[squidbeak]

This was one of the rare cases it would have been easier and more in character if the US had just done the right thing. But no.

First Biden's timidity and dithering over arms, which looks ridiculous today and led to so much needless difficulty and suffering for Ukraine. And then Trump, quite clearly favouring Putin and (obscenely) shaking down Ukraine at its most vulnerable point with the 'mineral deal'.

It's hard to imagine any earlier US administration not backing Ukraine to the hilt - pouring in advanced arms, strangling Russia with much harder sanctions, maybe even patrolling the skies of western Ukraine. The chance to take down the worst sort of nationalist tyrant, and one of the world's nastiest troublemakers? And one of the USA's longest standing enemy countries to boot? What President before these last two wouldn't have jumped at it?

[TiredOfLife]

> It's hard to imagine any earlier US administration not backing Ukraine to the hilt

War started in 2014. Obama did nothing.

[mamonster]

>What President before these last two wouldn't have jumped at it?

This ignores/forgets the fact that Biden had the Ukraine crisis directly after Covid ending so he basically couldn't actually go all in on the conflict.

>It's hard to imagine any earlier US administration not backing Ukraine to the hilt

Earlier administrations were operating in a much better economic environment and had a much higher international standing. Don't forget that outside of Europe US standing was dropping already before Trump 2.