President Biden: What America Will and Will Not Do in Ukraine

nytimes.com

6 points·HiroProtagonist··4 comments

Posterity will be the ultimate judge of whether this proxy battle strategy can hold. Regardless of the actual outcome, you can bet it will be spun as a win or loss by the predictable players.

This just seems like the next evolution in undeclared war. Considering what happened with Afghanistan, the way in which cheap portable weapons are being used to take out tanks, ships, and aircraft, and the way in which minimizing civilian casualties seems to be the norm now... I wonder if large military forces don't have the force they once did. Perhaps the top brass in the US know this, and realize that exposing it with open warfare. Russia certainly didn't do as well as most people expected. now they, China, the US... we may all be paper tigers needing to pretend like we have any power to conquer, when all we can really do is blow stuff up, which hardly makes for a successful occupation.

alternative perspective: https://twitter.com/RALee85/status/1531733871850553344

I appreciate that he's drawing clear lines (aside from the generically "severe" consequences promised in response to Russia using nukes, which seems like sensible strategic ambiguity). Have to wonder what the game plan is if Russia does indeed use nuclear weapons. All options seems terrible.

The most likely option would be to pursue a more severe economic sanctions and isolation system, similar to how we treat North Korea. But while Putin is capable of anything, I think use of nuclear weapons is unlikely at this point in the war. Taking out a city wouldn't align with the propaganda that he's been feeding the Russian people. And the Ukrainian military forces are already dispersed enough that they don't make good targets.

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