President Joseph R. Biden, Jr.
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW
Washington, DC 20500
June 20, 2024
Dear Mr. President,
We are writing to you and to other NATO leaders to express our deep concerns regarding insufficient funding for Ukrainian defense. We are NATO and EU citizens and want to support a robust joint answer to the threat of Russian war. The support is still insufficient despite efforts by many countries, even with great help by the USA, (thank you for that!)
When we look to the past, greater cooperation and support was shared by allies during World War II. That example showed that the sooner the joint robust efforts are initiated, the more lives and also funds can be saved.
„This has been my biggest cause of support for our boys over there…. I know that this is going to determine if my son is thrown in a trench… They DO fight for us too.“
Ronald Miller, US citizen, father
Now, we are in similar danger and are concerned for the lack of such a resolute answer. Ukraine has been bravely resisting Russian aggression for 10 years. It is backing the defense of western values by blood and does not ask us to pay this highest price. They only ask for sufficient material support. And what is the answer of EU and NATO countries? We see insufficient and unstable funding, Ukraine needs to be asking again and again for every individual defense system donation to protect its cities, and protect lives. These systems are coming late and not in necessary amounts. Ukraine’s power grid is decimated, and winter is fast approaching. But it is important to fully understand that Ukraine is really defending Europe (NATO allies) and we must act decisively to defend elementary international rules, humanity as well as our own security. Let’s not forget, that there are risks associated with various western elections – particularly in the USA. Therefore, we must not think that NATO will always protect the western freedom without our own right and timely decisions.
Therefore, we are supporting the plan of NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg to create a joint financing for defense of Ukraine in the amount of at least 40 billion dollars per year. As he indicated, much smarter is to have greater funds. For example, the Estonian ministry of defense calculated that if western countries invest as low as 0,25% GDP per year (120 billion dollars/year) then it will be clear for Russia that war cannot continue successfully for them. It is important to repeat, that NATO countries GDP is more than 20 times larger compared to Russia.
The aim should be to create a joint defense fund for Ukraine and all following options shall be explored to get much closer to the amount of 120 billion dollars per year:
>> Frozen Russian assets globally: seize them or raise joint debt backed by these funds (it is already partially in process via the G7 initiative, thank you!).
>> Joint debt options: raise sufficient resources on financial markets. This is the option ideally linked with joint debt (eurobonds) discussion within the EU countries and some options do not require unanimous support.
>> Directly assign part of resources from national budgets.
>> Redirect funding from EU or other international budgets.
>> Explore other funding options.
The proposal cannot be considered a call to „make donations“ or „to divert taxpayer funds“. On the contrary, it is a call for the most efficient use of common possibilities and resources to avert much higher losses. This plan to end the war (the only real peace plan) is an opportunity to save taxpayers huge costs by ending the war as quickly as possible. And most importantly, the faster we respond, the more lives we save. It is the defense not only of people in Ukraine, but also in our other free countries threatened by Russian war plans.
We hope that you will consider very wisely the mentioned information and that there will be support for a necessary defense funding paradigm.
Sincerely,
Open letter signed by:
- Ronald Alvey Miller II, Charleston West Virginia, USA
- Pamela Faye Thompson, Raeford North Carolina, USA
Coordination of the open letter in NATO countries:
Example information sources for reference:
- Lend-Lease and Military Aid to the Allies in the Early Years of World War II https://history.state.gov/milestones/1937-1945/lend-lease#
- How the West is helping Ukraine will not be enough to win https://www.politico.eu/article/how-west-help-ukraine-not-enough-win-war-russia/
- NATO GDP vs. Russia https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/new-atlanticist/nato-at-75-the-alliances-future-lies-in-ukraines-victory-against-russia/
- Estonian plan https://obcanskyrozcestnik.cz/estonia-plan-for-ukraine/