VIEWPOINT / WHY AREN’T WE STOPPING PUTIN? REEXAMINING A 70-YEAR-OLD DOCTRINE.

VIEWPOINT / WHY AREN’T WE STOPPING PUTIN? REEXAMINING A 70-YEAR-OLD DOCTRINE.

By W. Timothy Weaver

Please, people. Don’t you see this for what it is? One person defying the world to stop him before he can kill thousands more, disrupts even more millions, attacks additional hospitals, and destroys like a rabid dog what humanity has built over centuries. One person is destroying the hard-won, blood-earned democracy of present-day Ukraine. Many died in the “Winter on Fire,” 2013-14. One person is brazenly and seemingly with impunity, destroying this blood-stained new democracy. The most powerful nation on earth is shrinking down to a frightened child for fear of one person. One person has cowed us though we have 80,000 US troops in Europe and as many NATO troops, and the most sophisticated weapons our brilliant minds at Harvard, MIT, Princeton, Yale, Cambridge, and Oxford can create. 

Yes, we have highly sophisticated anti-aircraft weapons throughout Europe. Yes, we have drones in Europe—the MQ-1B Predator with Hellfire missiles. Yes, we have Patriot missiles at the front lines in NATO countries. But, an unexamined doctrine is keeping those weapons out of the hands of Ukrainians. Biden seemed so small when he looked into the camera and sternly said, we will defend every square inch of NATO! I squirmed in my recliner as the obvious jumped off the HDTV screen: but not one damned inch of Ukraine, Mr. Zelenskyy. Biden even said it: that would be WWIII. No, Mr. President, it would be stopping a seemingly untouchable megalomaniac. One person, Mr. Biden, is who you fear so much you can only say what we will do if Putin does something everyone knows he won’t—attack NATO. Instead, Putin is cutting off water, heat, and electricity right now in parts of Ukraine. He is taking steps to starve and murder civilians while our President watches him doing it on the big screen in the White House theater—the best seats in the United States. One man. 

Mikhail Khodorkovsky, a former oligarch and Russian ex-pat knows Putin. He thinks the West is making a huge strategic mistake not confronting and stopping Putin in Ukraine. Khodorkovsky writes that he “look[s] with despair at the defeatist approach of Western leaders, such as Joe Biden, Emmanuel Macron and Naftali Bennett.”

Don Lemon interviewed Secretary Austin recently on CNN. The Secretary has repeatedly assured Russia that we will not intervene militarily, and he once again promised Putin we will stay with only the weapons we are now providing. There will not be a no-fly zone. The weapons we are currently providing do not include SAMs, so Austin is telegraphing Putin that we won’t be sending them to the Ukrainian military. This is my question: why is the US giving assurances to Putin about what we will never do, what we are taking off the table? Someone tell me how this is good US foreign policy during a proxy war with Russia, but even more so, how is this good policy for Ukraine?

https://www.economist.com/…/mikhail-khodorkovsky-on-how…

One man has petrified America into a frightened rabbit. Yes. We will empty Russia’s pocketbook, perhaps bankrupt them. We did find enough of our spine to block Russian oil imports to the US. And, yes, we finally granted a long-standing request for Switchblades, a droned-based anti-personnel and anti-tank weapon that uses a highly explosive munition. This weapon can take out tanks and artillery miles away. Is this “escalatory?” We are awaiting Putin’s declaration of nuclear war. Then we will know. 

I didn’t think our state of fear would allow even these steps. I was wrong, and that gave me hope. When Putin gets wind of even a minor threat, he simply says, “Rosebud!” and the Doberman pinchers roar around the corner (nukes, anyone hear me, nukes!) and fear freezes in quivering fear all the players who planned such an outrageous thing. Let us then examine that fear, the Big Fear.

THE BIG FEAR

I listened to Lawrence O’Donnell eloquently describe why we can never confront Russia no matter what savage thing they can dream up. Do the Russians share our morbid fear of nuclear extinction? Their actions scream, NO! Lawrence is a sad victim of the propaganda of his time. He cannot utter the thought that Russia has conned and manipulated him into using his TV show to call for NO action. He is not alone. Most Americans at all levels of responsibility share that fear. Yet, Russia has demonstrated they will target the 15 nuclear power plants in Ukraine while we remain frozen by Lawrence’s Cold War fear. We will watch as the Russians destroy nuclear plants, perhaps risking an apocalypse for all of Eastern Europe. We will watch, frozen in a time Lawrence O’Donnell so well remembers, while Putin smirks at us. He’s not worried. We would not dare confront him! All he had to do was publicly announce nuclear defensive alerts. That froze us in fear.

And, no, chemical weapons are not a red line either for the United States. Nuclear assured destruction of all Ukrainians is not a redline for America. We have no red lines, but Putin has them! Why? This is the incredible power of propaganda fed to us for three generations. Virtually every retired general, politician, military expert, and Lawrence O’Donnell tell us there are no redlines, no atrocities, no massacres, or heinous humanitarian crimes that would cause Americans to overcome our wired in fear that Putin will launch an existential nuclear holocaust. Retired General, Wesley Clark, is an exception, but there is nothing more potent than the believed fear of death. It is primordial. It exceeds all other fears. Belief is the key. Reality and logic do not apply. Once the fear becomes internalized and irrational, we can no longer exercise control or agency.

MYTH EXPOSED

Others do not share the American fear. None was born in America. Col. Alexander Vindman, in several CNN interviews, destroyed the myth that escalation and nuclear war are inevitable if we are involved in transporting MIG-29s go to Ukraine, and he did so piece by piece. (He will be attacked and criticized by the brainwashed Putin apologists) Vindman, an intelligence specialist for Eastern Europe, was born in Ukraine. He is in a position to know. The arguments I’ve made parallel his, and I’ve made some aghast. I’ve been “crazy” enough to challenge western orthodoxy: “Never challenge Putin militarily, even though NATO, to say nothing of the US, has a vastly superior military force because Putin will destroy him and us with the push of a button.” Then, there is Russian ex-pat Andrei Kozyrev (more about his view later).

We are the muscle guy in the cartoon having sand kicked in our face by the skinny guy. It’s those nukes. He has those nukes. Putin shows us every day on cable networks he is petrified of dying—meeting now with twenty feet of table separating him. Do think this is a tell? Orthodoxy tells us no. We can ignore Vindman, and our own eyes in favor of a profoundly flawed doctrine believed since Kennedy died and the brass spheres we once had with him. Putin will blow us all up. Putin? A guy who exhibits germaphobia? If it weren’t so deadly, it would be comical. 

Do we think Putin will extinguish all life on earth, including him when petrified of COVID-19? Zelenskyy is telling us plainly the emperor has no clothes every time he speaks to the west. We refuse to believe him even though he and his nation would be the first to vanish. Zelenskyy understands Putin. Vindman understands Putin. Kozyrev understands Putin. Garry Kasparov, another Russian ex-pat, knows Putin. Vindman calls nukes even more far-fetched than Putin attacking NATO, with the bulk of his military bogged down in Ukraine.

Wesley Clark is an American dissenting voice. On CNN recently, he described the one-side fear of nuclear extinction as the “loophole” in our doctrine. Clark was forceful in urging NATO to re-examine our wired in fear of a nuclear war. He stated it is a very long distance between Americans flying over Ukraine and starting a nuclear war.

The fear of challenging Russia is not a calculation of odds. It is not even a reasoned decision. It is not based on prior history. It is dogma. It is doctrine. It is nearly universally believed here that a man, so afraid of dying that he won’t allow even his most trusted aides to get closer than 20 feet, will attack Europe and North America with nuclear weapons and thus bring total destruction to Russia and with it, Putin. Our teachers, parents, politicians, and best minds have spread and reinforced this incredible lie, this preposterous fantasy.

Poor Lawrence O’Donnell. He so terribly wants us to believe his wise words—don’t ever mess with Russia. Lawrence simply does not think of it or can’t grasp that Putin has no fear we will do a thing because he knows our doctrine and has helped perpetuate it. If he were as afraid of us as we are of him, he would never dare invade Ukraine or annex Crimea.

To prove Lawrence’s fear is all of our worries, the recent cowardly attack on a maternity hospital in Mariupol was not a red line, not for the united states. The attack on the building marked in Russian “children’ was not a red line. The slow starvation of 300,000 Ukrainians in Mariupol is not a redline. Now we learn that Russian troops are kidnaping and sending thousands of residents of Mariupol. That is not a red line either. I have concluded that mass murder, on a scale not seen since Stalin is not a red line. Now, there is reporting on the possibility of chemical warfare—Russia is accusing Ukrainians of doing it, which is a prelude to Putin doing it. And, no, that is not a red line.

Putin smiles that little Mona Lisa smile when someone in America even breathes the words, “hit Russia back.” He knows our hearts and souls. He knows the Lawrence O’Donnells and Joe Bidens of America. He could have written Lawrence’s script for him these last weeks and Biden’s address to the nation. Lawrence, in that way he has of looking straight ahead as such a wise and knowing father and tells us how every President from Nixon to Biden has had to grit their teeth and simply watch Russia commit crimes against humanity because, as we all know, daring to raise a hand against Russia would vaporize the world and destroy every human trace for all eternity. 

Therefore, the wise Lawrence tells us we too must buy the doctrine. We, too, must watch in horror and do nothing. Were this not so deadly for the Ukrainians, one could see this whole drama as the Wizard of Oz. Putin has cowed 9 billion people from behind his magic curtain. One person can do whatever evil deed he wishes, and 9 billion people don’t dare to stop him—even though they possess the means to do so.

Today on TV, Andrei Kozyrev, Russian former close adviser to Yeltsin and a former ambassador, scoffed at our fear. His question was, why would you be afraid of Putin? The answer is clear: we are 340 million “Manchurian Candidates” who have only to hear the word “nuke,” and we shrink in fear. I see us quivering and cringing at the thought of even sending MIG-29s to Zelensky. “Untenable”? And these are our very best military minds? No wonder virtually every American is afraid in this matter. We have bought into this narrative no matter that every evidence that it is a fantasy. 

I hear William Cohen of Maine describing through his tears and anguish, saying we must be cautious, restrained, and just watch. He won’t say we must stop this for all of humanity. Afraid. No, to acting. No, to anything that might rile Putin. He concludes by sadly saying, deeply in thought, that we must stay the course or Putin will get really, really mad and declare war on us. He is dissembling all over himself. He was the former Secretary of Defense.

Listen to Zelensky. He calls this “self-hypnosis” of NATO and America, which has a military vastly more potent than Russia—but Lawrence O’Donnell calls this the abyss. He goes on night after night mouthing the doctrine that his family so well taught him: THEY will go nuclear. How terribly strange that every Ukrainian is calling for a no-fly zone, and they would be a potential first target of Russian nuclear strikes, which would, of course, also kill 190,000 Russian troops. Lawrence, please a tiny bit of logic here. Putin won’t fire atomic weapons into Ukraine with 80% of his military there. If Zelensky has not bought into the American fright, might that not tell us something? 

RUSSIAN DEMANDS MADE CLEAR

Russia makes public its terms for withdrawal. Not included is who pays for the now trillions in damages to infrastructure and buildings throughout Ukraine. It is also unclear what guarantees Ukraine has that Russia will not attack again in the future. They signed the Budapest Agreements, and Russia tossed them out the window. Does anyone really trust the Big Bad Bear? Several European nations are not NATO members. Putin can declare their land and airspace now belongs to Russia. Finland may have the most to fear. What about fast-tracking EU membership for Ukraine? That is far more important to Ukraine. What is Ukraine getting in return for the land that Russia is claiming? Russia was paid $7.2 million for Alaska. Now, let’s see. That would be how many trillions today for Crimea and Donbas?

It seems more apparent with each day this continues that Putin is determined not just to destroy Ukrainian buildings, priceless monuments, centuries-old artifacts, all infrastructure, and all people, but the whole concept of Ukraine. This is a salt the earth and replacement of a people similar to the Nazi’s approach in WWII. Putin wishes to disappear this nation, its people, and its values from the earth. If the savage wrecking of his economy does not deter him, then his mission is a godlike strike at the total eradication of this proud nation, and nothing but US intervention will stop him. He is insulated from the economic meltdown, and even if he weren’t, he is on a mission—from hell. “Ukraine and Crimea, Belarus and Moldova, it’s all my country.”

Does this help explain the stakes in this war any better? The whole intention of Putin is evident in his remarks and the Russian version of “Made in the U.S.A”? While 43 million Ukrainians are absorbed into the Russian Federation, will we stand back and stand by? Right now, it appears so.

Did Russia, then the Soviet Union, fear WWIII when they supplied SAMs in Vietnam? Does anyone reading this remember when the word “SAMs” was introduced into our vocabulary? The acronym stood for Surface to Air Missiles. SAMs are being requested by Ukraine to hit Russian jets above 12,000 and fly just outside of Ukrainian air space. We, thus far, have refused Zelenskyy’s request because it would be “escalatory” (new code word for nuclear holocaust). 

SAMs were introduced to the world during the Vietnam war when Russia shipped them on a massive scale to North Vietnam, killing hundreds if not thousands of American jet pilots. The only thing they could not hit was the B52 bombers. We should not be here if Russia feared starting WWIII by giving North Vietnam every offensive weapon the Russians had at their disposal. Why are we here? Because Russian leaders knew then, they now know that we are vastly more afraid of them than they are of us. They knew there was zero chance of starting WWIII when they shipped thousands of SAMs to North Vietnam. We should know that now, but 70 years of propaganda has us as afraid of a nuclear exchange as my teachers were in 1952.

PUTIN IS COMMITTING CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY, AND NOT FOR THE FIRST TIME. WHY HAS HE NO FEAR OF THE WEST?

There is guilt and blood on their hands, from arms manufacturers and dealers to Russian citizens who support Putin, to his inner circle, oligarchs, military commanders, and general staff. A pox on all of them! None of them is innocent. On the other hand, up and down the Ukrainian military chain of command, few are deserting, few are refusing to fight, and no senior officers are surrendering. Those are the real heroes here. The Russian military distinguishes itself by its troops eagerly surrendering, refusing to fight, abandoning tanks and other large weapons, and the willful murdering of women and children. How much blame do we bear with our immoral inaction? We alone have the power and means to prevent more bloodshed. Yet, we refuse to provide sophisticated offensive weapons, to say nothing of volunteers, mercenaries, or MIG-29s.

For those saying we can’t enter the Ukraine conflict militarily, to be credible in your argument, you would need to explain why Putin was perfectly willing to start WWIII in Syria and now in Ukraine. Happy to do so, in fact. The only logic here that I can come up with is that Putin knows his propaganda is internalized and believed from Biden down to the folks posting on Facebook. We are petrified of him. Otherwise, why would he brazenly launch an attack on a sovereign nation? Why would he declare the night before that Ukrainian airspace was Russian airspace and nobody could enter that space, or they would be shot down? He has tested the effectiveness of his propaganda, his big lie, several times. He simply declared Crimea was part of Russia. Zero reaction from the west. He then infiltrated Russian “volunteers” into the Donbas and proclaimed that part of Ukraine to be an independent republic. Ukraine pushed back. The west did zero. 

Before that, Putin inserted the Russian military into Syria. He used Russian jets in the bombing campaign against defenseless Aleppo, totally incinerating a metro area of 4.6 million. The free Syrians and Kurds in northern Syria begged for a no-fly zone. We and the west did zero. Obama dissembled. The fear was WWIII. Then, when Russia wanted to destroy the Kurds in the northern enclave on the Turkish border, he not only found Kurds in his way (pun) but also the American military. What did we do? We abandoned the Kurds and withdrew to enable Putin to destroy Kurdish towns, homes, and families and to drive them into the desert forty miles away from the border so that Turks could displace them. 

In all of these cases, Putin risked WWIII. But there was no risk, was there? Otherwise, he would not have attempted it. Zero risk because he knew that the west, led by Americans, was petrified of the Big Bad Bear dropping nuclear bombs on us. Two of our top retired military minds articulate the American doctrine on television. It goes like this: Ukraine can send up antiquated MIG-29s and be shot down. Ukraine can risk its pilots being captured by Russians. But if American volunteers were flying those planes, it would result in NYC being blown away. So, therefore, we can never, ever stop Russia in any one of these theaters. That is a big loophole, to quote General Clark.

Russia never risks WWIII no matter what they do because we’re scared of them, and they know that. This has been the one-sided American doctrine since Kennedy died. JFK called their bluff, and Khrushchev backed down. No WWIII. No American president since can seem to recall that incident. It’s as if the whole strategic and tactical maneuver made by Kennedy and his Harvard brainiacs has been erased from memory. The doves will need to counter all of this to be credible in arguing that direct military assistance would automatically trigger WWIII. Even Putin said directly to us that it would not. He stated publicly that any western movement of forces into Ukraine would be considered as belligerents entering THIS war. He did not threaten to attack Warsaw, London, Paris, or NYC. He said we would be regarded as part of this war. 

CRITICAL QUESTION

With the bulk of Russia’s military stalled and unable to further gain ground, why would our administration fear WWIII? We could encircle and destroy the Russian army and all of their weapons. That army is bogged down and stationary in a confined geographical space that we have carefully mapped by satellite. We know where they are located. The entire active-duty Russian army is now in Ukraine. If we did intervene, would anyone here expect Putin to push the button and blow up himself and the rest of the world? If you are convinced, what convinces you? Practical reasoning dictates a premise and clear inferential steps to a conclusion. I have not been privy to classified information. Still, everything I can read on the probability of a nuclear exchange resulting from Ukraine interference lacks any evidence, deep analysis of risks, logic, why a germaphobe would do it, or even a simplistic logic chain. For sure, our leaders know more than we know. If they do, one wishes that they would share it. Otherwise, we appear to the whole world to be heartless.

THREE REAL LEADERS

Several days ago, Slovenia, Poland, and the Czech Republic leaders announced that they were going to Kyiv. They were making a huge statement: we don’t recognize the authority of Russia to control land and air travel in another sovereign nation. We don’t fear the nuclear apocalypse. I applaud them. I have wondered why we so quickly rolled over and ceded the air space and ground to Russia. We have every right to fly in that air space and travel on the ground. If our diplomats, political leaders, or other Americans are attacked by Russia while in Ukraine, we should strike back hard. If the tiny nation of Slovenia has the guts to do this, why are we sitting on our hands?

Is it even possible that Russia, with its military built like ours for large-scale warfare, can conquer and subjugate a nation of 43 million people determined to defend themselves? No, it is not clear, but what has become clear is that the cowardly destruction of people, residential buildings, and hospitals will happen, making conquering Ukraine seem unnecessary. Destroying them can occur without conquest. 

Will this be a turning point in world history? With its complex interdependence, the internet, and world trade, the modern world may have advanced where nations simply can’t invade other countries and colonize them. This should be a warning to China regarding Taiwan. Ukraine is a nation of 43 million outraged people who are remarkably unified. They are becoming widely armed and willing to die. Since WWII, we have had to learn this three times: Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq. Vietnam was different than our Middle East misadventures. We were attempting to defend a nation that lacked the will to protect itself. But in Afghanistan and Iraq, we faced countries that were no match but were determined to push us out. They won. We lost. My answer to my question: No, not unless we severely punish Russia and defeat them in Ukraine.

THEN, THIS: DEAR XI, WE NEED YOU TO HELP US MURDER MORE UKRAINIANS. YOURS, VLADY

Russia is drawing or trying to attract other countries into the war now. First, Belarus. Well, is that really another country? But, China engaging in a war in Europe? For what reason would China act on Putin’s request? What has Ukraine done to China to justify entering a war against them? The only connection I can find is that Ukraine, like most countries, imports a lot of Chinese plastic junk and sneakers. Other than that, I’m in the dark. Anyone else? More importantly, will THIS be a red line? No, not for military action. We may punish China with sanctions. No. Chinese entry into the Ukrainian war is not a red line.

The US position is locked into its 70-year-old doctrine that “thou shalt not challenge Russia,” with the corollary argument that for sure we must not rile up China, all of which sprang from the global fear in the 1950s of mutually assured destruction. This doctrine assumes that they will, but we won’t. Is that realistic grounds for willfully allowing tens of thousands of casualties and 10 times more injuries in Ukraine? For the loss of a democratic nation in Eastern Europe? For the dissolution of American standing in the world? Are we willing to stand by and watch China invade Taiwan? Wouldn’t that trigger nuclear war? When China poured millions of troops across the Yalu River and into Korea, it didn’t matter. If we don’t act to save 43 million Ukrainians from this reign of terror, then why would we come to the aid of Taiwan, which would face a far larger military with more resounding financial support?

ZERO FEAR

Have we considered that Putin has committed a large chunk of his military to Ukraine and that they could be totally destroyed by a counterattack from the West using the full force of a modern army? For Putin to have done this is a “tell” in neon lights the size of the HOLLYWOOD sign. Yet our leaders are blinded to it by fear. Putin would only do such a foolish thing as concentrate his military in an evident and vulnerable situation for one reason: he has nothing to fear from the West. This is a confirmation of my fundamental point. Putin has absolute confidence that we won’t dare consider military intervention. He has zero fear that his sitting duck army and navy, now primarily concentrated in the Black Sea, will be destroyed. He knows how Americans think. This is why he calls us weak. He does not mean we are weak militarily. He suggests we are weak-willed. So confident is he of this assessment that he is gambling his entire military in Ukraine.

To be fair to both sides of the argument, here is the case by Blake Herzinger, a civilian Indo-Pacific defense policy specialist and U.S. Navy Reserve officer, that will appeal to those claiming we must not at any cost escalate the war in Ukraine by, in this case, sending MIG-29s or other offensive weapons. This argument does not explain why except that militarily, the author seems to think that the Ukrainian high command is wrong in its assessment that these jet fighters are critical to defending against air attacks. And then, here is the opposite argument. This author, David A. Deptula, an opinion contributor to the hill, urges sending MIG-29s to Ukraine by whatever means necessary. Those who wish we would step up the transfer of offensive weapons will be pleased with this analysis. https://foreignpolicy.com/…/ukraine-poland-jets…/…

https://thehill.com/…/598023-get-additional-mig-29s-to…

Here is still another point of leverage that should appeal to those most concerned about WWIII and the nuclear holocaust. Why not put intense US pressure on the Swiss Banking Association for its deposits of billions in blood money that they are managing for the Russian war effort? Do the Swiss bankers want dollars or rubles? I urge Janet Yellen to pursue this with vigah! This is double good. It helps cut off Russian cash flow that supports the killing in Ukraine, and it puts pressure on Putin to find other options. https://www.aol.com/…/russians-213-billion-stashed….

OTHER ASKING WHY NOT

US Ambassador Herbst has been on CNN saying Biden must act and act now to send Zelensky the weapons he wants, including anti-ship missiles. He disagrees with the calculus of the White House. Neither do I. Here is an in-depth interview with the ambassador in which he expands on his thoughts about how to aid Ukraine. https://www.c-span.org/video/?518113-3/washington-journal-john-herbst-discusses-russias-invasion-ukraine

Then, there is Andrei Kozyrev, the former close advisor of Boris Yeltsin. The more I think about Andrei Kozyrev’s recent comments in a TV interview, the more I am convinced he is right. He insists that the Russian nuclear threat amounts to blackmail. And, it has long been Russian doctrine that the West, particularly America, fears WWIII far more, by a quantum, than Russia. The undying threat caused by this asymmetrical fear is that Russian concerns about western interference have been reduced—to zero. That is the only plausible explanation I can muster for why they would invade a sovereign and independent nation and warn us to stay out. This is Wesley Clark’s point as well. OK, there is the Putin is a crazy theory. Those who know him best debunk that theory out of hand—crazy like a brilliant fox, says Kozyrev.

POSTSCRIPT

We have a large country invading and destroying a smaller sovereign nation striving for democracy. That small country is begging America and NATO for offensive weapons if we won’t directly intervene. The American president is a product of the 1950s Soviet fear campaign. The American president has led world condemnation of the invading nation, winning over reluctant allies to impose severe economic sanctions. This is noble and commendable. Yet, the American president has repeatedly made clear to the invading nation that we could we won’t interfere and stop their genocidal campaign. From many sources, this seems an odd thing to do—telegraphing to the invading enemy that we could stop them anytime we wish, but we absolutely promise we won’t. 

Many Americans support the American president in his belief in the 70-year-old doctrine of never militarily engaging Russia for fear they will blow up the world with them in it. I cannot accept this outdated doctrine, but my position is not yet a prevailing one. I’ve been researching thoroughly all of the unclassified sources and articles that I can find. I have not seen one sustained line of thought or logic that supports or even examines what I think is an irrational fear of Russia. The only sources that do that are Russian ex-pats and some Americans, such as Ambassador Herbst and General Wesley Clark. 

We have some brilliant minds at work on this. Still, none of those persons, particularly those who most deeply fear triggering WWIII, now a proxy for the nuclear apocalypse, has articulated a detailed case that supports Putin instantly reaching for the nuclear button. Some have made a clear case against the MIG-29s, arguing that Zelenskyy’s military command doesn’t know what they are doing by asking for outdated fighter jets. I’ve seen propositions such as, “this would make things worse for Ukraine,” and “this would trigger WWIII.” Yet, that is not the core element in explaining WWIII and why we can’t act. I’ve not found one thought-out case for concluding that our interference would trigger the total destruction of planet earth. What is the evidence, the logic, the practical reasoning, the assumptions that support nuclear Armageddon? Hearing none, I conclude that the fear is irrational and ungrounded in logical analysis. 

Some say it is unthinkable to criticize Biden given all he has done, that I’m not thinking before posting. But, that is not relevant to the core element of the argument either—nothing there that supports our unfounded loyalty to an outdated doctrine. Finally, the claim I’ve often heard is that I don’t know what is going on in the Situation Room or the Pentagon. I can only go by Biden’s repeated public assurances to Putin that we positively are guaranteeing no American or NATO military intervention and no offensive weapons. If America is doing much more than I think behind the scenes at the highest levels of policy debate, and I should trust our government, then our government keeps Zelenskyy and his closest aides in the dark. Every time they speak, they beg us for more direct help.

We can never, ever stop Russia in any of these theaters. But Russia never risks WWIII no matter what they do because we’re scared of them, and they know that. This has been the one-sided American doctrine since Kennedy died. JFK called their bluff, and Khrushchev backed down. No WWIII. No American president since can seem to recall that incident. It’s as if the whole strategic and tactical maneuver made by Kennedy and his Harvard brainiacs has been erased from memory. Dissenters need to counter this to be credible in your argument that direct military assistance would automatically trigger WWIII. Even Putin said directly to us that it would not. He stated publicly that western involvement would be considered a belligerent entering THIS war. He did not threaten to attack Warsaw, London, Paris, or NYC. He said we would be considered part of this war. 

Putin’s invasion of the whole of Ukraine was an enormously audacious move. Think of it. It should have been such an enormous and incredible risk that even Hitler would have hesitated. The Kremlin was apparently convinced by previous examples of Western inaction in the face of Russian atrocities that we won’t ever dare to act militarily. This war is only strengthening the Russian conviction. Our fear is so grossly outsized we are inviting the Kremlin to take even more emboldened steps.  The deepening trust that we’ll never act will have long-range, unpredictable, and volatile consequences. 

The benefits to Western democracies by acting are rapidly rising. Will the risks, in the face of dire consequences decline?

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