Image from The Washington Post
Russia has launched an unprovoked all out attack on the Ukraine in an attack reminiscent of the invasions launched by Nazi Germany in advance of World War II.
This attack is an affront not just to Ukraine, but to the entire peaceful world order. It doesn't matter that the Ukraine is not a part of NATO. The scope of the attack has taken it far beyond any claim that Russia is merely seeking to protect the right of self-determination of ethnic Russians in a few areas where they gained de faco control in 2014.
The United States should immediately declare war on Russia, should encourage its NATO allies and other non-NATO European allies to join it, and should engage in full fledged conventional warfare to repel this attack and put an end once and for all to Russia's previously gradual campaign of military expansionism.
President Obama erred in not responding more forcefully to Russian military action in the Ukraine in 2014. Trump actively coddled Russia as a Russian puppet and continues to adhere to a pro-Russian stance. President Biden has not responded nearly forcefully enough.
The world needs leadership now. The United States is the only nation in the world with the means to adequately respond to this Russian aggression. We should respond forcefully not only to repel the Russian invasion, but to hand Russia a clear military defeat that undermines future militarism by Russian President Vladimir Putin or his successors.
The U.S. Air Force, Navy and Marines have the capacity to deploy air power that could profoundly undermine Russian forces in this attack, destroy the Russian naval forces in the region, and turn the tide that will otherwise be a prompt fait accompli crushing of the Ukraine, which is now especially since the 2014 annexation of Crimea and occupation of parts of two Eastern Ukrainian provinces, a solid member of the pro-Western faction in Europe. The U.S. should put troops on the ground to aid Ukraine and it should deliver the advanced weapons systems the Ukraine needs to repel Russia.
Non-military sanctions on Russia should be extreme. Freeze all Russian assets. Embargo all Russian trade - providing assistance to countries reliant upon that trade. Expel Russian diplomats from all of Europe. Detain all Russian government officials abroad.
Yes, Russia has nuclear weapons. And, the U.S. in a war with Russia should not go so far as to leave Russia no other option but to use them to preserve its existence. But this does not preclude vigorous use of conventional military force to push Russia out of the Ukraine, to push out of other breakaway regions of newly independent states like Moldova that it has embroiled itself in, and to cripple Russia's capacity to project power outside of its boundaries with its Navy and with foreign bases in places like Syria.
Yes, this is a risk. Yes, it will cost the U.S. in blood and treasure. But it will be harder to stop Russian aggression in the future than it is to do so now, and this moment absolutely justifies U.S. military action.
7 comments:
Not going to happen.
This is the most bellicose response from any American that I have seen so far. I certainly wouldn't have guessed that I would see it on this blog, of all places. I thought you would have a more circumspect attitude to something like declaration of war.
I feel like I understand Russian motives well enough. They want a buffer zone, and they feel outraged that a historic brotherly land has become a base for threatening and subverting their country, etc. Frankly, what I don't understand is the American attitude. Why were you arming and meddling in the politics of Ukraine, if not to use it as a tool against Russia? Why do you think you are the world police?
@Mitchell,
До свидания, толстый русский тролль
It won't happen. At least not right away. President Biden has failed to lead.
The reason for the bellicose response is that this invasion presents an existential threat to the modern world order. It only gets harder to respond to if we don't respond firmly now.
Hum... Russia didn't declare war on the US for invading Iraq. Why wouldn't we grant them equal great power privilege?
You may have a rival in liberal militancy: Biden should bring back the draft!
Morally, I don't have a problem with the draft. It produces a military with values and experiences more representative of the nation as a whole, and mitigates brain drain to universities that the current force structure experiences.
But, I don't believe that the draft would provide meaningful military benefit to the United States in any foreseeable conflict, mostly because so many military posts are so skilled, because military conflicts develop faster than we can train conscripts, because increasing the size of the active duty ground force and reserve forces better meets our needs, because major military systems (ships, aircraft, armored personnel carriers, etc.) are a greater limiting factor on our effective force size than personnel, and because we have insufficient logistic capacity to deploy conscripts to foreign theaters of conflict with their gear in a timely fashion.
My one week review has discussed the evidence tending to show that heavy reliance on conscripts (about 25% of Russian active duty personnel) is one of the bigger factors in the underwhelming performance of the Russian military in its current invasion of Ukraine.
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