I was wondering about this exact point when reading a story at The Drive's WarZone vertical:
Mysterious ‘Phoenix Ghost’ Suicide Drones Headed To Ukraine
A mysterious new loitering 'kamikaze drone' called Phoenix Ghost, developed by the U.S. Air Force specifically for Ukraine's war against Russia, is part of the latest U.S. security assistance package announced on April 21.
The loitering munition is an all-new platform developed quickly, with input from Ukraine, to address the nation's military requirements as it tries to blunt Russia’s renewed assault in the Donbas region, according to Pentagon Spokesman John Kirby.
“This was rapidly developed by the Air Force in response specifically to Ukrainian requirements,” Kirby told reporters on April 21. More than 121 — an oddly specific, yet mysteriously vague number — Phoenix Ghosts are headed to Ukraine along with the newest $800 million aid package announced Thursday....
That description seems to go way beyond being a simple purveyor of off-the-shelf murder machines and into the realm of warfighter/BFF.
And the headline story from Asia Times, April 19:
US and allies warned on ‘violations of a neutral’s duties of impartiality and non-participation in the conflict’
Conversations over the past week with current and former US officials about whether, to their knowledge, there is any real debate inside President Joe Biden’s administration over the approach it is taking in Ukraine has produced only slight variations of the same answer: “Not really.”
As of now, what the Biden policy amounts to is a replay along the lines of president Franklin D Roosevelt’s policy toward the war in Europe from 1939 to December 1941, during which the US was a co-belligerent all but in name.
In their public statements, Biden and his Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin seem intent on obfuscating the true extent of American involvement. A story in the defense-industry-sponsored Politico quoted unnamed US officials as saying “military options in Ukraine aren’t on the table – echoing Biden’s repeated position of not wanting to spark World War III.”
If taken at face value, Biden’s policy would seem to be at odds with itself. Not wanting to start a third World War is a prudent, appropriate policy objective, but if that’s the goal, the administration is taking the long way around, because whether they admit it or not, the US is, and has been for some time, a co-belligerent in the war.
“We have consistently been sharing intelligence that includes information the Ukrainians can use to inform and develop their military response to Russia’s invasion,” White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters in March....
....MUCH MORE
There must be something in the air because just a few days ago I was overtaken by the compulsion to quote President Franklin Roosevelt on arming Britain during the first couple years of WWII:
.....It is not like Roosevelt's homely little sales pitch for Lend-Lease:
"Suppose my neighbor's home catches fire, and I have a length of garden hose four or five hundred feet away. If he can take my garden hose and connect it up with his hydrant, I may help him to put out his fire...I don't say to him before that operation, "Neighbor, my garden hose cost me $15; you have to pay me $15 for it."... I don't want $15--I want my garden hose back after the fire is over. "
Franklin Roosevelt's Press Conference
December 17, 1940
http://docs.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/ODLLPC2.HTML
