Opinion: Will America fail the Peter Singer test in Ukraine?
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
A re the MAGA Republicans who want to cut off U.S. aid to Ukraine acting ethically? To put the matter bluntly, are they supporting the war crimes Russia is committing in Ukraine or not?
The questions are disturbing, even incendiary, especially as they force us — and the MAGA Republicans — to ask whether we are as guilty as the Russians in supporting a leader, Vladimir Putin, and a war that is intentionally destroying a nation.
The philosopher Peter Singer has suggested an intriguing way of addressing this kind of question in his “drowning child” thought experiment. Here’s the way Singer put it :
“To challenge my students to think about the ethics of what we owe to people in need, I ask them to imagine that their route to the university takes them past a shallow pond. One morning, I say to them, you notice a child has fallen in and appears to be drowning. To wade in and pull the child out would be easy but it will mean that you get your clothes wet and muddy, and by the time you go home and change you will have missed your first class. I then ask the students: do you have any obligation to rescue the child? Unanimously, the students say they do. The importance of saving a child so far outweighs the cost of getting one’s clothes muddy and missing a class, that they refuse to consider it any kind of excuse for not saving the child.”
Back in February 2022, when Putin’s Russia launched its all-out war, Ukraine was arguably the drowning child and we were the passersby. Providing billions of dollars’ worth of military aid isn’t quite the same as muddying your clothes, but for a society as rich as America neither was it an exorbitant expense, especially as the vast majority, some 90 percent, of the money spent on Ukraine actually stayed in the United States, contributing to the American economy, providing jobs and stimulating investment.
Helping Ukraine was thus both self-interested and ethically right. That Russia had violated a raft of international laws in launching its war made assisting Ukraine easier, inasmuch as it provided the U.S. with a large number of partners equally desirous of saving the drowning child.
Here’s Singer: “Does it make a difference, I ask, that there are other people walking past the pond who would equally be able to rescue the child but are not doing so? No, the students reply, the fact that others are not doing what they ought to do is no reason why I should not do what I ought to do.” Unlike the other people walking past the pond, much of the international community joined in the effort to save Ukraine.
Fast forward to December 2023 and the distinct possibility that the Republican threat to cut aid to Ukraine could become reality. The situation today would be akin to the following scenario.
Like the good passerby, the United States saved the child in 2022. Almost two years later, America is holding the child that it saved and is walking past the pond. Should it continue carrying the child? After all, the child has put on some weight, it cries, it distracts us from our work. Or should it ease the burden by placing the child back into the pond, perhaps face up, in the hope that it won’t turn over and drown?
MAGA Republicans, like their mentor Donald Trump, are saying that, yes, sorry, Ukraine, you’ve become too much of a burden and, like it or not, we need to get rid of you. Two years ago, we saved you. But we can’t keep you alive forever. We won’t kill you, but, like the ancient Greeks, we’ll leave you where we found you and let the gods decide whether you’ll live or die.
Indifference to the fate of the child would have been unethical two years ago. Today it’s infinitely more criminal, as it involves the conscious choice to abandon a healthy child.
There’s no way to avoid the sad conclusion that MAGA Republicans are effectively, perhaps even consciously and willfully, supporting Ukraine’s destruction for the sake of ridding themselves of a minor inconvenience. And since Putin’s agenda in Ukraine is genocide and since the U.S. has been the key obstacle to his being able to achieve that goal, the GOP position is effectively, and tragically, supportive of genocide.
Alas, that makes MAGA Republicans as guilty of and responsible for Putin’s crimes as the overwhelmingly large number of Russians who consciously choose Ukraine’s destruction over Ukraine’s survival.
Alexander J. Motyl is a professor of political science at Rutgers University-Newark. A specialist on Ukraine, Russia and the USSR, and on nationalism, revolutions, empires and theory, he is the author of 10 books of nonfiction, as well as “ Imperial Ends : The Decay, Collapse, and Revival of Empires” and “ Why Empires Reemerge : Imperial Collapse and Imperial Revival in Comparative Perspective.”
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Republicans have decided that Ukraine has lost the war.
Good thing they weren't at Valley Forge.
The vast majority of the "money sent to Ukraine" stays right here in the USA providing good jobs and boosting our economy. It's also making Europe safer. Putin's army foundering in Ukraine means it can't be used to invade Poland.
I'd like someone to answer the question why the unlimited support of Israel and the cutting back or stopping the aid to Ukraine?
Two reasons
Bible prophecy
They hate Muslims
It was Joe Biden who attached US border security to a foreign aid bill. It is very simple Kavika: all your president has to do is secure the southern border and he can get his funding for Ukraine. He put himself in this position.
We are aiding Ukraine, not Joe Biden.
While I support both, I’ll replace your two reasons with:
Historical ties with Israel
Location has greater geo-strategic importance
Pelosi doesn't run the House anymore. Biden submitted a bill and the House wants changes. They control the purse strings. If Biden won't seal the southern border there won't be aid for Ukraine or Israel.
When has Ukraine been an ally of western Europe and the United States? Ukraine has been a threat toward Europe for centuries. Just because Ukraine appears to be the enemy of our enemy (for the moment) doesn't mean Ukraine is our friend.
Using the Israeli conflict as an analogy for Ukraine: Russia would be Iran, Ukraine would be Hamas, and (according to Biden) NATO would be Israel. Now explain why Ukraine deserves the money being sucked out of the US economy. Why is money spent to defend Ukraine more important than defending the southern border of the United States? Why is Ukraine's nationalism something that must be protected at all cost while American nationalism is something that must be destroyed at all cost?
Here's the real Peter Singer analogy: someone no one knows, 5,000 miles away, is drowning in a pond. The only thing we know is that someone in the pond, 5,000 miles away, ain't innocent and ain't a child. And we don't know if that someone will kill us or not when we pull them out. So, how much should we sacrifice to save them?
The money is not being "sucked out" of the US economy. Since it's really being spent here it's being added to the economy. The Ukrainians do all the dirty work. Putin gets taken down a peg and loses half his army. That seems like a win win to me.
He is your president as well, Vic like it or not. Yet was Israel in the same position, no they were not and another large shipment of tank ammo was released to Israel without congress OK.
Yes, the money is being sucked out of the US economy. Neoliberal accounting tricks won't change that. The money is being spent on items that provide no benefit to the United States. Any value created by manufacturing in the US is being lost.
The argument that the Ukraine war is benefitting the US economy illustrates how neoliberals destroyed the US economy. Give thanks to Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton. They snookered the American public into working to destroy the middle class.
Yes, it does, first there is the ability to gain great influence in the Black Sea an energy-rich region that connects Russia, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East. A passage for oil coming out of the oil-rich Central Asian countries. Weakening Russia in both a military way and financial way to include long-time allies pulling away from them, think Armenia. Opening the water of the Black Sea which has a couple of Nation countries on its water line.
If Russia is to win in Ukraine then you can bet Moldova and Georgia will be next and then a NATO country probably the Baltic countries or Finland which we have seen already.
If they attack a NATO country you will see how geostrategic Ukraine is.
Additionally, other NATO and non-Nato countries have sent billions in aid and weapons to Ukraine we are not carrying all the load.
I'm waiting to see the Republicans cut funding to both Israel and Ukraine the finger pointing in congress will be classic.
South Korea and Norway are part of the US, who knew?
Democrats making South Korea and Norway great again.
The funding Biden wants for both countries is a bit different.
Why not tell people how much Biden wants for Israel and Ukraine?
Thus far the US has given Ukraine $113 Billion.
Where the $113 billion the US approved for Ukraine has gone | CNN Politics
What were you saying about tank ammo?
Most of it was come right back to the US in the form of defense buying.
Your welcome
I thought that most people would know that if they had been keeping up with the situation. Perhaps you could let them know to help bolster your argument.
You mean what doesn't come back to the US in the form of kickbacks to the Administration, Congress critters, their family members, and their top campaign contributors.
Ukraine has a long history of corruption. That hasn't changed since Russia has invaded.
I miss the good old days of Democrats being anti war and defense spending.
What is goal in Ukraine?
Originally it was to diminish the Russian military so that it was no longer a threat to NATO. That was accomplished long ago. The Russians are sending raw recruits to the front lines; using tanks they decommissioned decades ago; and they are buying weapons and munitions from North Korea, China, and Iran. So much for what was the #2 exporter of military hardware and munitions in the world.
Now some idiots (mainly leftists) are claiming that it is to remove Russian presence from all of Ukraine and Crimea. Both areas are heavily Russian. Crimea was never a part of Ukraine until 1954- when they were a part of the Soviet Union and it was transferred to them. Ukraine is no longer a part of the Soviet Union- looks like Russia is reclaiming their territory which they annexed in 1783 from the Ottoman empire.
Funny how enforcing Ukraine's borders is far more important to leftists than enforcing our own.
Also funny how a supposed defensive alliance in NATO has changed to the world's top offensive military power. Kosovo, Iraq, Libya, and now Ukraine. Guess Russia should have gotten it in writing from the US/NATO that former Russian satellite states would not be allowed to join.
The US has done enough in Ukraine. If Europe wants Russia out of Ukraine time they payed for everything; instead of the US doing all of the heavy lifting- and getting all of the unsustainable debt that comes with it.
If any US citizen wants to support Ukraine they are free to donate their own money to the cause. Better still catch a flight out to any of surrounding countries and cross the border into Ukraine. It needs more meat for the Russian grinder.
Republicans shouldn't even be negotiating this. Closing our borders is a national security issue. Ukraine isn't.
The sad part is that instead of Putin being in the position of negotiating, it will now be Zelenskyy who will have to call for negotiations.
Funny how enforcing Ukraine's borders is far more important to leftists than enforcing our own.
The migrants are being filmed thanking Biden as they enter the US. Now Joe is in a corner. There is a purpose of course. All they need to do is flip Texas, the home of great Americans like Chris Kyle, and we will have only one political party. It may already be too late, but the House finally cornered Biden. Either he does something to restrain the massive incoming flow, or he loses his aid package.
The money is being spent to manufacture items for EXPORT. It creates good jobs for hard working Americans. Are you trying to say that exporting corn and almonds provides "no benefit" for the US?
I said nothing about South Korea, Norway, or Israel. Go derail some other thread.
The aid for Ukraine puts money into the US economy the same way TARP did and the same way bailing out GM did and the same way forgiving student loans did.
The money is being spent to replace things that didn't need to be replaced. That doesn't benefit the US economy. If that approach really strengthened an economy then the Soviet Union would not have collapsed. And Ukraine would not be a beggar state.
Is the $113 Billion a loan or a gift?
If it is a loan, then the US taxpayer loaned Ukraine $113 billion to buy weapons.
If it is a gift, then the US taxpayer gave the Ukraine the weapons they are buying from the US along with the money that never comes back to the US in any form.
What kind of oversight is there of how the $113 billion is spent by Zelensky? Does the US taxpayer have any access to how our money is being used by Zelensky?
I view it as a US commitment made in 1994. The Ukraine gave up it's nuclear weapons in exchange, the U.S., the U.K. and Russia would guarantee Ukraine's security in a 1994 agreement known as the Budapest Memorandum. Obviously Russia has violated that agreement.
I view it as a bullshit commitment to the most corrupt government on the planet.
US taxpayers should not be held hostage to an agreement that should have never been made in the first place.
So being an expert on this why don't you explain why the US Government is sending weapons to Israel without Congress approval and avoiding certain specifications that are required by US law?
Does the US have knowledge how Israel is spending the money?
Netanyahu is under indictment currently for bribery, fraud and breach of trust so please tell me how Israel is so very clean and honest without corruption.
Israel Police arrest dozens in corruption probe of Defense Ministry
ps://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-731410
There seems to be a lot of corruption in Israel as well with no US oversight.
Never claimed to be an expert on this, just voiced my opinion based on the fact that Ukraine was listed as having the most corrupt government on the planet in the last decade.
I don't know much at all about Israel except a cursory google overview. I do know that the US government reps are capable of treasonous acts and getting by with it. Does the Iran Contra affair jog any memories? Also, the S&L bailouts? Wall Street bailouts?
The US government caters to the wealthiest of the wealthy with little to no oversight and zero accountability to the US taxpayer. Probably what is happening with both Israel and Ukraine.
It is what it is. I don't support it.
Now, if an expert on US/world governments is on this board, then I hope they speak up on this discussion.
I am just a person voicing my opinion and never claimed to be otherwise.
You made the comment that our argreement with Ukraine was bullshit and the most corrupt government on the planet which you didn't provide any facts and I provided facts that Israel isn't clean either starting at the very top.
I can google and cite facts/statistics and videos to back up the basis for my "opinions" all day long and I have done so for years on this and other sites. I will probably continue to do so when I want to.
If you don't agree with my statements about Ukraine government corruption, then refute them and cite your sources if you want. If my sources were wrong, I will have learned something I did not know.
I am not responsible for doing everyone else's research on the "facts".
I am not disagreeing with you about Israel. I just don't wish to discuss Israel on this site today. If that changes, I will engage when I think I have something worthwhile to add to a discussion or food for thought.
I truly want progress and I believe that you do, also.
Zelensky doesn't get $113 billion. He get's military hardware, ammo, and humanitarian aid. [removed]
As a former state in the USSR, the Ukraine has been challenged to clean-up its deep and pervasive corruption. I think they are at the front end of this journey and are trying to do it will fighting for the life of their country.
To become an EU member, they will have to meet EU standards and be inspected for compliance. One of their new actions is the creation of the EU Anti-Corruption Initiative (EUACI). The Ukraine is developing an anti-corruption framework.
Ukraine's National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP) just opened the Unified State Register of Declarations to let citizens review property declarations of public servants.
I think that they made recent, good faith efforts but it may take a generation to get it firmly under control.