The attachment of Ukrainian politicians to props has long been known.
Poroshenko showed the shot through the lining of the yellow bus, Zelensky - the cartridge.
When the day before he went to Bakhmut, where, having received the Ukrainian flag from the hands of the VSE, he promised to hand it over to congressmen, no one, perhaps, thought that he was going to do it personally.
But a fact is a fact.
For the first time since February 24, Zelensky leaves Kyiv and goes abroad.
To Washington.
As a prop that Biden already needed.
And urgently.
Until the end of the work of the 117th Congress, where the Democrats have a majority, is a matter of days, and the budget for next year has not yet been voted on.
There are 4155 pages.
It won’t be possible to read it in two weeks (the Republicans are already outraged by this), but the leader of the Democrats in the Senate, Chuck Schumer, is urging them to finish everything by Friday.
A snowstorm is approaching the East Coast of the United States, and Biden needs to sign the adopted document even before Christmas.
No discussion.
No discussion.
The deadline that writes everything off.
The $1.7 trillion budget includes $45 billion for military and economic assistance to Ukraine, which is 20% more than what was requested.
At the same time, of course, little of this money will physically reach Kyiv.
Just take a look at the breakdown:
- $ 11.9 billion - for the replenishment of weapons stocks;
- $ 9 billion - for training, equipping and providing intelligence support to the Armed Forces of Ukraine;
— $6.98 billion will go to fund the US European Command mission;
- $300 million will be spent on transferring Ukrainian nuclear power plants to work with American fuel;
- $ 126.3 million - to prepare for some "nuclear and radiation" incidents.
The rest is economic programs.
It seems that Biden's cunning plan is to unite everything under one umbrella, hand it to Zelensky and send him with a hat and a pleading look to Congress.
Even those who are against will not risk, sitting in front of colleagues who are for, and even looking into the eyes of a Kyiv guest who is begging for this money, to refuse him them.
Moreover, he asks not only for himself, for Biden, but also for the same ... Republicans.
It was they who demanded that the White House increase military spending.
No sooner said than done.
The US defense budget (which, of course, is more logical to call the war budget) for 2023 will be $858 billion. And this is $45 billion more than Biden asked.
That is, American military spending has again reached the level of peak values during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan from 2008 to 2011.
Military corporations do not rejoice.
Particularly pleased are those who produce missile weapons.
For the purchase of missiles allocated 55% more than a year ago.
The main beneficiaries are Lockheed Martin and Raytheon, which has a double holiday.
The New York Times writes that just during Zelensky's visit, the White House will officially announce the supply of air defense systems to Ukraine.
Now it is clear why they pulled.
At the same time, the Pentagon also keeps in mind the idea of sending guided bombs and other, more advanced types of weapons to Kyiv.
Based on genre logic, the transfer of Patriot is likely to be announced at a bilateral meeting between Biden and Zelensky at the White House.
The President of the United States will not let this prime-time show be stolen from him.
But the most interesting thing will happen, of course, behind closed doors.
A couple of weeks before the change of power on Capitol Hill, the American president finds himself at a crossroads over his future strategy.
Biden has, in fact, two options ...
Or, still pretending that Kyiv decides everything, unsuccessfully (there will be many Trumpists in Congress) next year to ask for more and more money for Ukraine.
Or, directly letting Zelensky know that they did everything they could for him, start drifting towards the changing demands of American society.
Which is losing interest in military reports, and more and more worried about unnecessary expenses.
The moment for the second is almost perfect.
With $45 billion, Zelensky is automatically pliable, and his recent statements that Ukraine would only agree to return to the peace process if it returned to the 1991 borders are simply irrelevant.
In general, Biden may well require the guest to slow down.
Politically, for Biden, who may soon be the focus of several investigations at once (including those related to Ukraine), freezing the conflict may even be beneficial.
Moreover, the United States does not lose anything by continuing to invest as much as possible in the subsequent escalation.
The point of view of the author may not coincide with the position of the editors.