Former US President George W. Bush will hold a public conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky next week aimed at underscoring the importance of the US continuing to support Ukraine’s war effort against Russia.
The event, which will be held in Dallas and is open to the public, comes amid questions about the willingness of the former president’s Republican Party to maintain support for Ukraine.
“Ukraine is the front line in the struggle for freedom and democracy. It is literally under attack as we speak, and it is vital that the United States provide assistance, military and otherwise, to help Ukraine defend itself,” David Cramer, managing director for global policy at the George W. Bush Institute, told CNN. . “President Bush believes he will stand by Ukraine.”
The Fight for Freedom event will take place on Tuesday at the George W. Bush Presidential Center, just a week after the US midterm elections, with Republicans looking likely to secure a majority in the House.
This will be the first public discussion between Zelenskiy – whose participation will be virtual – and the former president, following a one-on-one meeting earlier this year. After that initial meeting Bush called Zelensky “the Winston Churchill of our time.”
The Ukrainian government has expressed a strong need for continued military and financial aid as the war rages, even though the US has poured more than $18 billion into the war so far.
Cramer, acknowledging isolationist factions in both the Republican and Democratic parties, said providing continued support to Ukraine is in the best interest of the US as a whole.
“It is a message to the country that it is in the interest of the US to support Ukraine. It’s actually an issue where I think we need to put party politics aside and recognize that US support for Ukraine is vital. It gives Ukraine a chance to win this war,” Kramer explained.
“There are those on both sides of the aisle who say this is none of our business, we have enough problems at home, why are we spending money on these things? And our view is that really, it’s our business because these things affect us and they can affect average Americans,” he added.
Questions have been raised about how long lawmakers will continue to provide high levels of support.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy – who is hoping to become speaker of the House next year – suggested last month that Republicans might withdraw funding for Ukraine, but then sought to clarify that he was simply asking for more oversight of any federal dollars. And a group of progressive Democrats recently told the Biden administration that support for Ukraine could not exist without a concerted push toward a diplomatic end, but they backed that position after facing a sharp blow.
“If Russia and Putin have not stopped in Ukraine, who knows where else they will go? Let us never forget that Europe has seen two world wars,” Kramer said.
Another democratic stronghold the West is worried about is Taiwan, due to concerns that China is trying to accelerate efforts to take over the island. Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen will also attend the event next week. He will give a recorded message, in which he is expected to emphasize that the struggle for freedom is a global challenge.
“My guess is that there will probably be some overlap in the general issues that she and President Zelensky will raise, which is that it’s the island of democracy that thrives and wants to live peacefully and be left alone, and yet it’s facing this huge threat not too far,” Kramer said. “Taiwan lives every day under the threat of attack, in one form or another, by the Communist Party in China.”
