(USA Today) Supporting the democratically elected Ukrainian government with funding and advice is good policy. So is sending communications, monitoring and protective equipment to the struggling Ukrainian army. But supplying Kiev with lethal weaponry would endanger U.S. national security interests, while having little chance of stopping Vladimir Putin.
Ukraine lacks a reliable professional military organization, and Washington could not control how or where American weapons would be used on the ground. Even strong pro-Kiev advocates lament the growth of warlordism in western Ukraine, along with the corruption that corrodes the army.
[OPPOSING VIEW: Send arms to Ukraine]
The plan to send weapons to Ukraine assumes that if Putin faces a strengthened foe, he will be forced to negotiate. But if suffocating sanctions have not accomplished that, why assume weapons will? The Russian president is highly unlikely to back down. Compromise is not in his personality. […]
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