The Invasion of Ukraine

[IvanV]

Viktor Orban had a meeting with Trump, and came out saying that Trump will give us "Peace in our time!" for Ukraine, through the excellent and strong tactic of capitulating to all Herr Putin's demands.

Orban pointed out that Trump is an effective man of peace. There was no war in Ukraine or Palestine when Trump was president. When everyone knows how powerfully America will refuse to get involved, everyone will be able to take what is rightfully theirs without any risk of the occupants resisting.

[Woodchopper]

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said on Sunday that he expects to move a package that includes aid for Ukraine when the House returns from recess and expects the package to include “some important innovations.”

In an interview on “Sunday Night in America With Trey Gowdy,” Johnson stressed the difficult position he’s in, with a historically narrow House majority, but said that he was working throughout the current work period to come up with a package and plans to put it on the floor when the House gavels back into session.

[…]

“But when it comes to the supplemental, we’ve been working to build that consensus. We’ve been talking to all the members especially now over the district work period. When we return after this work period, we’ll be moving a product, but it’s going to, I think, have some important innovations,” Johnson said.

Johnson floated as examples the possibilities of extending a loan to Ukraine – an idea that gained some traction earlier this month, as a way to back Ukraine in a way that might assuage conservative concerns about providing more aid as Ukraine fights against Russian aggression.

Johnson also mentioned the REPO for Ukrainians Act, which would authorize the president to seize Russian sovereign assets frozen in the U.S. and give them to Ukraine to use against Russia.

“The REPO Act, you know, if we can use the seized assets of Russian oligarchs to allow the Ukrainians to fight them, that’s just pure poetry,” Johnson said. “Even President Trump has talked about the loan concept, where … we’re not just giving foreign aid. We’re setting it up in a relationship where they can provide it back to us when the time is right.”
Johnson added that, in an effort to “unleash American energy,” he wants “to have natural gas exports that will help un-fund Vladimir Putin’s war effort there, you know,” he said, adding, “There’s a lot of things that we should do that … make more sense and that I think we’ll have consensus around.”

https://thehill.com/homenews/house/4566 ... novations/

Framing some or all of the aid as a loan rather than a grant wouldn’t be a disaster. A future administration might be able to write it off and if not the EU might be able to pay it.

[bolo]

There's "innovations" and there's "innovations". In particular, there's a risk that it means "stuff the MAGA crowd wants, which will cause it to fail in the Senate". But I guess we'll have to wait and see.