Daniel McAdams and Ron Paul Examine Antony Blinken’s and Lloyd Austin’s Visit to Kiev, Ukraine 

Is the United States committed to fighting Russia down to the last Ukrainian?

Secretary of State Antony Blinken was accompanied by Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin in a visit to Kiev, Ukraine on April 25, 2022. The purpose of this meeting was to reassure Ukraine that the US has its back. 

Former Congressman Ron Paul and Ron Paul Institute Executive Director offered their thoughts on the meeting in an episode of the Ron Paul Liberty Report.

McAdams added that this move by Austin and Blinken was “to demonstrate very clearly to the world that the US” is fully committed to aiding Ukraine in a nasty conflict with Russia. 

The Ron Paul Institute Executive Director asserted that Blinken and Austin visiting Kiev “almost feels like a NATO commitment.”

With the Russo-Ukrainian conflict looking it’s going Russia’s way, there’s a narrative shift among the ruling class. 

McAdams noted that ruling class organs like the New York Times are “singing a different tune now”, after Austin said that the present US goal is to weaken Russia by degrading its military capacity. 

Paul himself believes “there is no honest diplomacy” when it comes to dealing with Russia. The whole goal now is to give Russia its 21st century of Afghanistan. 

Worse yet, now there’s talk about adding Finland and Sweden joining NATO, which would be the height of irony given these two countries’ historical neutral stances on geopolitical affairs. By adding Finland to NATO, Russia would be confronted with another on its border that’s a part of a hostile alliance structure. This will only heighten further tensions and open a new theater of security conflict in the Arctic, now that polar geopolitics is becoming a new stage for geopolitical competition. 

It’s clear that the US is willing to wage this proxy war to the bitter end. The goal is really simple: Fight Russia to the last Ukrainian and sanction Russia to the last European with five Euros in his pocket.

Although this is a proxy war, there still is the possibility that a miscalculation could occur that could lead to the US and its NATO allies entering this conflict. Such an escalation could conceivably go nuclear. 

Realism and restraint need to enter foreign policy discussions at the moment. We cannot afford to have the failed neoconservative/neoliberal mindset guide our foreign policy in a great power confrontation. 

A good first step for the US is to stop the indiscriminate flow of military aid to Ukraine. Then it should allow for the Ukrainians and Russians to reach a negotiated settlement that takes into account Russia’s security concerns while also maintaining Ukrainian sovereignty. 

The US’s current foreign policy approach is dangerously flawed and could lead the world to an unprecedented great power tragedy.