I'm not complaining about that, mind, but it's not like it's surprising or unfair that they'd try to hit us in limited ways, if they can.
Day one of the invasion I double checked our backups (ahead of schedule) and security. And the company I'm with isn't at all involved with anything military, nor do we have any particular interest (business-wise) in Ukraine—some kind of mass automated attack still seemed likely enough to be worth a little of my time. I assume CISOs with infrastructure and military orgs were on a war footing before the shooting started. At least, I hope they were.
Proportionality. Weapons are being shipped to Ukraine for use on Ukrainian territory. Not Russia. I don't know if explicit red lines have been drawn. But the Moskva was sunk by Ukranian missiles [1]. And I believe the cross-border raids were done with Mi-8s, not the Mi-17s Kyiv’s been provided by the West [2].
If Russia wants to open its territory to retaliation, that's its choice. But it would be one more blunder in a series of idiot moves. (To be clear, this story looks like Russian criminals being Russian criminals more than anything state directed. If we didn't have the backdrop of the war, the headline would probably mention Bitcoin.)
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R-360_Neptune
[2] https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/04/20/...
We've established this precedent over decades in earlier proxy wars like Vietnam and Afghanistan where the US and USSR armed each others opponents. It certainly doesn't make the supplier an 'effective war participant' as you stated.
This was even true when the US and USSR sent actual personnel in as 'advisors' or combat pilots, even though that is direct involvement. It's not a casus belli.
In a contest. Not at war.
Decades of fighting guerrillas has left us loose with words. Tanks rolling past Kyiv should remind us of the bright line between annoying and engaging an enemy.
[A proxy war relationship] usually takes the form of funding, military training, arms, or other forms of material assistance which assist a belligerent party in sustaining its war effort.