Donald Trump. The Hill/AP.
Donald Trump has said that Joe Biden should not send cluster munitions to Ukraine as it risks World War III. The Hill. Citing the damage the munitions would due for year after the war, Trump said that Biden should focus on ending the war instead. Biden has received bipartisan criticism for his decision to send the munitions to Ukraine due to the fact that civilians are often maimed or killed years after dud munitions explode. Trump also criticized Biden for sending Ukraine our last stockpiles of 155mm ammunition, after Biden confirmed America was almost out of weapons. Trump also said that Biden was leading America into World War III which could end with "obliteration".
Trump's full statement can be found here.
My Comment:
I already covered Biden's gift of 155mm cluster munitions in a previous post. Since I have already spoken abut what I think about cluster munitions, I don't really need to repeat much here. In general the deployment of cluster munitions won't have much effect on the war but was an act of utter hypocrisy for the Biden Administration.
Still, it is interesting to see criticism of Biden from both sides of the political spectrum for giving these weapons to Ukraine. The criticism of cluster munitions are valid enough and it makes sense that people that disagree about everything else would come together to criticize Biden over it.
I do think that it confirms that despite all the anger and rage over the division between Republicans and Democrats there is another division between pro-war and anti-war camps. Donald Trump is pretty clearly in the anti-war camp and Biden is pro-war. The fact that the left has largely abandoned the anti-war ideals they so valued during the Iraq War is shocking. The people on the left that are criticizing Biden on the issue aren't doing so because he's escalating the war, it's just because the bombs might kill civilians at some point.
The article did mention that Trump had the chance to ban cluster munitions but did not do so. I think that there is a difference between having the weapons in your inventory and actually using them. Keeping cluster munitions is a wise idea if a major war breaks out, and given the sorry state of our military it's very possible that we will have to have every possible advantage we can get. Still, I am sure politics has a lot to do with both the decision and his criticism of Biden.
Is Trump right that this could lead to World War III? Probably not. Sending cluster munitions is an escalation but Russia has been remarkably restrained when it comes to the war. Probably because they are pretty clearly winning. Ukraine has used cluster munitions throughout the war and it's not like their artillery units are very effective right now. I doubt that a few artillery shells are going to be the thing that pushes Russia into nuclear war.
Still, I do think Trump is right that constantly pushing Russia is a good way to start World War III. Even if you support the war you have to admit that the war is not going well. Constantly escalating now is a high risk, low reward proposition. It's not wise to keep pushing Russia on this, eventually they will find a red line they actually care about crossing.
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