U.S. Soldiers of the 75th Rangers, 2nd Battalion in Greece, as a part of the newest NATO contingent in the region.
In the light of renewed Russian offensives across Ukraine, President Biden has announced a series of aid packages and troop deployments across Europe with the focus to “Ensure what happened to Ukraine will never repeat itself.” Noting that what has happened to Ukraine could have been prevented by more firm NATO action, and a tougher stance on Russia. The President continued to decry that previous actions by former President, now criminal Donald Trump had emboldened Putin before he took office, leaving his administration to both handle this and the then disastrous Afghan withdrawal.
Many have debated that the Biden administration was not up to the task, with many detractors claiming the President lacked the mental faculties to pursue such an aggressive stance against Putin, many of those detractors include Senator Lindsy Graham who in turned welcomed a new spending Bill for further aid to fellow NATO allies and most importantly Ukraine. The current European Defense bill has still yet to pass the Senate, but by recent statements of Bi-Partisan support from both the Democrats and Republicans, it is expected to clear the Senate and quite possibly the House in record time.
The Defense Bill encompasses much, but some specifics of note are as follows:
- $6.5 Billion for Ukraine
- American coverage of the remaining percent of all NATO members GDP for Defense
- Expansion of all existing American Military bases in Europe
- $10 Billion for the creation of a defensive Network stretching from the Baltic states, down to Poland and through Hungary and Romania to the Black Sea
- $10 Million for the expansion and revitalization of Radio Free Europe
- $15 Billion to Israel
An American soldier showing off the newly arrived Strykers in Altis, Greece.
The Bill is being hailed by establishment senators and congressmen, but has begun receiving criticism online, with many asking if the defense spending could have been better used at home, as another migrant caravan (Reports indicate around 5 Million) is expected to hit Texas, California, New Mexico, and Arizona in the coming weeks. This is also coming at a time where voters were promised reform on issues such as College Education, Debt forgiveness, the Border crisis and Medicare reform.
President Joe Biden is expected to give a speech on the necessity of the European Defense Bill, and speak on a series of issues tonight at 9pm from Capitol Hill, where we will be covering his speech live, and the key takeaways after.
AAN News, reporting.