In what ways will the Russian-Ukraine war benefit/harm the United States?

Question

At the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine war this year (2022), I have seen rumors on Twitter saying that the United States could actually benefit from Russia's possible invasion into Ukraine. For example, the invasion and the promised sanctions on Russia will boost the oil and natural gas exports of the U.S. and that the U.S. will be able to sell more weapons to Europe and Ukraine. In addition, the invasion will make NATO more united around the U.S.

So, if we set aside what is morally correct, in what ways will the United States actually benefit or be harmed from Russia-Ukraine war? To avoid this question falling into "opinion-based" category, I am asking the benefit/damage separately. One does not have to make any judgement or even argue whether the benefit is bigger than the damage or the other way.

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Update: I changed some wording of this question to make it more answerable. Previously the title was "will the United States benefit from Russian-Ukraine conflict?", which brought some controversy.

Answer 1

It was believed by many historians that United States did benefit in many ways from WWI and similarly for WWII, that was largely due to the fact that back then there were no long-range missiles that are capable of attacking the Contiguous United States. There are a couple of risks to United States below just to get a whole view of the situation:

(1) A higher inflation

Russia's invasion will push the oil and natural gas price higher, and this will surely aggravate the situation of higher inflation in Unites States (and Western world.)

(2) The risk of nuclear war

Needless to say, the confrontation between Russa and NATO will impose a higher risk of nuclear war.

(3) A stronger tie between Russian and China

You might have already noticed that Russian and China signed a huge deal on energy, etc. The Russia's invasion will bring sanctions to them, yes, but at the same time it will also bring China closer to them. This might also be a bad signal to China-Taiwan issue.

(4) Russia may no longer support the anti-Global warming campaign.

The promised sanctions will lead to less cooperation between Russia and Western world. They will be less likely to sacrifice their fossil fuel industry.

You might find some discussions/answers for your question in this thread as well:

Why does the US treat the problems of Russia and Ukraine as its own?

Answer 2

USA profits as now they can sell gas and oil to Europe insted of Russia. US allies are going to buy more weapons from USA. Finland and Sveden have joined NATO, something USA were not able to reach even during the Cold War.

Answer 3

Disadvantage: we get a spike in energy prices, which is never a good thing, especially coming on top of a generally dismal economic picture.

Benefit: most of the civilized world has reacted very negatively to the invasion, to the point of signing on with serious, economy strangling sanctions.

This isn't so much a positive for the US, as it is a blow to the concept of military aggression as a beneficial policy for the aggressor. Thanks to the global reaction, future aggressors have another variable to deal with: stiff international sanctions. Especially if that aggressor's economy is highly dependent upon international trade.

A key point to remember is that Russia has yet to come up with what most other nations consider a valid reason for this action.

Indirectly to the benefit of the US: The damage that has been done to the reputation of the Russian military. This is because It appears that the rumors of Russian oligarchs pilfering the money intended to maintain military readiness have some validity.

There is ample evidence that both maintenance and training have been severely neglected, far more than we might have imagined. In a modern, mechanized army, that is a real problem, evident as the 'second most powerful military in the world' struggles to attack an economically depressed and much smaller opponent.

This means that the threat of Russian military action isn't nearly as ominous as it once might have been, which benefits the US because they now have more knowledge about Russia.

And the likelihood of Russia using military force to achieve a political goal has been greatly reduced. Panic inducing news stories aside, Russia today isn't anxious to go up against a NATO whose readiness is likely quite high.

Indirect benefit to the US: Europe has now placed security against military action as a high priority. Sweden and Finland may do the previously unthinkable: join NATO. And Germany, long dragging its heels on military capability, is changing, too.

For the US, this means less revenue spent on European defense.

Another possible benefit is that this may be the end of Putin and his oligarchs. It appears they had done far more damage to the country than previously imagined. It is possible that the Russian military, who as far as we know has had its funds stripped away to pay for yachts and sports clubs, and now massive numbers of its soldiers killed by the result of corruption, may get fed up with this and throw in with a faction that wants to remove Putin. The motivation to do so certainly exists. This benefits the US because they will possibly turn an enemy into an ally or neutral party.

Answer 4

If Russia wins the war and achieves its regional objectives, this can start the decay of the USA's superpower status.

For instance:

(1) The EU will move closer to Russia in terms of European peace as Russia is a next-door neighbor. The EU will try to prevent any future Ukraine-like war.

(2) Russia-China alliance will form and that may badly hurt or even end the dominance of the USD.

Answer 5

Nobody benefits from this war, whatever the outcome. Some nations will suffer more, some suffer less, but there's absolutely no benefit to anybody, unless you call suffering less than others a benefit. I know, some people enjoy Schadenfreude, but objectively this is not a benefit.

Ukraine is in ruins with tens of thousands of civilians dead. Russia is going to reap the full effect of the sanctions by the Fall, in addition to tens of thousands of dead soldiers. In Europe gas prices are through the roof, much worse than in US, in addition to the crisis of housing millions of refugees. In US the effects are rather mild in comparison, but I fail to understand how does the relatively milder negative effect translates into a positive one.

If you are in a car crash with 3 other people, and one of them dies, another one becomes paraplegic, another one breaks his leg, and you got away with minor scratches, would you consider the crash beneficial to you just because you got injured less than others?

Answer 6

US Benefit: break Europe away from Russia

US harm:

1. US has to fulfill Europe's oil needs, sending oil prices sky high
2. US & Europe can't buy food from Russia sending food prices sky high
3. Europe can't buy fertilizer from from Russia, sending food manufacturing prices sky high

Why would US do this?

As mentioned in a now deleted answer, USA wants to "divide, conquer, & rule" the world. The NeoLiberal strategy for hegemony has always been to start uprisings/rebellions to divide the population, starting with President Reagan's "Operation Cyclone" to create Al Qaeda; and continuing in 2014 with sponsoring Nazi SS battlions in Ukraine.
What US did not realize is that, this proxy war in Ukraine will destablize its primary method of hegemony over the world: the US Dollar is now loosing trust among the world's financial & banking institutions.