That's why Ukraine's big money is waiting – NRK Urix – Foreign news and documentaries

President Biden rebuked House Republicans when he commented on the death of Alexei Navalny on Friday.

A few hours after the news from Russia was announced, Congress took a two-week recess without passing a new arms grant to Ukraine.

– Two weeks vacation. What are they thinking? Oh, my God!

Biden raised his arms in the air behind the White House podium and continued without text.

– This increases the panic… He muttered before calming down.

– Well, maybe not panic, but anyway interest The United States is no longer a reliable ally.

But panic may be spreading in the White House. Because Biden no longer has money to buy weapons for Ukraine. Putin knows this well.

We will wait a month

Senators on Capitol Hill stayed up all night Tuesday to pass the $95 billion aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan before taking a winter recess. The agreement was between the two parties. 70 voted in favor of the resolution and only 29 opposed it.

But Biden won't get the money until the House approves his version of the package.

The manager there, Mike Johnson, doesn't seem nervous.

For Trump's friend, there is no urgency. He says he will discuss the matter at a party conference within one month.

Johnson initially rejected a Ukraine-related aid package that included measures to reduce migration chaos on the border with Mexico, even though he had long called for it.

For months, politicians in Congress have been negotiating over Ukraine and border allocations.

Many Republicans, especially in the Senate, have tried to convince their party colleagues that it would be too dangerous for the United States to abandon its support for Ukraine.

Trump benefits from the chaos

But there is something else that seems to have convinced most members of the House of Representatives.

Donald Trump does not want to approve any aid to Ukraine nor an agreement on border security.

The immigration chaos is one of his most important campaign issues. Throughout the election campaign, he flatly refused to provide further aid to Ukraine.

Trump also remained silent about Navalny's death on Friday.

A week ago, Trump criticized NATO members who do not pay at least 2% of their gross domestic product to the defense alliance, and called on Russia to do so. “What the hell do they want?“With something like this. It sparked strong and astonishing reactions.

Some Republicans criticized Trump. others, Like Senator Marco Rubio Who was a presidential candidate in 2016, just said that people need to get used to the fact that Trump doesn't talk like a normal politician.

No to aid to Ukraine, yes to Putin

But the United States now speaks two languages ​​in its relations with Russia and Ukraine.

While the Biden administration, and Republican politicians like presidential candidate Nikki Haley, stress the seriousness of US failure militarily in Ukraine, the MAGA wing of the Republican Party is negative about more arms aid and positive about Putin's Russia.

Supporting Ukraine is a good campaign issue. Great poll A Pew Research Center study conducted before Christmas shows that far more Republican and independent voters believe the United States is providing too much support for Ukraine than do those who think it is too much support.

Support for Putin is not at all broad in the United States, but it increased in the Republican Party after Trump became president, though it fell again after Russia attacked Ukraine.

Instead of Putin waking up

It began when Donald Trump called Putin strong, smart, and declared him a genius in the 2016 election campaign, and continued with the politicized investigation into Russia's interference in that election campaign.

Many influential figures in Republican circles continued to praise the Russian leader.

Last week, former Fox host Tucker Carlson interviewed Vladimir Putin For about two hours. He is an important voice in the MAGA world that controls the Republican Party.

Carlson argued that American liberalism poses a greater threat to the United States than Vladimir Putin.

And in 2022, he urged his Fox viewers to do the following self-examination:

– Ask yourself: Why do I really hate Putin? Has Putin ever called me a racist?

Tucker believes Americans should turn toward the left and their country's Democratic establishment rather than toward Putin's Russia.

He added that in the elections between Ukraine and Russia, the United States would likely side with Russia.

Such rhetoric has had an impact on many politicians in Congress who will now decide Ukraine's future fate.