Daily Times

Wednesday was one of the busiest days on the calendar even though the holiday season is right around the corner. From a presidential visit to border policy frustrations, and even a marker being driven-mostly by far, President Biden has a lot on his agenda before the end of the year, which is barely nine days away.

The most extraordinary thing on the agenda was surely Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s surprise visit to Washington. As expected, he made a plea on behalf of his country to the people and less so to the audience of his Congressional address late last night. As a rising pop culture icon in the US, Zelensky noted the importance of the war in Ukraine and underscored the “bigger picture” that Ukraine represents, to all regions of the world.

In his speech, he charted “Russia, Russia could stop its aggression, really, if it wanted to, but you can speed up our victory. I know it. And it will prove to any potential aggressor that no one can succeed in breaking national borders, no one committing atrocities and reigning over people against their will, it would be naive to wait for steps towards peace from Russia, which enjoys being a terrorist state.”

Addressing the American people, he showed his gratitude for their support in an attempt to appeal to the growing population of right-wing activists calling for the US to end its financial support for Ukraine. This comes just weeks after top Republican Congressional leadership made clear that they would denounce support for the Ukrainian military in their endeavours to defend themselves against Russian aggression in the region-something that remained a non-partisan issue up until the point former President Donald Trump demanded a quid pro quo by Zelensky. Ever since Republicans have had a dispute of sorts with Ukraine and its actions for sovereignty.

With Trump’s tax returns to be released, many leaders in Washington brace for impact.

Russian Ambassador to the United States, Anatoly Ivanovich Antonov, quickly rebutted the visit, and tried to make clear that the US and Ukraine are not interested in “peace.” This all, following President Biden’s announcement to send 1.85 billion dollars worth of aid to Ukraine, including the ever-so advanced Patriot Air Missile systems-something Moscow has strongly condemned through its ambassadors and diplomats abroad. The new deal will also include the supply of Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAMs).

The new systems sent to Ukraine are “capable of bringing down cruise missiles, short-range ballistic missiles, and aircraft,” something essential for the war-embattled nation, as Russia continues to target its power stations and infrastructure in the midst of the attacks in civilian areas. Many critics wonder if the support is helpful at all. As of yesterday, Ukraine confirmed that it intercepted 30 of 35 missiles received from the Russian Military. With new systems, it can intercept a barrage of attacks-limiting casualties, and also abet a side cause for many of the NATO allies willing to support Ukraine.

The side cause being the sovereignty of other nations in the region. President Putin met earlier this week with his Belarusian counterpart in Minsk to strengthen relations between the two countries. Belarus has been an early supporter of the war in Ukraine, supplying much of its territory to Russian forces, through which early gains were made in June and July of this year. With Ukraine acting as a proxy or a boundary-between Russia and the European horizon-Poland, many are scrambling to help strengthen that border and avoid further escalations with one of the most strategically placed countries in the world. The height of a divorced interaction was that which presented the sabotage of the Nordstream pipeline, earlier in the year, hinting preliminary effects of the cold winter currently underway in Europe.

There are many prospects of more deals and aid coming into Ukraine, but the US does not seem like the source of those future packages. With Republicans being sworn in on the 3rd of January, and bringing forth their own “America First” agenda, it’s going to get very hard for President Biden to address the war in Ukraine unless some political miracle occurs before the 3rd of January of 2025. In the meantime, other fronts in Washington are severely in play. With Trump’s tax returns to be released, and the testimonies of multiple witnesses brought forth by the January 6 Committee to be released, many leaders in Washington brace for impact.

Title 42 is also set to end early next week, allowing millions of migrants from the US-Mexico border to enter the US and seek asylum, setting pressures on border towns, especially in Texas, and Arizona, which being the easier terrain to cross over, is giving the wrong message to a million more stuck in their South American and Caribbean nations to migrate to an already distressed border. Though a separate conversation, it is an important foreign policy memorandum, and a test for the Biden administration to form a strong border policy and prevent an influx of migrants who do so illegally, regardless of the harsh situations they face in their home countries.

The writer is a columnist and a linguistic activist.