The US was termed the ‘arsenal of democracy’ by then president Franklin Delano Roosevelt in a radio broadcast on December 29, 19401.
Early in the speech he referred to the Tripartite Pact, the agreement signed in Berlin three months earlier between Germany, Italy and Japan, which created the Axis powers of World War II infamy. This agreement was signed in part to prevent the US from entering the war2. Roosevelt also noted that it was also designed to prevent the US interfering with or blocking any expansion of these three nations, because they would then “unite in ultimate action against” the US1.
Part of the speech attempted to dispel complacency. Roosevelt laid out the current situation in the world war where Nazi Germany had taken over much of Europe and Britain (and India and the Commonwealth) stood alone. He pointed out the flaws in the US isolationist argument, which believed that even if Britain fell, the US would still be safe because of the expanse of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. He refuted this by saying that modern technology had effectively reduced the distances across those oceans, noting that there were “planes that could fly from the British Isles to New England and back again without refuelling”1.
Roosevelt also decried the prewar British policy of appeasement and suggested that the only solution was to help Britain, which he called “the spearhead of resistance to world conquest”1.
Now, here we are again, with a dictator attempting to return to the ‘golden days’ of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, by engulfing the former parts of it who do not want to be engulfed. He started in the Caucasus, and more recently moved onto Ukraine. He annexed parts of eastern Ukraine as well as the Crimean Peninsula in 2014. This annexation was strongly condemned by the US and Europe, both of which implemented targeted economic sanctions, visa restrictions, asset freezes, suspension from the G8, as well as bolstering NATO’s eastern defences3. While this could not be considered appeasement, it clearly did not send a strong enough signal to Putin, as Russia invaded Ukraine in early 2022.
The US and Europe responded to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine by isolating Russia economically, providing unprecedented security and financial assistance to Ukraine, and reinforcing NATO’s eastern flank. Large numbers of weapons were provided, including Javelin anti-tank missiles, other missile systems, air defence systems and artillery, along with intelligence sharing.
Like Britain in late 1940, Ukraine is now the spearhead of democracy, as it resists Putin’s lust to recreate the USSR. With Trump’s denial of continued support from the US in anything like the level extended during the Biden administration, the US has gone from being the arsenal of democracy, to being seen as the arsehole of a rapidly declining democracy.
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