Russia’s assault on Ukraine is a brutal but limited war, and one that the aggressor is steadily losing. Thankfully, somewhat saner minds and hands were steering the American ship of state, even during the depths of the Iraq War. We have had world wars that weren’t before: prominent neoconservatives warned of a stealth World War III in the 80s and then a World War IV (!) against Islamofascism. But escalatory risk has been managed thus far because Ukraine has remained a bounded conflict, fed but not fought by the West. American and NATO support has been critical in ensuring Russia’s initial repulse and the ensuing victories that have preserved the Ukrainian nation. The United States has done the right thing, tactically and morally, in becoming Ukraine’s arsenal and adviser. The potential gift tax implications of Clarence Thomas’ luxury tripsīiden’s half-hearted nuclear deterrence plan No tactic can be dismissed and no weapon kept in its sheath. If we are already at war - a world war no less - then the stakes are existential.
The World War III rhetoric, even if deployed cynically, heightens the odds that some of these dangerous suggestions will get an undeserved hearing. Former senior government officials, ensconced in the most bellicose corners of Washington’s think tank ecosystem, propose policies that would have been regarded as extremely reckless even at the height of the Cold War: decapitation strikes against Russian leaders, or adding Ukraine to NATO after it has been hit with a Russian nuke. Today, many influential voices in Washington have forgotten how narrowly the apocalypse was averted in the last century - multiple times.
Email hacks and Facebook ads, however disruptive, are not the handmaidens of world war. These active measures may have muddied the waters and increased fear and distrust on the margins of America’s polarized polity, but the discontents of our democracy are mostly self-inflicted - the result of decades of poor policy and elite insulation. domestic politics, largely through “troll farms” and other online means of misinformation, also are part of a long tradition. Russia’s recent attempts to influence U.S. The risk of nuclear war was always present, even during lulls in the struggle. But leaders and the general public in both countries understood that a superpower war was to be avoided at almost any cost. Russian rifles killed Americans in Vietnam American Stinger missiles downed Russian helicopters in Afghanistan. Iran has supplied a few hundred loitering munitions, or “suicide drones.” Chinese aid has been almost wholly symbolic the People’s Republic has provided little, if any, direct material support to Russia.ĭuring the Cold War, both the United States and the Soviet Union fought repeated proxy wars against each other and routinely engaged in spying, subversion and brinkmanship. Belarus permitted Russian troops to invade from its territory but has yet to contribute any of its own men to the war. Russia lacks any meaningful allies at all. troops in Ukraine, understand this basic fact, even if some purported “experts” may not. The American people, who oppose putting U.S. The United States is clearly not a neutral nation in this conflict, but there is still a critical line between being in a shooting war and not. But no member of the alliance is engaged in active hostilities, a “red line” not to cross, loudly announced and scrupulously observed by President Biden. Ukraine has received enormous support from the United States and NATO - more than $30 billion in military aid to date.
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