I was impressed with CBS tweeting this, given Biden’s statement at 0:39. American media consumers have a difficult time gaining a perspective outside the very limited range possible within their echo chamber.
Joe Biden on Tuesday told assembly-line workers at an Alabama factory that the weapons they are crafting are going into “the hands of Ukrainian heroes” on the front lines of the effort to repel Russian forces.
The US president praised the employees of the Lockheed Martin plant that manufactures Javelin anti-tank missiles, saying their work was critical to the Ukrainian war effort and to the defense of democracy itself.
“You’re making a gigantic difference for these poor sons-of-guns who are under such enormous pressure and firepower,” Biden told the workers from a podium flanked by the Javelin missile launchers.
From a sprawling compound in Troy, Alabama, to the battlefields in Ukraine, the anti-tank missiles have helped equip the Ukrainian forces, the president said.
“You’re making it possible for the Ukrainian people to defend themselves, without us having to risk getting into a third world war by sending in American soldiers fighting Russian soldiers,” Biden said, adding of the Ukrainian military: “Quite frankly, they’re making fools of the Russian military in many instances.”
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Biden said that funds spent on bolstering Ukrainian security so far was “a direct investment in defending freedom and democracy itself”.
He then added: “Because if you don’t stand up to dictators, history has shown us, they keep coming. Their appetite for power continues to grow.”
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On the tour, Biden said he learned that each Javelin requires more than 200 semiconductors, the production of which have been strained by pandemic-era supply shortages.
Boosting American production of semiconductors, he said, was not only a vital step toward rebuilding domestic manufacturing and lowering the cost of goods, but critical for national security.
So shipping missiles to Ukraine is a vital step toward rebuilding domestic manufacturing and lowering the cost of goods as well as a direct investment in defending freedom and democracy itself — sounds like a win-win. What’s not to like?
lit again
