LETTER TO THE EDITO / THE RED LINE

By Roger C. Kostmayer

Foreign policy experts have raised concerns, pointed out real risks and called for the US to avoid doing anything that might cause Putin to  feel trapped or cause him to do something irrational.  But if you think  about both Putin’s past actions and about a future where he is allowed to kill civilians and destroy neighboring countries with impunity – you realize that the greatest risk is probably for the civilized world to fail to react effectively – and act now. 

The biggest mistake of the Obama administration was to announce a “Red Line” when Putin and Syrian dictator Assad used chemical warfare and bombing hospitals against Syrian citizens – but then the US did nothing to hold them accountable.  Apparently, these criminal tactics are part of the Putin playbook.

Today, the action that’s required is a strategy that puts everything short of direct military attacks on Russians, on the table.  This would include secretly persuading China’s leader (whose desire is to be the world leader) that supporting Putin would kill any such ambition. More importantly, the strategy would include announcing that  future crimes against humanity by Putin (such as Chemical warfare, bombing hospitals and deliberately murdering civilians) would violate the Red Line and trigger immediate retaliation, including specifically tailored no fly zones.

This would reduce the risks produced by inaction, and increase the odds that democracies will survive and prosper.

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