It's hard to say because Senate combined the bills together while House voted on them separately, but John Thune voted in favour of the foreign aid package while John Barrasso voted against it, but did Thune vote in favour of it because of Ukraine or because of Israel/Taiwan is the question. Mitch needs to start educating his colleagues about the benefits of Ukraine aid on a selfish perspective because it's the only thing that will get through to these guys, if Mitch tells them the financial benefits and benefits to America itself.

“The security assistance money appropriated ‘for Ukraine’ isn’t just buying weapons for Ukraine,” McConnell said in a Sept. 13 floor speech. “It’s also replenishing and modernizing America’s arsenal. And the vast majority of it is going to American defense manufacturers. “That’s tens of billions of dollars directly supporting tens of thousands of jobs in at least 38 states so far,” he said. “Support for Ukraine is driving historic investments in the communities we represent.”

This is the unfortunate angle that we're going to need to take with some of these guys, I say unfortunate because it just feels wrong to talk about how America benefits from the war, in terms of jobs and investment, or how when Ukraine is rebuilt, America will have a bunch of contracts thrown their way, when it shouldn't matter about any of that, it should simply be "because it's the right thing to do" but all some of these guys care about is how it makes them wealthier and this is probably the angle that will work on them.

How is this for an answer: Maybe because people are sick and tired of hearing about conflict between Jews and Palestinians.  They've been fighting each other for thousands of years, and guess what, a thousand years from now they will still be fighting each other.

Whereas conflict between Russia and Ukraine has much less history.

Ukraine’s military intelligence reports assassination of Russian drone centre head near Moscow


https://novayagazeta.eu/articles/2024/09/29/ukraines-military-intelligence-reports-assassination-of-russian-drone-centre-head-near-moscow-en-news

Hmm.

"As long as it takes" seems to be getting phased out, I hope this represent an actual change in policy, words need to be backed up with action, such as lifting the restrictions. Always hated the "as long as it takes" phrasing because it's like, as long as what takes? Lol. As long as it takes for Ukraine to surrender? As long as it takes for Ukraine to compromise? It also implies a dragged out conflict which yeah, it's going to be a long conflict, since it's a war between two major countries, but that doesn't mean we can't speed it up.

Lithuania to supply thousands of AI-powered drones to Ukraine in strategic defense boost. The article says that ukraine will get 5000 of these premium drones.


https://www.uawire.org/lithuania-to-supply-thousands-of-ai-powered-drones-to-ukraine-in-strategic-defense-boost

You mean Europeans have been fighting Jews for thousands of years...

It were the Romans that first messed up the area, see all the Roman ruins in Israel, West Bank, Lebanon, etc. Jews and Palestinians (or rather indigenous tribes) were living fine alongside until the British encouraged the creation of an ethnocentric state under the guise of Zionism.


Ukraine goes back to at least the 4th century, and first got displaced by the Mongols, then taken by Russia.

Slavic tribes settled there after the 4th century. Kyiv was the chief town. The Mongol conquest in the mid-13th century decisively ended Kyivan power. From the 14th to the 18th century, portions of Ukraine were ruled by Lithuania, Poland, and Russia.

The area that is today the country of Russia has been inhabited by people for thousands of years. The first modern state in Russia was founded in 862 by King Rurik of the Rus, who was made the ruler of Novgorod. Some years later, the Rus conquered the city of Kiev and started the kingdom of the Kievan Rus.

In the aftermath of World War I and the Russian Revolution of 1917, most of the Ukrainian region became a republic of the Soviet Union, though parts of western Ukraine were divided between Poland, Romania, and Czechoslovakia.



The conflict between Palestinians and Jews started in the 1930's

Before the Nakba, Palestine was a multi-ethnic and multi-cultural society. However, the conflict between Arabs and Jews intensified in the 1930s with the increase of Jewish immigration, driven by persecution in Europe, and with the Zionist movement aiming to establish a Jewish state in Palestine.

I blame the conflict in the Middle East on Moses. He never should have led his people across the Red Sea. He should have led them to the south or to the west, if he did, we would not have the trouble we see today.

I don't see a world where the Dems keep the Senate.

As discussed later in the thread the future Majority leader will greatly impact Ukraine funding. It's not just about getting the votes but will the Majority Leader even put the bill to a vote? I could see political games being played with the Republicans adding things that Democrats don't like to the bill.