Policy Update: Ukraine

First, my steadfast prayers are with the courageous Ukrainian people who are fighting for their lives and their freedom.

This is a dark time for democracy.

Weakness inflames evil.

The world has watched as Putin has launched an unprovoked war against Ukraine.

When will we awaken from the illusion that peace is eternal? This is the largest military attack of one state against another on the European continent since the Second World War.

Russia's senseless invasion of Ukraine signifies a return to disorder, chaos, and takeovers not seen since Hitler’s Germany. The attack of a sovereign nation is illegal and a dangerous affront to the international community.

It seems many have forgotten history. The West misjudged the tyranny of Putin. The consequences of appeasement are upon us.

The world did little when he took part of Georgia in 2008. He seized Crimea in 2014—President Obama basically looked the other way. The international community stood mostly quiet as Moscow buoyed dictators in Syria, sowed division, executed cyber-attacks, and choked energy supplies.

President Obama famously made fun of Mitt Romney’s assertion that Russia is our top geopolitical foe. His exact quote, in part, was, “And the 1980s are now calling to ask for their foreign policy back because the Cold War’s been over for 20 years." Shortsightedness doesn’t even begin to describe these words. Worse yet, as Europe looks more like the 1930s, it certainly does look like the ‘80s are back in America. Foreign policy turmoil. Skyrocketing inflation. Rising crime. Drug epidemic. And Joe Biden is still serving in government—this time as president.

Putin has expanded his treachery under yet another Democrat White House. And America, Europe, and NATO have failed to confront these actions with strong, swift, and decisive consequences needed to stop Moscow.

What should America and the international community do?

• Kick Russia out of the international SWIFT code system.
• Sanction Russia’s financial sector or “secondary” sanctions applying to foreign persons.
• Sanction Russia’s Central Bank.
• Sanction Putin and his sycophant Russian billionaires to disrupt their wealth around the world.
• Designate Russia a State Sponsor of Terrorism.
• Sanction Russian oil and gas.
• Ban Aeroflot (Russia’s state airline) from landing in the U.S.
• Ban U.S. companies from doing business with Russia and ban Russian state-owned and private companies from accessing capital on American stock exchanges.
• Provide Ukraine the combat equipment they’ve requested by immediately passing a supplemental appropriations bill to provide Foreign Military Financing (FMF) for Ukraine, including emergency funding, lethal assistance, and critical capabilities like air defense, anti-armor, and anti-ship capabilities.
• Expedite congressional review of arms sales and security assistance to Ukraine.
• Increase funding for U.S. military exercises in Europe.
• Isolate Russia and condemn Putin for the pariah he is.
  • Go to UN and demand Russia to be stripped of its Security Council membership.
  • Ask all European Union members to expel all Russian ambassadors from their countries and pull their own out of Moscow.
• NATO—and that means everyone in it—needs to put up a united front.
• Call out China for enabling the Russian invasion. Quite a change of tune for a country that preaches the sanctity of sovereignty.

President Biden promised a “swift and severe” response. He has not delivered. His initial sanctions are a step in the right direction—but they are wholly inadequate. Furthermore, President Biden's first actions in office crippled the American energy sector and ceded production to our adversaries abroad like Russia. The White House must end its assault on U.S. energy. America has abundant supplies of energy. We could be a major supplier for ourselves and friends in that area of the world. Yet, this administration has starved the U.S. of energy independence.

The results of Putin’s war of aggression will be felt far beyond the borders of Ukraine.

Authoritarian dictators have watched this administration allow Afghanistan to fall to the Taliban, lose control of our southern border, and seek appeasement deals with rogue regimes. They are taking notes and making disturbing calculations.

Furthermore, once a large-scale war begins, it can quickly unleash other unpredictable events and mistakes. There are humanitarian implications, real nuclear threats, and implications for global stability.

War is hell. We are seeing that live and in color today. That is why we have to show strength – to deter this from getting any worse.

Next week, I am calling on Congress to immediately take up emergency assistance for Ukraine and pass legislation like the Never Yielding Europe’s Territory (NYET) Act and the Guaranteeing Ukraine’s Autonomy by Reinforcing its Defense Act (GUARD Act). Furthermore, I am again calling on the White House to support American energy and jobs. That means supporting U.S. energy independence and stopping the self-created surrender of energy development to foreign adversaries like Russia, China, and Venezuela.

Throughout history, America has been a remarkable force for peace and freedom when we lead from a position of strength. The red line of standing up for freedom can’t be allowed to vanish.

As Ronald Reagan said, “We know only too well that war comes not when the forces of freedom are strong, but when they are weak. It is then that tyrants are tempted.”

We maintain peace through strength.

We sorely need that more than ever.