After months, the US House of Representatives finally gives the green light to military aid to Ukraine. The vote was not about content.

Mike Johnson after US House vote on military aid to Ukraine Photo: Ken Cedeno/Reuters

In reality, US foreign and security policy, especially in times of war, has always been one of the issue areas that was relatively safe from the upheavals of domestic political confrontations, even in election years. That wasn't always a good thing: If someone had caught the neoconservatives ruling under George W. Bush in time, there might not have been a war in Iraq and hundreds of thousands fewer deaths.

However, the fact that decisions such as the one regarding increased military aid to Ukraine have been on hold for many months in the US House of Representatives due to purely internal, including intra-Republican, political disputes, to finally be approved almost without changes , it is a unique occurrence. And that also cost human lives. For almost four months, Ukraine was left without help from its most important military ally.

The lack of ammunition caused losses of positions on the front and the lack of air defense killed people in the cities. Why all that? Not because the United States generally recognizes that achieving peace in Ukraine requires solutions other than arms deliveries. Not because it has even been seriously discussed.

But only because a radicalized part of the Republican faction in the House of Representatives put so much pressure on the president they had elected, after many rounds of voting, Mike Johnson, that he froze with fear and did not even put the vote on the agenda . . Johnson did a U-turn last week, splitting aid packages for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan and passing each of them with the help of Democratic votes.

His calculation: If Democrats protect me from a request for expulsion by rebels in my own group, my position is secure; I have to give them something to do that. His rhetoric: I have taken international responsibility, I have done the right thing, the world is watching… blah, blah, blah. It is good for Ukraine that now aid can start again.

One can only hope that the right materials will now arrive quickly enough to repel the feared Russian offensive in June. But the lesson for America's international allies remains: As long as these Republicans, disaffected by Trumpism, remain close to power in Washington, the United States will remain an unpredictable partner whose decisions no one can trust.