interview with ZDF program Berlin. The transmitter published excerpts from it in advance.
McCain, who has repeatedly, during the past months, called for arms supplies to Ukraine, compares Merkel’s behavior with the “appeasement” policy before the Second World War. This policy of appeasement in the 1930s is considered an important cause of the military initial success of Adolf Hitler. At the same time, McCain has accused the chancellor of inactivity. “Will they simply watch a country be dismembered in Europe, for the first time since the Second World War?” He is disappointed by the behavior of Europeans, but says he does “not expect anything else.”