Meeting Russia With Strength
David Bernell Russia’s war in Ukraine represents a major threat to global order and security. That’s the message people in the West are reading and hearing (with a few minor, but loud, exceptions). It’s what the world heard from President Biden in his speech on February 24. It’s the conventional wisdom. Is such thinking too alarmist? Does it overstate the case? Perhaps the worst that will happen is that this ends with Ukraine. Maybe Putin has bitten off more than he can chew and swallow. Maybe a Ukrainian insurgency will be too much to handle, while NATO, the West, the United States, and all countries in the world who oppose the Russian invasion can get by on the cheap: economic sanctions that hurt some parts of Russia, but don’t go too far because they might create costs for the very countries implementing and supporting the sanctions. On the other hand, maybe the conventional wisdom is correct. There is a throughline line that can be drawn from Putin’s wor...