Swordsmyth
07-21-2018, 07:59 PM
Though perhaps a drop in the bucket when compared to the over $1 billion the US has already acknowledged providing Kiev (https://www.defense.gov/News/Article/Article/1580565/dod-to-provide-200-million-in-security-cooperation-funds-to-ukraine/) since 2014, the Pentagon announced Friday afternoon that it will provide Ukraine with $200 million in security assistance which an official statement says (https://www.defense.gov/News/Article/Article/1580565/dod-to-provide-200-million-in-security-cooperation-funds-to-ukraine/) will go toward "additional training, equipment and advisory efforts to build the defensive capacity of Ukraine’s forces."
The move's timing, however, is what is sure to have a greater symbolic impact as it came the same day the White House rejected (https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-07-20/trump-slams-door-putins-proposal-eastern-ukraine-referendum) Russian President Putin's proposed referendum for the contested separatist Donbas region in Eastern Ukraine. A spokesman for the White House National Security Council announced at the end of a week of intense media speculation as to the contents of Trump and Putin's closed door summit in Helsinki on Monday (https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-07-20/trump-rejects-putin-offer-for-vote-in-disputed-ukraine-region), "The administration is not considering supporting a referendum in the eastern Ukraine."
Even as Trump personally tweeted (https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1019936133147516929) the summit was "a great success" and has expressed hope for warmer relations between the two nuclear armed powers, the Pentagon statement has thrown cold water on such optimism as it will surely be seen by Russia as an escalatory shot across the bow.
Crucially, the Pentagon announcement further contains this not so insignificant detail (https://www.defense.gov/News/Article/Article/1580565/dod-to-provide-200-million-in-security-cooperation-funds-to-ukraine/):
The security cooperation builds on Ukraine’s recent adoption of the Law on National Security. This law, which provides a legislative framework for aligning Ukraine’s national security architecture with Euro-Atlantic principles, constitutes a major step toward Ukraine’s goal of achieving NATO interoperability. The implementation of these reforms will bolster Ukraine’s ability to defend its territorial integrity in support of a secure and democratic Ukraine.
No doubt Pentagon press officers wrangled over just how they would phrase the line about "NATO interoperability" — sufficiently jolting to the Russians yet also sufficiently ambiguous enough to wriggle around the persistent Russian charge that the US policy is ultimately all about bringing Ukraine into the NATO fold.
Breaking: DoD shipping $200 million to Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/1RjXkRsyJ5 (https://t.co/1RjXkRsyJ5)
— David B Larter (@DavidLarter) July 20, 2018 (https://twitter.com/DavidLarter/status/1020392107138220033?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) While "interoperability" can mean many things — for example Finland is officially non-aligned yet is what NATO affirms as among its "most active partners" — it will be sure to put US-Russian rhetoric back on the same belligerent path which marked relations prior to the Trump-Putin meeting.
More at: https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-07-21/pentagon-releases-200-million-military-aid-ukraine
The move's timing, however, is what is sure to have a greater symbolic impact as it came the same day the White House rejected (https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-07-20/trump-slams-door-putins-proposal-eastern-ukraine-referendum) Russian President Putin's proposed referendum for the contested separatist Donbas region in Eastern Ukraine. A spokesman for the White House National Security Council announced at the end of a week of intense media speculation as to the contents of Trump and Putin's closed door summit in Helsinki on Monday (https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-07-20/trump-rejects-putin-offer-for-vote-in-disputed-ukraine-region), "The administration is not considering supporting a referendum in the eastern Ukraine."
Even as Trump personally tweeted (https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1019936133147516929) the summit was "a great success" and has expressed hope for warmer relations between the two nuclear armed powers, the Pentagon statement has thrown cold water on such optimism as it will surely be seen by Russia as an escalatory shot across the bow.
Crucially, the Pentagon announcement further contains this not so insignificant detail (https://www.defense.gov/News/Article/Article/1580565/dod-to-provide-200-million-in-security-cooperation-funds-to-ukraine/):
The security cooperation builds on Ukraine’s recent adoption of the Law on National Security. This law, which provides a legislative framework for aligning Ukraine’s national security architecture with Euro-Atlantic principles, constitutes a major step toward Ukraine’s goal of achieving NATO interoperability. The implementation of these reforms will bolster Ukraine’s ability to defend its territorial integrity in support of a secure and democratic Ukraine.
No doubt Pentagon press officers wrangled over just how they would phrase the line about "NATO interoperability" — sufficiently jolting to the Russians yet also sufficiently ambiguous enough to wriggle around the persistent Russian charge that the US policy is ultimately all about bringing Ukraine into the NATO fold.
Breaking: DoD shipping $200 million to Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/1RjXkRsyJ5 (https://t.co/1RjXkRsyJ5)
— David B Larter (@DavidLarter) July 20, 2018 (https://twitter.com/DavidLarter/status/1020392107138220033?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) While "interoperability" can mean many things — for example Finland is officially non-aligned yet is what NATO affirms as among its "most active partners" — it will be sure to put US-Russian rhetoric back on the same belligerent path which marked relations prior to the Trump-Putin meeting.
More at: https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-07-21/pentagon-releases-200-million-military-aid-ukraine