Liudmyla Zhernovska 02:56, 14.07.25 UNIAN
According to the politician, the US should throw all its strength into preparing for war with China
Pentagon Deputy Chief of Staff for Political Affairs Elbridge Colby , who seeks to reorient the United States military to counter China, already has disagreements with part of the Republican Party.
According to The Wall Street Journal , it was Colby who submitted a memo to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth outlining how Ukraine’s requests for American weapons could further deplete the Pentagon’s already limited stockpiles. The document did not contain specific recommendations, but could influence the decision to suspend the supply of certain types of weapons to the Ukrainian army.
Supporters of the memorandum’s author say the episode demonstrates his desire to fulfill long-standing U.S. commitments to bolster the military presence in the Western Pacific. However, it also presents conflicting challenges for the new administration, which, while supplying arms to Ukraine, has already launched large-scale military operations against Iran and the Houthis in the Middle East early in its term.
“Colby thought very deeply about how the United States could best defend itself in an era of limited resources. Many politicians refused to accept this reality,” says former Hegseth adviser Dan Caldwell.
The politician calls for limiting American commitments outside the Asia-Pacific region to free up resources to effectively confront Beijing. This approach distinguishes him from both “deterrence” advocates, who propose a broad curtailment of US involvement in international affairs, and traditional Republican “hawks”, who support an active foreign policy around the world.
His calls for reducing global commitments, particularly in regions such as the Middle East and Eastern Europe, have caused disagreements with Republicans. As Matthew Kreinig of the Atlantic Council, a former adviser to the presidential campaigns of Mitt Romney and Marco Rubio, notes, in recent years the “prioritizers” have insisted that the United States should neither strike Iran nor continue its support for Ukraine, since all resources should be prepared for a possible conflict with China.
At the same time, President Donald Trump holds a different position: under the slogan “America First,” he supports a permanent and active US presence in several key regions of the world, considering this a necessary condition for American leadership.
US suspends aid to Ukraine
As is known, in June the US administration temporarily suspended the supply of certain types of weapons to Ukraine, including ammunition for artillery and HIMARS systems.
The reason was cited as internal consultations at the Pentagon regarding the depletion of its own reserves and the need to reallocate resources to other theaters of war.
Western media reported that one of the analytical documents that partially influenced the decision was a memorandum by Deputy Secretary of Defense Elbridge Colby, which described the risks of overburdening US arsenals.
In early July, President Donald Trump decided to restore aid to Ukraine . This came after the intensification of massive shelling of Ukraine, Putin’s repeated refusal to cease fire, pressure from allies, and domestic criticism in Congress.
This is still confusing, his national defense strategy says,
“”the central challenge to U.S. prosperity and security is the reemergence of long-term strategic competition,” primarily from China and Russia”
Did he not know withholding weapons from Ukraine would help russia?
Red, where is scradge?
Yeah, like I mentioned earlier, I don’t know where he is but I think he’s still angry with me because I took him down a notch after he went on a tirade calling me names again. I’m sure he’ll be back especially after the good news today.
Scradge gets emotional sometimes, but he is a really good guy, just like the rest of us.
Absolutely, but he struggles with fairness sometimes, especially in a time when Ukraine needs everyone. We should be helping Ukraine, not ourselves. I never heard any Ukrainian say they only want help from Democrats. 😉 Ukraine is not interested in the politics at all. Remember the Maidan? Even the commies came out in support and nobody called them names, they were glad for the support.
I doubt that scradge would accept help only from Democrats. Having said this, the GOP has turned out to be a semi-fascist shit club.
I suppose no one will ever know who the true culprit is. This administration makes the Three Stooges look like competent and level-headed strategists.