You can’t light yourself on fire just to keep others warm. Additionally, there is a reason why during the flight safety brief they ask that you put your own mask on before helping others. If you are incapacitated, you cannot provide any meaningful support sans perhaps your body being eaten or actually lit on fire, but that’s getting kind of dark.
Not saying that everything what the US is doing is great for everyone but it’s important to acknowledge that there are economic problems latent and otherwise, that the US must address locally in order to even engage in external affairs. We are using monetary, legislative, and executive tools to do this because those are the levers we can pull. It is not going to be “optimal” but is probably the best we got right now.
I don’t think [western] Europe is taking the care it needs for itself, but this difference in opinion can be attributed to differences in culture, e.g. Americans tends to be more individually-minded and European societies tend to focus on the collective.
Americans do, by and large, support efforts to support Ukraine and the Europe, even some of the most conservative people I know, ones who vehemently disagree with European governance/values, still very strongly support the cause of assisting our friends across the pond. It sucks that we’re having to deal with artificially induced inflation and grifters profiting off of this, but refinement of policy to prevent that takes years that Ukraine and the EU do not have to wait.
In my mind, people’s lives, freedoms, and their country they love are at stake and Americans who otherwise would not have given Ukraine a second thought before have found a deep respect and kinship for their resolve, determination, military ability, and bravery being faced with what was (at least at one time) one of the most powerful military forces in the world. Money can be replaced, refunded, sent as relief, but lives cannot.
Not saying that everything what the US is doing is great for everyone but it’s important to acknowledge that there are economic problems latent and otherwise, that the US must address locally in order to even engage in external affairs. We are using monetary, legislative, and executive tools to do this because those are the levers we can pull. It is not going to be “optimal” but is probably the best we got right now.
I don’t think [western] Europe is taking the care it needs for itself, but this difference in opinion can be attributed to differences in culture, e.g. Americans tends to be more individually-minded and European societies tend to focus on the collective.
Americans do, by and large, support efforts to support Ukraine and the Europe, even some of the most conservative people I know, ones who vehemently disagree with European governance/values, still very strongly support the cause of assisting our friends across the pond. It sucks that we’re having to deal with artificially induced inflation and grifters profiting off of this, but refinement of policy to prevent that takes years that Ukraine and the EU do not have to wait.
In my mind, people’s lives, freedoms, and their country they love are at stake and Americans who otherwise would not have given Ukraine a second thought before have found a deep respect and kinship for their resolve, determination, military ability, and bravery being faced with what was (at least at one time) one of the most powerful military forces in the world. Money can be replaced, refunded, sent as relief, but lives cannot.