Fresh headlines proclaim: “Biden administration to allow American military contractors to deploy to Ukraine for first time since Russia’s invasion”.
That’s curious since in the same breath we are reminded that there have been American contractors in Ukraine this whole time:
“It is worth noting that there already are a wide array of American companies who have personnel in Ukraine fulfilling contracts for the Ukrainian government, so this will not lead to a substantial increase of employees of US companies working on the ground in Ukraine,” the defense official said.
What is there for Biden to “allow”? There is no ban on American contractors in Ukraine to lift.
US contractors have been perfectly free to get themselves hired by Ukraine and perform tasks before this news.
It’s not that DC has given permission for US contractors to work in Ukraine, but that it will now deploy them itself:
“In order to help Ukraine repair and maintain military equipment provided by the US and its allies, DoD (Department of Defense) is soliciting bids for a small number of contractors who will help Ukraine maintain the assistance we’ve already provided,” a defense official said.
Pentagon will select, contract, and pay Americans to go to Ukraine and be a part of the war from there. Specifically maintainers for Patriots and F-16s (to start with).
I’ve pointed out before that Ukraine’s logistics chain reaches back into US bases in Poland where contractors hired by the Pentagon work restoring its US-made armored vehicles. Now this Pentagon-provided logistics machine expands with a branch in Ukraine itself.
The news part isn’t that American contractors are now allowed to Ukraine, but that the White House has ordered Pentagon to add declared civilian forces to Ukraine.
The timing of it — Biden went the entire war without such a presence, but is setting up one for Trump — is interesting.
You and I both suspect this is being done as part of “Trump-proofing”. — Making it more difficult for Trump to disengage and more likely he stays entangled.
Eg if Trump will want to remove them he’ll have to brave hysteria in the pro-war media first, which he has been rarely willing to do. But if he leaves them they complicate the talks he wants to hold. For example, if any are harmed in a Russian strike, he could feel humiliated, perhaps lashing out.
Trump is unlikely to live up to his rhetoric on Ukraine, but the Bidenites want to make sure. Likely this isn’t the last of Trump-proofing we’ll see.
The senile octogenarian after all is the actual 5D player out there:
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