Biden calls allies: 'US does not give up Kiev' - News

Joe Biden calls on the leaders of NATO countries and EU leaders "to coordinate our current support for Ukraine" and reassure that aid will continue "as long as it is needed", after the doubts sown by the anti-shutdown measure without the 6 billion planned for Kiev and the Pentagon's warning to Congress on the short-term exhaustion of funds for the attacked country.
Partners and allies responded present, including Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who "confirmed the continuous and convinced support of the Italian government to the Ukrainian authorities in every area as long as necessary, with the aim of achieving a just, lasting and comprehensive peace". But Admiral Rob Bauer, the Alliance's top military official, and the British Defence Ministry have warned that stockpiles of Western munitions to be sent to Kiev are running out.
In the US, moreover, aid to Ukraine - of which Washington is the world's leading contributor - splits the Republican Party, which has reached a first showdown in the House between the Trumpian faction, opposed to funds for Kiev, and Speaker Kevin McCarthy, with an uncertainty that has also infected Wall Street.
"We cannot under any circumstances allow American support for Ukraine to be stopped. Too many lives, too many children and too many people are at stake," Biden warned Monday at a cabinet meeting at the White House, where spokeswoman Karine Jean Pierre announced another aid package soon. "I totally expect the Speaker of the House and the majority of Republicans in Congress to maintain their commitment to ensuring the passage of the necessary support to help Ukraine defend itself against Russian aggression and brutality," he added, recalling in the words of former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright that the United States is "the indispensable nation in the world."
But a few hours later the controversial congressman Matt Gaetz, a loyalist of the tycoon, presented a motion of no confidence to remove McCarthy, who had already sweated the coveted nomination with 15 votes. A very rare move that risks creating political-institutional chaos: since it was established in 1910, only two speakers have had to face it and no one has ever fallen, although in 2015 the Republican John Boehner, after the motion, decided to resign, aware of not being able to unite the deputies of his party. Rising to the forefront of the news for the accusations - later dismissed - of an affair with a minor and exploitation of prostitution, Gaetz accuses McCarthy of flirting with the opposition: in particular of having approved the postponement of the shutdown for a month and a half with the votes of the Dems and of having a "secret collateral agreement" with Biden to continue financing Kiev with an ad hoc law (on which even the Republican senators agree).
"Get under", the speaker replied, before putting the request to the vote, determined not to remain hostage to a handful of 'Maga' colleagues (Make America great again) but risking having to trust in some opposition votes to obtain the necessary simple majority and survive.
Dems sat together for hours discussing the dilemma of whether or not to help a speaker who has so far sabotaged their agenda and launched an inquiry into Biden's impeachment: torn between the prospect of aBreak through the Trumpian faction or explode the divisions of the rival party, between the embarrassment of saving a hostile speaker and possible quid pro quos (starting with funds for Ukraine), which McCarthy has already ruled out, at least publicly. In the end, the orientation of not throwing any life jackets at him seems to prevail.
"One of two things can happen. The first is that McCarthy will no longer be speaker, the second is that he will be speaker of the House working to please the Democrats. And I feel at peace with both outcomes because I believe Americans need to know who really governs them," said Gaetz, who threatens similar motions in the future.

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