Opinion | Putin has made rules giving him best chance of winning in Ukraine WashTimesOpEd
It faces long odds — not merely because President Biden has hesitated in supplying Kyiv with F-16 fighters and long-range missiles but also because NATO and America’s broader strategy for Europe borders on appeasement.
The myth was shattered with Russia’s illegal seizure of Crimea in 2014, but NATO responded weakly, with only limited new deployments in the Baltics and Poland. Effectively, Mr. Putin has defined the rules to give him the best chance of winning and seized a free hand to commit all manner of atrocities with little fear of reprisal.Lacking credible air support, the Ukrainian army must undertake a high-risk “combined arms approach” that carefully choreographs infantry, armor, combat engineers and air defenses, something only the U.S. Army, among the Western allies, is capable of doing.
Moreover, China is a more important economic partner by size of trade and aid through its Belt and Road initiative for many emerging economies. With the U.S. displaying such manifest weakness on defense and security, China’s efforts to build an alternative to the dollar system can’t help but gain traction.
What happens in Ukraine will happen in Taiwan next, and it is high time NATO went on an aggressive footing. Forward deploying whole brigades along its border with Russia and Belarus — capable of offensive incursions — and establishing a no-fly zone over Ukraine and supplying the missiles and aircraft Kyiv needs to take the war into Russia.
After Mr. Putin’s atrocities, we should want more than an economically viable and defendable Ukraine without challenging Mr. Putin’s regime as Mr. Biden says.
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