Cowering in fear of Vladimir Putin is no way for the West to be united. Washington and whatever allies are willing to join in need to draw some clear red lines — warning the autocrat of specific hard-power responses for specific violations of the laws of war and/or fundamentals of decency.
The Pentagon warned Wednesday that Putin might start using chemical weapons. That would be a blatant violation of international law, specifically the 1925 Geneva Protocol — and, more important, utterly horrific.
How about declaring that, should Putin resort to this weapon of mass destruction, allied powers will intervene in ways X, Y and Z? Because, says Biden mouthpiece Jen Psaki, the White House doesn’t want World War Three.
Reality check: Neither does Putin; it’s time to make him worry.
Specific responses if he crosses the “chem” red line might include one or more of: imposing a no-fly zone over western Ukraine, or all of it, active-combat areas included; designating Lviv and surrounding areas as a free city that the West will defend with ground and air forces; immediately supplying Ukraine with more warplanes or other materiel the allies have so far resisted sharing; declaring a permanent embargo on Putin’s energy exports — all the way up to actual Western military intervention.
The world also needs an even stiffer red line to warn Putin against resorting to tactical nukes, a scenario specifically outlined in Russian military doctrine.
As it stands, Putin’s already getting away with waging war on civilians, targeting hospitals and schools, while the West limits what help it sends Zelensky’s heroes for fear of a dictator who’s launched an unprovoked war of conquest and is doubtless overjoyed with the West being preoccupied with his sanity and thus the question of “will he, won’t he” resort to nuclear war.
Heck, President Joe Biden personallyoverruled Secretary of State Antony Blinken in backing the Pentagon’s veto of Poland’s transfer of two dozen aging MiG fighters to Ukraine — plainly out of some military bureaucrat’s fear that it might provoke Putin.
Pathetic: Our leaders are worried about what the enemy will do, rather than giving him cause to worry about what the world’s most potent military will do.
It’s so bad that Psaki on Thursday declared that Russia going chemical is not a red line for the United States, reiterating, “The president’s intention of sending US military to fight in Ukraine against Russia has not changed.” Sounds a lot like permission to let the poisons fly, doesn’t it?
The Biden administration has been a day late and a dollar short for months now: sending Stingers and similar weapons to Ukraine only after the invasion began; delaying SWIFT sanctions until the atrocities started, and so on. The president needs to get out in front of Putin’s next escalation, rather than responding cautiously after the fact because his hand’s been forced.
Despite an overwhelming advantage in force, Putin’s been humiliated in this war. His forces yet remain the favorite to “win,” albeit by destroying nearly all of Ukraine and sending millions of its people into exile. But it’s still a disaster for him, slamming his economy, outraging his people, slaughtering his troops and destroying countless planes, tanks and other hardware not easily replaced.
Biden and his allies must stop dreading Putin’s reaction, and start making him fearful of what his next move will bring. Biden only needs to look back into history to leaders like President Ronald Reagan during the Cold War to remind himself that the way to win is to give the other side plenty to worry about.
