Follow us on social

Zelensky's bombs and blurred lines in a big battleground state

Zelensky's bombs and blurred lines in a big battleground state

The Ukraine leader's stop in a PA ammo factory came awfully close to looking like a campaign stop for others

Analysis | QiOSK

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s trip to Pennsylvania on the eve of the U.N. General Assembly elicited a medley of reactions straddling the ideological spectrum.

The commentary, which encompasses everything from ebullient praise to pointed criticism, is entangled with a number of broader phenomena: namely, Kyiv’s continued prosecution of the war in the face of what even its most ardent allies acknowledge to be harsh battlefield realities, Zelensky’s increasingly beleaguered political position at home and abroad, the U.S. presidential election, and state politics. It is no surprise, given these disparate strands of inquiry, that Zelensky’s trip has become something of a rorschach test for how Americans view U.S. involvement in the Ukraine war.

Yet it is possible to rescue something approaching a lucid assessment from this muddled affair. It starts, as all dispassionate inquiries should, with a precis of the basic facts of the matter. Kyiv, as everyone up to and including President Zelensky acknowledges, overwhelmingly relies on U.S. military, financial, and diplomatic support to sustain its war effort. The Biden administration not only committed itself to the indefinite provision of this support but Vice President Kamala Harris has made a campaign issue out of it, casting former President Donald Trump’s desire to bring the war to a negotiated conclusion as a form of surrender to Vladimir Putin presaging Russia’s subsequent invasion of countries on NATO’s eastern flank.

These effusions have seeped into battleground state politics, with Harris warning Polish-Americans in Pennsylvania that deviation from the current Western approach to Ukraine invites a Russian assault on Poland. It is in this politically-tinged context that Pennsylvania’s Democratic governor, Josh Shapiro, as well as Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) and Rep. Matt Cartwright (D-Pa.) — both of them running for re-election — met with Zelensky and Ukraine’s ambassador to the U.S. Oksana Markarova at the Scranton Army Ammunition Plant six weeks out from the election, proclaiming support for the administration’s Ukraine policy as Shapiro autographed freshly-produced artillery shells to warm applause.

Let us recapitulate. A foreign head of state who relies on and is actively courting continued American support to sustain his nation’s war effort was flown out on a military transport aircraft to a Scranton munitions plant that at least partially benefits from continuation of military aid to Ukraine, located in a crucial battleground state, to meet with the governor and local politicians running for reelection.

Under any circumstances, this kind of collaboration between foreign leaders, the federal government, and state politicians blurs the lines of domestic politics and foreign policy in a way that should make Americans uncomfortable regardless of the specificities surrounding the Ukraine conflict. It is especially concerning when this collaboration is officiated in the final inning of an election season where Ukraine is one of the issues being presented to voters as a potential source of contrast between the two campaigns, with Zelensky simultaneously echoing Harris campaign messaging in denouncing GOP vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance’s views on how to end the war as too “radical” and ignorant of history.

Any sort of creeping balkanization of Ukraine policy along partisan lines is not only obviously detrimental to U.S. security interests, but, in the long run, also hurts Kyiv by subjecting it, even by its leaders’ own volition, to the vicissitudes of domestic politics.


Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy visits the Scranton Army Ammunition Plant in Scranton, Pennsylvania, U.S., September 22, 2024. ( REUTERS)

Analysis | QiOSK
Daniel Davis
Top photo credit: Ret. Lt. Col. Daniel Davis (FOX Business screenshot)

Mr. Trump, you would've been lucky to have Dan Davis on your team

QiOSK

Earlier today the Jewish Insider magazine ran a story saying that the White House tapped retired Lt. Col. Danny Davis for Deputy Director of National Intelligence, working under the newly confirmed DNI Tulsi Gabbard. It was a hit piece by a pro-Israel platform that primarily focused on Davis's critical views — published only in articles and on his popular podcast — on Gaza and Iran.

Within hours, he was informed there would be no job, Responsible Statecraft has confirmed. "Investigative journalist" Laura Loomer celebrated. We are sure neoconservative radio jock Mark Levin, who helped spread the Insider story to his 4.9 million followers on Wednesday, celebrated. We should not. President Trump should not.

keep readingShow less
Adam Smith
Top image credit: https://www.youtube.com/@QuincyInst

Top House Dem: Party's embrace of hawks 'is a problem'

QiOSK

A senior Democratic lawmaker on Wednesday said it was ‘a problem’ that many in his party have been trying to out-hawk Republicans on foreign policy and that Democrats need to be more aggressive in advocating for diplomacy approaches abroad, particularly with respect to China.

During a discussion hosted by the Quincy Institute — RS’s publisher — with House Armed Services Committee Ranking Member Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash), QI executive vice president Trita Parsi wondered why — pointing to Vice President Kamala Harris campaigning for president with Liz Cheney and Sen. Elissa Slotkin’s (D-Mich.) recent embrace of Ronald Reagan’s foreign policy — the Democratic Party has shifted away from promoting diplomacy, opposing “stupid wars,” and celebrating multilateralism.

keep readingShow less
Zelensky Putin
Top photo credit: Volodymyr Zelensky (Shutterstock/Pararazza) and Vladimir Putin (Shutterstock/miss.cabul)

No, a ceasefire is not a ‘bad deal’ for Russia

Europe

The Trump administration has so far played its cards in the Ukraine peace process with great skill. Pressure on Kyiv has led the Ukrainian government to abandon its impossible demands and join the U.S. in calling for an unconditional temporary ceasefire.

This call, together with the resumption of U.S. military and intelligence aid to Ukraine, is now putting great pressure on the Russian government to abandon its own impossible demands and seek a genuine and early compromise. A sign of the intensity of this pressure is the anguish it is causing to Russian hardliners, who are demanding that Putin firmly reject the proposal. We must hope that he will not listen to them.

keep readingShow less

Trump transition

Latest

Newsletter

Subscribe now to our weekly round-up and don't miss a beat with your favorite RS contributors and reporters, as well as staff analysis, opinion, and news promoting a positive, non-partisan vision of U.S. foreign policy.