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Patriot Licenses

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Clarissa

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This is exactly what I said a while ago. I knew because I personally spoke with one of the people who were in one of the delegations that went to beg Biden for the licenses. It was always a hard no. Similarly, and from the same source, there was a hard no on Ukrainian strikes against the Russian energy structure and military objects. The United States would not share intelligence with Ukraine that would make these strikes possible. Now, they are a daily reality.

Every serious counteroffensive or strike by Ukraine was blocked by the United States under Biden. Biden made pro-Ukrainian statements. Trump made a large number of pro-Russian statements. But words are always and only just that. Words. They don’t win wars.

Things are objectively enormously better for Ukraine right now than at any time during Biden. What anybody thinks or how they feel deep inside is not only unknowable but also deeply uninteresting. 

9 responses to “Patriot Licenses”

  1. ed Avatar
    ed

    What are you talking about? Trump walked that back already:https://kyivindependent.com/we-have-not-agreed-to-that-trump-walks-back-promise-of-patriot-licenses-for-ukraine/?hl=en-US

    You really seem to be grasping at straws finding way to credit Trump for any Ukrainian success. He’s been a terrible president on the subject and he wasted just as much time as Biden with his coddling of Putin earlier last year when he thought he could make a deal.

    Now he’s wasting patriot missiles in the middle east that should have gone to defend Ukraine, and also failing to make a deal to end that disastrous war.

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    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      The statements I quoted were made today, during a joint press conference with Zelensky and Vučić.

      The article you link is from July 31. I also need to point out that Kyiv Independent is a leftist propaganda outlet that sucked at the teat of USAID until we all know what happened.

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      1. ed Avatar
        ed

        Trump did walk a lot of it back, and since his word is pretty much worthless I don’t think we’ll really know where things stand until they’re actually churning out stuff in Ukraine in a couple of years or more.

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        1. cliff arroyo Avatar
          cliff arroyo

          “his word is pretty much worthless”

          Yeah, that’s her whole point. Don’t pay attention to what he says, pay attention to what happens on the ground.

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          1. ed Avatar
            ed

            Yes, so what’s the point of even talking about anything Trump says? Most of it is false or he walks back anyway.

            My point is framing this whole thing as a positive thing Trump is doing is grasping at straws trying hard to find anything to push as a positive when he has been just as mediocre as Biden.

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            1. cliff arroyo Avatar
              cliff arroyo

              “so what’s the point of even talking about anything Trump says?”

              You’re the one doing that.

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  2. ed Avatar
    ed

    Interesting and relevant to the discussion:
    “According to a report by The Atlantic, citing a Republican official in Congress, one of the primary holds-ups in the Trump Administration’s decision to license the production of air defense launchers and missiles to Ukraine, particularly the PATRIOT Surface-to-Air Missile System, has been the system’s designers Raytheon and Lockheed. The official states that the two defense contractors “will officially frame their concerns around IP theft and tech transfer,” but “their real worry is that the Ukrainians will find a way to improve the PATRIOT and then produce them at scale faster and for much less money than what the existing production lines in the U.S. could do,” threatening manufacturers in the United States.”
    https://x.com/sentdefender/status/2086629713037123688?s=20

    I totally believe this.

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    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      And you’re right to do so. This is exactly what the hold-up has been.

      These companies enjoy selling the same outdated weapons to the government at inflated prices. That they are outdated and not extremely useful has been clear in the failures of the war with Iran. The companies don’t want their lackadaisical and irresponsible attitude to become even more obvious.

      Thank you for linking. This really contributes to the discussion. I am very glad that people have started noticing. We have deep, deep problems in our defense industry. We have even deeper problems in the strategic thinking we have around warfare and foreign policy in general.

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    2. PaulS Avatar
      PaulS

      Hardly surprising with government contracting. See how much effort Musk had to put into moving the space industry forward.

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A conservative literary critic and college professor

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