Pentagon Halts Weapons Transfers To Ukraine… Loopy Leftists Go Back To 2017 ‘Putin’ Playbook

Isn’t it interesting how the REAL reason for halting these shipments is PRECISELY the reason pragmatists like yours truly gave for pumping the brakes on endless munitions shipments to Ukraine some years ago?

In a perfect world, we’d just tell Putin to pack up and go home, and that would be the end of it. Unfortunately, we are stuck with the realities of the real world, not a fictional dream world. In a world of finite money and resources, with Europe locked in a war of attrition, we are forced to grapple with the question, ‘at what cost’?

The Pentagon has just announced they are suspending the further transfer of munitions to Ukraine. Critics on the left have already begun invoking ‘Putin’ and ‘Russia’ as the reason. But such statements ignore the reason the Pentagon gives.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered a pause in sending a shipment of missiles and ammunition to Ukraine amid concern about the U.S. military’s stockpiles, according to two defense officials, two congressional officials and two sources with knowledge of the decision.

Hegseth ordered the delay weeks after he issued a memo ordering a review of the U.S. stockpile of munitions, which has been depleted after years of the United States’ sending weapons to Ukraine to defend against the Russia invasion, as well as nearly two years of military operations in the Middle East as the United States fought Houthi rebels in Yemen and defended Israel and allies against Iran, four of the officials said.

The munitions and other weapons could be held up until the assessment is complete, the two defense officials and two congressional officials said, and if the munitions are in short supply or needed in other parts of the world, they could be held back even longer. — NBC

In plain English — the cupboard is bare. Biden already gave away the store.

If we were SUPER serious about putting Putin back in his box, hawks could (theoretically) insist that Uncle Sam declare full-scale war and MAKE him leave Ukraine. Of course, nobody would REALLY demand war with Russia, especially over Ukraine. That kind of escalation invokes a price nobody is willing to pay.

That tells us we can all agree that there is a line, somewhere, beyond which is a ‘price too great to pay for keeping Putin out of Ukraine’. The question sensible minds need to grapple with is — where do we draw that line?

We have been saying since Day One that there is a national security concern we need to keep in mind… In Trumpian language, an ‘America First’ consideration.

Any help we offer to another country should never come at the detriment of our own military readiness and national security.

Under Biden, we played fast and loose with accounting tricks to keep shoveling arms and money at Ukraine. Like almost everything else Joe Biden touched in his Presidency, it came at the expense of National Security. I explained how in the latter part of this story back in 2023: UKRAINE: This ‘Found Money’ Is An Accounting Trick That Erodes US National Security

The press almost squealed with glee that more was being sent to Ukraine. Some of us saw those numbers more soberly and looked into the lie behind the headlines. And the lie we found behind those headlines? It was a doozy.

Time has come to pay the piper, and all those accounting tricks have finally caught up with us.

There’s nothing left in the cupboard to give, and even the supplies we’re supposed to have for our own needs are running out. If you want to know what it looks like when some of these supplies run out, think back to the amazing success of Israel knocking out Iranian missiles and rockets in the last few years, compared to the final few days before the ceasefire when ballistic missiles were raining down on hospitals and apartment buildings in Israel’s major cities.