USA should be on Ukraine's side in war and peace – Michael Bloomberg
The United States should recognize that its interests are best served by a strong Ukraine that is part of Europe and can defend itself in the long term with Western weapons and intelligence, and whatever deal the White House supports, it should not undermine that opportunity, Bloomberg LP founder and majority owner Michael Bloomberg has said.
"Abandoning Ukraine would set up the country as another Afghanistan — a searing example to potential partners of the US’s unreliability. It would encourage nuclear proliferation as vulnerable states conclude they need their own deterrent, spreading instability across the globe," he wrote in a column on Wednesday.
Bloomberg criticized the initial 28-point plan for being designed with minimal input from Ukraine and largely reflecting Russian priorities, and stressed that the White House should not forget the cost of a weak deal that fails to deter Russian aggression.
"A bad deal would pose a threat not just to Ukraine, but to US strategic interests as well. Russia would emerge militarily ascendant, menacing Europe and increasing rather than reducing the burden on America. The Pentagon would likely need to ramp up support for NATO allies with more troops, more surveillance assets, more missile defenses and more crisis management — leaving fewer resources to check China in the Indo-Pacific," Bloomberg said.
In his opinion, the Pentagon would likely have to increase support for NATO allies, leaving fewer resources to deter China in the Indo-Pacific region, and if Putin violates the agreement, as early indications suggest, the US would have to either resist, risking being drawn into a larger, more complicated war, or be exposed as a paper tiger.
Together with the message of nuclear proliferation as a deterrent, this would undermine the liberal order that the US has championed and benefited from enormously since the end of World War II, and countries like China would feel freer to act within the framework of their own territorial ambitions, the Bloomberg founder stressed.
He called for a ceasefire along the current front line, with any territorial swaps to be discussed later, an end to restrictions on the size of Ukraine’s armed forces or the presence of foreign troops on its territory, and a commitment to Western security guarantees.
"Russia’s frozen state assets should be used to rebuild Ukraine, not incorporated into private U.S.-Russian commercial enterprises," the column said.
According to Bloomberg, Congress should pressure the administration to allow the transfer of Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine, a powerful deterrent that would only be used if Russia violated the ceasefire agreement, and similarly, Germany should supply its long-range Taurus missiles.
"Ukraine’s government should support a full investigation and accountability in a widening corruption scandal involving figures close to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in order to restore faith in his government at home and abroad," Bloomberg said.
He believes that if Putin refuses such terms, his insincerity about peace will be at least obvious, while the only peace the United States should seek is one that restrains his ambitions, not encourages them.
