DeSantis warns not to turn Ukraine into ‘proxy war’ field with China

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
21 Feb 2023 14:13
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US Gov. Ron DeSantis bashes Biden's 'blank check' approach to the Ukraine conflict and calls it a lack of clear strategic objectives.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis gestures during a news conference, Thursday, Jan. 26, 2023, in Miami. (AP)

One potential US presidential candidate for 2024 has slammed the incumbent President's trip to Ukraine. Gov. Ron DeSantis expressed severe reservations about Joe Biden's Ukrainian policy on "Fox & Friends," including a potential "proxy conflict" with Beijing and an open-ended war with no apparent strategic aim.

“Well, they have effectively a blank check policy with no clear strategic objective identified and these things can escalate. And I don’t think it’s in our interest to be getting into proxy war with China, getting involved over things like the borderlands or over Crimea,” DeSantis said.

“So I think it would behoove them to identify what is the strategic objective that they’re trying to achieve. But just saying it’s an open-ended blank check, that is not acceptable,” he added.

Elsewhere in his remarks, DeSantis confessed that Russia was not a real threat.

“Well, I think it’s important to point out the fear of Russia going into NATO countries and all that and steamrolling, you know, that has not even come close to happening," he stated.

DeSantis also acknowledged that the willingness of Russia, and apparently China, to engage in Ukraine is a direct repercussion of the “weakness” of the Biden administration.

“I’m also reminded that I don’t think any of this would have happened, but for the weakness that the President showed during his first year in office, culminating, of course, in the disastrous withdrawal in Afghanistan,” DeSantis highlighted.

DeSantis' remarks came shortly after former US President Donald Trump warned on Tuesday that US President Joe Biden's Ukraine policies might spark World War III.

It is worth noting that Biden concluded a trip to Kiev on Monday in a demonstration of US unwavering "support" for Ukraine.

For "security reasons", the visit, which included a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, was unannounced before Biden traveled over to Poland for discussions in Warsaw, as per media reports.

During his quick visit, Biden revealed half a billion dollars in further supplies to Ukraine, “including artillery ammunition, anti-armor systems, and air surveillance radars,” according to a White House statement, and will detail further sanctions “against elites and companies that are trying to evade or backfill Russia’s war machine” later this week.

On his account, Zelensky stated that he and Biden spoke about “long-range weapons and the weapons that may still be supplied to Ukraine even though it wasn’t supplied before.”