Last week, the Biden administration announced the U.S. will be sending 31 M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine to help the embattled country against Russia.
Dr. Casey Wardynski, who served as Assistant Secretary of the Army for Manpower and Reserve Affairs under President Trump, is not convinced this move is in America’s best interest.
Wednesday on WVNN’s “The Yaffee Program,” Wardynski discussed the ramifications of the continued U.S. involvement in the Ukraine-Russia war.
“The people who lead our country should first and foremost always be worried about what’s in it for America,” Wardynski said. “The Cold War ended in 1990 and we had all those years between then and now to put Ukraine in NATO, and nobody thought it was a good idea. Nobody did it. Now we treat them like an ally of NATO and have this unlimited somewhat commitment to meeting every need they come up with for their security. That just doesn’t seem wise to me at all with regard to what’s best for America.”
The former congressional candidate said he now fears continued escalation in the European conflict.
“We’ve given them artillery, which was a big step,” Wardynski continued. “We’ve given them the HIMAR system, which can reach way into Russia now, and they’ve used it to reach way into Russia and drop ordinance on air bases where they have nuclear bombers. Those are big steps, and it doesn’t seem like anybody’s articulated where’s the United States going. What do we seek? Is there a diplomatic solution to this thing or are we just going to have a meat grinder over there?”
Wardynski said he’s frustrated at the lack of a coherent strategy by the U.S. and it’s allies in how they are supporting Ukraine.
“[T]anks are the next big step,” he argued, “and now they’re asking for fighter planes, and that’ll be the next big step, and then they’ll be volunteers to man that stuff because the stuff is not easy to maintain. It’s all very capable stuff, but it takes a high tech army to support it and use it. And so to me the real problem isn’t the tanks, it’s total lack of a strategy that’s aimed at some sort of conclusion. What are our terms? What are we looking for when this thing is done?”
He also said he’s worried about what Putin and Russia might do if they feel a real threat to their national sovereignty.
“What I’m hearing is we’re looking for the end of Putin, we’re looking for the end of Russia,” he said, “and that just seems crazy to me. Countries that face that kind of situation will do anything and everything to survive and I don’t know if that’s worth it to the United States that the enemy uses every tool at their disposal to survive, because that means nuclear weapons.”
Wardynski believes world leaders should be focused on solving this through a reasonable diplomatic approach.
“I think they ought to be looking at…what benefits the United States,” he advised. “What is the purpose of the military operations? Is it to bring around a diplomatic solution that gives each party something that they want? Clearly Russia wants Crimea for a lot of reasons. Clearly the Ukrainians want access to the Black Sea, so they need that too. And then the ethnic minorities that are in these areas-what do they want? And start working towards a goal where you’re going to come up with a diplomatic solution and the military’s helping make that happen. Not just a pure military solution because that doesn’t seem to be obtainable at any cost anybody should be willing to pay.”
Yaffee is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts “The Yaffee Program” Weekdays 9-11am on WVNN. You can follow him on Twitter @Yaffee
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